Beauty Recipes - Basics

Basic Homemade Face Masks Recipes

Face masks draw impurities to the skin's surface, stimulate circulation and tighten the skin. Apply to moistened skin. Leave for 20-30 minutes. Remove with warm water.

Method for all recipes: blend the ingredients together using a liquidiser so that you get a smooth texture. You can keep any unused mixture in the fridge for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Green Herbal Mask

2 handfuls fresh leaves
60 ml distilled or mineral water

If you prefer a thicker mixture you can add fuller's earth or ground almonds

Paste Face Mask

2 tbsp ground oatmeal
2-3 tbsp of strong herbal infusion or extracted herb juice
Alternatives to ground oatmeal are ground almonds or fuller's earth

Rich Face Mask

3 tbsp ground oatmeal
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp fresh herbs
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp honey

You can also find more recipes by the categories:

Face care
Body care
Eye care
Hair care
Foot care

Herbal and non-herbal ingredients for face masks

Herbal ingredients

for normal skin:
fennel, juniper berries, lady's mantle, lime flowers, mint, nettle

for dry/sensitive skin:
comfrey, houseleek, marsh mallow, pounded flax or quince seed

for oily skin:
sage, yarrow, 2tbsp (30ml) pounded fennel or lupin seed to exfoliate and refine pores

Non-herbal ingredients

Milk products - for softening substitute 15ml of creamy milk for 15ml of herbal infusion

Honey - for healing - add 1 tsp

Lemon juice - A few drops help to restore the skins acid mantle

Egg - yolk for dry skin, beaten white for oily skin

Astringents - Mashed cucumber, strawberries, tomatoes, lemon juice and grapefruit juice

Moisturisers - Avocado and ripe peach

Important for Sensitive Skin

If you have a sensitive skin it is better to avoid any ingredients except those that you're sure of. The following ingredients can cause allergic reactions in very sensitive skins:

agrimony, almond oil, cocoa butter, cowslips, cucumber, glycerine, henna, ivy, lanolin, lime blossom, lovage, nettles, primrose, violet leaves.

Reference:
These recipes are based on information from "DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Herbs" which I highly recommend for anyone interested in growing and using herbs in the home, kitchen and garden. You find it here!