DIY skin brightening "Facemask": Fail (spiral)
I don't have a regular work schedule. I work 4-hour shifts here and there when my availability suits the company I work for. Since I work from home I have the luxury of looking absolutely ratchet and literally rolling out of bed minutes before my shift. Today, while taking a short break I noticed that my face was looking a little too lackluster so I researched DIY face brightening masks that I could make while I worked. All of them involved messy gooey concoctions that I didn't want to have to smear my reading glasses in while I worked so I decided to try my own thing.
One mask called for manuka honey, lemon, tumeric and oatmeal.
As far as I've always known, lemon alone is pretty brightening so I decided, "hey! just put some lemon juice all over and watch those years of suntanning and poor sunscreen application just roll away".
I decided to start writing this before I rinse off the lemon juice and see the results. The end of this post will be a surprise to us all!
Before....
I'm leaving it on for 20 minutes and initially is does sting a little. I actually have acne that I have to use treatment for every day to avoid breaking out with major cystic acne. The lemon is likely stinging the little sensitive spots that creep up. I'm certain my acne is an energetic issue that manifested from childhood wounds and is connected, for me, to my elimination system health as well as my hormones (both are influenced by the second chakra) and I'm currently making some good head-way on those issues so will be interested to see how my skin reacts to my internal healing.
Aaaaaand (final reveal), my skin looks exactly the same. 
Since the lemon didn't do what I'd hoped I put two drops of a carrot seed oil in a lotion with strong glycolic acid in it to see what happened. It left my face stinging and red.
Guess the lemon + acid is a bit too harsh. I tried waiting it out for about 15 minutes but it just continued to burn so I rinsed my face again and decided to do a calming mask. Oatmeal, honey and more lemon - why not.
My toddler wouldn't kiss me and kept calling my face "a mess" while I had this on. I couldn't blame her. It looks like diarrhea.
These are the end results. My face looks exactly the same as when I started. However! There isn't a single dead skin cell to be found and it feels super smooth.
And finally with a tiny splash of make-up because my remaining tiny-shreds of vanity can't deal with all those way-too-real, direct sunlight, zero filter shots (that I made tiny on purpose, sorry!) - the real final reveal.
I feel like there should be a moral to this story. Hmmm. The moral is that I ended up creating more work for myself when I could have just made the original mask. That's not a moral. I also doubt it's a lesson - I do stubborn stuff like this all the time. Maybe I should do more research on market face-brighteners vs home brew. Leave a comment if you've done/use something similar that works!
Moving to South Korea isn't an option.
Beautiful to @aprilangel :)
Thank you. 😊
Sorry you had to go through so much effort just to get nothing really from the end result, sounds like it was a pain in the ass, lol. Hopefully your next try goes better!
Haha, thanks! 😸 I do too!! 🙏
Maybe I should have my girlfriend make a post on here about her skincare experiences with masks and products. She bought a TON of South Korean stuff before, some of it was super bizarre sounding stuff. Can't remember the specific cream/product, but it has placenta as one of the main ingredients in it. Was super weirded out about it at the time, haha.
That's funny! I was in Peru several years ago and had the opportunity to experience placenta shampoo. Interestingly, it was perfectly normal. She should definitely enlighten us with her expertise. I'm a mom and don't have an elaborate routine (nor do I want one) but I'm still interested in what works for others.
I love how even though the results weren't what you expected you still reported on what happened in a very suspenseful and interesting blog. I have never tried masks, but I also get acne and have found that platinum skincare's glycolic-hyaluronic serum, and glycol face wash have done amazing things for my skin. These two products have lead to a huge decrease in acne scarring (it's almost gone!) and in reducing the amount of break outs. And then I also use pure organic tea tree oil as a disinfectant in areas where I commonly break out or for existing pimples. These two things have completely changed my skin.
Those are just a few things that I have found that actually do what the products say they will, and have produced real results. Nothing else I have ever tried has worked, unless it was loaded with synthetic chemicals and long-term those are almost never good. Also, you have a new follower. I love your whole30 posts from previous months and other health related posts. Cheers! :)