It's always best when it's home made!

If you're looking for quick, simple ways of purifying and pampering your skin you might be surprised to know that you can do it at home.
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Click here to find out how to make home made soap!
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Face masks

Oily, acne prone skin

Banana mask

This is a soothing face mask and great if you have bananas around the house.
Ingredients:

• 1 banana, preferably ripe
  
• 1 tbsp honey
• An orange or a lemon

Preparation: Mix the banana and honey together.
Add a few drops of juice from an orange or a lemon.
Apply to face for 15 minutes before rinsing with a cool washcloth or a steaming warm washcloth.

Egg yolk mask

Egg Yolks contain Vitamin A which is good for scarring. To attempt this method of acne treatment, whip up an egg yolk, apply it to your skin for 20 minutes. Wash off.

Acne tonic with Basil

2 to 3 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1 C. boiling water
Steep basil leaves in water for 10 to 20 minutes. Cool, then apply to face with a white cotton ball.
Blackhead Remover Mask
1/2 cup fuller's earth
1 tsp. tincture of benzoin
distilled witch hazel

Combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly. Apply the mask to your skin.  Let mask dry and harden - about 30-40 minutes.  Soak a small hand towel in warm water and lay it across your face.

When the mask starts to soften up, gently rub it with the towel in a circular motion. Rinse with plenty of warm water.

Homemade juice mask

Strawberry and lemon juice contain natural astringents. Note: Recipe works for two people, so invite a friend, or cut recipe in half for just you.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 egg whites
• 3 tsp honey
• 1 cup strawberries
• Optional: 4 drops of your favorite essential oils

Preparation: Mash or blend the above ingredients.
Smooth over face.
Let it stay for 10 minutes.
Rinse.

Sea salt or table salt mask

Gently wash with salt & water mixed.

Home made clay mask

Clay masks help neutralize skin. You can pick up clay from any health-food store.

Ingredients:

• A basic fuller's earth clay (if skin is sensitive, French green clay is a good option)
• 1 tsp honey
• water (for a richer mask, substitute half-and-half)
• your favorite essential oil

Preparation: I find it's best to mix 2 parts water (or half and half) to 1 part clay, mixing in a bit of honey.
Add more water (or cream) if clay is too dry.
Add a few drops of the essential oil.
Keep mask on for 15 minutes.
Rinse off with a steaming washcloth.
Tip: This recipe works for dry or normal skin too. Add another tablespoon of honey and add a few drops of essential oils for your skin type.

Simple mask

This recipe is adapted from Paula Begoun's book, 'The Beauty Bible'. According to Begoun in her famous book, Milk of Magnesia is actually liquid magnesium. Like clay, it's from the earth, but has disinfecting qualities and absorbs oil better than clay.

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle Milk of Magnesia
  

Preparation: Apply the Milk of Magnesia to face.
Wash with cool washcloth after 10-15 minute

Oatmeal mask

Blend some oatmeal with water and gently spread it onto your skin. Leave it until it dries (10-15 minutes). This mask is gentle and safe.

Green clay mask for oily skin

When it comes to face masks, there's no better clay than green clay, also known as "bentonite." This purifying mask is wonderful for oily skin and was adapted from a recipe found in the book, "Natural Beauty Recipe Book." You can get all of these ingredients in any natural food store or online. You can get the apricot kernel oil and the palmarosa essential oil online.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp green clay (you can get this in any health store)
• 1 tsp apricot kernel oil
• 3 drops of palmarosa essential oil

Preparation: Mix the palmarosa and apricot oils together. Add a few drops of warm water. Mix together and add more water if need be to get a good, spreadable paste. Apply mask. Let dry for 10 minutes. Rinse off with a warm washcloth.

Combination skin

Rose face mask

This mask, based on roses, is perfect for balancing out the oily and dry areas of your skin.

Ingredients:

• Optional: 6 fresh rose petals
• 2 tbsps rosewater
• 1 tbsp natural yogurt, room temperature (not lowfat or non-fat)
• 1 tbsp runny honey (to get honey runny, you can warm it in a microwave for a few seconds).

Preparation: Soak rose petals, then crush them in a bowl.
Add the rosewater, yogurt and honey.
Mix well and apply to the skin.
Leave on for 10 minutes.
Rinse.

Dry, chapped skin

Avocado mask

Avocados and honey are particularly moisturizing. This mask is particularly great for mature, wrinkled and dry skin. It's best to use a ripe, fresh, organic avocado. Make sure to mash it up into a creamy pulp.

