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!

Tomato Facial: Day 1

I was supposed to start this last night but things got a bit hectic. Here I am! I tried using an online photo editor but it seems that I should just stick to Adobe. I'm NOT digging the quality of these photos so my apologies on that. For future posts, I promise Adobe only. No more cheatin'.

Instead of sticking to a routine, I'm just gonna jump around the recipes, picking whichever one fits my fancy. Not sure why I even tried to get a routine down in the first place anyway. So here is the recipe I chose for last night:

Mash 1 large skinned peach/nectarine (or in my case, a tomato) and 3 tsp. honey together, and add 2 tbsp. yogurt until you have a workable paste. Pat evenly over your face and neck and around your eyes. Lie back and relax for about 10 minutes. Rinse well with warm water, tone and moisturize.

Let me just say off the bat that I do not measure anything. Ever. It's a waste of time and I figured I could just work with it. Here are the ingredients:



I used tomatoes from the BBQ my friends had on Sunday. I gotta use them up before they go bad. So instead mashing one, I just threw a couple of slices into the blender.



Squeezed some honey in there. No, I did not measure this out either. Tapped my Magic Bullet and wala, here is your paste/shake.



It's super runny but so at this point I decide I should follow the recipe somewhat. I don't know how that logic works because if you don't follow it from the beginning, then what's the point.



I pour some more in. Gosh, it's still runny.



Screw following recipes. I'm just gonna start dumping this in.



Stir it up and wala!



The stupid 'paste' is still runny. It's like a melted fruit shake at this point.



Whatever. I can work with it. Here is my face 'BEFORE':



Stop your ewe-ing of my big pores. I'm trying to take care of them, I promise! Here's my picture 'DURING':



I gotta tell you, the smell is different. It's not gross, it's not phenomenal like this probably would be if I had used a real peach instead of replacing it with a tomato but it's different. Honey, vanilla yogurt, and tomatoes...yum? Hmm. Dunno. I didn't try eating my facial. Maybe I should have though. In the name of research and all that jazz.



This is my face 10-15 minutes 'AFTER.' So thoughts:

- I thought it tingled a bit, even stung, when I initially put it on. Usually I welcome and I didn't mind it so much here either. To me, it means that the tomato acid is going to work. Some would argue this.

- Smell is different. The yogurt got a bit more pungent when it started to dry on my face.

- I like how my skin feels refreshed.

Some information on the ingredients used:

Tomatoes: You all already know what tomatoes do for your skin. It's a great source of Vitamin C and Vitamin A, it's got antioxidant properties to help fight free radicals. It's also got astringent properties so it works as a toner/acne fighter. It's cheap too. I bought a bunch of tomatoes for less than $3 and that's expensive. Living in the city is not cheap.

Honey: Honey is one of the best products there is. It's rich in antioxidants like tomatoes, nourishes, cure acne, soften your skin and the best part is sealing in moisture. A lot of issues with acne people have come from dry skin. You might not know you have dry skin but a lot of the times, that's why you have oily skin. If your body feels as though your skin doesn't have enough moisture, it'll start creating its own. So lotion up people! It's the best thing you can do to help your skin.

Yogurt: It's got a rich zinc content which will help fight acne and lactic acid which is a natural skin smoother and exfoliant. Latic acid also helps to refine and clear skin which is why a lot of new skin products these days possess some sort of milk product in them. It's also great for people with pore issues like me to use because it refines your pores. If your skin is easily irritated (I poke at my skin a lot), it also soothes and cleanses at the same time. Don't do what I did though which is purchasing the flavored version.

And that's it for Day 1 of my tomato facials experiment. I tried packing what I had left of my runny tomato facial paste/fruit shake but I had a bit of an accident:



Thank goodness it's blended and won't clog. I hate calling management to fix something in our apartment. :/

7 Days, 7 Different Tomato Facials

My GMAT is this Saturday and I am just this much away from freaking out. Instead of studying, I am blogging. I guess we can all guess how I'll do, huh? Haha.

