I've been partying hard the last week, lots of late nights, booze and bad food, and while I have had a fabulous time my skin is looking much the worse for wear (heaven knows what my liver must look like!). As such, I have decided to avoid the inevitable depression of Vintage by Hemingway and have stayed at home playing with makeup and generally just taking it easy.
Now it is time to get rid of the make up and give my hard working skin a bit of pep. I don't have any face masks ot anything in so I decided to make my own. Most commercial products these days lay claim to being enriched with honey or various plant extracts - so why not go straight for the store cupboard or the garden for your skincare? Also, being a vintage gal I love the "making do" aspect of home made skincare.
My skin issue is that I have large pores on my nose, they really bother me, and so these two recipes are based on pore cleansing and shrinking.
Pore cleansing egg white facial mask:
All you need here is an egg and some tissue or toilet roll.
Separate the egg, discarding the yolk (or keep this for a hair mask...!) and then beat the egg white slightly. Preferably in a mug with a sheep's bum on it. I personally find this an essential part of the process...
Steam your face or wash it in hot water and then pat dry. This opens the pores.
Rub the egg white all over your face and then cover with 1ply of tissue. Then add more egg to soak the tissue. I have weird 30's hair contraptions in the way so I couldn't do my forehead.
Take picture of yourself looking your very best.
Leave the mask for 10-15 minutes, or until dry (you won't be able to move your face at all at this point). Then slowly peel off the mask.
You will find this works like a giant pore strip, gently extracting blackheads and tightening skin. Hoorah!
Lemon and brown sugar facial scrub.
This scrub is just the perfect way to follow the egg mask, as it removes the last traces of egg white and the astringent properties of the lemon tighten the pores after the extracting properties of the mask. It exfoliates both with the scrubbing of the sugar and with the chemical effects of the acid in the lemon. Lemon juice also has a bleaching effect on the skin, evening skin tone by fading freckles and age spots. Wonderful stuff!
You just need half a lemon or, if you don't have one, some ready squeezed lemon juice, and a teaspoon of sugar.
Mmmmmm, brown gloop.
Mix together and then scrub into the face either with fingers or on a cotton wool pad, using a circular motion. I like to leave it on for about a minute before rinsing with clean water.
I also like to get a little bit in my mouth as it tastes like pancake day.
Tada!
Clean, healthy looking skin.
I feel much more like myself now.