Ingredients:

• ½ avocado
• ¼ cup honey

Preparation: A classic recipe for dry skin. Mash the avocado in a bowl, then stir in honey.
Apply to skin and leave for 10 minutes.
Rinse face with a cool washcloth.

Extremely dry, sensitive skin moisturiser

Ingredients:

• Mix 1 cup liquid oil,such as avocado almond, with 1/2 cup beeswax.
• Place over low heat until the beeswax melts, remove from the heat, and whisk until cool.

Add the content of three capsules of Vitamins E and a few drops of pure essential oil for aroma (lavender, sandalwood, rose, whatever you fancy), pour into a sterile jar, and store in a dark cool place.

Olive oil pineapple mask

This is a great mask to not only hydrate the skin but naturally exfoliate dead skin cells and clean out your pores.
To make the mask combine the following:

• 1 cup of pineapple chunks. Make sure to rinse off the syrup first.
• Then apply 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
• You can mash the pineapple chunks with a fork or even better put every into a blender and blend until smooth.
• Then apply the mask to your face, neck, and chest and lie down and rest for 20 minutes or so.
• Then rinse very well – this is best to do before a shower – and pat dry.

Milk mask

This recipe makes a mask for two

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp powdered milk
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tsp aloe vera gel
• 2 drops essential oil

Preparation: This is a classic milk mask for the face. Mix ingredients well, apply to face, let sit for 15 minutes, wash off with warm water. This recipe is enough for two.

Aging skin

Face mask for ashy skin

Sugar is a preferred exfoliant to salt because it tends not to tear at the skin. When dead skin collects on the surface of skin, it's important to slough it away. This helps clear up clogged pores. When skin isn't exfoliated, it can appear ashy.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp warm water

Preparation: Stir sugar into warm water so that it melts.
Make sure granules are dissolved, otherwise they could tear your skin.
Apply to the face.
Gently massage around the skin.
Rinse with warm water

Sensitive skin

Yogurt face mask

This mask is great for soothing chapped, sunburned or otherwise irritated skin.
Extra tip: This mask works well for other skin types as well. For oily skin, add a couple drops of lemon or lime juice. For dry skin, mix in a couple tablespoons of honey.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup natural yogurt (we like it just-out-of-the-fridge cold)
• ½ cup oatmeal (any type of basic oatmeal works here)

Preparation: Mix the ingredients together.
Apply to the skin for 10-15 minutes.
Wash off mask with a washcloth steamed in the microwave (careful that it's not too hot). Two other fun options for oatmeal face masks:
Egg whites. Mix the oatmeal and an egg white. Let the mixture dry on face, then gently wash off with a few splashes of warm water. Follow with a steaming washcloth to the face.

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Lip Balms

Basic lip balm

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ounce beeswax beads
• 4 ounces sweet almond oil
• 1 teaspoon colored jojoba beads
• 2 teaspoons essential oil 

Directions

Put the 4 ounces of sweet almond oil in glass measuring cup, add beeswax beads and jojoba beads and melt in microwave. Stir with spoon. Let it cool for a few minutes, then add essential oil. Pour into lip balm jars.

Apricot lip balm

Ingredients:

• 1 t Beeswax (5 ml)
• 1 t Apricot kernel oil (5 ml)
• 1 t Calendula oil (5 ml)
• Few drops essential oil of Lemon or orange

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler. Add the apricot and calendula oils, stirring constantly.

Remove the wax from the heat and continue stirring until it is partly cooled.  Add the essential oils.

Store in a small glass jar.

Aniseed and lemon lip balm

Ingredients:
5 drops yellow color base (see preparation step 1), 2 tb sp (30ml) calendula oil, 4 tb sp (50ml) sweet almond oil, 2 tbsp (25ml) apricot kernel oil, 1 drop liquid honey, 1 tb sp (12gm) beeswax pellets, 2 vitamin E capsules, 2 drops aniseed, 3 drops lemon.

Preparation:

1. Make the yellow color base by adding one teaspoon of ground turmeric to one tablespoon of sunflower oil in a small cup. Heat over boiling water or in a microwave until it, bubbles, then remove from heat and pour into a dropper bottle.
2. Prepare a double boiler (one saucepan that fits inside another) by filling the bottom half with hot water and heating to a gentle simmer.
3. Measure out the base oils, one by one, and pour into the top half of the boiler.
4. Add the honey, beeswax pellets, and yellow color base. Stir gently to mix the ingredients.
5. As the beeswax is melting, prick open the vitamin E capsules and squeeze the contents into the oils.
6. Once the beeswax has fully melted remove from the heat. Drop in the aniseed and lemon and stir to mix them in thoroughly.
7. Pour into small glass jars or ceramic pots, and let cool for half an hour or until set. The lip balm is ready to use.

