There’s been a big buzz lately about making cosmetics with store-cupboard, fruit or veggie ingredients – because we just can’t shop for beauty products like we used to be able to, at the moment. Plus: many of us are on a budget and don’t want to splash out on pricy products.

Whipping up our own products is something we’ve done ever since we can remember. It’s ridiculously easy – unless you’re trying to sell those products to someone in which case it becomes a regulatory cat’s cradle! But for at-home use for the family or for a friend (when we’re allowed to SEE a friend, of course), whisking up a cream or a mask couldn’t be easier.

We’ve recently had some absolutely LOVELY comments via Instagram etc. about the books we’ve written on making your own products. Jo’s The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book appeared in 2004, while The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible launched in 2014. (You can find them super-inexpensively on Amazon, BTW!) 

In each, there are recipes for masks, moisturisers, hair treats, scrubs and more – but we thought we’d just share a few simple mask recipes with you here, using things you may have in the fridge or have easy access to.  

Happy slathering!

 RASPBERRY SKIN-BRIGHTENER (above – ideal for dull skins)

30ml (2 fl oz) plain yoghurt

75g (3 oz) raspberries

3 drops orange essential oil

Pulp the raspberries in a food processor;  sieve the pulp and keep the flesh and seeds. (Drink the juice, if you like – it’s yummy!) Add the pulp to the yoghurt and blend well; drop in the essential oil and stir again to mix. Apply to a cleansed face; leave on for 15 minutes and remove with a muslin cloth dunked in water. The raspberry will exfoliate gently, and the lactic acid in the yoghurt has a brightening action.

TOMATO FACIAL MASK (great for oily skin)

1 ripe tomato

Easiest mask in the world, this. The fruit acids in tomato are great for getting rid of blackheads (to which oily skins are prone) and brightening dull skin by gently loosening surface cells. Slice the tomato thickly, then lie down and apply the sliced tomato to the face. (Cut into shapes or thin slices that make it possible to cover the nose with the tomato.) Rinse, then pat dry. Do not apply moisturiser to the nose zone (or other affected areas), but do moisturise the rest of the face afterwards.

CUCUMBER SENSITIVE MASK (for touchy complexions)

10g (half ounce) brewer’s yeast (if you can’t readily buy this, pulverise      brewer’s yeast tablets in a herb grinder)

10g (half ounce) finely powdered oats

A 15cm (three inch) chunk of cucumber)

30ml (2 fl oz) plain yoghurt

5ml/1 teaspoon honey

1 drop rose essential oil

Mix together the oats and the yeast in a small bowl and put aside. Peel the chunk of cucumber and liquidise it in a food processor or herb grinder until it’s – literally – liquid, with no seeds or chunky bits left. Add the yoghurt and the honey and then whizz again for a few seconds, to mix. Add the brewer’s yeast and the oats to the cucumber/honey mixture, drop in the 2 drops of rose essential oil, and whizz yet again until smooth. Then apply to a cleansed face and skin, and leave on for between 20 minutes to half an hour. Remove either with a muslin cloth drenched in water, or by splashing with water. Follow with toner and moisturiser. (Depending on how thickly you apply this mask, you may have some left over – which will keep for a couple of days in the fridge.)

STARFLOWER MASK (for dry skin)

50g (2 oz) aloe vera flesh

30 ml (2 fl oz) plain yoghurt (we like Greek yoghurt for this, ideally)

2 capsules of starflower (borage flower) oil

10 fresh borage flowers (in season – not essential) 

Aloe vera flesh is quite hard to blend, so we like to zoosh all these ingredients in a Nutribullet or electric herb chopper. (You’ll need to snip the starflower oil capsules, and squeeze out the oil.) Then massage the mixture into the skin of the face and neck, whereupon the most extraordinary thing happens – within 15 minutes, your complexion will have soaked up almost all of the mask, and look plumped-up and younger. One of our all-time favourite masks – we love the way that the borage flowers, in season, speckle it with gorgeous flecks of lapis lazuli blue, and the way it softens and ‘plumps’ dry skin. 

And one last mask option: whip an egg white, a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon or two of oats, until you’ve a paste thick enough to spread on the face. This cleanses skin and also helps loosen blackheads. 

 



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