The holidays are an exciting, magical time, but that excitement is easily drowned in the stress that surrounds the most wonderful time of the year. Having to fight crowds at the mall while trying to finish your shopping, or having your out-of-town in-laws stay at your house are typical holiday scenarios, but instead of stressing into oblivion, mentally prepare yourself for the weeks ahead by taking time for yourself and making a holiday-inspired at-home facial--because let's be real, you probably don't have time to book a spa facial right now anyways.
What You'll Need
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup eggnog
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
Why These Ingredients Work
Oatmeal and eggnog are great for face masks because they both work as exfoliants to get rid of any dead skin. Eggnog is also great because the egg/milk combination will simultaneously soften and tighten your skin. The cinnamon, besides giving the mask a great, holiday smell, will help calm any stress-induced acne--cinnamon has natural anti-inflammatory properties that will help calm red skin and clean out your pores. Bonus: if you don't have cinnamon in your pantry, nutmeg has similar properties!
To make the mask, simply combine the ingredients together in a bowl, allowing the oats to absorb some of the eggnog. Once it's thoroughly mixed, apply the mask to you face and relax. After 15 minutes, gently wash the mask off and appreciate the glowing skin that is left behind.
Fall isn’t just about cute scarves and boots. The transition to cooler weather means that it’s time for more than just a wardrobe change; it’s time for a skincare update too.
As the seasons change, the state of our skin also changes, and as the weather transitions, it’s important to take charge of our skin and prepare it for cold winds and temperatures. After summer, where a hot sun and chlorine pools prevail, it’s especially important to use the fall to restore our skin and prepare it for the harsher winter ahead.
Most people know that cold temperatures can severely dry out your skin. What many don’t realize, however, is that refuge isn’t always sought indoors—forced air heating can have an equally drying effect on the skin.
To help your skin make the transition as smoothly as possible, make sure to keep the following tips in mind for combating the effects of the cold weather.
- Apples, cranberries, and pomegranates are full of antioxidants to help fight free radicals.
- Avocados and sweet potatoes are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids and natural oils to deeply moisturize.
- Clementines help eliminate acne-causing bacteria.
- Pumpkin is a natural gentle exfoliant that helps promote cell renewal.
Stress is one of the unavoidable parts of being human. We overwork ourselves at our jobs, take on an extra project or two, and still make time to go out late with our friends. But when we’re stressed and tired, the first place stress takes its toll is on our faces in the form of puffy eyes and red skin, and, if you’re anything like me, that will stress you out even more!
Luckily for us, there are several at-home, DIY solutions available to us that are so easy to do to combat stressed-out skin.