Aloe Vera gloss

Homemade Recipe for lip gloss made with Aloe Vera that will leave your lips soft and moisturized.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. Aloe Vera gel
• 1/2 tsp. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. petroleum jelly  

Combine the ingredients in a small glass bowl until well mixed. Heat for about 2 minutes in the microwave. Stir and pour into a small container. Let cool completely before use.

Cranberry lip balm

Homemade Recipe for lip balm made with fresh cranberries that will leave your lips soft and gives them a hint of color.

Ingredients

• 10 fresh cranberries
• 1 tbsp sweet almond oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 drop of Vitamin E oil 

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together in a microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave for a couple of minutes or until the mixture just begins to boil. (Bowl may also be heated in a pan of water on a stovetop).

Stir well and gently crush the berries. Cool mixture for five minutes and then strain through a fine sieve to remove all the fruit pieces. Stir again and set aside to cool completely.

When cool, transfer into a small portable plastic container or tin.

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Foot care

Lavender foot bath

Ingredients:

• 5 fragrant fresh roses
• 10 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 10 fresh lavender sprigs
• 10 drops lavender oil
• 2 lbs Epsom salt

Remove petals from fresh roses, rosemary leaves & lavender blossoms from sprigs.
Place epsom salts in nonmetallic bowl, and stir in lavender oil.
Top with rose petals, rosemary, and lavender. Mix gently and pour into a jar.
Add a few tea spoos to warm water for a fragrant foot bath.

Milk soak

Ingredients

• 7 cups of water
• 2 cups of milk

Directions
Mix the water and milk and heat on stovetop or in the microwave. You want the mixture to be as hot as your feet can take.

Put the milk mixture in large bowl and soak your feet in it for at least 10 minutes.

Rinse with clear water and pat dry. Apply some lotion to your soft feet.

Sore feet remedy

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tsp. of Aloe Vera
• 1 teaspoon wheat germ oil
• 20 drops of peppermint Essential Oil
• 20 drops of eucalyptus Essential Oil

Mix together and add to warm water. Soak your feet in it.

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Moisturisers

Standard moisturiser

Mix together 3 tablespoons of honey, 3 tablespoons of wheat germ, 1 ounce glycerin, ½ an ounce of rose water, and 1 ounce witch hazel. Apply morning and night after cleansing for a soothing, natural moisturizer.

Oily, acne prone skin lotion

Homemade Moisturizer for Oily, acne-prone skin

1. Mix 1-1/2 teaspoons honey, the juice from 1/2 of a lemon, and 3-tablespoon yoghurt. Stir in 1 whipped egg white. Apply to face and let set about 15 minutes. Then wash off with lukewarm water.
2. Combine 2 tablespoons of ground almonds with two tablespoons of olive oil apply to face in a gentle, circular motion, rinse well, pat dry and add moisturizer.

Cocoa butter lotion

Melt 1 tablespoon of Cocoa butter with 2 tablespoons of Jojoba in a double boiler over medium heat. Once it is melted, stir in 1 tablespoon of aloe Vera and stir until it is well mixed. This one is good for dehydrated skin.

Jojoba moisturiser

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons jojoba oil
• 1 tablespoon vitamin E oil
• 2 tablespoons grated beeswax
• 1 tablespoon pure Aloe Vera
• 2 tablespoons rose water
• 8 drops sandalwood essential oil, & 4 drops rose essential oil.

Preperation:

• Combine jojoba oil, vitamin E oil and beeswax in a small bowl.
• Place bowl in a shallow pan of boiling water and heat, stirring occasionally until the wax melts. Remove the bowl and let cool to room temperature. It will thicken and become cloudy as it cools.
• In a blender or small food processor combine Aloe Vera and rose water. Add the cooled oil and blend on high until it becomes thick and cloudy.
• Add sandalwood and rose essential oils and blend mixture into colored glass jar
• Apply a very small amount to your face every evening instead of your usual moisturizer. If you have very dry skin you may wish to use this also in the morning.

Aloe Vera moisturiser

Add one part Aloe Vera to one part mineral water. Heat these in a double boiler until they form into a cream. This becomes a wonderful cream especially good for dry, sore or sunburnt skin.

Protein moisturiser

Beat one egg yolk into a cup of milk. Keep beating it until it forms a paste, then put it in the refrigerator overnight.

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