This fantastic three-ingredient blackhead banisher is another Mario Badescu dupe. Not only is it cheap and simple to make, but it really does work beautifully. Magically, even. So beautifully you’ll find yourself staring at your pores in the mirror, trying to figure out if you’re imagining things. It’s also faster and easier than a face mask, so if you’ve got troublesome areas that bother you between face masks, it’s a great way to keep up with those.
I’ve had my eye on some white willow bark for ages, due to its anti-acne properties thanks to its salicin content (grandfather to salicylic acid). You’ve probably seen store bought anti-acne products bragging that they “contain salicylic acid!”, and white willow bark is a great natural source of it. White willow bark is also anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal. It helps reduce redness and inflammation, and encourages healing, and I can’t believe I’ve never worked with it before.
My friend Meredith is super awesome for many reasons, but the reason I would like to broadcast today is how she is always finding awesome things for me to make, and cool new ingredients for me to try. She’s the lovely lady who got me hooked on argan oil (USA / Canada) back in university (at the time I was horrified at the idea of putting oil on my face… how far I’ve come!), and then she did a big research project on all the schmag in our body care products, and I took that and ran. The rest is history, I suppose.
This is another one of those things that’s been on my to-do list for ages. Ever since I read that activated charcoal is a fantastic detox/drawing-out ingredient, and then happened to see it as an ingredient in some fancy face mask I’ve almost entirely forgotten about, I knew I had to make a spot treatment with it (and clay, of course, because clay is like an awesome little pore vacuum).
Debbi has been encouraging me to smear my face with raw honey as of late, and I have to say—I liked the idea. I’ve read a lot of fantastic things about raw honey. It’s a fantastic natural antibiotic ointment (it’s also anti-fungal and anti-viral), a humectant (it attracts moisture), an anti-inflammatory, and it’s loaded with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and healthy bacteria. Perfect for healing up, err, imperfections and encouraging your skin to behave itself.
I’ve been planning to make an acne serum for a while now. I’ve had all kinds of great, healing oils in my cupboard for a while now. Oils like tamanu, black currant seed, baobab, and sea buckthorn. I stumbled across a little tip via Pinterest recommending applying sea buckthorn seed oil to zits as soon as they rear their ugly heads (or even earlier than that, if you can manage it). So I decided that sea buckthorn seed oil would be the base for my serum.
Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care is now available at booksellers all over the world!
