Cream skin mask for dry weather - how to make a nourishing and hydrating mask?

The gentle, yet rich base of shea butter and macadamia oil lets the blend of soothing, moisturizing ingredients shine through, creating an absolutely delicious masking experience. Try applying the mask while enjoying a hot bath (ideally scented with sparkling water or bath mixture) – it's a symphony!

Lots of joy and little mess!

How many times have you thought that your skin deserves a facial mask, but immediately the image of "mess" that is associated with mixing masks, especially if clay is used, and the original relaxing and loving idea of resting with a mask crept into your mind on the face you quickly rejected again? It happens to me often. Too frequently. That's why the clay mask, which is almost mess-resistant, saw the light of day. THIS.

The mask is waiting ready in a box, and its application and washing off is a joy. In addition, it can be used in multiple ways, so neither your skin nor your mind will get bored. :)

A perfect interplay of ingredients

We mix the cream base from light macadamia oil and rich, nutritious shea butter - the refined and unrefined versions work great (with natural butter, a fine grain may appear, but it dissolves immediately on contact with the skin). Cetyl alcohol thickens the base and ensures a great "slip" of the mask on the skin, which makes applying the mask to the face a very pleasant matter. A little Polysorbate 80 elevates the mask to a self-emulsifying product, which in turn makes it extremely easy to wash off.

As for the powder ingredients, the line fell on the wonderful ones for sensitive and perhaps even irritated skin, which we encounter all year round, but in autumn and winter, when our faces are exposed to the vagaries of the weather, transitions from heat to winter, rubs against scarves and the like , especially. This includes oat silk that moisturizes and fights pimples, eczema and wrinkles; ground calcified seaweed, or lithothamnium, which will supply the necessary minerals to dry skin and at the same time gently cleanse it, and last but not least, kaolin, a delicately fine clay that provides a luxurious and almost surprising softness, which also gently cleanses the skin and increases circulation when it dries. I chose its pink variant, which is perfect for soothing irritation, but the other colors of natural clay – kaolin – will also work just as well, with which you can conjure up various playful shades of masks that you'll be longing for. Panthenol, which provides hydration and strength, and soothes possible (sub)winter itching, is not, in our view, a powdery raw material, but due to its properties, we include it here in the list, among the active substances. In addition, when you can find it here in powder form.

The result is a soft, creamy, almost balsamic mask, which is wonderfully massaged into the skin, and which, thanks to a drop of vitamin E and a preservative, can be kept ready for immediate application in a container for several months.

You won't be bored!

It can be used in two ways. The first is massaging the product into the skin, and waiting for about 20 minutes before washing with water and wiping with a cosmetic cloth - this way we achieve a more soothing, healing and moisturizing effect with only very gentle exfoliation. So, if you don't suffer from the "tightening" feelings typical of clay masks, pamper yourself this way. Option number two is to incorporate a small amount of water into the mask, which, on the contrary, conjures up the classic clay-masking experience, when the mask dries on the skin (but still much gentler than the sometimes harsh drying effect of mixing clay with water). You will feel divine and absolutely luxurious if you apply the cream mask to dry skin and then dust it with your favorite floral water spray. You can then massage your face as you wish, drink tea, pick up a book and ideally get into the bath. Take care of yourself! :)

What does it take?

For 25g

We are warming up

- 6.5 grams of macadamia oil

- 3.5 grams of shea butter

- 2 grams of Polysorbate 80

- 1.5 grams of cetyl alcohol

We mix

- 2.5 grams of oat silk

- 6.5 grams of natural clay

- 1 gram of lithothamnium

- 1.25 grams of panthenol

*

- A drop of vitamin E

- 0.25 grams of preservative Cosgard / Naticide*

How to do it?

In the prepared water phase, slowly heat the macadamia oil, shea butter, Polysorbate 80 and cetyl alcohol in a heat-resistant saucepan until everything dissolves.

In the meantime, mix the oatmeal, lithothamnium and clay well in a mortar and pestle (or perhaps an old homemade coffee grinder). If you are more sensitive or suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems, always consider covering your mouth and nose with a mask - now the classic one - a mask or scarf when working with fine powders.

In about a quarter of an hour, everything will be dissolved in the heated bowl - let's mix! Remove the spatula from the water bath, mix in the dry ingredients and panthenol, and put everything back in the warm water for another 20 minutes so that the powders have time to absorb the liquids, which will help with mixing. After 20 minutes, remove the bowl again and mix its contents well with a spatula.

Stir and stir until the mixture begins to slightly thicken and cool. When this happens, add the preservative, if using, and vitamin E. Stir and stir until the mixture is nicely creamy, then transfer the product to your chosen container - ideally a 30ml aluminum dropper, a 30ml elegant dark jar or a 30ml clear glass cup with black lid.

*The product does not contain any water, therefore it is not absolutely necessary to use a preservative. But if you know, like me, that some water will get into the mask (perhaps on wet fingers), definitely use a preservative.

I want to mix it up but I don't have all the ingredients!

You can replace the shea butter with another soft vegetable butter.

Macadamia oil will stand in for another fast-absorbing liquid oil such as apricot, safflower, hazelnut, almond, grape, or a combination thereof.

You can omit the preservative and vitamin E at your discretion.

Polysorbate 80 is a great substitute for Olivem 300.

Choose the clay as you like. However, in this recipe we do not recommend bentonite, zeolite or rhassoul, which are not so gentle.