This simple clay based face mask is delightfully simple and effective. Inspired by my love of French green clay, it does a fantastic job of clearing out the pores, soothing the skin, and encouraging healing.
The base of the mask is French green clay, my all-time favourite clay. It’s neither mild nor strong, and always leaves my pores clean and my complexion tighter and brighter. It increases circulation wonderfully, and I always notice an improvement in my skin the following morning.
I’ve added two classic French essential oils to the clay—lavender and rosemary. Lavender is calming, and both are potent antibacterial and antiviral essential oils. Together they help cleanse the skin.
Last but not least, I’ve hydrated the mask with some witch hazel, a classic astringent, to boost the cleansing properties of the mask. If you don’t have it feel free to use water instead. The final mask, with just a few simple ingredients, leaves your skin invigorated, refreshed, and just a touch more French.
French Face Mask
2 tbsp witch hazel
~4 tbsp French green clay, as needed
8 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops rosemary essential oilMeasure the witch hazel out into a small dish. Using a small whisk, blend in the clay about a teaspoon at a time until you have a thick, creamy paste. Whisk in the essential oils.
To use, spread a thick layer of the clay mixture across your face (I definitely recommend pulling your hair back quite tightly for this). Let it dry for around 20 minutes before rinsing it off. I find soaking a washcloth in warm water and holding it to your face for a few moments help re-hydrate the mask enough to start wiping it off.
Follow up with some argan oil and enjoy your refreshed, tightened skin!
Would this work with bentonite clay powder?
It will, but it won’t be as light and smooth (or as French) 😉
I tried it with the bentonite clay powder two days ago with my sister. It was great! My sister very much enjoyed all the pampering.
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
wow, what a great and fun watching post, Marie! You are so awesomely green, just love it 🙂 I wonder why you need so much clay, I guess it is for multiple uses? I usually need only 1 teaspoon of the dry clay and about 2 ts of liquid for the entire face! 🙂 And your amount probably will cover not only face but the whole decolletage 😉
I was going for the Elphaba look 😉
4 tbsp is definitely more than one mask! I usually use about 2–3 tsp of clay per mask 🙂
Sounds wonderful! I’ll try it tonight.
You mention hydrating the mixture which raises a question for you. There are moisturizers and hydrators available for skin care…often very pricey! I would love to have a non-oily, hydrating formula for my skin. Moisturizers are just too heavy/oily. Any ideas? Thanks for all your great recipes. Keep up the good work!
Hi Debbie! I always use just a few drops of pure argan oil on my face, and I love it. It absorbs quickly and my skin has never been happier or healthier 🙂 My mom and girlfriends are hooked as well!
What a great recipe and fun for having the girlfriends over, wouldn’t you say?
Absolutely! One of my favourite things to do with the ladyfriends 🙂
Hi Marie,
Nearly done with honey harvest. Question: would honey power be a good additive to this mask? if so, how much would I add? …would liquid honey be to add on the face after the scrub? I know that honey is expensive to use, but I have a lot of it to use. Maybe honey and some other liquid so it isn’t so sticky? whadathink?
Hi Jess! You definitely could add some honey along with the water—just not too much (maybe half a teaspoon) so it’s not too sticky 🙂 I’ve also done a straight up bee mask you might like—it was definitely sticky, though!
Sorry Marie for being so dense….so add 1/2 t with equal part of water to the mask recipe? Or did you mean to use liquid honey and water as the rinse. This is a new mix for me, so I want to get it right.
Thanks again and Happy Third Anniversary.
I mean to just add the honey to the mask 🙂
Hi. Winter is coming! Do you have any recipes for an easily absorbing moisturising face cream that I can wear under makeup. Thanks
Hi Julia! My favourite facial moisturizer is always argan oil, but my evening primrose cream is lovely as well 🙂
Marie,
I love all your French clay masks and am currently trying this one out – hoping the witch Hazel will aid in clearing up this nice breakout I’ve got going on. :p your zit-zap has been an amazing help, btw!!
A question though, is it typical to get a tingling or kind of burny sensation when applying the masks with eo’s in them?
It was much more mild with this one, but the last batch I had with tea tree, rosemary and lemongrass was rather intense – to the point I washed it off quickly in fear I was hurting my skin and added more clay and water. It didn’t actually do any harm, thankfully. 🙂
I’m thinking it must be the rosemary… and I’m wondering if I’m just sensitive to it…
-KM
Hi KM! I do definitely sometimes have some warmth/burny sensations with masks depending on the EOs. I have found honey myrtle to be a downright NOOOOOOOOO-don’t even-think-about-it EO for face masks (I recently discovered it even makes my eyes water as part of a diffuser blend). I’ve never hurt myself with a mask, but I’ve definitely had my eyes water/washed my face far sooner than I thought I would. These sensitivities seem to be a bit variable, in that sometimes a mask will be more irritating than other times, even if they’re mixed from the same master batch. I do believe the added circulation from the drying clay can amplify the effect, as I find the added circulation is warming on its own.
All I can really advise is to take notes, try using just one EO at a time, and avoid or reduce irritating oils in the future. And, of course, don’t hurt yourself!
Marie,
Thank you! Thank you! And I’ll keep that honey myrtle note in mind ;).
Also, after only one use of this mask I noticed a very nice decrease in redness on my face. Yay! 😀 …I think my skin didn’t like the honey soap I’d started using as much as the tea tree and goat milk soaps… That has since been used up and will not be coming back. 🙂
Thanks again! And happy diy-ing!
KM
The problem with being an at-home DIY laboratory is the constant exposure to a never-ending parade of variables 😛 Sometimes it can be hard to isolate problem ingredients when everything is always new!
