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We love a good beauty hack, especially one that can save you effort, time, and money, and Sara Panton, founder of the cool girl’s essential oil brand Vitruvi, has the ultimate alternative uses for your favorite us that essential oils. Here are three tricks she swears by.

Lavender—In Your Mascara (No, really!)

This one is blowing my mind: You can put a few drops (no more) of pure lavender oil in your mascara tube to extend its life by two to three weeks. Don’t get creative and swap out another oil in place of lavender, though. It’s your eye, so you want an incredibly gentle oil, and lavender is perfect for this because “it has natural anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties, so it’s great for anything around the eye,” says Panton.

She also recommends using lavender to fight zits: “It’s a great blemish spot treatment for sensitive skin, because of its similar properties to tea tree, but more gentle.” It’s very calming, so come bedtime,

wash your face

, dot the oil anywhere you want to be more astringent, and it’ll help you chill out.

Peppermint In Your Mouth

Love mouthwash but don’t love all the chemicals that are associated with it? Grab some peppermint essential oil, add two to three drops to a cup of water, rinse, and spit out. Wham bam, you just made your own freshening mix.

Citrus Scrub

Why drop $20 on a body scrub when you can make your own? Mix 20 drops of grapefruit (or your favorite citrus) essential oil with ½ cup brown sugar, and ½ cup coconut oil for an invigorating, fresh Mother Earth-approved scrub that smells like heaven.

When DIYing with essential oils, the most important thing is to use high-quality oils from a reputable brand or store (Whole Foods is always a safe bet). Vitruvi’s are organic, so we can safely recommend putting the oils directly on your body, but if they come from other companies, assure the purity levels and quality before contact with your face, eyes and body.

Keep on going natural:

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