It’s amazing how many beauty products you can make at home for a fraction of what you’d pay in a shop or online. Here Penny Stanway shares her tips for facial skincare.
Lemon cleanser
Steam-clean your face by putting 900ml of just-boiled water in a bowl and adding the peel of half a lemon, 1 teaspoon of dried (or 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh) mint, 1 teaspoon of dried (or 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh) parsley and, for dry skin, the contents of a capsule of evening primrose oil. Sit for 5 minutes with your face over the bowl, with a towel over your head and the bowl to trap the scented steam. Then rinse your face with lukewarm water.
Apple cider vinegar skin toner
If you use cleansing cream or lotion, follow with a skin toner made by adding 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to 285ml (½ pint) of cold water. Keep this in a capped glass or plastic bottle, and apply daily with a soft cotton cloth or cotton wool.
Lemon toner
Mix the juice of a lemon with twice its volume of water, then refrigerate in a covered container. After cleansing your face, apply some of this with cotton wool and let it dry.
Bicarbonate of soda exfoliator
Mix 3 parts of bicarbonate of soda with 1 part of water. Gently rub this paste into cleansed skin, then rinse off. To smooth roughened lips, rub them with a paste made by mixing bicarbonate of soda with lemon juice. Rinse, then apply some lip balm.
Lemon juice can cleanse, soften and moisturise your skin, condition and lighten your hair and deodorise your body
Olive oil face mask
Make a moisturising, soothing and rejuvenating mask by mixing 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of clear honey, 1 tablespoon of plain full-fat bio yoghurt and 1 egg yolk in a small bowl. Apply this mask to your face, then relax for 30 minutes before rinsing it off with warm water.
Honey exfoliating scrub
According to your skin type, mix 1 tablespoon of runny honey with:
- For normal or oily skin: 2 tablespoons of ground almonds and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- For dry skin: 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Rub your choice of mixture on to your skin, then rinse with warm water.
Tea bags for fine lines around the eyes
Used tea bags of calendula, chickweed or passionflower can help smooth laughter lines. Lie down, rest the tea bags over your closed eyes for 10 to 15 minutes and relax.
This is a taste of Kitchen Cupboard Beauty from our autumn issue, which has plenty more home-made cleansers, toners, masks and moisturisers to try. Get the autumn issue, in print or digital.
Penny’s book Cupboard Heroes (Watkins) covers natural remedies, clean beauty and green cleaning with eight miracle ingredients.
This article contains affiliate links. If you buy a book through one of them, The Green Parent may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps support our independent magazine.
