Today we’re putting on our super-crunchy DIY boots and whipping up a summery Strawberry Rose Clay Face Mask. This pink mask pairs fresh, in-season strawberries with golden honey, fragrant rose hydrosol, and creamy clays for a sumptuous and simple summer-time skin treat!

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Seeing as I’m mid “strawberry rose” theme and strawberries are in season, I wanted to create something that would take advantage of strawberry season. I picked up a beautiful basket of Alberta-grown strawberries at the farmer’s market and poached a couple of the tiny ones for masking purposes before devouring the rest. I’d really recommend getting those tiny, juicy local strawberries for this project—the kind that should be eaten the day you buy them, rather than the big glossy perfect ones that come from big-box grocery stores.

Our next ingredient is golden honey; I chose a beautiful one from an apiary near Spilamacheen, British Columbia. Feel free to choose whatever you have and love! The combination of the sugary honey and ripe strawberry almost instantly macerates into a juicy pink slurry. To that mixture, we’ll add a touch of fragrant rose hydrosol to mingle deliciously with the rose and honey scents. Swoon! The hydrosol I used in this mask is from Mystic Moments, and it is lovely. Juicy, sweet, and floral without being saccharine or too perfumey. I also like how it comes in a mister bottle for easy rose-y-ing up things in my day-to-day life!

To transform this dessert-like mix into a face mask we’ll whisk in some clay to finish. I included bentonite as it’s wonderfully absorbent and creates a very cool gel-like texture. To balance out that gelloid-ness I also included some creamy white kaolin clay. The version pictured in this post also contains a bit of pink Australian clay, which is mostly for colour and because I have it. If you’ve got some on hand feel free to include a touch of it, but don’t feel like you need to buy some just for this project—just use more kaolin to get the desired end consistency.

Regarding measurements: I have provided some, but due to a fresh berry playing the starring role in this face mask, you’ll very likely need to adjust the amount of clay to get the creamy end consistency we’re looking for. Juicier berries will require more clay, less juicy berries will require less. Trust yourself and use your best judgement—this is pretty hard to mess up!

The final mask is richly fragrant and not too drying thanks to the honey. I enjoyed the light exfoliation and warming circulation boost, and found my skin looked smoother & more glowy after using it. I also noticed a few little blemishes I had faded noticeably overnight—score!

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Strawberry Rose Clay Face Mask

4.2g | 42% fresh strawberry, rinsed and trimmed (approximately one small finger-tip sized berry)
1.6g | 16% golden honey
1.4g | 14% rose hydrosol

0.7g | 7% Australian Pink Clay
0.7g | 7% white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)
1.4g | 14% bentonite clay

Mash the strawberry together with the honey—the mixture will suddenly become very watery! Mash until the mixture is as smooth as possible—there will likely still be some lumps, depending on your berry, but do your best. Up next, mash in the rose water.

Now it’s time to add the clay! Add it about one gram at a time, stirring and blending between additions, until you have a relatively smooth paste with a nice spreadable consistency. It is very likely you’ll need to adjust the amount of clay from what I’ve listed above, so use your best judgement.

All that’s left now is to apply a nice coating of the mask to your face (avoiding eyes, lips, and nostrils) and let it dry for about ten minutes. Once you start to feel it tightening off soak a dark coloured washcloth in warm water and hold it to your face for about 15 seconds to soften the mask a bit before starting to wash it off. Alternatively, you can wash it off in the shower—I find that works best, but it’s not always convenient to take a shower!

Follow up with a favourite lotion or oil serum. Enjoy!

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this mask is absolutely loaded with delicious bug food it must be made in single-use batches and used promptly. If you have a bit leftover you can cover it tightly with cling film and store it in the fridge for up to two days. No amount of preservatives will make it safe to store for extended periods of time.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.

• As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 10g, which is enough for one application.
• To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
• You could try a different wee berry instead of a strawberry (raspberry could be nice!) but that will drastically change this project.
• You could use water, aloe vera juice, or a different hydrosol in place of the rose hydrosol.
• You could also try different clays, but again, that will drastically change this project.