This lovely golden face mask can brighten your day and your face. With manuka honey and natural vitamin C, it is so good you can eat it!
Commercial vitamin C serums are wonderful for brightening skin and clearing up blemishes, but vitamin C is not stable in liquids for long periods of time. Therefore many beauty experts now suggest skipping the serums and adding vitamin C in the more stable dry powder form to your own homemade products, just prior to application.
Vitamin C is acidic which helps it penetrate the skin. You want something acidic enough to lift dead skin cells and reveal a brighter complexion but at a pH that won’t irritate your sensitive skin. Acerola is a tart cherry-like fruit that grows in sunshine-soaked organic groves in Brazil. They are high in vitamin C and antioxidants and are naturally astringent (like witch hazel) which means they’re great for toning.
In this mask, acerola powder provides natural full-spectrum vitamin C. Its potent properties—which promote collagen production—are sucked even deeper into the skin by the natural humectant in this recipe, manuka honey. Real manuka honey is deeply soothing and moisturizing and mellows the pH to a gentle 4.5, making this combo the ideal pairing for a mask.
Homemade vitamin C serums often have a pH that’s too low, which is a problem. The skin’s natural pH is around 6, with a healthy range of 5.5 to 6.5. Commercial serums are just lower than this range, just acidic enough to have an effect. The issue with many DIY serums is that the pH is too low, between 2.2 and 2.5, so they irritate the skin. To ensure this doesn’t happen, recipes must be pH checked.
When regular ascorbic acid powder is mixed with water at a 5% concentration, the result is acidic enough to create discomfort and blotchiness. It can also cause your skin to dry out. That is why we made this mask with natural vitamin C powder and soothing manuka honey and even pH checked it for you! At pH 4.5, it should help to clear surface buildup without stripping your skin.
PS: If you have other skincare acids in your regimen, such as AHA, the more you use, the more pronounced the exfoliating effects may be. For best results, finish with a natural oil. I prefer Sacha Inchi Oil which is great for anti-aging. It is high in antioxidants and quickly absorbs into the skin for a non-greasy finish.
Dana Green Remedios, RHN, RNCP, NNCP, is a Vancouver-based educator and coach. She is a regular contributor to the FloraHealthy blog and can answer your questions in English, French, and Spanish as a Product Information Specialist at Flora.
Photo courtesy of Lily Diamond / Kale & Caramel.