Alright, so you don’t eat this one.

Now, you know me: I make a lot of stuff in my kitchen. As it turns out, a lot of the stuff that you eat can also be really good for your skin.

Get some food on your face

This is the second article in my Beauty and the Feast series. (Never fear: The Hungry Mouse isn’t turning into a cosmetics blog. I just really like to play with my food.)

Today, I’m going to show you how you can make natural face cream at home, with a few pots and pans and ingredients you can find at most health food stores.

This was a really fun experiment a few months ago. I waited to post it to see how I liked it. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I absolutely love it!

Two versions of the original recipe

I actually made two versions of this lotion:

• One with a few essential oils to use on my face
• One with perfume oil to use as a scented body lotion

I’ll show you how to make the basic recipe below, then you can doctor it up with any extra oils you like.

This recipe for Mermaid Lotion comes from Janice Cox’s fabulous book Natural Beauty at Home. Learn more about Janice Cox on her website, or snag a copy from Amazon.

Because it’s largely aloe-based, this lotion sinks into your skin quickly and absorbs well. It does a great job of moisturizing without making your skin feel greasy.

Cox’s original recipe calls for almond oil, which is a little too heavy for my combination skin. I opted for hazelnut oil instead, which is more astringent, so it tends to be better for oily and combination skin.

For the face cream, I also added a few drops of Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) essential oil and Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil—both of which are supposed to be fabulous for your skin*.

Basically, to make this cream, you simmer the seaweed for a while, strain it, stir in some aloe, then whisk in some hazelnut or almond oil until it’s emulsified. Stir in a few drops of essential oil, and you’re done! It’s that easy.

Everyone’s skin is a little different. Mess around until you find the combination of ingredients that works for you.

Tell us about the ingredients

Yep, yep. Sure thing. When you’re buying herbs, always check the Latin name to be sure you’re getting the plant that you intend. Many very different plants are commonly known by the same folk name.

• Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus)—Irish moss isn’t actually moss. It’s seaweed that’s packed with vitamins and minerals. It grows in tidal pools along the Northern Atlantic ocean. It’s highly moisturizing, and is supposed to help increase skin elasticity and also fight wrinkles. Cox recommends using powdered Irish Moss for this recipe. I used flaked, and it came out fine. (Depending on how well you strain it, you may wind up with a few flecks of seaweed in your lotion.)

• Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis)—Aloe is soothing and moisturizing.

• Hazelnut Oil (Corylus avellana)—Hazelnut oil is more astringent than most oils, which makes it a better choice for folks with oily skin. I’ve been using it for a few months, and haven’t broken out once. It actually sinks right into my skin. If you want to try using oil on your skin but are afraid of breaking out, definitely give hazelnut oil a shot. (Of course, don’t use it if you have nut allergies.)

Why make your own face lotion?

Honestly? There are a bunch of reasons. For me, the main one is that you can control exactly what you put on your skin.

And why would you want to do that?

Take this quick test: Look up your current face cream on the Cosmetics Database, an online database with a ton of safety information and research on commercially available skin care products.

The site breaks each product down by ingredient and rates it on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being worst) so you can see just how beneficial—or hazardous—for your health it is.

I was really surprised to learn that a couple of drugstore products I was using on a regular basis had ingredients that researchers had linked to all sorts of nasty side effects (organ system toxicity, hello!).

On a practical level, making your own products can be a lot cheaper than buying them, since you’re not paying for a brand name.

Oh, and of course, it’s a ton of fun to play amateur cosmetologist at home. (Sorry, I’m such a girl sometimes…)

Where to buy ingredients if you can’t find them locally

You should be able to find everything you need at a decent health food store. If not, here are a few places that you can order online. I’ve done lots of business with both of them, and highly recommend them.

I’m lucky enough to live a hop, skip, and a jump away from Artemisia Botanicals, a great herbal supply shop in Salem with some of the nicest and most knowledgeable staff you’ve ever met.

If Artemisia doesn’t have what you’re looking for, I also like Mountain Rose Herbs a lot, too.

*My official disclaimer

Alrighty, most of you know this, but I need to say it anyway:

I’m neither a licensed aromatherapist nor a trained herbalist, so all of this information is provided for entertainment purposes, and is not intended to be professional medical advice. This information isn’t meant to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease. Be sure to do your due diligence and research these ingredients on your own to see if they’ll agree with you or not. Be extra careful if you’re pregnant or nursing, have nut allergies, etc., etc. When in doubt, consult your doctor or a trained professional. Essential oils are potent and can be highly toxic in the wrong proportion, so proceed with caution.

Mermaid Lotion

Adapted from Janice Cox

1 Tbls. powdered Irish moss, or other dried seaweed
1 cup distilled water
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
2 Tbls. hazelnut oil
a few drops of essential oil or perfume oil

Yields about 1 pint of lotion

Rehydrate the Irish Moss

Grab your Irish moss.

