Almond Flour Face Mask

This has been one of my favourite masks to make recently! Not only is it ridiculously simple to create, it really works. This mask takes less that a minute to whip up and will help your skin to look clear, smooth, firm and bright!

How will almonds help my skin?

• One of the main reasons that almonds are so great for our skin is that they contain high amounts of Vitamin E, which many people know as a 'beauty vitamin'! Its nourishing and rejuvenating qualities make it perfect for topical use on the skin.

• Almonds also have a brightening effect on the skin, and over time they can even out skin tone, fading redness and pigmentation marks.

• If you are concerned about fine lines and wrinkles, almonds can help to keep these at bay. The main reason (apart from genetics and age) that these lines form on the skin is due to dehydration and damage from free radicals. The nutrients in almonds help to protect the skin from such damages, while the vitamin E gives the skin an intense moisture boost.

Whatever condition your skin is in right now, whether its oily, dry or combination, this mask will be suitable for you. However, my favourite time to use it is usually the morning after a big night out, when my skin can be particularly dehydrated! It's a real quick fix for dry and dull skin, and it also feels so lovely and soothing when you apply it to the face.

Almond Flour Face Mask

For this mask, you'll need only two ingredients

• Almond flour 
• Honey (preferably organic or Manuka honey)

Method

• Cleanse your skin completely of all make-up and any residue. Pat dry with towel.
• Get a small bowl and simply place in one tablespoon of almond flour, one teaspoon of honey, and half a teaspoon of water Mix well until it turns into a paste.
• It seem like a small amount but it's all you'll need to cover your entire face!
• Apply the mask to your face with a clean make-up brush or with clean fingers.
• Leave on the skin for about five minutes. After this time, you can go ahead and gently exfoliate the almond mask into your skin. This is a super gentle way of getting rid of dead skin cells and will help to achieve a brighter skin tone.
• Rinse the mask off your face to reveal beautifully smooth skin!
• Pop your favourite moisturiser on to lock in the goodness of the almonds. Or, for an extra moisture boost, you can apply a few drops of Sweet Almond Oil after rinsing the mask away.

So there you have it, an easy DIY mask for whenever your skin needs a little TLC! You can buy almond flour in most supermarkets. Aldi sell it for roughly €1.99 for 200 grams. It can also go by the name of ground almonds or almond powder, it's all the same!

Enjoy!

Sinéad

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D.I.Y Zesty Sugar Scrub

Exfoliation doesn't always reach the top of the list when it comes to skin care in the winter months (for me, personally!), but now that it's summer time, why not do your body a favour and get scrubbing! Simply adding exfoliation to your skin care regime can work wonders. It gets rid of dead skin cells, dull or flaky patches, and leaves you with beautiful soft glowing skin. This post is about about exfoliation for the body, not the face! I find that if I use a scrub on my face my skin becomes irritated, so I simply use oatmeal, as it's a natural and extremely gentle exfoliant.

I used to be very lazy when it came to exfoliating in the shower or bath, but when I eventually started to read about the importance of this step in a skin care regime, I decided to try and exfoliate a few times week. This was a few years ago, before I started getting in to natural skin care. What I soon realised was that this was a fairly expensive addition to my shower time! My skin is quite sensitive, so I found that if I went for the cheapest brands, the beads would be too big and harsh, resulting in very irritated. My only other option (or so I thought) was to go for the more expensive brands, and I wasn't happy spending this kind of money on products that only tended to last me a couple of weeks. So now for the past couple of years I have been making my own scrubs! They're fun to make, super easy to put together and completely natural. Not only will you save money by making these, but you'll know exactly what you're putting on your skin, which can rarely be said for store bought skincare items.

Ok, so enough rambling, lets get on to the scrub!

What you'll need:

• Organic brown sugar
• An oil of your choice (recently I've been loving Sweet Almond Oil for this)
• A lemon
• A glass jar with a tight fitting lid to store the scrub in

You can use regular sugar if you want, however if you have sensitive skin like me then brown sugar is a better choice. Brown sugar will give you a more gentle (yet thorough!) exfoliation.

How to make the scrub

• Fill your glass jar 3/4 of the way with the sugar. This roughly how much you'll need. Pour the sugar back into a bowl for mixing
• The ratio of the mixture should be one part oil to two parts sugar, so fill your jar a little below half way with your oil of choice. Again, pour this back into the bowl and mix together with the sugar.
• Depending on whether you want your scrub to be more solid or oily, you can add more sugar or oil if desired.
• Grate the zest of one lemon and add to the mixture.
• Now add in the juice of half a lemon. When you have mixed everything together, you can add in more lemon juice/zest if you wish.
• Pop the mixture back into your glass jar and store in the fridge

So there you have it, a super simple recipe for a home-made scrub. I use this 2-3 times a week in the shower and find that it leaves my skin so soft and glowy. The dry patches on my elbows have disappeared and I feel that the addition of the lemon has had a firming effect on my skin too! If you use fake tan then this scrub would be great for you, it will banish any dry patches of skin on your elbows, knees and feet so that dark patches of tan don't remain there.

Happy Scrubbing!

Sinéad

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/skindividualblog