While I’m not personally a huge makeup buff, I do enjoy a good skincare product to clean and brighten my skin…and hopefully reduce some fine lines. And when it comes to face masks, they’re just plain fun. In fact, it’s become one of my favorite spontaneous ways to get my kids off their screens and hanging out with me in the living room — at least while they dry.
But since skincare products don’t come cheap (especially when they’re for the kids), I’ve found some fun DIY face mask recipes you can make at home without needing to buy too many other ingredients.
Note that some of these call for drops of essential oils, and if while we think it can’t hurt to have a favorite scent or two around (we love Aura Cacia), you can skip them. Especially if the recipe calls for pure anti-aging helichrysum oil, which can run you $100 on its own.
Let’s just say it will be just as fun going with a simple honey and oatmeal mask, readying some clean towels and a face steamer, turning on your Spotify spa playlist, and pampering yourself nearly for free. You deserve it!
At top: Cactus water + Vitamin C mask at Hello Glow
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Related: The best affordable drugstore beauty products for the softest, not-dry-at-all skin.
A DIY face mask for basic moisturizing and smoothing
For a super cheap and easy mask that’s so natural you could literally eat it, try the homemade honey and oatmeal face mask recipe at A Cultivated Nest. If you have a tween or teen interested in skincare, this is a great DIY face mask recipe to teach them because it’s basic enough they can do by themselves, and the gentle results are moisturizing and soothing. Besides, knowing how to whip this up is an impressive sleepovers party skill!
A DIY face mask for under-eye puffiness
If you’re dealing with puffiness under your eyes (hi, all moms everywhere) or inflammation anywhere on your skin, this DIY matcha and coffee face mask at A Life Adjacent will knock it out. I love that Kyla gives us the basic foundation for the recipe, which is mostly items you likely have on hand (especially if you’re a matcha lover), but she also lists a few other essential oils you can add in for extra benefit — like rose, blue tansy, or coffee oil. Do note, however, that if you’re not used to matcha’s powerful, swampy scent, you’re in for a surprise.
A DIY face mask for a healthy glow and more even skin tone
Jenné Clairborne of Sweet Potato Glow is a lifestyle guru, chef, and author of a vegan soul food cookbook author, and she’s created an engaging YouTube video for 3 simple DIY face masks that all happen to be edible. But we really are intrigued by the first mask, which blends coffee and cocoa powder — each high in anti-oxidants to help reduce inflammation — plus sea salt for exfoliation, and maple syrup (yes really!) which is loaded with vitamins and ingredients that can help fight wrinkles. But it has to be pure and good quality so uh, not Log Cabin.
Jenné claims this one helps her achieve a healthy glow and more even skin tone, and considering the look of her skin, we are totally up for trying!
Related: 5 Black beauty secrets I learned from my own gorgeous mother…who I thought was Diana Ross.
A DIY face mask for oily skin and acne
With my combination skin, I’ve had the best luck achieving a good deep clean when I use products with activated charcoal. So I am tempted to try out this DIY activated charcoal jelly face mask at The Makeup Dummy. Because, jelly…in a mask? How bizarrely cool is that? Its ingredients will definitely have you hitting Amazon or your local natural foods store for agar powder and white kaolin clay to create this formula that deep cleans your skin and remove excess oil, with the aim of preventing new skincare problems before they start.
This could be a great DIY fade mask for teens with problem skin — and if it works for you, you’ll save a ton in store-bought treatments that promise the same results.
A DIY face mask for blackhead removal
This two-ingredient DIY peel-off face mask for blackheads from Dear Crissy is made with simple ingredients you probably have in your pantry, so yay for that! She says it offers a similar sensation to letting glue dry on your hand, then peeling it off — it’s supposed to grab hold of the gunk in your pores and pull it right off with the mask when you’re done, leaving you with super-soft skin too.
She also has a recipe for a charcoal peel-off face mask that’s worth checking out for a similar treatment. Because can our pores ever be too clean? Nope.
Related: Is The Ordinary skincare and makeup good, considering it’s so cheap? We tried it to see.
A semi-DIY face mask for deep pore cleansing
Okay, so can you tell I’m a little focused on my pores these days? Here’s a great solution: For a semi-DIY mask, try the cult-favorite Aztec Secret: Indian Healing Clay I ordered from Amazon (although, you may find it a little cheaper at Target). Wow, did it work!
The container is full of a dry powder that you mix at home with water and apple cider vinegar. It fizzes as you mix, and the package suggests you slather it on 1/4-inch thick. My pores were cleaner than I’ve ever seen them after using a mask — although as you can see, I did look like Elphaba. What you can’t see is that I smelled like a vat of apple cider vinegar. But so worth it.
A DIY face mask for all that ails you
If you have an extensive essential oil collection and you’re looking for new ways to try them out, then this cactus water + Vitamin C mask at Hello Glow is the one for you. Especially if you’ve got aging skin that’s drying, and you’re willing to try some new masks to fix it.
The cactus water in this recipe offers antioxidants for hydration and anti-inflammatory help, which targets fine lines and age spots, and also reportedly reduces puffiness and irritated skin. It may even help with acne. And pay your mortgage and pick up your dry cleaning. (Ha, if only.)
That said, if you don’t have the pricy essential oils in this recipe on hand — let alone other ingredients it requires, like ascorbic acid, pink clay, and prickly pear seed oil — you’re going to have a big price tag just to get started with this mask. So, you know, make some choices.