I’ll warn you: This stuff smells like fish food. It will smell really icky until you mix the aloe into it, at which point the smell like, magically disappears. (You won’t wind up smelling like low tide, I promise.)

Put it in a 1-quart pot.

Add the water.

Give the pot a whirl to combine. Let it sit for about a half an hour to plump up.

It will go from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Simmer for about 20 minutes

When the Irish Moss is rehydrated, set the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring it to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat enough so that you keep a constant simmer.

Warning: Don’t walk away from the pot, as you’ll be really, really (really, really) sorry if it boils over at this point.

As it simmers, it’ll start to thicken up and get gelatinous.

After about 20 minutes, you should wind up with a thick jelly that looks about like this. It will smell pretty awful, and at this point, you’ll probably be cursing me for stinking up your kitchen.

Keep going. Trust me.

Strain the Irish Moss jelly

Strain the Irish Moss jelly into a medium-sized bowl.

Push it through the strainer with a spatula.

Keep pushing until all you’re left with is pulp in your strainer.

Be sure to scrape off the back of the strainer.

Make the lotion

Measure out your aloe and add it to the Irish Moss mixture.

Whisk to combine.

It will turn into a thick paste that’s slightly lighter in color.

Slowly, drizzle in the hazelnut oil, whisking to incorporate it as you drizzle.

The cream will get lighter in color as the oil emulsifies.

When you’ve added all the oil, your lotion should look about like this:

Whisk in any extras

For a scented body lotion, add a few drops of your favorite perfume oil. If you’d like to add any essential oils to make a face lotion instead, do that now (remember, only a few drops). Whisk to incorporate.

And, voila! Homemade face lotion. I like to bottle my lotions in canning jars. Add a nice label and a few ribbons for a great homemade gift.

Thanks again to the fabulous Janice Cox for such a great recipe. It’s definitely one of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy it if you give it a try! Let me know how it goes!

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Welcome to Beauty and the Feast, a series of food-based skincare reviews.

Let me tell you a little secret.

For all my video game playing, comic book reading, and UFC watching, I’m secretly a girl-y girl at heart—and a bona fide beauty product junkie. From my daily diet of drugstore brands to the occasional, obnoxious indulgence from Saks, I love playing with jars and tubes of creams and scrubs almost as much as I love playing in the kitchen.

I blame the cream sauce

So, when I made my Chicken Cooked in Cream a little while ago, I wished (more than once) that I could jump into the pot and swim around in the velvety cream sauce.

Odd? OK, maybe a little.

Maybe I was having a Cleopatra moment. Rumor has it that she regularly bathed in milk to soften her skin.

Beauty school, ancient-civ style

In fact, food and beauty rituals have always shared a deep connection through history.

Japanese women scrubbed their faces with rice bran and ground adzuki beans to keep their skin smooth and supple. In Morocco, they used extra virgin olive oil as a skin and hair moisturizer. Ancient Indonesian women rinsed their hair in coconut milk. The Mayans used mashed avocados to keep their skin dewy.

Call me a hedonist, but there’s something primal, appealing, and downright nourishing about getting down and dirty (wait, I mean clean) with food like this.

Get some food on your face

Food is everywhere these days—not just on the kitchen table.

Think Food Network, Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen. Ten years ago, it was rare for a chef to be as recognizable as a rock star. The internet has morphed into an all-you-can-eat food blog buffet. Slow Food is gaining speed. Food is more than just food. It’s a culture and a way of life for a lot of folks.

It only makes sense that food has made its way—literally into our cars, our newspapers, and our beauty products. Today, more and more cosmetics companies are incorporating food into their products—and promoting them with wild success to our increasingly foodie-centric culture.

Origins has its white tea- and mushroom-infused creams. Creme de la Mer does its magical thing with seaweed. Fresh sells brown-sugar body polish and sake-laced products. Just the other day, I bought a slick tube of Risarium Black Rice Eye Cream. Black rice? How could I resist? (I should know better because I work in advertising, but somehow I’m still a sucker for great packaging.)

Beauty from the inside out

Modern dermatologists are taking the whole food-for-your-face thing one step further. Not only are they putting food-based ingredients in their products, but they’re also developing special diets and lines of vitamins and supplements designed to promote healthy skin from within.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out Dr. Perricone, whose routines are supposed to help prevent wrinkles or clear up acne, or Murad, whose Internal Skincare products aim to help you detoxify and de-wrinkle.

Sound like they’re selling snake oil? Maybe. Maybe not.

Bottom line?

At the end of the day, I’m not a dermatologist or a chemist. I do know that there’s something positively primitive, fantastic, and fun about smearing food on your skin. After all, food makes me feel good. If it can make me look good, too…well, that’s just a bonus in my book.

Order up! Get fresh with The Body Deli

The Body Deli is one of these companies I’ve been talking about that definitely believes in the power of feeding your face. Based in Palm Desert, California, The Body Deli is owned by duo David Parker and Margaret Skarin, who bill themselves as “cosmetic chefs.”

