Organic Body Care Recipes

June 15, 2007
Many do-it-yourself natural beauty guides resemble cookbooks that teach shortcuts and pantry rummaging skills to help you turn out good weeknight dinners, while others fall on the other end of the spectrum. Tourles's offering is more Julia Child than Rachael Ray, and although it doesn't advise you to press your own jojoba oil, it's not for someone who wants to whip up a quick facial mask before work. Tourles, licensed esthetician and Vegetarian Life health and beauty expert, provides a useful ingredient glossary and tools primer before launching into detailed recipes for everything from facial elixirs to insect repellents. She occasionally contradicts herself: vitamin E capsules appear in one cleanser, and citrus essential oils are included in some sensitive-skin formulas, despite glossary contraindications for both ingredients. The book's value lies in its informed discussion of essential oils and attention to proper preparation and storage. Novice or harried home-spa enthusiasts should consult Myra Cameron and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo's Mother Nature's Guide to Vibrant Beauty & Health or Janice Cox's Natural Beauty at Home. Recommended for public libraries with large natural beauty collections.Blanche Angelo, Livermore P.L., CA

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