Tomato Facial: Day 2

Took my GMAT today. Not exactly happy about it nor do I really want to think about it. I came home, made me some ramen, ate a cupcake and grabbed the ingredients I would need for this next facial. I'm so stuffed but I want to go and make myself a turkey burger, just to eat.

And this, folks, is why you should stay away from food if you're in this type of mood. So why am I pissed? Because I ran out of time on the exam. Because the exam cost me $300 ($250 originally, plus $50 to reschedule when I realized my business trip ran into it), and I had to cancel the score so that I wouldn't have a crap score on my record. The worst part is I only have 2-3 weeks to take it again because admissions are due soon. :(

ARGH. I hate testings. This is why facials are good.

Mix one cup oatmeal with 3 tbsp. non-fat dry milk, moistening all the oats. Chop one tomato and puree it in a blender. Add that to the oatmeal-milk mixture, stirring to incorporate all ingredients well. Apply to cleansed face and neck skin with the fingertips, keeping free of the eye area. Leave on the skin for 45 minutes. Use a warm washcloth to remove the facial and splash face with warm water.

I added almond oil and olive oil to this recipe. I actually wanted to see how it would affect the mixture. :)

So starting off, here are my ingredients. I LOVE my Magic Bullet.



I don't know what dry milk is. I thought it was powdered milk but since I only had 2% milk, that's what I was using. I definitely should've measured this because the mixture was super runny and I still had a tomato to add to it:



Here are the lovely tomatoes all diced up! I wanted to use the tomatoes from the BBQ since I still had some slices left but they got moldy fast. D: Anyway, I needed to use these tomatoes up anyway so here they are:



Put it through my Magic Bullet and ta-da! Tomato puree.



By this time, the mixture had been sitting for a while so it thickened up, somewhat.



I added my tomato puree to it:



And it's apparently not thick enough. :(



So I let it sit for 10 minutes. It's STILL runny! Dammit. I definitely should've used the measurements for the milk. Argh.



I decide to NUKE this sonuvabeotch. Then I let it sit for another 10 minutes. I chat about stuff with my girls and then ran back to the kitchen to check the consistency. It's still runny so I bring it back to my room, chat online some more, then checked the consistency again. I think it's thick enough now.



Good enough for me! Here is my clean, showered face:



Here is my oatmeal face. It looks pretty funny and it smells nice too.



Here is my face afterward.



You can't really see the difference but I'm going to let you know that it was probably one of the best DIY facials I've ever had. My skin felt smooth, somewhat moisturized, clean, it glowed, and I think it even soothed away some of my forehead wrinkles. Though please take note, my roommate also tried this facial and her skin is more sensitive than mine. She found it dried her skin a bit so she had to use moisturizer after it. We both felt a bit of tingly/stinging action going on but nothing bad. It was just enough that you could tell it was working. :)

I am definitely going to try this facial again. I may add more olive oil and almond oil to it in the future. Definitely less milk.

Since I already explained why tomatoes are good for you, I'm just going to list why the other ingredients are good for your skin:

Oatmeal - Oatmeal facials are especially good for your skin. It's a gentle cleanser that works to exfoliate your skin, removing surface dirt and other impurities. It also helps restore your skin's natural pH level by protecting your skin; it also draws moisture to the skin from the surroundings. It's especially great for those of you with sensitive skin because it works to soothe your skin, taking away redness and providing relief. (In this facial, it worked WONDERFULLY.)

Milk - It has much of the same properties and benefits for your face as yogurt does so I'll be brief. It contains lactic acid which nourishes your skin without stripping it of it's natural oils. It refines pores (which is probably why my skin feels so smooth), it soothes all skin types (so those with easily irritated skin, pat some milk on!), and if you get a sunburn, rinse your face with this. I'm wondering if it gave me the glow I saw after washing the mask off. I think it also helped even out my skin tone.

Almond Oil - I had to buy a sweetened version because that's all my tiny supermarket had. :( Like olive oil (which we will get to in a second), it's a skin emulsifier. This means that it grabs all the yucky stuff from the surface of your skin while at the same time, moisturizing your skin. Then, you rinse off the oil and it takes all that yucky stuff with it down the drain. It smells wonderful and paired with the properties of oats and milk, it all worked wonderfully. Next time, I will be adding more of this. In addition, almond oil works really well for under-eye circles. Dab some oil onto a cotton ball and place it on your eyes when going to sleep. Do this everyday and you should see results. It also helps you get rid of dry skin and wrinkles.

Olive Oil - Before soap and all those scrubs we used, the Ancient Greeks use to rub this all over their body. It's a hypoallergenic emulsifier. What they would do is rub this all over their body, then scrape it off, taking a days worth of dirt and whatnot with it. Then they would crawl into the hot bath and soak. It moisturizes, provides strong antioxidants, there's Vitamin A and E that helps repair and renew skin cells that have been damaged by overexposure to the sun, air pollution, and other environmental hazards. The antioxidants it carries also have the natural ability to stimulate cells and return skin to a firmer, smoother, and healthier state.

With all these ingredients, no wonder my skin feels so refreshed and well-nourished. Definitely trying this again!