They were kind enough to send me some of their products to review. Man, am I glad they did. I think I’m hooked.

(I’m actually kind of boggled by how impressed I am. Let me be clear before I start raving: They didn’t pay me one red cent to be nice.)

The Body Deli’s products are all handmade in small batches with fresh, raw, natural, and organic ingredients. Parker and Skarin believe that your skin benefits most from vitamins and enzymes at the peak of their potency—which means that the “living foods” you get from them are fresh, fresh, fresh.

So fresh, in fact, that my products arrived by courier in a refrigerated lunch bag, complete with ice packs. (Imagine The Angry Chef’s confusion when he saw this sitting in the fridge.)

Inside, there was an exfoliating blueberry scrub, a mud mask, and a sea cucumber gel moisturizer—all three of which needed to be kept cold.

Embarrassingly, I was tempted more than once to take a little nibble of each of them, except maybe the mud mask.

A little background

All these products worked really well for me as a small, gray mouse (a.k.a. a gal in her 30′s with fair, combination skin).

Below, I’ve included product shots from The Body Deli’s website (professionally shot), as well as pics I took myself (shot in my kitchen). That probably accounts for any discrepancies in color you might notice.

Blueberry Fusion Scrub—$36

You know that St. Ives Apricot Scrub you might have kicking around in the back of your medicine cabinet? Toss it and buy some Blueberry Fusion Scrub. Trust me.

First off, if you like blueberries, this stuff smells a-ma-zing. I can’t think of a smoothie I’ve had that smells better. This is an exfoliating scrub that smooths your skin with a combination of fruit acids and natural earth particles. You massage a little blob of it onto moist skin in a circular motion. It was slightly gritty without being harsh. It also turns your face a really entertaining shade of pink before you rinse it off.

It left my skin smooth, really soft, and kind of glow-y. Two thumbs up.

Ingredients: Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Colloidal Oatmeal, Guar Gum, Organic Blueberries, Xanthan Gum, Diatomaceous Earth, Vitamin E, Organic Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Organic Rose Hip Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Rosemary Oil Extract, Fresh Cells of Pomegranate and Kiwi, Organic Fruit Acid Enzymes, Potassium Sorbate.

Glacial Mineral Mud Masque—$24

I used the Glacial Mineral Mud Masque next. It was a really cooling contrast to the blueberry scrub.

Instructions state to use it as a whole face mask or a spot treatment. Not one to skimp at this point, I slathered it all over my face. It had the consistency of almost-melted chocolate ice cream.

This mask is chock full of clay and other ingredients that are supposed to draw out toxins and oil and shrink pores. The smell was a brisk mix of herbal and something bordering on menthol. I left it on for about 20 minutes, until it dried completely and lightened in color.

I rinsed it off, and my skin felt really clean, fresh, and tight (but not at all dry or irritated). Again, two thumbs up.

Ingredients: Glacial Mineral Mud, Bentonite Clay, Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Micro Clustered Ionized Water, Colloidal Silver, Allantoin, Squalane, Evening Primrose, Rose-Hips, Calendula, Carrot Seed, Chamomile, Japanese Honeysuckle, Rosemary oil, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Benzoin, Lecithin, Honey, Lavender, Ylang-Ylang, Rose, Lime, Geranium.

Sea Cucumber Gelee—$45

If this was a three-course meal, then the Sea Cucumber Gelee was definitely the dessert. It was cool, refreshing, and moisturizing—without being the least bit greasy or oily.

I was interested in this in particular, since it includes Hyaluronic acid, an ingredient in some injectable wrinkle fillers and nicer skin creams, that works by attracting water and then holding it in like a sponge.

The gelee went on smoothly and sunk in after just about a minute, leaving my skin remarkably smooth. The Body Deli says that it “imparts a dewy glow.” And honestly? It does.

(I admit to sashaying around and asking The Angry Chef if I was glowing. He agreed that I was, and then threatened to smoosh me if I didn’t stop prancing about.) Two thumbs up.

Ingredients: Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Kombucha Tea, Sunflower Seed Oil, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Fresh Cells of Cucumber, Pomegrante, & Kiwi, Green Tea Extract, Castor Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Organic Olive Leaf Extract, Chamomile Extract*, Rosehip Seed Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Organic Calendual Extract, Organic Comfery Extract, Organic Golden Flax, Evening Primrose, Guar Gum, Xanthun Gum, Chorella, Blue Green Algae, Spirulina, Chorophyll & Potassium Sorbate.

The Hungry Mouse verdict

I love this stuff. When I woke up the next day, my face looked—and felt—like I just spent a day at the spa.

I’ve used some super swanky products in the past, and The Body Deli blows a lot of them (including Creme de la Mer’s epic moisturizer) out of the water for me.

I know I’ll be a repeat customer. Definitely check them out. I’d be shocked if you were disappointed.

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