LAVENDER HONEY BRIGHTENING FACE MASK DIY RECIPE.

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April 25, 2015

When it comes to skincare, I’m the biggest minimalist around: I wash my face with honey and moisturize with a face oil I make myself (and for a coterie of friends who are now equally hooked). This post is the inaugural first of a new chapter of Kale & Caramel Body & Beauty DIY recipes—I could not be more excited to share these time-tested wise-woman secrets with you! The best part? They’re made with ingredients pure enough for you to eat, which also means they’re likely already in your kitchen. Like this Lavender Honey Brightening Face Mask DIY recipe.

Honey is an impeccable preservative and antibacterial agent, used by the Egyptians and found intact in the oldest of recovered tombs. I’ll take some of that anti-aging power on my face, please and thank you!

This recipe also incorporates the brightening power of freshly squeezed lemon juice, which cuts through excess oil and pore clogging yuckies, and the calming sweetness of fresh lavender flowers. Lemon juice also serves as a lightening agent and impurity buster, helping to keep your face glowing and your skin-tone balanced.

As a little girl, if I needed lotion, wanted to play with lipstick, or was pining after some perfume or another, my mom sent me outside with a little bowl. In my kid-sized mixing bowl, I’d place flowers and leaves that I’d plucked. I’d run around to each orchid, rose, lavender, and hibiscus, sniffing and touching and bending leaves and petals this way and that.

Once I had everything I determined I would need, I’d take a perch on the bottom-most step of our farmhouse-aged wooden porch staircase and begin working the flora over with my fingers. I’d soon leap up, taking the stairs two at a time, eager to show my mom the bright cosmic mush I’d made. She’d help add almond oil or honey or whatever else was needed for the intended use.

Though I can’t do the same now that I don’t have a veritable Garden of Eden outside my front door, I have stayed close to my wily homemade DIY ways. Nota bene on this recipe: Don’t worry if you don’t have lavender, the mask is just as good without the blossoms as with.

Servings 2

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons raw organic unfiltered honey (raw and unfiltered are important!)
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice some pulp is ok
  • ¼ teaspoon fresh or dried organic (or unsprayelavender blossoms (available in bulk from health food stores your garden, or your farmers market)

Instructions
 

  • Nota bene: If you’re exposed to sun directly after using citrus on skin, you may experience severe burning or irritation. Make sure to wash your skin well after application, wait at least several hours before exposing yourself to the sun, and always apply sunscreen for protection. Moreover, excessive use of citrus on skin can cause lightening, so don’t use this mask more than once a week.
  • In a small bowl, lightly combine all ingredients. Set aside.
  • Wash your face and pat dry, leaving it slightly damp. Spread about a tablespoon of the honey mask evenly on all areas of your face and neck, avoiding eyes. Leave on 5-10 minutes.
  • Wash off completely, making sure to rinse hands and forearms of any lingering honey stickiness. Dry face and moisturize as usual.