Is this the type of recipe that can be packaged as a gift, or is it more of a mix and use right away sort of thing?
If you don’t add water and just gift the powder with mixing instructions it’ll make a great gift 🙂
Do you take any precautions for your drains/plumbing when washing these masks off your face? I remember when I was using rhassoul clay to go soapless for a while (a fun experiment, btw!) being very concerned with backing up the drains so I rinsed into a bucket and dumped outside. It was kind of a pain.
I realize this doesn’t use much clay per mask, but what if one had significantly more clay in use? (say, saturating your hair, or if you have a slumber party…)
Hi Chelsea! I don’t do much other than thoroughly rinsing everything down with lots of water, but then again I’m generally only rinsing about a tablespoon of clay down the drain at any given time. With hair especially the bucket rinse is likely a good idea as hair + clay is the makings of a pretty mighty spackle!
Hi! I was just wondering if this mask would be good for dry and mildly sensitive skin?
Hi Nicole! I consider my skin to be dry and perhaps mildly sensitive, and this mask works well for me. For an even gentler mask, try kaolin clay instead of French Green 🙂 And always be sure to follow up with argan oil!
Hello. I wonder if witch hazel powder would serve the same purpose, as I’m looking to mix dry mask mixes. I’ve seen “witch hazel leaf powder” on Amazon.
Has anyone tried the powder?
Thanks!
Great idea, Chris! I haven’t tried the powder, but assuming it is water soluble it should do the trick. Check with your supplier for information on concentration so you can calculate a somewhat appropriate amount to include… it will likely be very, very little as you don’t need much witch hazel to hydrate a face mask 🙂
I recently started experimenting with making my own clay mask. So far, I’ve only tried clay and water with nothing else. I’ve run into 1 annoying issue though, the mask dries extremely quickly and the powder clay starts coming off whenever I move around. I love how the mask makes my face feels but I’m left with clay powder everywhere on my clothes and in my apartment lol. Is there anything I can add to the mask to act as a binding agent so the clay will stay on my face?
Thanks!
Hi Eve! Try blending a teaspoon of honey into your water before sprinkling in the clay to make a paste—I’ve found honey really reduces the powder dropping/the overall drying effect.
Can I replace the essential oils and hydrator with my face oil? It has lavender and rose oil in it, and I don’t think I want to spend extra to get essential oils I won’t use for something other than a mask.
Yup, definitely!
Yay! Now I’m even more excited to try this! I just ordered some green illite clay and kaolin white clay and I can’t wait to make some masks!
One of the pluses of being a geologist is I know the difference between the clays if I know what specific parent rocks they’re derived from — just saying something is a “French Clay” isn’t helpful unless the seller specifies whether it’s illite (yay!) or bentonite (boo!).
I got my clays from Amazon, but I’m not sure if that’s the best way to do it. I live in the US — are there websites that you trust to sell good clay to the US? Doesn’t even have to be the best color, in my opinion, just as long as it works! [Color of clay is often a function of the level of oxidation and the color of original minerals (i.e. olivine has a range of green shades based on the ratio of Mg to Fe found in the crystal structure)]
Okay, geology lecture over! Back to making wonderful things!
As a child of two geologists I get where you’re coming from 😛 They have offered me reams of scientific literature on the various clays I use! Have you checked out my jumbo list of places to shop around the world? Since I’m Canadian I can’t offer a lot of US suggestions, but I use New Directions up here, and you guys have access to exactly the same New Directions as they cover the cost of the border crossing, so that’s the best (and only) place I can recommend. I have loads of different clays from them and have always been happy with them 🙂
Can’t wait to try this tonight. (I have all the ingredients…yeah !). That may be a wee lie…LOL I have lavender but not Rosemary. I would use just lavender but I am not a fan of the smell. Can you recommend another EO that is skin friendly and not too “stingy”? I have Patchoulli and love that. Is that an option ? Thanks in advance ! I LOVE your recipes and have a bunch of ingredients coming this week to play with. I’ll also be participating in your online free course. Just waiting for the lip balm tubes and I’m all set. Excited !
PS Do any EO’s like Orange 5X dye skin ? I want to avoid that ! Yikes
Hey Deb! You can definitely use patchouli in face masks, and I find it pairs really well with lavender as well 🙂 It mellows it out quite a lot.
I’ve yet to find an EO that dyes the skin when used in the concentrations we use in most body recipes, so you should be safe there! Be careful using citrus EOs in skin care products, though!
Happy making and thanks for DIYing with me!
THANKS !!! You really are THE BEST !
😀
One more question about masks in general. I want to make some to give away and therefore it would need to be stored in a jar for a couple months. If EO’s are mixed into powder can they be stored ? What about other liquids such as Witch Hazel in this recipe ? Can you recommend one of your recipes for storage ? You can tell I’ve never made a mask. Thanks !
Oh…and the form to submit a recipe request wasn’t working (Aug 2016). Will it be soon ? Thanks
I’ve written an FAQ on this 🙂 And the recipe form is back!
Thanks ! And I thought I’d read everything on your blog ! Oops…
Ha! The day you do I’ll be impressed—I just published post #850, and let’s not forget about the new encyclopedia I’ve just launched!
WOW !!!! Impressive. I didn’t know about the encyclopedia link/site. (You can tell I’m a newbie to your site…about a month of faithful following). THANKS !!
The encyclopedia is brand new (shhh, haha), I haven’t really announced it yet 😉 I’m trying to publish a couple new entries every day and then announce when I’ve got a reasonable base level of entries 😉 Happy reading!
OK…I won’t tell …ha !
😉