With lockdown a reality, your regular beauty salon treatments are a thing of the past (for now). For those of us who are still battling peeling nail varnish, spot breakouts, roots so long that we can’t decide if we are blonde or brunette anymore, there is hope in the name of Do It Yourself Beauty treatments to keep you going. Beauty treatments might not be top of your priorities right now, but if looking after yourself is good for your skin and your soul, our Beauty PR Team take a look at the big DIY beauty trends you can try at home during self-isolation to give yourself a little TLC.
Break Out
Like most of us, your skin is probably breaking out in spots; stress, junk food and alcohol can all have an impact on our skin and let’s face it, you probably tick all three right now. Cut down on the sugar, fat and the alcohol and increase your water intake, fruit and vegetables. For direct DIY spot treatment, a dab of tea tree oil or witch hazel can take down the inflammation. Moisturising with aloe vera can soothe your skin’s inflammation (taking it as a supplement is another option, check out our health and wellness supplement client, Aloeride).
Face The Future
OK, so it might not be able to compete with your professional salon facial, but a homemade face mask could be just the quick feed fix that your skin needs right now. Our favourite DIY beauty face mask find is an avocado, honey and cocoa face mask recipe, combining hydrating, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties for your skin. It’s a great way to use up that overripe avocado and utilise your jar of cocoa powder and honey in the kitchen cupboard. All you need to do for this DIY beauty hack is mash up a quarter of the avocado in a clean bowl, stir in one tablespoon of cocoa powder, add a tablespoon of honey and mix well. Apply immediately to your clean, dry skin and relax and let the facemask do it’s magic for ten minutes. Wash off with warm water, then moisturise.
Another DIY beauty face mask reuses your any leftover bedtime chamomile tea. All you need to add to this homemade beauty treatment is a tablespoon of raw honey and a teaspoon of nutritional yeast. Mix the nutritional yeast and honey together in a bowl, then add a dash of your chamomile tea. Blend and mix so that the consistency becomes smooth enough to spread. Apply a thin layer over your clean and dry face and leave for 20 minutes. Wash off and pat dry then moisturise. Honey is a natural antibacterial, and the yeast is rich in b-vitamins which help calm the skin, and chamomile tea has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties for the skin.
Just The Tonic
Looking for a moisturising toner? We have just the ‘tonic’ *groan.
All you need for this super-hydrating toner is two tablespoons of cranberry juice, two tablespoons of rosewater or lavender and 1/2 cup of witch hazel. Mix up and add to a spray bottle and spritz your skin to happiness. Let the homemade beauty mixture rest on your skin and dry before moisturising. If you store it in the fridge, it can last 2 – 4 weeks.
DIY beauty is a spritz!
You Should CoCo
Running low on your designer moisturiser? If you have coconut oil and vitamin E capsules at home, you’re only a few steps away from a super skin feed that will moisturise and help protect your skin against harmful bacteria. Take one cup of extra virgin coconut oil (yes, we know it looks all lumpy – but bear with us) add to a small mixing bowl. Add in one teaspoon of your Vitamin E Oil (make a small incision in your capsules and squeeze out all the goodness into your mix). With a hand mixer, start to whisk the contents. You’ll begin to see the lumps disappearing and beautiful light smooth texture replacing it. Add a couple of drops of essential oil or leave plain and decant into a screw fix pot.
Hair Raising
Give your damaged hair a DIY beauty and rejuvenating home treatment with this simple recipe for lush locks. Add one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with two tablespoons of olive oil and three egg whites (you can use the eggs to make mayo, put them on toast or make a homemade custard!) Rub the mixture in your hair and cover for half an hour. Shampoo and rinse and leave to dry naturally.
Overly ripe bananas are great for cooking with, however, if there are any going spare, how about a boosting hair conditioning mask? Bananas contain silica, which helps your body to synthesise collagen and could help support your hair and possibly help calm any frizz. Bananas also contain properties which can help heal flaky, dry scalps too. Take a tablespoon of coconut oil and 1 – 2 overripe bananas. Peel the bananas and squish the banana in your hands and put in a mixing bowl and blend with the coconut oil. Keep mixing until the consistency is even and then apply the hair mask to your hair. Working the product into your scalp. Pop on a showercap, leave for 10 -15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly.
Hands Up
Consistent handwashing can leave your hands feeling dry, sore and cracked. All you need for a super soothing, non-greasy hand cream recipe are shea butter and aloe vera gel (Aloeride can be mixed into a paste for this one) and grapeseed oil, which is high in vitamin E.
Mix up 1/2 cup of shea butter with two tablespoons of grapeseed oil (or sweet almond or jojoba). Add in slowly, your 1/4 cup of aloe vera gel or one sachet of Aloeride. Continue to blend with your mixer and add in any essential oils if you wish. Scoop the lotion into an airtight jar and store in the fridge for a cooling, soothing treat for dehydrated hands.
Scrub Up Well
This body scrub recipe takes honey, a dash of sage, granulated sugar, olive oil and oats and creates a natural antiseptic body scrub that hydrates and removes dead skin cells. Mix 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of rolled oats, 1/4 cup of olive oil, one tablespoon of dried sage leaves and one tablespoon of honey together into a non-shatter bowl and massage over wet skin in the shower. Rinse off your DIY beauty scrub to reveal silky, smooth glowing skin.
And finally, four good things about a beauty lockdown;
- If you always feel you ‘need to wear’ make-up for work, let your skin have a breather. Ditch the make-up bag and just apply sun factor for your daily exercise.
- You can use up some of those fresh ingredients that are going mushy for a beauty boost instead of the bin.
- You can give your hair a break from colouring, blow-drying, curling, straightening etc.
- When you do return to your everyday beauty luxury treatments, you’ll be prepped for pampering!
*We recommend doing a patch test on your skin before full application. Choose organic ingredients where possible.
