DIY Green Tea Mask & Scrub

I took a couple of days off the blog to get over this end-of-summer cold. I get one this time of year every year. I'm feeling so much better--thanks for your sweet words. And I'm convinced this mask I'm sharing today helped me feel better. I've been using this green tea mask for years--because it works. It's a 2-in-1: part mask, part scrub, all good. Enjoy.

Need:

• 3 tsp green tea (depends on brand, but this is usually 3 bags)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 3 tsp greek yogurt
• bowl
• spoon
• optional: facial brush (I sometimes use a tint brush to help with mess, but clean fingers work just as well)

Do:

• Pour the yogurt and brown sugar into bowl. Cut open tea tags and add unbrewed green tea to the bowl. Mix.
• Apply to face and leave for 20 minutes.
• With clean fingers, gently scrub mask in circular motions for a minute or two.
• Wash away carefully with warm water.
• You can make extra and keep refrigerated up to a month.

Why This Works:

• Green tea is an antioxidant and also helps with redness and water retention. When I'm sick, my face looks puffy and red, so I love green tea to help (I drink it too).
• Brown sugar is an exfoliant. My skin gets very dry when I take decongestants, and this helps with the dry skin.
• Yogurt provides moisture and soothes skin--so helpful with my skin.

Try:

• No yogurt? Try regular sour cream. You can also substitute a regular cream moisturizer, just remember you have to rinse it away.
• Sometimes I substitute fresh, ground parsley instead of green tea, especially if I have a pimple.
• To make this just a scrub, add one more tsp of brown sugar and one less tsp of yogurt.
• Want more recipes?
• DIY Green Tea Ginger Lemon Clay Masque
• Shamrock Shake Facial Mask
• DIY Rosacea Relief

For more background about my life-long love for DIY, read my story here, or listen to my interview here.