Inside Scoop: Here are the top three picks found in your cupboard to make homemade beauty products that will give your skin that lovely, youthful glow!

This post was submitted by Claire Bullerwell, a beauty blogger at At Home Beauty, a freelance writer and qualified Anti Aging Therapist. 

We all know that there are plenty of skin care products out there to choose from. Yes, some are overpriced for what they do and some you can get at very low-cost and work just as well, if not better than, the expensive products.

However, did you know that you have access to some amazing skin care products right there in your home, or you can easily purchase inexpensively from the supermarket? That’s what homemade beauty is all about!

There are a lot of foodstuff which you can use for skin care, both internally and topically to help your skin in so many different ways.

Here are my top three picks of store cupboard ingredients that you can use to help you get that lovely, youthful glow for your skin.

3 Homemade Beauty Ingredients

Green Tea

Green tea is an amazing little find for skin care for so many reasons.

First of all, green tea is made up of an abundance of antioxidants and bioactive compounds as well as a small number of vitamins and minerals. They each have their own unique job to do when it comes to our health including the health of our skin and our hair.

But for now, I’ll just quickly show you how the compounds in green tea can go a long way to improving your skin:

Protect against UV damage: The main active ingredient with antioxidant properties, EpiGalloCatechin Gallate (EGCG) has been shown to enhance DNA repair resulting from the UV rays of the sun.

Anti-inflammatory: Green tea has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used to help oily skin and prevent the occurrence of acne.

Soothing and hydrating: Green tea is known for its calming and soothing properties for skin irritation, redness and various skin conditions.

Make yourself a quick facemask with this easy recipe.

Whether used topically or by drinking a warm cup, green tea can go a long way in helping your skin look healthy and refreshed at a cellular level.

These are just three small benefits. Green tea has hundreds of active ingredients, that offer health benefits for the entire body, so sip a cup while you’re enjoying your face mask!

Coconut Oil

I think we’ve all heard by now that coconut oil has many benefits and uses, not just for our skin, but it’s also widely used as an overall health and beauty product. 

But let’s get specific. Let’s see exactly how coconut oil can help improve our skin complexion.

Using Coconut Oil Internally:

As we’ve seen above with green tea, you can definitely improve your skin simply by eating and drinking the right foods.

Coconut oil contains healthy fats, and these fatty acids can also improve the moisture content in your skin cells. This in-turn hydrates your skin, especially if you’re prone to dry skin, and helps give you a healthy glow. 

Some uses for ‘eating’ coconut oil:

• Put a teaspoon of coconut oil in your coffee (similar to that of the Bulletproof coffee).
• Put a teaspoon of coconut oil in the blender when making a smoothie.
• Instead of butter, put a teaspoon of oil in a pan to make scrambled eggs.  I personally do this and I love the scrambled egg with that hint of coconut!
• Use coconut oil in curry sauces, either homemade sauces or add to jar sauces before heating.

Using Coconut Oil Externally:

Since you can buy large jars of coconut oil in the supermarket where the oil is hardened, it’s easy to see how you can use it topically.

• Daily Moisturizer. Literally take some straight out of the jar and gently rub it onto your face as a moisturizer.
• Fancy a facial scrub? Mix coconut oil with a tiny amount of sugar to slew off those dead skin cells. Works great as a lip scrub too!
• No makeup remover? Yup, rub some coconut oil on your face and gently wipe off with a warm, wet cloth.
• Dry skin, eczema, psoriasis? Coconut oil has anti-inflammatory properties that have been known to help reduce symptoms (consult your doctor first).

And this is just the tip of the iceberg for all the homemade beauty uses for coconut oil.  But even taking on the four points above, why not consider using coconut oil as part of your skin care routine, either daily or weekly. Check out some DIY beauty recipes here.

Honey

A jar of honey is a staple food in our house as both my husband and son love to drizzle some over their morning cereal.

And it got me thinking how honey can be used as a natural skin care product straight from the jar.  After all, you find honey ingredients in products for lip balms, face masks, shampoos and moisturizing lotions.

So, I did a bit of digging and I found some amazing ways how you can use a jar of honey for your skin care needs.

First of all, you need to buy a jar of raw honey. Raw honey is unprocessed and has all the enzymes, antibacterial properties and antioxidants.

Face Mask: Helps to unclog pores and deeply moisturizes skin.

Wash your face with warm water and dab off the excess water but still leaving your skin slightly damp. Gently rub some raw honey all of your face and leave on for 30 minutes. Wash off with warm water.

Natural Cleanser & Exfoliator: Raw honey is very effective in dissolving makeup and slewing off dead skin cells. 

Mix together some raw honey and coconut oil to make a paste-like solution. Gently rub all over your face, then wipe with a damp cloth.

Acne/Eczema/Psoriasis: Raw honey is packed with components beneficial for your skin, especially if you have acne, eczema or psoriasis. Manuka honey has been studied as an anti-acne product and found to be significantly more effective than other popular products. You can find more raw honey uses here.

So, there you have it. Three inexpensive homemade beauty products that you can easily find in the supermarket and you can use effectively as part of your skin care regimen.

What are your favourite homemade beauty products or recipes? Share them below.

Claire Bullerwell

Claire Bullerwell is a beauty blogger at At Home Beauty, a freelance writer and qualified Anti Aging Therapist. Alongside writing her own blog content, Claire loves to work with bloggers, small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them build their inbound content marketing with high quality blog and content writing.

You can find Claire at LinkedIn and Pinterest.