I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: out of all the things I’ve discovered in my natural/DIY journeys, face masks are easily in the top 5 (along with argan oil). They vacuum out pores, increase circulation, boost healing, gently exfoliate, and seemingly put a hex on blemishes (in a good way). They are amazing, and I refuse to go a week without doing one. I take the dried powder with me on all my vacations, and as a result I’ve done face masks in hotel rooms and hostels across the UK and Canada (doubtlessly terrifying maids with the towels I left behind… sorry!).
This mask uses French green clay for the base. It’s my all time favourite clay, hands down. I’ve added some bentonite clay for added detox, and zinc oxide to boost healing and anti-acne properties.
And then there’s the coconut milk. Wonderful, delicious coconut milk. It’s not only delicious in curries, but also fantastic for the skin. It can soothe eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis. It helps restore moisture, boost skin elasticity, prevent wrinkles, and help heal burns. It also smells like a tropical vacation. Fantastic.
The resulting mask is smooth and creamy, and leaves your skin happy and refreshed. Follow it up with some argan oil and enjoy your baby face 🙂
Coconut Cream Face Mask
1 tbsp French green clay
1½ tsp bentonite clay
1½ tsp zinc oxide
1½ tsp powdered coconut milk (or use coconut milk instead of water)
Essential oils of lavender, tea tree, and black pepperBlend all the ingredients together, either in a small dish or in a coffee grinder (the coffee grinder really boosts the luxury factor by giving you an extra smooth mask).
Mix a spoonful of the powder or two with warm water until it’s smooth and creamy. Spread on your face, let dry, and then wash off. I find it’s best to rehydrate the mask with a damp washcloth before washing it off to make things more comfortable.
I absolutely love your blog! Truthfully I’ve followed maybe three blogs faithfully… And yours is one of them! Thanks so . Fantastic posts, I can’t wait to try some of your recipes. 🙂
Thanks so much, Lizzy! I’m very proud to have made your short list 🙂 Always feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about any of my recipes, I’m always happy to help.
Yay, another mask! I love the pore shrinking mask so much! Where do you get powdered coconut milk?
Coconut milk powder!
never mind, I found it at saffire blue. I was thinking you got it at some exotic calgary health food store:)
Well, I know my local Asian market carries it… 😛 That one doesn’t smell nearly as good as the one from Saffire Blue, though!
Can this mask be used on the body as well? If not, could you post one??
I love your recipes! Thank you!
You totally could! It sounds a bit messy, but fun 😉 Thanks for reading!
Is this for one application? How long does the mask mixture last if you make a lot at once?
This powder will make enough for approximately 2 applications, depending on how thickly you like to apply your face masks. Once you add the water you’ve probably got about a day (maybe 2) before the coconut milk starts to smell funny/mould (I have definitely let this happen before, haha), but if you leave the powder dry & just spoon out what you need, it’ll last for ages! Just keep the mixture in a sealed container. If you live somewhere humid I’d recommend a zip-top bag with most of the excess air squeezed out.
Thank you for responding promptly. Was wasting to make it for some Christmas gifts. So I think I’ll leave the liquids out and they can mix them in themselves. By the way please keep up the good work and thanks so much for sharing! I’m a blue eyed redhead and have sensitive skin sho most makeup just doesn’t cut for me
That’s a great idea, Rebecca—I’m planning on doing the same for Christmas gifts this year as well 🙂 For a fun variation, you can include a wee sheet of paper and let your recipients know they can experiment with other liquids like aloe vera juice and tea.
Thanks so much for reading, supporting, and DIYing with me—it’s much appreciated!
I just attempted this mask, but I included 1.5 tsp honey powder as well since I usually add honey along with water to make the paste–figured it was worth a try! Not sure if it’s the new clays (never used French green or bentonite before), the coconut powder, or the honey powder, but I had to wash it off after less than 2 minutes because it was seriously BURNING. That’s never happened before with any other masks. Any idea what would trigger that? Oh, I also used 5 drops each of lavender, lemon myrtle, and bergamot (for the whole batch, not for the portion I put on my face). I’ve used those EOs in my Argan serum with no issues, so I don’t think it’s them?
Yipes! I have definitely done this before :/ The culprits have been seaweed powder, too much vitamin C or citric acid, and honey myrtle essential oil (as best I could figure at least). So my first instinct is the point the finger at the lemon myrtle EO, though you said that’s been ok in the past, so that’s odd. After that, if your skin is naturally very sensitive, it might be the French Green clay, though I’ve never known it to irritate anybody personally. Which clays do you usually use? The zinc oxide shouldn’t be a problem since that’s what they put in cream for baby’s bums, haha.
Could you explain the different clays? What are the pros and cons of each kind? Why do you choose different clays for different masks? Thanks!
Well, there are at least a dozen kinds of clay out there, so I’m not going to run through each and every one, but between the descriptions and reviews at NDA you can learn a lot.
