DIY Beauty: homemade hydrating face mask

diy yogurt honey green tea mask

This week, I went back to using yogurt, after laying off this ingredient for quite a long while.  I love yogurt for the face, and I also had good results using the DIY yogurt oat mask recipe.  

Beauty benefits of yogurt for our skin
Yogurt is a great ingredient used in a number of the homemade beauty recipes because of its natural lactic acid and enzymes.  As I’ve written before, the beauty benefits of yogurt include soothing, softening and hydrating the skin, leaving it soft and smooth.  In addition, because yogurt has antibacterial and antifungal properties, it also provides excellent cleansing properties.  The best thing about yogurt is that it is so versatile and can be used alone or with any other ingredients.  Anyway, don’t take the raves just from me; read the glowing reviews of using yogurt mask at Makeupalley. Eighty-seven reviewers gave the mask a 4.7 out of 5 rating!

The recipe and what goes into it
I personally like the 99.8% fat free natural set yogurt from Pauls.  I scooped a big teaspoon of the yogurt and mixed it with a teaspoon of matcha powdered green tea and a quarter teaspoon of manuka honey.  All I needed to do was to blend the mixture and then apply it as a mask on my thoroughly cleansed and dry face.  The mixture wasn’t thick as you can see from the picture but it didn’t drip so I can walk around in this for about 15 to 20 minutes before rinising it off with luke warm water. In fact, this mask can dry up pretty quickly on your face if you do not over apply.

Beauty benefits of green tea and manuka honey
Matcha powdered green tea mask by itself is  fabulous as I’ve written about before and offers wonderful antioxidant benefits.  But it works even better with yogurt and manuka honey.  Manuka honey by the way, is renowed for its anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and healing properties and makes a great cleanser or mask for our face too as it helps to hydrate our skin.    You can read more about this in my entry on benefits of manuka honey for our skin and how to use it for a DIY facial massage.

Skin feels more hydrated and supple
I like this recipe and will likely continue using it. It’s definitely easier than having to grind my rolled oats and not as messy too! More importantly,  I get antioxidant benefits plus the yogurt and manuka honey definitely help to hydrate my skin better, leaving it softer and more supple.   However, just like most facial masks, the effects are transient and need to be sustained with continual usage.   The only drawback is the smell of the yogurt isn’t at all delish!

Comments

  1. melisa says:

    hi there,

    do you wash your face with cleanser as usual after this yogurt mask?

  2. Blovet Beauty says:

    i like paul’s yogurt, its yummy to eat and good for the face too!! this is a wonderfully natural face mask, thks for sharing!

  3. sesame says:

    No need. You use this mask after you wash your face clean. After using the mask, just rinse with luke warm water.

  4. sesame says:

    I tell you…I’ve never tasted this cos I don’t like to eat yogurt. ?

  5. Hazel says:

    hi!

    just a word of caution coz i’ve personally tried DIY honey n yoghurt mask. Yoghurt on its own made my skin soft n supple but when i added honey, my face started to itch n became very red. i guess i’m allergic to honey when used externally. coz drinking honey doesn’t cause me any allergic reaction. ladies may wanna do a spot test before application.

  6. sesame says:

    Hazel, I suspect the honey you use may not be suitable for topical application.

    This manuka honey I use has been tested for topical application and I’ve been using it so far without problems. But you’re right; it’s better to be careful especially if your skin is sensitive.

  7. Jackie says:

    thanks for sharing! i don’t really like eating yogurt, either, so maybe this is a good way to use it. #k8SjZc9Dxk#k8SjZc9Dxk

  8. Shop N' Chomp says:

    I must try this!

  9. sesame says:

    Yes, quite good to use on the skin except for the smell…

  10. sesame says:

    Hope you’ll like it!

  11. loveless says:

    Dear Sesame,

    just a tot, if you had one bottle MGO 250 Manuka Honey and one bottle of MGO 100 Manuka Honey, would you choose to eat the MGO 100 and save the MGO 250 for facials? Or the opposite?
    I’m aware that the higher the MGO, the more active ingredients it contains, but I’m trying to see if i can use the honey more effectively and more efficiently while saving money as the higher grades cost more. Both food consumption and topical application have different absorption rates…so i was thinking of having one bottle each for different usage.

