Eat it or wear it

It looked delicious. And smelled wonderful.

I'm talking about this mask I made for my face. Yes. I said mask.

First, let me tell you a bit about my skin. Some parts of my face are dry and tight. Other parts are like oil slicks. I have lots of ahem fine lines. (Okay, to be honest, some are full blown wrinkles but I prefer the term fine lines.) And then I also get the occasional zit(s). Yea. It's really fun; this skin of mine. So when I read about some of the benefits of a cocoa mask, I decided to give it a try. We all know dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. Antioxidants help protect the skin and even undo some of the damage caused by free radicals. These cocoa masks claim to increase skin hydration and its ability to hold moisture, support the skin's natural (albeit limited) defense against UV damage, improve skin texture and smoothness, and increase and improve blood flow to the skin. I was intrigued.

So I mixed up:

1 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
2 tsp plain organic yogurt
dash of sea salt
1 tsp coconut oil, melted
2 tsp honey

I was really tempted to forget the whole mask thing and just eat it! But flexing my self control muscles, I carefully smoothed it all over my freshly washed face. It was a little cold. (The yogurt did just come straight out of the fridge.) I kind of wished I had warmed it up a little in the microwave.... It was pretty smooth and creamy as I "painted" it on my face with my silicone basting brush, being careful to avoid my eyes. And oh, if you accidentally get it in your mouth, no worries. The recipe above makes plenty. Almost too much. It made we wish one or more of my girls were home so they could join me in some cocoa mask fun. It also made it hard not to taste it, knowing that there was plenty. (Joking aside, I really did taste it. And I wouldn't eat it for breakfast, but yes, it really was good!) I let the mask sit on my skin for about 15-20 minutes. It smelled wonderful the whole time. It never felt itchy or tingly or tight, though I definitely knew it was there.

After 15-20 minutes, I rinsed off my chocolate face with warm water and patted it dry.

And afterwards:

my skin felt ... ummm ... nice. It was smooth and soft. It wasn't tight, nor was it oily. Were my wrinkles gone, my pores invisible, and my skin glowing for all to see? No.

But I did rather enjoy smelling like dark chocolate mousse for 20 minutes. And I usually have all these ingredients anyway.

So, yea. I might mix up another batch of Cocoa Facial Mask next week.