Special Home Made Treats For Your Skin

Do you want a flawless, glowing skin without spending so much money on expensive beauty treatments, serums and cosmetics?

All you need is a few minutes and a handful of everyday ingredients sitting somewhere in your kitchen.

There exist so many homemade beauty/skin-care treatments guaranteed to give you outstanding results.

Their natural ingredients offer tons of beautifying vitamins and antioxidants without subjecting your skin to irritating chemicals, fragrances, and preservatives.

You can custom-blend these ingredients to suit your skin type or needs.

They also smell good and feel wonderful on the skin.

Here are a few of these nature's beauty wonders:

BANANA AND MILK MASK: A tightening and beautifying mask that will smoothen and firm up your face giving you a vibrant and youthful look. You can also use them when your skin is looking dull and tired. Constant use of this mask helps to reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

• Mash half of a ripe banana with 1tsp of full cream milk.

• Carefully pat mixture on face and neck.

• Leave on for 15 minutes.

• Rinse it off with warm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

EGG AND HONEY MASK: A nourishing and tightening mask that will smoothen and brighten up your skin.

• Mix 1 egg (white for oily skin, yolk for dry skin) and 1tsp of honey together.

• Apply mixture on face and neck.

• Leave on for about 15 to 20 minutes.

• Rinse it off with warm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

APPLE AND HONEY MASK: A clarifying and lightening mask that will soften and brighten your skin instantly.

• Peel, grate and extract the juice of 1 medium sized green apple.

• Mix with 2tsp of honey.

• Using a cotton pad, apply on face and neck avoiding the eye area.

• Leave on for about 15 minutes.

• Rinse it off with lukewarm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

CUCUMBER AND LEMON: A clarifying and exfoliating mask. It can be applied on areas that appear darker on the skin like the underarms, knees, elbows, feet, buttocks. It is also be effective for those with oily and acne-prone skin.

• For oily skin, mix equal amounts of cucumber and lemon juice together. For normal skin, you can add some glycerine.

• Apply on skin.

• Leave on for about 10 minutes for normal skin and 15 minutes for oily skin.

• Rinse it off with lukewarm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

• If used during the day, apply a cream with SPF or a sunscreen afterwards.

WATERMELON MASK
A refreshing and anti-aging mask suitable for all skin types. It can also be used as a treatment to soothe and heal sun-burn.

• Extract water melon juice.

• Dab gently into face, neck and other areas constantly exposed to the sun.

• Leave on for 15 to 30 minutes.

• Rinse it off with lukewarm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

AVOCADO MASK: A moisturizing face mask that gives instant glow. It is partially rewarding for dry skin.

• Cut out the flesh of a small ripe avocado and mash.

• Apply on face and neck.

• Leave on for as long as you want.

• Rinse it off with warm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

COFFEE MASK AND COCOA MASK: A brightening and revitalizing mask. It is especially useful in decreasing puffiness around the eyes.

• Mix 3tsp of ground coffee, 3tsp of pure cocoa powder and 4tsp of olive oil together.

• Add 2tsp of honey (for dry skin) or lemon juice (for oily skin).

• Carefully pat mixture on face and neck.

• Leave on till mask dries.

• Rinse it off with lukewarm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

• Any left over can be massaged onto the bum to reduce the appearance of cellulite.

Natural home remedies can work wonders for both your skin and your psyche, cost next to nothing and don't require an appointment, numerous investigations or complicated surgeries, they are there within your reach.

Learn the necessary tips for a perfect at-home skin treatment, start your custom-made beauty therapy today, and watch your skin glow with pride.

Enjoy the pampering!

The Health Benefits of Natural Honey

“Everybody loves honey”, that what my folks say. I guess we all just enjoy the magic in the taste of that sweet sticky golden yellow liquid from the bees’ bosom.

However, more than the sweetness is the numerous benefits of this liquid. Honey has been known for thousands of years by the Chinese, Indian, Romans, Arabs, just about everybody, as the cure for all ailments known to man. The nutritional and medicinal properties of honey have even made some called it the “Elixir”.

However, we are not dwelling on all the benefits of honey in the post, just the health benefits and you bet, it has a whole lot of it. The health uses of honey are even so widespread that a name was given to treatment with natural honey - Apitherapy.

The health benefits of honey are broadly categorised into the following headings:

Allergies: Studies have shown pollens collected by bees to exert an anti allergenic effect, mediated by an inhibition of IgE immunoglobulin binding to mast cells. This inhibited mast cell degranulation and thus reduce allergic reaction.

Wounds Healing:  Honey has been successfully used to treat diabetic ulcers and extensive burns, when the patient cannot use topical antibiotics. This has been attributed to the antibacterial properties of honey which results for the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, high acidity, and the bacterial activity of methylglyoxal. Honey has also been known to reduce odours, swelling, and scaring when used to treat wound. It also make wound dressings come off easily by preventing the dressing from sticking to the wound. This has also be linked to the mild anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of honey.

Antioxidants: Honey contains polyphenols and flavonoids which have antioxidant properties. These nutrients are found I reasonable amount in honey making them extremely useful in mopping up free radicals.

However, the antioxidant properties of honey vary from one honey type to the other. For example, Millefiori honey and Manuka honey are particularly high in polyphenols and flavonoids, thus have high antioxidant activity. Dark, opaque honeys have also been proven to have stronger antioxidant activity than clear, light ones.

This antioxidant property made them to be of immense benefit in protection against free-radical-caused problems like ageing, cardiovascular diseases, cataract and cancer.

Antibiotics: This is about the oldest known property of honey, it’s the use for which it has been put to for thousands of years.

Honey inhibits the growth of many different types of bacteria, making it useful in treating bacterial infections. It is also used topical to prevent bacterial infection of wounds, thus accelarating healing.

Honey, especially Manuka Honey, have also been proven to be effective against resistant strains of bacteria such as MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).

Besides these health benefits of honey, it is also well documented that honey is effective against fungal and viral infections.

However, before you gob down the next bottle of honey, it may be worth the while to ask yourself these two questions: Is honey good for me? And is this the real honey?