Sunday 8 August 2010

Rose hip face mask

Its been a very busy few months over at Amiya Natural Beauty, bringing to fruition some new natural hair and skin care products that have been in development for quite a while! It has been especially exciting to launch, and see the positive response to, my herbal face creams and toner. They have some really exquisite ingredients including rose and orange blossom waters, palma rosa, aloe vera, rosewood, macadamia and more! I also enjoyed choosing the names for these products, which are based on old English words.

And now I've had a chance to breath, say hello to the herbs in the garden, and try out a new recipe for Apotheblogary! I'm starting to think of the autumn harvest ahead of us, and in particular the rose hips which will be ripe for picking in October.


We're very familiar with rose (Rosa Canina) as a classic ingredient in beauty treatments, but this usually relates to the use of rose petals. Rose hips remain rather forgotten for their use in beauty products, although Rose hip oil is becoming increasingly popular in the repair of damaged skin, reduction of large pores, and rebalancing of oily or acne prone skin. The oil is extracted from the seeds and although Rosa Canina can be used, it is usually the seeds of Rosa Rubiginosa that are used in skin care. The recipe I've tried today is for a rose hip face mask.

Ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon white clay
  • 3 teaspoons of strong rose hip infusion
  • 1/2 teaspoon honey
  • 4 drops rose geranium
Make a strong infusion of rose hips - I used a couple of tablespoons of dried rose hips and poured over a mug of boiling water. Leave this to cool before making the mask (I left it overnight so that it was really strong). Mix together all the ingredients.

Apply to the skin and leave on for 10-15 minutes and rinse away with warm water. While you are waiting, enjoy drinking the refreshing rose hip infusion you have left over! Rose hip tea is an excellent source of Vitamin C, and also helps the body to maintain healthy collagen (ref. Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine).

This makes enough to share with a friend, or use again with a week if kept in the fridge.

I found this to be a gently drawing face mask which would be ideal if you have sensitive skin. Here are some suggestions on how you could vary the recipe:
  • Replace either the honey or some of the water content with a small amount of rose hip oil (perhaps 1/2 a teaspoon)
  • You could use a different essential oil: frankinscense, rosewood, lavender, rose, palmarosa would all be good alternatives
  • Use green or yellow clay for more oily skin
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