Exfoliating Pumpkin Scrub

Exfoliating Pumpkin Scrub

Get your skin glowing and ready for your fall and winter festivities with one of nature's more beneficial vegetables--the pumpkin.  Pumpkins make an excellent exfoliating face mask for all skin types: oily, normal-oily, or dry skin.  It soothes, moisturizes, and nourishes your skin.  So, if you are looking for a way to reuse and recycle your carved pumpkins from Halloween, or the leftovers from making your famous pies, then look no further!

So, what's so great about pumpkins?

They are rich in Vitamins A, C, as well as zinc.  Vitamin A is used in skin-healing products, so if you are looking to replenish and nourish your skin, this is the way to go.  Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant and when all three combined, they are creating a great barrier from free radicals (toxins in the air) from affecting your skin negatively (by causing premature aging) and from clogging your pores, which helps prevent acne.

Ingredients:

5-6 tablespoons of pumpkin pulp
3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar (buy brown sugar here.)
1 teaspoon of lemon juice (buy cinnamon sticks here.)

Directions:

Take the pulp and put it in the blender for a few seconds until you achieve a paste consistency.  Add the brown sugar and the lemon juice to the paste and mix well.  Use a spoon or fork.

Apply the scrub to your clean face and gently scrub in small circles using your fingertips.  Do this for a minute or two to slough off dead skin cells.  Rinse with cool to warm water.  Remember to always tone your skin to balance the ph level after you wash your face.  Moisturize as usual.

See Other Home Remedies:

• Face Mask for Blemished Skin
• Exfoliating Tomatoes and Rolled Oats Scrub for Brighter Skin
• Home Remedies for Oily Skin - Cucumber
• Honey & Cinnamon Mask for Acne

Tomato Yogurt Fresher Skin Formula

Tomato Yogurt Fresher Skin Formula

Shed your dead skin cells!  Our skin has a layer of dead cells that are bound together by a "glue."  Exfoliation is the key in maintaining a fresh and clean complexion and shedding your dead skin cells.

This face mask works for all skin types and is especially beneficial if your skin is constantly exposed to outdoor elements.  Whether you're an outdoors or indoors person, this face mask will help freshen your face up without the use of any harsh stimulants or chemicals.

This is an quick and simple formula that will help dissolve the "glue" that is binding the dead skin cells together (alphahydroxy fruit acid from the tomatoes) revealing your smoother, softer skin underneath.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp yogurt
1/2 chopped tomato
1/4 cup sugar (granulated)

Directions:

Add the sugar and tomato into a bowl and use just enough tomato to make a paste out of the sugar.  Add the yogurt and continue until it's a smooth paste.  Apply directly onto skin--massage gently.  Leave on for 10 minutes and rinse off with warm water. Pat dry.

Make sure you wash your face and that it is damp when you apply this mask.

Note: Leave out the sugar if it is too rough for your face, but use the whole exfoliating formula on your body.

Enjoy your smoother skin!
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Don't Miss Other Home Remedies:

• Rolled Oats and Bananas Face Mask
• Simple Turmeric & Milk Face Mask

Chocolate Face Mask

Chocolate Face Mask

The first thought that came to mind when I heard about the chocolate face mask had everything to do with images of acne popping up all over my face.  I mean, we have been thoroughly led to believe that chocolate (oh, that delicious stuff of my dreams) equates acne.  Some of us experienced chocoholics have even been through, what we believe, was a chocolate induced acne attack on our faces.

You can now get rid of those horrid images of acne and take solace in the fact that certain kinds of chocolate are actually good for you.  Chocolates high in flavonoids (not to be confused with flavonols) are good for your body because of their antioxidant properties.

The chocolate antioxidant properties applies to chocolate consumed orally and chocolate applied topically to your skin, which is what this post is about: a sun-protecting chocolate face mask for normal skin.  Cocoa powder high in flavonoids helps protect your skin against UV/sun damage much in the same way as tomatoes do.  Also, the rolled oats in this chocolate face mask recipe exfoliates your skin.

Read on for the recipe, after the jump.



Ingredients:

*1/2 cup of cocoa powder high in antioxidant flavanoids (I use Hershey's Baking Cocoa Natural Unsweetened, 8oz Can)
3 tbsp of heavy cream
3 tsp rolled oats

*Make sure your cocoa powder has not been Dutch processed because the process gets rid of most of the antioxidants.

Directions:

Grind/blend the rolled oats so that it is a fine powder.  Mix the cocoa powder, fine rolled oats, and heavy cream together in a bowl until it is a paste that you can use on your face.  Apply the chocolate face mask to your face using your fingers and leave it on for 10-15 minutes.

