I made a recipe last weekend for our Oscar night festivities that left me with a couple of egg yolks in the fridge. I always save them, basically because I hate to throw anything away, but I usually end up forgetting to use them and then tossing them. This time, when I looked at the egg yolks at day later in the fridge, I realized I did have a use for them, in some kind of beauty treatment. Because of the fat in yolks, they are moisturizing for skin and hair. The magazine I work at recently ran an article which called egg yolk a great firming mask, so it seemed like a good try.

This couldn’t have been easier; I did it in the morning before work! I just smashed up the egg yolk with my facial brush and brushed it on. Straight from the fridge it was cool and pleasant on my skin, totally easy to apply and surprisingly easy to remove after about 5 minutes on with tepid water. Afterward, my skin felt like it got a plumping and hydrating boost I don’t get from just my morning moisturizer. I think I would do this any time I had extra yolks in my fridge, whether before getting ready to go in to the office or in advance of a night out. Why let them go to waste?

Note 7/23/10: There was apparently some recent Internet craze about egg white masks that left a lot of people hurting; Brilliant Farmgirl posts about it on her blog. She claims their problems may have been related to bacteria in the eggs. At least one other reader who commented about this on the blog entry says she had problems with egg yolk as well. So, as always with DIY beauty treatments, try with caution (read my caveats here); I would recommend this one for dry skin not combo or breakout-prone faces.

I’m always telling people to do yogurt masks, so I figured it was time I do one again; it’s been about a year and a half and that time I stirred in some sugar for the scrub effect. I recommend yogurt masks because yogurt is actually a mild lactic peel (milk contains lactic acid). It will gently dissolve dead skin cells and freshen your face.

A blogger I follow, Brilliant Farm Girl, appears to be the total expert on yogurt masks if you want to check her out—daily yogurt masks saved her skin years ago and she still swears by them. She prefers nonfat yogurt, but I used whole milk yogurt (Straus Organic thank you very much!) because it’s what I buy, and I figured the extra fats would be good for my dry skin. Be sure to use plain, with no additives like gelatin.

This couldn’t be simpler: Brush on the yogurt with a facial brush (it actually has the best consistency for a mask, goes on totally smooth and feels really cool and soothing, and bonus—you don’t look as weird as you do with other gloppy food masks). Leave 10 or 15 minutes.

I definitely felt like the yogurt nurtured my skin; experts say even though it has an exfoliating effect, it’s really healing, especially for skin that’s taken a beating. But, it wasn’t like I experienced any major rejuvenation like Brilliant Farm Girl (of course, she did a lot more yogurt masks!). I think I’ll stick with my fave weekly enzyme treatment (more on that in the future) but again, in a pinch, I’d definitely slap on some yogurt.

PS There’s now some crazy probiotic mask out that my mom forwarded to me. I have a feeling yogurt would work just as well, as long as it’s got those beneficial enzymes in it. Anyone try this?

I conveniently ran out of toner on Wednesday of this kick-off week and this recipe was so easy I thought it would make a good in-a-pinch replacement. It came from a book I’ve had for years on homemade cosmetics, Organic Body Care Recipes. The author, Stephanie Tourles, is a holistic esthetician and certified aromatherapist and if you have a deeper interest in skin care I highly recommend picking it up, since she has a great section that explains how your skin works.

Basically, all I did was peel the cucumber, cut off and discard the parts with the seeds, and cube the remainder. Then I threw that in the blender with 2 tablespoons of distilled water and blended it until it was pulpy. I strained the juice from the pulp and there was my natural toner (made from organic cucumber, no less!). I like the way this smells, and it’s hydrating. I used it with a spray top, since that’s how I apply my current toner, and it’s super refreshing. Of course it was majorly cheap, too, since cucumbers and distilled water are about $1 each.

Drawbacks: It needs to be refrigerated and only stays fresh for three days. I think I would only make this again if we were having a heat wave and I really wanted something extra cool to spray on my face, or if I was broke and in a pinch. The recipe makes quite a bit, way more than I could use in 3 days (unless it was really hot outside, I guess).
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When a press copy of Narine Nikogosian’s book Return to Beauty showed up at the magazine several months ago, I found it fun that the Armenian-born esthetician weaves her love of astrology into some of the recipes, providing skin care secrets for every sign. Libras like me apparently “crave beauty,” and a mask of carrot and cottage cheese helps fight fine lines, so I thought I’d try it.