    BTW I’m currently drinking MGO 100 and using it on my face as well.
    the honey is too sweet for me to take as it is, so i dilute it with warm water, it sorta tastes like tea, but without the caffeine. I take one cup either in the mornings or evenings. =)

  12. sesame says:

    I would keep the one with the higher UMF for ingesting cos the MGO100 is quite good for face. I bought the MGO250 cos most of it are for eating. I only keep a small portion in another bottle for the face. No need to use a lot actually.

    I actually eat the honey direct but not everyday. I usually forget…but it’s really good for throat problems or coughing. So far, very good for my son.

  13. wendy says:

    do you feel the need to moisturize afterward? if so what moisturizer do you use?

  14. sesame says:

    Yes, I do moisturize afterwards either with my usual moisturizer or with a face oil like grapeseed oil or emu oil.

  15. Karen says:

    after reading your post, i went to the City and looked for Manuka honey,
    well i found them but they are just so expensive >.<
    and i also have half a tube of honey left in the fridge, so after finish it, i will try the Manuka honey
    i love all your DIY mask, currently using the oat meal and yoghurt mask, will try this tomorrow
    thanks

  16. sesame says:

    I realized from some comments that some people could be allergic to honey so it’s better to be careful if your skin is sensitive. The honey should preferably be suitable for topical application.

  17. finsternissan says:

    I’m using this right now and it feels so nice~! I’m using organic yogurt and gah, feels so nice and cool~ I’ll post on how it worked! I hope this helps with the some redness I have from this winter. Stupid wind.

    I also have a question, how much shelf life does this have? because I have left overs~? Much apperciated ?

    I love your blog <3333

  18. sesame says:

    It’s best to use this immediately so I suggest you mix just enough for one usage. I’m not keen on using this even the day after. But yogurt can keep up to a week in the fridge over some readers told me they can’t and it’s only 3 days.

  19. fari says:

    i have a question..how many times per week should i use it?

  20. sesame says:

    Once or twice should be sufficient.

  21. happi says:

    Hi there may i know where to get the matcha powdered green tea?

  22. sesame says:

    You can get it at Japanese supermarkets like Meidiya.

  23. St. James says:

    Just want to say that I just used this and it was AMAZING! I have had a few troublesome dry spots and nothing was working. Seriously! I would use all the face hypoallergenic moisturizing cream I could find – moisturizer would dry up and dry spots would flake a day later. I ended up trying to use my vitamin E capsules (breaking the capsules to secrete the oil inside) on the dry spots and combine that w/ my moisturizers and that only partially worked – dry spots would flake a few days later. Basically I became desperate. I was looking for a remedy that would not force me to go to get a professional facial (they are expensive and results vary). Luckily, a friend suggested your site and this recipe for a homemade hydrating mask. Voilà – my dry spots are gone. I am shocked and utterly thrilled. I have never used home remedies before, but I will be trying more of the ones you suggest (I love yogurt now). I will definitely following your blog, which is the first for me. I will definitely be recommending my friends to your site as well. Thank you! Keep blogging!

    P.S. Of the three products I had to purchase the only cheap item was the yogurt. The specific green tea and honey were quite pricey, this could be because I live in Chicago and/or I could only find them at Whole Foods (which is pricey). Good thing I don’t need to use a lot of the pricey items when making the mask.

  24. sesame says:

    I’m glad it worked well for you! I feel happy too. ? But just note that you check for the stability because this is afterall homemade so you can’t keep it for too long. Check for weird smell and stuff and make small batches.

    For yogurt, it’s good as an exfoliator type of mask. You can use it on its own or mix with oat flour (my fave).

  25. St. James says:

    If you live in the states, try Whole Foods.

  26. Mayerr Kim says:

    Can i use this mask everyday like twice a day ?
    I have a very dry skin and i wonder if this mask could help me regarding with my problem

  27. Sesame says:

    I think once is good enough. You should try to apply hydrating lotion.

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