Now that spring is finally here, it seems fitting that our winter-worn skin get a bit of a good scrubbin’ to rejuvenate and start the season fresh. And since no one wants to stay indoors to slave away over a homemade skin care recipe on a beautiful spring day, I made this skin polishing mask that takes minutes to throw together but is powerful enough to get the job done.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• optional: several drops essential oil of choice, for scent (and possibly the therapeutic benefit…for example: tea tree oil for acne, peppermint for diminishing redness, and lavender for calming irritated skin)

Steps:

1. Combine baking soda and raw honey in a small bowl.

2.  Whisk together well.  Your mask will look something like this:

3.  If you’re using essential oils, you can mix them in at this point.

4.  Using your fingers, apply your honey skin polishing mask to dry skin.  You’ll have kind of a queen-of-the-undead-thing going on but it’s worth it for the smooth, silky skin afterwards!

5. Leave the mask on for about 5 minutes.

6.  After the 5 minutes are up, use the pads of your fingers to slowly massage the mask all over your face for about one more minute.  (Don’t overdue this massaging step because this mask is surprisingly powerful for just 2 ingredients and you can end up with irritated skin if you get a little too aggressive.)

7.  Rinse off with warm water.  Contrary to what you’d think, the honey is very water soluble and washes off quite easily with just plain water…no additional cleansers required!

8.  Pat your face dry and follow up with your favorite moisturizer/oils.  My absolute favorite is my Super Smooth Face Serum using carrot seed oil (vitamin A!), argan oil, rosehip oil, and several other all-star ingredients.

What do you use to de-winterize your skin? Share your ideas in the comments below!