Beautyberry is known to be helpful in deterring ticks and mosquitoes, wormwood is used in many skin care products commercially because it has several antifungal and antibacterial compounds. I've started adding it to my infused herbs to give an extra skin care boost. The marigolds I grow have a strong scent and I grow them as a pest deterrent in the garden. The fermented garlic is likely the most effective ingredient. When I make lacto-fermented garlic, the smell gets stronger over time. In early 2023 this became unsustainable, so I strained it and transferred it to olive oil, to infuse. My husband left the house for the day while I worked, which is how this bug repellant got its name. Unfortunately (in my mind), the final product does not have this overwhelming garlic smell because it is only 1/3 infused oil in the stick, 1/2 in the spray. Vanilla, geranium, and clove are well-loved insect repellents that smell nice, so I balanced out the garlic with these. This creation also makes me think about a place we visited in Bahia, Brazil, over a decade ago. The hotel owners had an amazing smelling mosquito repellent they let guests borrow. When I asked what was in it, they said it was vanilla and cloves, mixed with oil and alcohol for a spray. Beginning in spring 2024, the witch hazel will be made in-house from farm-grown witch hazel and locally produced spirits.
 
Ingredients: Organic extra virgin olive oil infused with farm-grown fermented garlic, wormwood, American beauty berry, and marigold flower. The stick has local beeswax, organic shea and cocoa butter, organic vanilla extract, organic geranium and clove essential oil, and a little vitamin e. The spray has all these things, but instead of the beeswax/shea/cocoa butter, is mixed with witch hazel in a spraybottle.
 
Use and Storage: Shake the bottle well before use. We spritz it on an easy to access spot like wrist, ankle, or neck and then rub in with the opposite wrist. The stick will be solid at room temperature and can be applied directly where desired. For the first use, if the stick "sticks" and is hard to push up, just warm/roll between your hands for a bit, or (as I do) put it in the microwave for 7 seconds (try another 5 if this doesn't loosen it, but it only takes a little).
 
These products are not intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, prevent or treat any disease or health condition and have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. Always test a new product on a small portion of skin, before broader application. For medical advice, please consult your care provider.