End Of Summer Beauty. Part I: Green DIY Mask [DIY Quest #5]

Freckles gone wild, hyperpigmentation and sun damage, irritated skin from all the summer parties? I love saying Goodbye to summer (without looking back in anger) with this inexpensive, simple DIY skin mask.

THIS TREATMENT IS THE FIRST STEP OF MY SUMMER-into-AUTUMN-TRANSITION SKIN CARE ROUTINE.
MORE ON PREVENTING YOUR SKIN FROM GETTING DRY + MY AUTUMNAL MAKE-UP FAVOURITES in:
End of Summer Beauty Part II

As summer leaves and the beach tan slowly follows, all those sun-induced irritations stay.
Plus: our skin gets a little dry, as if to make matters worse. The phytoactive components in today’s DIY skin treatment recipe help:
+ Reduce blemishes and inflammations
+ Regulate sebum
+ Reduce discolourations or hyperpigmentations = even out the skin tone
+ Detox and soften your skin

Alchemy Lab: Parsley

PARSLEY is actually the hero ingredient here.
It has many health benefits (and you can add it to virtually anything, smoothies, salads, stews, soups…) being particularly rich in vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A and betacarotene, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc. It also contains folic acid, lycopene, forther vitamins and trace minerals as well as essential oils.
[Large amounts of parsley are NOT recommended for pregnant women.]
But now, on to our…

DIY Botanical Detox Mask to even out skin tone
(Bonus: fights undereye circles & puffiness) 

You will need (preferably organic):
20 grams of fresh parsley, 2 teaspoons each of: flax/lin seed oil, pumpkin seed oil, vegan yogurt (with yogurt cultures), potato starch, a clean small mason jar to store what you won’t need with the first application AND a hand-held blender. A Vitamix or a similar blender will process the parsley too heavily, you need some texture in the final product, not a smoothie. Though technically, well, you could drink that too.HOW TO: Simply mush it all together, it should take you under 2 minutes to wash the parsley, measure the oils, yogurt and starch, and finally blend the mixture. The mask has a pleasant, leafy-green smell that guys will love too. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, not longer.APPLICATION: Apply to your skin where needed: face or just face areas (like nose and forehead with my redhead friends), hands, neck, shoulders… I tend to treat my entire face, neck and the back of my hands to fight sun damage and pigmentation problems. Parsley helps even out skin tone softly, while flax and pumpkin seed oil fight inflammations and leave skin really supple, soft, and hydrated. I usually let the mask do its magic for 10-15 minutes, then carefully take it off with a wet paper towel. For a thorough skin treatment, I repeat this daily for 7-10 days, mostly in the morning. This mask leaves my skin feeling incredibly silky, smooth and hydrated, but I do apply a day cream after.EYE AREA APPLICATION: The mask is suuuuuper soft, the ingredients are normally not known as allergens, and I even apply it all around my lips and my eyes to no side effect. However, since the mask tends to dry down a bit, you’ll need a simpler removal procedure on oyur sensitive eye area!

To do just that that, I use my Muji undereye patches (you can also divide one cotton pad into two thinner pads), soak the patches or pads in the liquid and put the pads onto closed eyes. So much easier to lift off!
Here the mask helps reduce puffiness and dark undereye circles, those you get from too little sleep. [Undereye circles don’t have to but can be a symptom of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, or nephritic problems, so it’s definitely something worth a medical consultation.]

ALLERGIES? IRRITATIONS? By design, it should be completely safe but as always, it’s important to do a skin patch test if you’re not sure – because anyone can be allergic or reactive to anything. Oh, by the way, the mask will seem to paint your skin a bright green, but no worries, it’s only while it sits there. When you remove the mask, there will be no remaining discolourations. (Or you’ve probably picked some parsley from Springfield!)