Featured Post - A Day in the Life of a Mom & Wife

Have you met Melissa yet? She has an awesome blog over at A Day in the Life of a Mom & Wife. I have so enjoyed getting to know her and am thrilled to have her gracing my sidebar in the Large Featured Ad Space this month! Seriously, if you haven't already introduced yourself to her, please go say hi! I also love what she's sharing today too! I definitely have to try this SOON! :) 
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hi guys! I'm super excited that Kristina wanted to feature my blog on the DIY mask I shared. It's become a regular part of my beauty routine. I'm hoping that this & some of my other DIY skincare tips can help other girls out there with skin issues. Feeling more comfortable in your own skin makes a huge difference in your self esteem! Enjoy.

You've all seen this pin on Pinterest, right?

It's from the blog My Yellow Sandbox. 

It caught my attention right around the time I was starting my apple cider vinegar routine on my face. (if you haven't heard of it, check it out here). I figured if the ACV thing worked for my breakouts that I'd think about trying this DIY mask to fade some of the remaining scars.

Well, it's been over 2 weeks since I started using ACV as a toner and my skin looks absolutely amazing. (check out my 2 week update here).

I have no new breakouts! Now I want to work on evening out my complexion. 

I bravely decided to try this mask that was nicknamed "The Burning Face Mask." Not such a sweet nickname, right? I did some research on the interweb and came to the conclusion that it's the lemon juice in the mask that causes the burning sensation. So you can adjust the amount in the recipe accordingly for your skin and based on how brave or wussy you are. 

Here's the recipe (and ingredient properties) for the mask from My Yellow Sandbox:

1/2 tsp cinnamon (anti-fungal, astringent, anti-viral)

1/2 tsp nutmeg (anti-inflammatory)

1 tsp honey (many healing properties)

2ish tsp lemon juice (vitamin C is great for fading scars or lightening skin)

I decided that since it was my first time trying the mask (and I didn't want to totally mess up my face or melt it off after finally getting it clear of zits!) I was going to modify the recipe. First of all, I didn't have nutmeg, so that was out. Oh well.. Also, I was going to use waaaaaaay less lemon. I've experimented with putting straight lemon juice on a few of my acne scars and I know I'm pretty sensitive to the stuff. I don't need a lot...just a little dot on each spot for about 10-20 minutes was enough burn for me. So instead of 2 tsp lemon juice, I probably used about 5 or 6 drops. That's right, 5 or 6 drops of lemon juice. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Trust me, if you're not used to using lemon juice on your face, a few drops will definitely get your face tingling.You don't want to have a red face for a week so take it easy.

Mix these ingredients up and slather it all over your face. I guess even with only a few drops of lemon mine still ended up a little runny, so I'll adjust that a little next time too. 

I cannot believe I'm even showing this picture to anyone. Mine looks more like I smeared a melted Hershey bar on my face. It did smell good though, so eat some candy while you're wearing the mask or something.

Leave it on for anywhere between 10-30 minutes, depending on how long you can handle "the burn." Since I didn't go crazy with the lemon mine didn't really burn. It just felt like a warm tingle. It wasn't painful or itchy at all. I left it on for about 20 minutes. This stuff is kind of hard to rinse off, but take your time and for goodness sake's, don't rub! You don't want to exfoliate with that cinnamon and nutmeg right after soaking your face in this stuff. Use warm water & be gentle. Pat dry.

Your face will probably be pink. I was a little horrified at first because I seriously did not feel like my face was burning at all. But my face was definitely pink! See?

Do you love this awesome high tech picture I photoshopped? Yes, I know, I should be a graphic designer.

The arrows clearly point out a pink line going down the side of my face where the mask was. The red circles indicate the lovely acne scars I'm trying to fade. See, they aren't that bad. But I still want them gone.

So yeah, my face was pink. Thankfully I wasn't going anywhere. I just prayed that it went away quickly & that I didn't give myself 3rd degree cinnamon-lemon burns or something. I used a small amount of ACV toner, my normal serums, and a dab of my regular moisturizer on afterwards. About 30 minutes later the redness was completely gone and my face looked a lot better. The redness from some of the scarring seemed less noticeable and my face had not burned off, thankfully.

Will I try this mask again? Yes, definitely. I think I will try to do it at least twice a week, and maybe gradually increase he lemon amount slightly or leave the mask on for a little bit longer.
 Seriously people, do not, I repeat, do NOT use 2 tsp of lemon like the recipe says to. Your face will melt off. I'm not even joking. Try just dotting a little spot of lemon juice on your skin for a couple of minutes and see how red it makes it. That little patch test should give you a good indication of how sensitive you are to vitamin C. It's pretty potent stuff but I've read some amazing things about it's lightening ability, so I'm going to definitely stick with it. Just be cautious.

Have I gotten the nerve to take a picture of myself without makeup yet? Um, no. Definitely not. That's a major insecurity for me. I'm gritting my teeth right now trying to resist the urge to delete all of the pictures I just posted on this update so far.

However, I did take a few cute pictures of me & the kids at the park yesterday. Usually I'd cringe at these pictures when I see them in their full sized glory on my hi-def computer screen. I don't like seeing pictures of myself outdoors, because in full sunshine you don't miss anything on people's skin. Am I the only one who is crazy and/or vain enough to think about this stuff? Well, call me crazy then because I do think of this crap all the time. 2 weeks ago I would have deleted a picture of myself in bright sunshine because you'd see bumps and uneven skin. I noticed in these ones though that my skin looks pretty dang good if I do say so myself.

Yes, I do still have foundation on. And no, I didn't airbrush my skin in Photoshop or anything. It doesn't look that perfect...yet ;)

 You don't really see any bumps or anything sticking up, which is what you would have seen before in similar pictures. So yay for improvement and for a little boost in my self confidence.

And aren't these kids seriously cute? I chased them around all afternoon with my camera yesterday and got some good park pictures. I'll do a nice picture post and summer update ASAP.

So have you tried "The Burning Mask" yet? Have you even heard of it? What about ACV? Anyone seeing results with it? I'd love to hear your updates!

*Check out my amazing DIY skincare post here.*
My 2 week update on my DIY skincare here.

Told you she's amazing and beautiful too! :) And aren't her kiddos super adorable? 
Melissa is also  part of my 1st of 3 Group Giveaways for July. You can enter that HERE.


Lovely Sponsor