This natural recipe is great to cleanse skin without irritating it. It’s a fun and inexpensive way to treat yourself right at home. This recipe can be used as a scrub to exfoliate your skin, or you can use gauze to make a facial mask. It will leave your skin feeling soft with a dewy and natural glow. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of ground or finely chopped oats

1-2 Tbsp. of honey

enough hot water to make a paste

Directions:

• Mix the ground oats in a bowl with hot water.
• Drop in the Tbsp of honey after about a minute, and blend it well to the mixture. You want to create a paste that’s easy to slather on your face.
• If you’ll be using it as a scrub, use circular motions to massage the oatmeal paste on your skin. Massage for about 3-5 minutes and wash off with warm water.
• For extra moisture use this mixture as a mask. Cleanse your face with soap and water, and dry it off.  Cut holes on a gauze for your eyes, nostrils, and mouth. Apply the paste on your face without getting it near your eyes or lips, and place the gauze over it. Gently press the gauze down. Leave it on for 15 minutes, and remove the paste with warm water.

Your skin should feel deliciously soft after this simple and hydrating recipe! The ingredients are very affordable and might already be in your kitchen, and the preparation steps are quick and simple. Why spend a lot of money at a spa, when you can make your own face mask right at home?! This recipe is also great around wintertime, when skin tends to get dry and chapped.

Hope you liked it, and if you tried it share your thoughts below!

The following is a list of items needed to achieve a soothing pedicure.

-2 plastic rectangular containers/ foot spa

-water

-sea salt

-lavender or rosemary oil (optional)

-one lemon

-massage stones (optional)

-foot scrub

-antibacterial moisturizing soap

-pumice stone

-4 small towels

-toenail clipper

-toenail file

-cuticle pusher

-orangewood stick

-cotton

-nail polish remover

-cuticle oil

-massage lotion

-foot lotion

-nail polish

-base & top coat

-small bag for trash

Step 1.

Bath Mats by Marcus Collection
Bubble Bath & Bath Oil by Herbacin

Fill plastic containers up with warm water and stir in 2-3 tbsp. of sea salt and oils in each one. Squeeze half a lemon into each container.Soak two towels in hot (not scalding you don’t want to burn yourself) water, wring out excess water, and roll them up so they are ready when needed. Remove any nail polish, sit down in a comfortable area and place both feet in containers. Let your feet soak for 2-5 minutes.

*Pro-Tip: If you’re using plastic containers instead of a foot spa, keep warm water or a sink near to keep the water clean each time you dip your feet back in.

Step 2

Soap by Smallflower
Foot & Leg Treatments by Burt’s Bees

Use soap and foot scrub to cleanse feet and remove dead skin. Take one foot out of the containers and use one of the warm towels to dry and massage foot. Place towel on floor and use it to prevent your foot from touching the floor. Cut toenails to desired length and use a file to shape evenly. use cuticle oil and around cuticles and the cuticle pusher to push down growing cuticles. Wrap a bit of cotton around an orangewood stick and use it to remove dirt or debris around toenail and under free edge. Use pumice stone to smooth down rough feet. Rub massage lotion between palms of your hands and rub over foot. Use knuckles and palms to massage arch and bottom of foot. Add more lotion if needed and massage toes with fingertips and gently tug at each toe in circular motions. Keep massaging foot, ankle and calf as long as you’d like. Throw away garbage in bag and empty old water to replace with new. Place massage stones at bottom of container and add oil for a soothing soak.

*Pro-Tip: Avoid using a cuticle cutter to prevent cuts, infections or inflammation.

Step 3

Nail Polish by NARS
Nail Polish by Butter London

Repeat step 2 on opposite foot. Once complete take the first foot out of the water and use a dry towel to fully dry foot. Take your favorite moisturizing foot lotion, rub a quarter size amount between palms and massage over dry foot. Use base coat, your favorite color of nail polish, seal it with a top coat. Repeat process on opposite foot, sit back and relax till they dry:)

*Pro-Tip: Always using a base coat is a good idea. It prevents polish from staining natural nails, and top coat protects the color and helps delay chipping. Make sure to clean all tools & foot spa/containers after use.

Dry skin happens for various reasons including genetics, diet, vitamin deficiencies, skin conditions and most often environmental factors.

Around winter, temperatures drop, the air is dryer, and winds are harsh. All these factors can irritate your skin making it dry and sometimes peel or even crack.

Here’s a few things you can do to prevent and treat dry skin.

This ones hard to avoid but even cutting down helps.

Tap water has many chemicals that can be tough on your skin. try limiting the amount of times you use tap water esecially on your face. Also remember to use lukewarm water rather than hot since hot water takes moisture from your skin.
moisturize daily!

Normal everyday activities and weather conditions affect skins natural moisture level so it’s very important to replenish lost moisture. look for creamy but light moisturizers so they won’t leave your skin looking greasy. one of my favorite body lotions is Vaseline Intensive Care Cocoa Butter Deep Conditioning Body Lotion ($7.99 local drugstores).
Use creamy bodywashes rather than using a bar soap since they can strip your skin of natural oils and dry it out.

There’s a vast amount of body washes promising to leave skin silky but everybody is different so it’s a good idea to test out different ones and see which one quenches your skin better. I prefer bodywashes that are infused with oils and have Shea butter, aloe vera or other natural moisture enhancing ingredients.
Exfoliate to remove dead cells and flaky skin.

Limit exfoliation to twice a week maximum, or once weekly or bi-weekly depending on how sensitive your skin is. over doing it can cause skin irritation and dryness.
Take vitamins.

They help maintain your body from the inside out. Omega 3 fish oil pills (sounds bad, it’s not) are excellent for dry skin.
Don’t forget about your lips, hands and feet.

Use lip balm to prevent chapped lips. One that works for me is Burt’s Bees Lip Balm ($4.99 local drugstores) or for very chapped lips try Carmex tube ($1.69 local drugstores). Avoid licking your lips and don’t over do it with the lip balm since too much can make chapped lips worse. to keep hands soft use a hand salve. try Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve ($12.50 at kiehls.com). A good fix for very dry hands/ feet is to apply a thick lotion or Vaseline before going to bed and wear gloves/socks so moisture is sealed in.

photo credit: Victor Bezrukov

Here’s an all natural homemade facial recipe for extra dry skin.

It’s used as a mask and recommended once a week to help heal dry skin.
you’ll need:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. of honey
• 1 tsp. of olive oil

application: mix ingredients and apply over face. leave on for about 15 mins remove with lukewarm water.
Try it out and let me know what you think! or share any recipes or tips you have to battle crocodile skin around the holidays!

photo credit: Tom@HK