The things I’m looking at are generally texture (some clays are heavy, some are light; some are smooth, some are gritty; some are finely ground, others have larger particles), strength (clays vary in their “pulling” strength greatly, so sometimes you want a strong detox clay for something like a zit treatment, but other times you may want something more mild for sensitive skin), and colour (mostly for soap & cosmetics, though I tend to avoid red clays for face masks as they can stain the skin and make a giant mess in your bathroom, haha).
My go-to clays are French Green and Kaolin—they’re both middle of the road in terms of strength/drying level, and both nice and smooth on the skin. Others like rhassoul and bentonite are quite heavy and can be quite gritty, so I tend to reserve rhassoul for things like body scrubs or soaps.
Ooooh! I just thought of different things I could substitute in you amazing face mask recipes instead of water – we have our own milk cow so I could use raw milk, or buttermilk, or green tea, etc. Ach, I am going to have sooo much fun!!!
The possibilities are endless! It’s so thrilling, haha. Be sure to try yoghurt as well… and herb infused water… and rose water… so many things to choose from!
Brilliant ideas!!
Let me know if you come up with anything to add to the list 😉
AH! Ok. So, two weekends ago I went to Edmonton to have a whole weekend of DIY fun stuff with my adopted ‘sisters’. It was soooo much fun, we made all kinds of stuff, using all your recipes. The ladies were just amazed!! One of the things we did was the BlackHead Banishing face mask using raw whey made from raw milk. They were amazing!!! They were so impressed! Among other things, we made lipgloss (so amazing), lotion, healing hand salve (Shea body butter spiked with lots EOs for healing), fizzing clay bath bombs etc. And I made soap and shampoo bars for the first time! So fun!
Thanks again for all the amazing recipes! Keep up the excellent and talented work!!
Oooh, how fun! That sounds like a super awesome day, and I’m thrilled that everyone enjoyed my recipes 🙂 I just did the blackhead mask again last night—it’s starting to be a between full clay masks things for me. Thanks for spreading the word! 😀
If you were to only buy one clay for dry skin and cosmetic making use, would you choose Kaolin, Australian Ivory, or the Rhassoul? I cannot decide.:)
Hmmm… definitely not rhassoul—it’s quite heavy and gritty, so not great for cosmetics. Kaolin will probably be the most versatile, since it’s white—you can colour it as needed for soaps, cosmetics, and whatever else you use it in 🙂 It’s also nice and gentle.
On all of NDA’s products it says “for external use only”. But if say, you get their virgin organic coconut oil, is there any reason why you couldn’t eat it?
Well, I’m sure I’ve eaten quite a bit of their virgin coconut oil over the years in my lip balm, and so far I’m fine… but that might be a teaspoon or two every year. Without a lab to test and a degree in microbiology I really have no idea what might happen, but I do know the processing, storage, and transport regulations are different (generally more lenient). It could be a “cover their arse” thing, or they could be dead serious for some reason we know nothing about… I don’t know. I’ve got enough food grade coconut oil to tide me over, so I won’t be trying it anytime soon.
Ah Good thoughts. where do you buy the coconut oil that you cook with? It is soo hard to find it at good prices.
Also, some people say that coconut oil is drying to the skin (when used in or as a lotion or body butter) have you had any experience with it being drying?
Costco has good prices on coconut oil, but the bucket I’m currently going through is from Nutiva. The list of products they have available to Canadians is rather pitiful, though 🙁 Sign up for their mailing list so you get their Tuesday deals. A lot of them are only available to Americans, but occasionally they’re available to Canadians as well, and you’ll eventually get a good deal on the coconut oil—I got a gallon of it for about $50 instead of $90!
I personally find coconut oil to be a pretty terrible moisturizer on its own—it just doesn’t get the job done. I wouldn’t say it’s drying, it’s just too thin to do any good. I can apply it to dry, rough hands and it just seems to evaporate, leaving my hands just as they were before.
I tried a mask for the first time in my life – and loved it!! It feels soo good, I can just imagine all those nasties getting sucked right out of my pores. 🙂 I do have a question though, when mine started to dry, it started flaking of in little clay flakes. Is this because I didn’t add enough liquid or does it always start to flake while it dries?
I am super frustrated because I am trying to make a spread sheet (like the one you gave a picture of in the comments a while back) with the list of carrier oils, EOs, packaging etc. in one column with the price per g, drop, or ml in the other column. All your recipes are in g, which is great, but how do you convert the price per ml that shows up on the receipt from NDA to g so that I can figure out how much a certain recipe costs in ingredients? Or do you use the oz to convert to g? I can’t figure out how you are supposed to do that!
One more question, (for now – haha) which one or two of the ‘wood’ essential oils would you most recommend for multiple healing properties? (sandalwood, cerdarwood etc.)?
Thanks in advance!!! love the work you do on your blog!
