Winter weather is extremely harsh on our faces, especially in Canada. The lips, in my opinion, suffer the most since they easily dry, crack and peel. One way to make sure your lips stay soft this winter is by using lip scrubs!

Lip scrubs are super easy to use, all you have to do is literally scrub it on your lips at least once a week, depending on how cracked your lips are. The only store that I could find which sells lip scrubs is Lush Cosmetics. The scrubs are $9.95 and come in 4 flavours: Sweet Lips (chocolate), Mint Julep (mint chocolate), Popcorn and Bubblegum. They all smell and taste really good! (You lick them off your lips when you finish scrubbing). I recently purchased Mint Julep which actually tastes like a sweet mint, not really chocolatey. I really like how Lush puts who the product was made by and the date it was made as well as the use by date. Something that a lot of people tend to forget about cosmetics is that it won't last forever.

If you don't have a Lush nearby or would rather not spend the money, you can always make your own!

You'll need:

- a small clean resealable jar

- brown and/or white sugar (not powder)

- vaseline OR coconut oil

So to make your own lip scrub, we're going to mix the sugar and vaseline / coconut oil in a 2:1 ratio (2 spoons sugar and 1 spoon vaseline or oil). I'd suggest using a teaspoon to measure so you don't make too much scrub, it'll last a while. For the container, I emptied out a dried out Elf cream eyeliner I had. If you are using a makeup container and are having trouble cleaning it, try wiping the container with vaseline and repeat until it's clean :).

The choice between vaseline and coconut oil depends on your own personal preference, both are edible and will have more or less the same result. I'm not comfortable eating vaseline so I went with coconut oil which can range from $6-15 a jar depending on location (I got mine at a local South Asian mart).

The type of sugar is also up to you, I decided to mix both sugars. If you have a local spice store, take a look and see if they have flavoured sugar! If you can't find any but would like to make it flavoured, I'd suggest looking at flavouring oils such as mint (NOT extracts). And please don't use coloured sugar, it will stain your lips and finger when you scrub!

If you made your own lip scrub, let me know what you think below! :)