Because I am on a low-buy, I am trying to think of new things to help improve my skin. As mentioned before, I'm one of the luckier ones. I'm not prone to break-outs. Even when the moon turns the tide, I get maybe one or two pimples and that's a lot. Usually, my blackheads will just raise up a bit and because I am not smart, I will attempt to pop them. This in turn, irritates my skin which may or may not mean a facial is in order. If I a not being lazy, I will do it.

For the next 7 nights, I am going to attempt a bevy of different tomato facials and report to you how each one works. Why tomatoes? Because:

1. It's got cooling and astringent properties.

2. It's rich in Vitamin C which is great for acne. It also helps brighten your skin. That's probably why so many daily facial creams promote the addition of Vitamin C.

3. It has naturally acidic properties which not only eats away the dead skin sells, but it also helps balance your skin's pH level.

4. It's got Vitamin A which is a big requirement for building healthy skin. If you're gonna buy facial creams, make sure it's got Vitamin A.

5. These fruits also possess antioxidants; an addition that makes them free radical fighters. This does not mean you shouldn't wear some sort of sunscreen on your face. Always, ALWAYS wear some sort of sun protection on your face.

6. It's cheap and it feels so freaking fantastic. Especially if you've chilled your slices and you're rubbing them on your face after a nice clay facial or a hot shower or both (preferably the hot shower first, then the clay facial) - oh my gosh. Just did a shower and clay facial combo last night. Rubbing that slice of tomato on my face gave it the right amount of tingle.



I love vine tomatoes because they're cheap and yummy. I uses to hate them because my dad grew them every summer. I hate turning away food so I ate and ate. Then I just couldn't do it anymore. Now, I'm slowly going back to my tomato roots. :)

Since I don't wanna buy anything special just for these purposes, I will stick with recipes that contains ingredients that I know I'll cook with in the future:

1. Chop one tomato and combine in a food processor or blender with 1 tsp. lemon juice and 1 tbsp. oatmeal. Blend to a smooth paste. Cleanse face and neck. Apply the tomato facial to blemished skin, leaving on for 10 minutes. Gently remove with a warm washcloth and rinse skin with warm water to remove all residue. Source.

2. 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. Source.

3. Blend 1 tbsp. powdered brewer's yeast with 1/2 tbsp. plain, unflavored yogurt, 1 tsp. each of lemon juice, tomato juice, carrot juice and olive oil. Mix by hand or in a food processor or blender to form a smooth paste. Cleanse face and neck and apply the facial mixture with fingertips, but not near the eyes. After 15 minutes, remove the mask with a warm washcloth and rinse skin with warm water. Source.

4. Slice a tomato up and rub the slices on your skin. I am going to keep this day completely low key since my GMAT is the following morning.

5. This mask is good for people with combination skin because it combines the astringent, blackhead removing and oil reducing properties of tomato with the antiseptic and hydrating properties of avocado. The mask also contains vitamins A, C and E and has a soothing and cooling feel. To make the mask, mash one small tomato and one small avocado. Mix them together well, and smooth the mixture on your face. Rinse after 20 to 30 minutes with tepid water. Source.

6. Mash 1 large skinned peach (or nectarine) and 3 tsp. honey together, and add 2 tbsp. yogurt until you have a workable paste. Pat evenly over your face and neck and around your eyes. Lie back and relax for about 10 minutes. Rinse well with warm water, tone and moisturize. I am replacing the peach with a tomato. Source.

7. Combine 1 egg yolk, 2 tsp. almond oil, and 1 ripe banana in a bowl and mash into a paste with a fork. Apply to face and neck and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse with cool water, pat dry, tone and moisturize. I am replacing the banana with a tomato but I'm super tempted to just do it with a banana since this sounds like it would smell FANTASTIC. Source.

It was surprisingly hard to find different renditions of a tomato-based facial. That's why you're seeing some other fruit facial recipes but as mentioned, the tomatoes will take their place. I don't know how well it'll work and there will probably be some ingredient fixing. All in all, a fun time to be had. :D