Clay has been used for centuries to beautify skin so  I ordered the Aztec Indian Healing Clay, a Bentonite clay, from Amazon for $5. The healing clay absorbs impurities while the apple cider vinegar is a great natural toner and antiseptic, balances the skin's pH and dries any blemishes. Unfiltered Apple cider vinegar  contains natural alpha-hydroxy acids that, over time, aid in stimulating your skin to gently exfoliate. It works at the cellular level by encouraging cells to slough off on their own.  The mix will fizz a little when you add the apple cider vinegar. As the mask starts to dry on your skin, you will start to feel your skin tighten. The apple cider vinegar will temporarily cause your skin to be red temporarily after the mask is removed.  If you make too much, simply store any excess in the fridge for up to a week. The next day your skin will be much clearer and soft. This can be done weekly for a deep pore cleansing treatment.

Ingredients:

2 tsp of Indian Healing Clay 

1 TB Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar 

Mask brush 

1. In a glass bowl, mix the clay with the apple cider vinegar until you have a smooth mask consistency. If it is too runny add more clay.  
2. Apply to skin and leave on for 15 minutes.
3. Rinse off with warm water. I use a sea sponge to first wet my skin to make it easier to remove. 
4. Follow up with a moisturizer.

With Valentine's Day upon us I thought I'd show you a delicious chocolate mask I tried. This mask smells amazing, like you're baking chocolate cupcakes in your kitchen. And it makes your skin feel so soft, plus its edible so you could lick it off. I love pampering myself with DIY masks and this is the most decadent one I've made. It's made with three simple ingredients I already had in my kitchen. It's perfect for winter's dry skin as the honey is incredibly moisturizing. Don't worry it won't break you out, honey acts as a antibacterial to help disinfect your skin if you have acne. I used pure cocoa to get all of the antioxidants to help clear skin and keep it hydrated. Coconut oil is an amazing product to put on your skin, it's an antiseptic and helps fight wrinkles.

Ingredients:

• 2 TB of raw cocoa or dark chocolate
• 1 TB raw honey
• 1½ TB virgin coconut oil

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together and apply to your skin. Leave on for 20 minutes. Remove with water and apply your moisturizer.

If you're looking for a great dish for brunch this weekend, try my Valentine's Healthy Breakfast option. Here's how I spent Valentine's Day last year.

I hope you've been enjoying your 3-day weekend, my was filled with yoga, birthday parties and brunches. A long weekend is the perfect time to do a face mask. Matcha powder is loaded with antioxidants to nourish your skin and protect against sun damage and it is also gently cooling and anti-inflammatory. I make banana smoothies with it, drink green tea lattes and now my love of matcha continues with this rejuvenating mask. Matcha basically means finely grounded green tea leaves, you can tell the quality of your matcha by how radiantly emerald green it is. I bought this high quality matcha powder from amazon for $22.

You can make this mask by simply adding water to the powder, but you can take it to the next level by adding one or any of these ingredients: virgin coconut oil, raw honey, aloe vera juice, baking soda and jojoba oil. You can expect this mask to smell amazing!

Coconut oil is an anti-inflammatory too, it's a great moisturizer, and it has natural anti-bacterial properties that will help keep your skin clear and fight aging. Honey, jojoba oil and aloe vera juice are all amazing natural moisturizers for your skin. Baking soda is a natural skin scrub that will exfoliate your skin when you remove the mask. The matcha will stimulate your dead skin cells and fight bacteria (if you're prone to breakouts).

Ingredients:

• ¼ tsp Matcha Green Tea Powder
• 1 TB of baking soda
• 1 tsp of virgin coconut oil

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and apply to your skin. Leave on for 15 minutes and remove with a warm washcloth and water. Follow up with a moisturizer.

I had some leftover fresh pumpkin puree in my fridge so I decided to do a pumpkin facial mask.  Pumpkin is full of antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E, and retinoic acid, which acts as an exfoliant. They're great for those with acne or oily skin. Honey helps with acne treatment by removing impurities from pores. Milk exfoliates, due to lactic acid, and also soothes and hydrates skin. Cinnamon is an antiseptic which will help reduce the bacteria on the surface of your skin to aid in the prevention of pimples and even help dry out existing pimples. It also stimulates and revitalizes the skin by drawing blood, oxygen and nutrients to the surface of your skin, leaving your skin healthy & glowing. Surprisingly the mask didn't drip off my face and I could walk around and multitask while I waited to take it off. If there's any extra mixture left in your bowl you can eat it! Just a warning the cinnamon will make your skin tingle. 

Ingredients:
2 tsp of pureed pumpkin
½ tsp of honey
½ tsp of milk (skim or almond)
¼ tsp of cinnamon (makes it smell delicious)

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Apply the mask evenly all over your face with the back of a spoon
3. Leave on for 15 minutes and then remove with a warm washcloth
4. Follow up with a moisturizer

Alright so Operation Camp Gorgeous is in full effect! I think this pic of me in my facial mask will be the hottest thing you see all day, I kid, I kid!!!! hahahaha!
I'm really into natural remedies so I started using tea tree oil for the occasional breakout, it's a great antiseptic. I even tried the Oil Cleansing method to clean my face, the idea behind it is oil dissolves oil.  So I washed my face with a mixture of olive oil and castrol oil, crazy huh? lol It works because oil does not cause oily skin, oily skin is result of hormones and trapped bacteria. When your skin's natural oils are removed it compensates by creating more oil.

I didn't last too long with the Oil Cleansing method because it was too labor intensive. First I had to keep my oil mixture in a small bowl on my bathroom sink which I like to keep completely empty for aesthetic reasons. I looked into pouring it into a bottle but you know me I couldn't just do that with out designing and printing out my own label! lol Then I thought this is way too work for a bottle only I will see so that idea got scrapped. Plus you remove the oil with a hot washcloth to steam your face, so it just became too much of a hassle for me. Then I researched it some more and found a blog saying don't use olive oil or castrol, instead use 5 other oils, well if that's the case I might as well just drop money on a prepackaged mix from Bobbi Brown. I'm too lazy to play scientist mixing multiple oils to find the right mix for me. lol If I wasn't I would be making my own thyme toner and tumeric masks. But if you're not, I wanted to share some other methods you might not have heard of.