Homemade Exfoliating Face Mask

With winter almost upon us and dry skin around the corner, I like to scrub away the dry, dull skin I've accumulated before it starts to get WAY worse. I seem to have piled up a lot of moisturising face masks or extremely effective face scrubs, but don't seem to have anything in the middle. A gentle exfoliator with a bit of moisturising properties. My skin gets more sensitive in winter so I thought I'd look to the kitchen cupboards for something gentle that would still both exfoliate and moisturise. And this is what I came up with. (Before trying any homemade remedy you should always do a spot check on your neck or hand to make sure you don't have any nasty reactions or allergies).

You will need:
Clean fluffy towel
Head band
Half a banana
Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1/2 cup of Sugar (brown or white)
1/2 cup of Baking Soda

Bananas are an excellent choice for skincare, they are bursting with vitamins and potassium and are claimed to be excellent for moisturising, anti-aging, treating acne and even to brighten dull skin and dark spots. I will note for oilier or acne prone skin, you might want to add lemon juice instead of olive oil.

This is really so quick and simple to do.

• Firstly tie back your hair and secure with a headband, I have this red spotty one from Topshop that I use whenever I apply fake tan or face masks. make sure your face is freshly cleansed and free of all makeup.
• Next wash your hands, you don't want to transfer any bugs you might have picked up onto your face.
• Mash the ingredients together in a bowl, If you want something a bit less gentle and more of a scrub use the brown sugar, I opted for white. 
• Wash your hands again and apply the face mask/scrub onto your face and massage in upwards circular motions.
• Leave to set for 5-10 minutes, chill out and catch up on Bloglovin or just rest with some damp cool cotton pads over your eyes.
• The mask will harden and set onto your skin, once ready wash off with tepid water and a washcloth and remember to use a toner to get rid of any excess residue. Then follow with your usual moisturiser. All done!

My skin felt a little tight (nothing excessive) after using this mask, but after toning and moisturising my skin felt soft and smooth. I initially wanted to use strawberry's in place of the banana but they had all been eaten! I think they might be a nice alternative, especially as I know a lot of people don't like the smell of bananas. Strawberry's are full of natural acids and are said to be excellent exfoliators, the seeds are a bonus!

Ok so lets be honest, this isn't the greatest exfoliating face mask in the world, and I will definitely be on the hunt for the gap in my skincare products, but at least I know if worst comes to the worst I can turn to my kitchen cupboards to sort something out for my skin!

I used ingredients that I already had in my kitchen cupboards and it was a really quick, simple and gentle exfoliating mask to make. Have you used any homemade beauty or skincare products? Will you be giving this one a try?