Adventures In Beauty - The Facial Meltdown

This broke girl is on the hunt for inexpensive, DIY spa treatments that can be done at home for just a few dollars. I have been trying out different facials, pedicures, nail polish colors and painting techniques, etc. I am honestly having a blast discovering what I can do and watching to see how things turn out. It's like I am my own science experiment.

The treatments I bring to you come from all over. I search Google, Pinterest and magazines like Cosmopolitan and Redbook. I find the ones that look interesting, easy, inexpensive and beneficial. You can always follow me on Pinterest to see all my findings, but here on my blog you'll see me go through the process of each treatment and get my honest reviews. Which is what I'm bringing you today.

I found something called The Miracle Mask. Said to be calming and soothing for stressed out skin. It has three ingredients.

Honey

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

They say the honey and nutmeg act as anti-inflammatories and are great for acne scars and preventing infection. In addition, the nutmeg and honey exfoliates your skin when you wash everything off. Even so, I decided to begin by cleaning my face with some exfoliating wipes. I had been wearing sunscreen earlier in the day so it seemed like a good idea to get as clean and fresh as possible before I began. 

Sexy and I know it

What you need is 2 Tbsp of honey, 1 Tsp of cinnamon and 1 Tsp of nutmeg.

Trying to keep these facials as inexpensive as possible. Value brands in the house!

Easiest way to get 1tsp out of a shaker bottle. Take the lid off.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. It "should" be the consistency of a thick paste. Mine was very thick, but very wet and runny. Before you go wild applying this on your face, they do recommend you try a bit out on your skin to make sure you are not allergic to anything in it and don't have a reaction. I have never been allergic to a food product in my life so I just skipped that part. But I do not recommend that you do the same. Better safe than sorry. They recommend testing it out on the inside of your wrist.

My thick yet creamy mixture.

My daughters reaction to the look of the facial mix.

 When you've got your facial mix ready, apply the mask to your face and let it sit for thirty minutes. Then wash it off with warm water, scrubbing softly in a circular motion for exfoliation.

Here goes nothing.

A minute later, I look like Al Jolson. ("Mammy!")

Why is it so wet?

With the amount the mixture made, I had enough left in the bowl to persuade my mother to come in the bathroom and try this on her face as well.

There's a whole lot of hotness going on in this house tonight. 

Now here comes the "Brandy" part of this facial. I've got it on for about three minutes when I notice that it feels really wet and heavy. I think it must be so hot in the bathroom that I'm getting sweaty and it's causing the mask to run. But that's not it. I went out and sat in a cool room near an air conditioner, but still this facial kept getting runnier. I started to feel it getting dangerously low on my face. I could feel it slooooowly creeping onto my lips. I got a little panicky when I felt it coming down close to my eyes. Then it started dripping off my nose. Oh my goodness. What the hell did I do wrong? This mask is a drippy hot mess! I had to keep grabbing tissues and dabbing them on random parts of my face to catch the runaway mask.

Now, besides the fact that my mask was melting off of my face and onto my clothes and random furniture, I started to feel a little tingly. It felt like the glands in my neck were swelling up and my throat was closing eeeeever so slightly. Holy schnitzel. Am I allergic to nutmeg? Certainly it can't be the honey. I've been using that a lot lately in the honey and aspirin facial routine, and I've eaten it before. It can't be the cinnamon because I've had that before in cookie recipes and other random menu items. I cannot, however, recall if I have ever partaken in nutmeg. A lifetime of picky eatery would lead me to believe that no, I have not tried nutmeg before. Now my lips start to tingle. A lot. It makes sense. The mask has been constantly dripping onto them for the past fifteen minutes. Oh man. WHY didn't I try the allergy test first?? And why on earth is my mask so runny? I followed the instructions and measurements. And yet, my mask paste looks nothing like the consistency I saw with the article that first presented this "miracle mask" to me. Theirs looks like this....

What the hell? Theirs looks nice and thick and paste-like. Mine looks like barbecue sauce!

OMGWHTBBQ

So the thirty minutes is up and I am really thankful that I am wearing a v-neck shirt as it allows more room for my head to wiggle out of without getting any more of this mask on my clothes. I jump in the shower, face tingling, and start to wash this defective mask off my person. I take my time and use a washcloth in order to really take advantage of the exfoliating factor in it. For a while after, my lips are still tingling and my face feels smooth, if not gummy. The honey masks always have a strange after-feeling. But honestly it doesn't last that long and for all the craziness I've been putting my face through, it actually seems to be improving. Since I started all this madness about a week ago, my face has felt smoother and looked a little better. There are still some left over blemishes that I had when I started out. But Rome wasn't built in a day. I'm happy for the improvements in my skin that I have seen so far. The jury is still out on whether or not I'm allergic to some component in this mask, or if I was just imagining the effects. I MIGHT attempt this mask once more, if only to see if I can get the consistency right, and if I have another minor reaction. But if it doesn't get any better, I will be retiring this recipe.