Rinse off and pat dry.  Tone and moisturize as usual.

Enjoy!
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Don't Miss Other Home Remedies:

• Tomatoes and Rolled Oats Face Mask for Brighter Skin
• Coconut Oil & Oatmeal Face Mask for Acne
• Rolled Oats & Banana Face Mask 
• Apple & Honey Face Mask for Clear Skin

Foot Softening Milk Spa Soak

Foot Softening Milk Spa Soak

Oftentimes, we forget about a couple of our most important body parts--our feet!  It's easy to overlook our poor, tired achy feet while we obsess over our faces and hair.  While, it's great to make sure our faces and hair looks great, we should also make sure our feet are getting the tender loving care they deserve.  After all, the last thing we want is cracked, dry, and hard feet when we get older!

This is a simple milk, water, and sugar foot spa recipe that you can quickly throw together in a couple of minutes with items you are almost guaranteed to have in your fridge and pantry.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
2-3 cups milk
7-8 cups of water
2-3 tablespoons of your favorite body lotion.

Directions

Mix the milk and the water together on a stove and stir and heat so that it is hotter than room temperature and as hot as your feet can handle.  Be careful to test it so that you don't burn yourself!  Mix the sugar and the lotion together in a separate bowl.  This mixture will be used to exfoliate your feet.

Place the milk and water in a bowl on the floor in a bowl and place your feet in it.  Soak for at least 10 minutes and let your feet relax.

Use the lotion and sugar mixture and massage your feet with it to exfoliate and get rid of your dead skin cells.  Do this for a few minutes and then rinse your feet with water.  Dry your feet and apply a moisturizer.  I use coconut oil to moisturize my feet after this mixture as it is a great moisturizer and then I follow it with grapeseed oil.  I find that grapeseed oil is better at retaining moisture in your skin than lotions in general are.

Enjoy your soft feet!
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Don't Miss Other Home Remedies:

• Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub
• Delicious Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

Delicious Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

Delicious Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

Get your winter dry skin to spring time perfection with this exfoliating Vanilla Brown Sugar scrub.  The sugars in this scrub as as exfoliating granules that scrub off your dry skin.

Ingredients:

2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup of white/granulated sugar
1 cup of grapeseed oil
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (I use McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract-16 OZ)

Directions:

Take the brown sugar, white sugar and grapeseed oil and mix well together until it is a paste.  Add the pure vanilla extract.  The grapeseed oil is great for retaining moisture in your skin.  You can use this paste all over your body.

Make sure to go easy on more sensitive areas like your abdomen, and concentrate on rougher areas like your elbows and knees.  Massage the scrub over your body using either a washcloth or your fingers in a circular motion.  Rinse off with warm water and pat dry.


You will come out of your shower smelling delicious!  This is a very moisturizing treatment due to the grapeseed oil, so moisturizing afterwards should not be necessary.

Enjoy your new skin!

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Don't Miss Other Home Remedies:

• Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub
• Quick & Simple Body Scrub
• Benefits of Grapeseed Oil

Tip of the Day! Coffee Grounds in Scrubs

Coffee Grounds in Scrubs

Let me start off by saying, coffee is great (in oh so many ways):

Add coffee grounds (ground up coffee beans) to your hand and face scrubs and masks. 

Coffee grounds are great for exfoliating your skin!  

You can easily find a bag of coffee grounds at your local grocery store or here.

Quick Oatmeal Face Mask for Acne

Quick Oatmeal Face Mask for Acne

Spring is here, and it is time to start clearing up your the skin you've been hiding under all that makeup!

A lot of people have been turning to homemade acne treatments lately.  It may be because the price of other cures are steep and the economy isn't doing so great right now, or it could be because of the recent shift towards adapting to a more "green" lifestyle.

Whatever the reason may be, it is a problem that has an easy quick to make, homemade solution.  Oatmeal masks are an easy, inexpensive way acne treatment/homemade solution.


Ingredients:

2 cups of rolled oats
water

Directions:

Take the oatmeal and run it through the blender so that it becomes a powder.

Add warm water to the oatmeal powder to make a paste.

Apply this mask to your face for about ten minutes and then rinse off with warm water.  Pat dry.

Enjoy!

Remember, different treatments work on different skin types, and the secret is finding the one that works the best for you.
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Don't Miss Other Home Remedies:

• Turmeric Healing Bath
• Face Mask for Blemished Skin
• Rolled Oats and Bananas Face Mask
• Honey & Cinnamon Mask for Acne
• Coconut Oil & Avocado Face Mask