Women Skin Care & Beauty Blog

Do you pamper your skin regularly? If not, you need to start doing so immediately. Simply following a basic skincare regime is not enough. Cleansing, toning and moisturizing everyday is not sufficient to remove finer dirt particles from your skin. You need to occasionally pamper your skin in order to rejuvenate and beautify it. And can feel really energizing too! Using face masks is one of the best ways in which you can pamper your skin.

Masks accentuate the effect of cleansing, toning and moisturizing. Face masks are generally a part of all facial treatments given in salons and spas. However you can create your own recipes for masks with the aid of some natural products. They are easy to prepare and usually do not have adverse effects on your skin. This is because masks made up of herbal ingredients and devoid of synthetic chemicals cannot trigger any skin problems usually.

Good skin is common, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to have superior skin. Face masks can help you get just that. Here are some of the most popular facial mask recipes which you surely need to try:

Nourish mask: avocado-banana mask

Ingredients

• Half an avocado
• Half a banana
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp of unflavored full-fat yogurt.

How to prepare and use?

Mash all the ingredients together and mix well. Apply the concoction on your face and neck. Keep it for 20 min and then rinse it with lukewarm water.

Exfoliate mask: lemon-tomato mask

Ingredients

• 1 tsp of instant oatmeal
• 1 over-ripe tomato
• 1 tsp of lemon juice

How to prepare and use?

Put all ingredients into a blender. Once you obtain the mixture, apply it on your face and neck. Keep it on for 20 minutes, and then wash it off with water.

Tighten mask: peach mask

Ingredients

• 1 ripe peach
• 1 tsp unflavored full-fat yogurt
• 1 egg white

How to prepare and use?

Peel the peach and put it in a container. Add the other ingredients to it and crush them together. Apply this mixture on your face. Keep it on for 30 min and then wash it off with cool water.

Smooth mask: almond-honey mask

Ingredients

• ½ tsp almond oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp yogurt
• 1 egg yolk

How to prepare and use?

Mix all the ingredients together well. Apply this mixture on your face gently. Keep it for 30 min before you wash it off with water.

If you have an oily or sensitive skin, you could also prepare a home-made clay face mask. Ingredients to be used are:

• ½ tsp kaolin clay
• 1 ½ tsp green clay
• 1 tbsp rosewater
• 1 ½ tbsp aloe vera gel
• 2 drops of rose essential oil

Mix the kaolin and green clay. Add rosewater, oil and aloe vera to the mixture. Refrigerate and use the solution for up to 4 weeks. This is a very effective mask for your skin and a must-try!

Now that you know about these great facial mask recipes, make them an integral part of your skin-care regime. The difference will be there for all to see!

No matter how hard you try to avoid them, the signs of aging will show up sooner or later. And the problem is not just restricted to wrinkles and fine lines on your skin, but extends to physiological and psychological changes as well. Despite modern medicine advancing by leaps and bounds, there is still no ‘magic pill’ to prevent the aftermath of aging. Diet can obviously play a very important part in deciding how gracefully you age and whether your health remains intact throughout the aging process. But then is there anything such as an anti-aging diet?

Perhaps there is! Some foods and drinks contain powerful components called phyto-nutrients, which are believed to hold the key to long-life. These are actually anti-oxidants which destroy disease-causing free radicals in your body. You may not be aware but these ‘free radicals’ are oxygen molecules which can hasten the onset of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Other than antioxidants such as these, some other foods also enhance the rate at which you age by causing cellular inflammation. So, an ideal anti-aging diet should consist of foods which are anti-inflammatory and rich in antioxidants.

Therefore such a diet can never include trans-fatty acids, sugars, starches and saturated fats. Ideally you should look at diets comprising of:

• Cold water fishes such as salmon which are rich in omega 3 fatty acids. This acid offers a multitude of health benefits.
• Avocado, which is a great source of monounsaturated fat, which is healthy and helps reduce bad cholesterol from your body. It is also a good source of vitamin E which prevents signs of aging from showing up on your skin in the form of fine lines and wrinkles. Being rich in potassium it also helps you keep blood pressure under check.
• Berries are a great source of antioxidants and phyto-nutrients. All black and blue berries help reduce the number of free radicals in the body.
• Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and sprouts which can significantly reduce the amount of toxins in your body. These are best eaten raw or very mildly-cooked so as to keep the important enzymes intact.
• Nuts, which are not only great sources of minerals but also help you control the levels of cholesterol in your body.
• Wholegrain foods, which provide soluble dietary fibers and also large amounts of phyto-nutrients.
• Yogurt which has probiotic elements. These help in introducing good bacteria to your intestines particularly when you have yogurt with active cultures.
• Whole meal pasta and rice which gives you complex carbs. This helps you stay energetic and beat lethargy, which is a vital sign of aging.
• Soya which helps stabilize estrogen levels after menopause. Unstable estrogen may hasten aging post menopause and fermented Soya products can help you prevent that.
• Lots and lots of water everyday. Provided you are drinking clean water, there is better way to flush out toxins from your body and keep your skin fresh and radiant.

It’s not necessary to have all of these as a part of your diet, but you should definitely try to include as many as possible. Remember that anti-aging diets are simple and effective and there is nothing miraculous about them!