"Good looking skin starts way before makeup" as Cheryl says in her L'oreal advert for the Skin Perfection Serum (reviewed here). I completely agree and this is hands down the best remedy, natural or otherwise, I've tried to rid dullness in my skin. Even better, in my opinion, than anything I've tried in the mainstream Western drugstore or highend product ranges.
This DIY remedy is really simple. In fact you only need 2 ingredients: fresh Pineapple and Papaya fruits.
Papaya has lots of Vitamin A, an antioxidant, which helps against sun damage and therefore ageing.
Both fruits are rich in AHA's (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) which act like a natural chemical peel on the skin. Don't be scared about the phrase "chemical peel"! It's just another form of exfoliation and just be sensible with the time you leave it on your skin.
The natural acids in the fruits gently exfoliate dead skin, leaving you with brighter, glowing skin. Via the same manner, it can even out skintone and help to tone down dark spots or blemish marks.
Step 1: Peel and chop up the fruits, in a 1 papaya to 1/2 a pineapple ratio, into roughly an inch dice.
Step 2: If you have a juicer, awesome! Just pop the fruit through the juicer. If you don't, not to fret! Just put the fruit into a blender and blend until you have a smoothie-like consistency, it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth. Failing that you can put the fruit into a bowl and mash them up with a fork.
Step 3: We want to get the juice out of the fruit and the easiest way to go from here is to strain the pulp through a muslin cloth or cheesecloth. Just put some of the "smoothie" into the middle of the cloth, bring up the corners and squeeze the juice into a container below: Tada! Juice :)
Step 4: Put some of the juice into a small dish. You'll then need some form of cotton pads that you can make a sheet mask out of. I favour using the thin rectangle pads (mine are from Muji) but you can use any shape. Split the pads until they are thin, for the rectangle pads you'll probably have to split them in half.
Step 5: Dip the pads into the juice and apply to the face, continuing until you have covered the entire face avoiding the eye and lip areas. You can tear the pads in half to help them fit on your face.
Due to the acids, this mask may tingle a bit (but not sting) and for first-timers I'd recommend you start off with leaving in on for 5 minutes to test how you skin responds to it. Please be sensible and use your common sense! If it feels really uncomfortable or it stings a lot, please do remove it, fruit acids do have the potential to burn your skin!
I leave mine on for about 20 minutes now as my skin doesn't adversely react with this mask at all. I also put the dish of juice in the fridge for a while beforehand; it feels so cool and refreshing :) When you're all done just take off the cotton pads and discard then sweep over the skin with some bioderma/toner/water.
Well, does it work?! Below I have some Before & After shots so you can decide for yourselves :)
Hope this helps and that you're having a lovelyyy day! :)
Please comment/subscribe if you liked this, makes me happyyy :)
Tigerlily ♥
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