We’ve known for a long time that what you put into your body affects how it looks on the outside, especially something like skin which is constantly being renewed. If you eat a big fruit salad the night before, you almost always wake up the next morning looking and feeling refreshed. It’s kind of magical.
It’s no wonder then that people are turning to fruit to boost their beauty regimes and make their skin dazzle. You don’t just have to eat fruit to get the beauty benefits: you can slather it on your face too and give your skin a natural boost. What’s more, fruity face-packs are naturally low-cost, making them ideal for regular use.
Here are some fruity face-packs idea to make your skin dazzle.
Chocolate And Strawberry Face-Pack
Both chocolate and strawberries are widely considered to be superfoods. Strawberries, for instance, have been implicated in the reversal of Barrett’s syndrome and other precancerous conditions of the oesophagus. Chocolate was described as the food of the Gods by the Aztec warlord Montezuma and was believed to grant immortality. It’s not quite that good, but science has since discovered that it is one of the most complex plant compounds in the natural world with thousands of different phytochemicals which all interact positively with the body.
Combine berries and chocolate seems, therefore, like a good idea, especially if we want to nourish our skin and protect it against free-radicals and pollution damage. Making a chocolate and strawberry face-pack is relatively easy. First, grab your Magimix or blender and blend the strawberries to a pulp. Then add cocoa powder – not whole chocolate – to the mix and blend it in so that the chocolate no longer clumps together. The powder will act as a natural sponge for the liquid given off by the berries. Keep adding cocoa until you get a thick, gloopy consistency you can apply to your face.
Once applied, leave it on for 15 minutes and then remove.
Orange And Honey
Citrus fruits are one of the healthiest fruits you can eat, though they’re rarely recognized as such. Citrus includes oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit and the peels of any of these fruits can be made into a face mask. It is beneficial because of its natural antibacterial properties (did your mother ever use lemon juice to clean the house?) and so it helps to clean out pores and keep the bacteria that cause acne at bay.
Honey has antibacterial properties too, making the combination of honey and orange peel ideal. Start off by peeling up to 3 oranges, keeping the skin. (You can eat the insides if you want). Then, blitz them in a high-powered blender along with the honey and some nondairy yogurt of your choice, just to give it the right consistency. You should end up with a sweet-smelling bright orange paste which you can then apply to your skin. You’ll need to leave it on your face for around 20 minutes to have an effect. This face mask is best for women who have naturally oily skin.
Mango Clay
Women have been using mango butter to give them glowing, beautiful skin for some time now, thanks to the soothing properties of the fruit. The reason for this is the high collagen content in mango, the substance that your skin uses to maintain its bouncy, youthful appearance. Mango also contains natural moisturizing agents too, keeping skin supple.
Making mango clay is simple. All you need is a fresh mango and some fuller’s earth – a natural compound that helps to absorb the mango juice to create a paste. Put the mango in the blender and blend it until it’s a pulp. Then add the fuller’s earth until you get a paste-like consistency. According to Style Craze, the paste should remain on the skin for around 30 minutes. To get the most out of the treatment, wash the paste off while rubbing it into your skin in a circular motion. This will act as a natural exfoliant, completing the treatment.
Avocado Face Mask
Avocados are one of the most hyped fruits in the world right now. In fact, they’re so crazily popular that suppliers can’t grow them fast enough and prices are rocketing in some parts of the world.
Image source: Wikimedia
And it’s no wonder that avocados are so popular: their list of applications, health benefits, and delicious taste makes them invaluable. When it comes to looking after your skin, avocados have an excellent track record in the scientific literature. According to recent research, avocados actually modify aging pathways within cells, a bit like turmeric, tricking them into thinking that they’re younger than they are. This has made many people in the beauty community excited because it could signal a new wave of avocado-based beauty products. To some extent, it already has.
Avocados are also rich in antioxidants and contain lots of fat-soluble, skin-healthy vitamins, like vitamin E. These compounds protect the skin against damage from the sun, as well as free-radicals generated by our own bodies. In effect, avocado could be the fountain of youth.
Most avocado face-packs are made with a fruit of some variety, the most popular being kiwi. Kiwi itself has a whole host of benefits, including high levels of vitamin C and E for the skin.
To make the face-pack, scoop the pulp out of the avocado and the kiwi fruit and mash them together in a bowl with a fork. Then add a tablespoon of honey and mix it in, mashing well as you go. The honey will help the face-pack stick together better. Once you’ve done this, it’s just a case of applying it to your face and then leaving it on for several minutes before washing it off, probably
Cheap And Cheerful Banana Face-Pack
Bananas are often derided on blogs and internet forums as being the least healthy fruit. This is because of their unusually high sugar content. But it turns out that bananas are actually good for the skin, especially when applied topically.
Why? It’s not the potassium. In fact, it’s thanks to the high level of B-vitamins in bananas that make it so good for the skin. Folate, B6, and others are associated with skin elasticity – the ability of the skin to bounce back to its original shape when tugged or pinched. And these same vitamins are also associated with free radical scavenging, meaning less fat oxidation and damage to the skin.
The great thing about this face-pack, like the avocado pack, is that you don’t need a blender or any equipment. Just mash up the banana with some honey and lemon juice to make a thick, sludgy paste. Then apply it to problem areas. You should be left with stunning, glowing skin that shines from the inside out.
Fresh Tomato And Basil Face-Pack
The great thing about a tomato face-pack is that you can probably make it entirely from scratch. All you need is a tomato plant in your garden and some fresh basil, and you’re well on your way.
The scientific literature is increasingly discovering that tomatoes are something of a miracle food. They appear to be able to delay and sometimes reverse signs of skin aging. And they contain potent compounds, like lutein, which have been shown to have a whole range of health benefits.
It makes sense, therefore, to apply tomato directly onto skin cells themselves. Put the tomato, basil and some oats in a blender and whizz them up into a paste. Then apply the paste, leaving it on your skin for 10 minutes.