Awesome! Be prepared to add them to your weekly beauty routine—I definitely notice when I skip one as my relatively wonderful skin starts to wander away, haha. And yes, it’ll always flake as it dries. Just try not to move your face 😛
For my spreadsheet I just go with a rough estimate of 1mL=1g since I’m not using it for any business applications 😛 And just so you know, you cannot use ounces to convert grams to milliliters (it’s a pretty common misconception, though). There are actually 2 different kinds of ounces, and they are totally different—fluid ounces and regular (mass) ounces. So you’d be going ml to fluid ounces, and then pretending a fluid ounce is the same thing as a mass ounce, and then going to grams, and that won’t be at all accurate. The Imperial system is silly… (and apologies if this is not at all what you meant lol).
I’d go with a cedarwood EO—relatively inexpensive and quite useful 🙂
Have fun with this week’s mask 😀
Hi, Marie!
I’m stocking up on ingredients to become a DIY-er, and I’m wondering which zinc oxide to choose for recipes like this one. On Saffire Blue, they offer a Z-Cote/Water Dispersible, a Low Micron Zinc Oxide, and a Zinc Oxide USP. The differences may be negligible, but my last chemistry class was in 10th grade, and that was a very, very long time ago. Should I be selective?
Thank you so much for the combination of inspiration and precision you so deftly craft on your site!
Hi Prudence! I just have Zinc Oxide USP and it’s great for everything I need it for 🙂 I’d recommend getting a DIY specific coffee grinder (check Value Village) as well, it’s great for blending together powders and getting silky smooth masks.
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me! Have fun & do get in touch if you ever need any help 🙂
Oh, Marie, I am starting to share your excitement about green clay. I couldn’t wait for the other ingredients to come in, so I impulsively just mixed the French green clay with a helichrysum hydrosol, and my face is so smooth and soft. My husband even noticed it.
And then, when I mentioned your site and discussed all the fun things I planned to make, he volunteered to make a soap mould for me! We used the measurements you listed in your DIY Body Product Equipment entry (in the comments), and it’s all finished but the handle. He used nails instead of screws, so I imagine it won’t last as long as yours, but I thought the gesture was sweet and worth sharing.
Back on topic, I am planning to make the full version of the coconut cream face mask as soon as the ingredients show up. Green clay is an amazing find. Thank you again!
Awesome! We should start a French green clay club 🙂 We can do facials and ooh and ahh over our smooth faces and clean pores 😛
Yay for getting husbands involved in projects 🙂 Enjoy that awesome new soap mould! I should ask my dad to make me another so I can double my capacity 😀
Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
Hi Marie!
I am not sure if this has been asked previously, but do you think it will be ok to substitute the coconut milk powder with coconut flour instead? It seems easier to find coconut flour in the health food shops than coconut milk powder…
Thanks a lot!! 😀
Hi JT! I’d just use some coconut milk instead. Coconut milk powder is water soluble, so it’ll dissolve into coconut milk, but coconut flour won’t.
Hi Marie 🙂 As always, LOVE your site and recipes. I’ve used this mask and adore the pore clearing properties, but something in it makes my face red and hot. The effect does go away not long after washing off, but is kind of uncomfortable in the meantime. Does this happen to you with this, or any clay mask? Knowing ingredients as well as you do, do you have any idea which might be the culprit ? The only essential oil I use in the recipe is the lavender. Otherwise, I follow as written. I so want to be able to keep using it. Cheers, Colleen 🙂
Hi Colleen! Does this happen to you with other clay masks? I ask because clay really increases circulation, and some people will notice warming and redness from clay alone (I know I always have a very red face after my masks). The first thing I’d experiment with is using a clay that you’ve had a good experience with instead of the two I’ve recommended 🙂
Thanks for the input Marie. I really appreciate it 🙂 I didn’t know that about clays and I haven’t tried any others so will experiment and see what happens!
I look forward to hearing how it goes 🙂
Hi there! I have been trying a few of your recipes and absolutely love them!! One quick question though. I just made the face mask but more EOs are being shipped. I made this mask without them for a quick one and used organic coconut milk instead of the powder since thats what I had on hand. For whatever reason I had the hardest time getting the paste to actually stick and get on my face!!! Im wondering if its just because I didnt wash it beforehand? Or could it be too much water etc. It was quite thick and paste like, so not sure what went wrong, or if thats just how they are. Once I got some on it is quite nice and cooling feeling.
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! I’ve had this happen before—it’s when there’s too much oil in a mask 🙂 It’s kind of funny—you’re all ready to mask up and these oily clods of clay keep plopping off your face 😛 It sounds like your coconut milk must be really lovely and high fat—yum! Maybe just use quite a bit less next time 😉
The next time we tried it with water and a tad of coconut milk and it was fabulous :)! Thank you so much for all the time you’ve put into your recipes. Its so wonderful being able to use them at home and know we aren’t putting harmful things on our body. You are amazing!!
Yay! I’m so glad 🙂 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me, your support means the world!
how about add coconut water instead of plain water .. this will also substantially increase the shelf life once you mix it .. since it is pure and naturally distilled. also there are many super great benefits of the coconut water for skin (and hair) .. and super affordable and easy to find
You can, but it will not do much to increase the shelf life, and it will dramatically reduce the oil content of the mask, making it more drying. It may be “pure” in the food sense, but the overall composition of this mask still makes it a single, immediate use product.
What skin type can this be used for