I love Toby’s gift; I just don’t like avocados. John-I love him too. This was our dinner conversation over Creamy Avocado Pasta:
Me: “I don’t like this.”
John: “But it doesn’t taste like avocado; that’s a huge success.”
If no one else is laughing, I was. I’m usually the one laughing loudest at his jokes anyway. He’s funny, supportive and always optimistic; it’s nice to be around that sort of person. So à la John, I took my lemons avocados and made lemonade beauty products. All day I whipped, blended and pampered. I started with this…
And ended with this…
With avocados on hand, I didn’t have to leave the house for a thing. All the ingredients were ready to go in the refrigerator and cabinets – milk, eggs, lemons, oatmeal, and cornmeal. That covered not just my face, but my hands, feet and legs too. I made a face mask, facial cleanser, foot scrub, and hand treatment. Plus I set aside slices of avocado to use under my eyes and a couple of peels to moisturize. It was time to relax…
And relaxing it was…the house was cool and quiet, not even a murmur of a TV or the chirp of a phone. The boys were out all afternoon being loud at someone else’s house. It was a very good day, and I’ll absolutely make these products again. I loved all of them, especially the face mask. It dried like any store-bought mask but was easier to wash off. The ingredients are 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1/2 avocado mashed.
After 15 minutes or so, I used a warm washcloth to remove the mask and used the deep cleanser next. The blender came in handy for this recipe. Whisk an egg yolk until it’s frothy and add it to the blender with 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 avocado mashed. Anything applied with a cotton ball is preferable without chunks, so I strained to be safe. And this is one I’ll be using tomorrow too. The cleanser can be stored in the refrigerator for 48 hours.
After rinsing off the cleanser, I used the avocado peel as a moisturizer. The peels contain humectant, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a substance that promotes retention of moisture.” Although it left me looking a bit like Fiona from Shrek, it felt like rubbing my face in a drape of slick velor. I kept circling it back over my lips like it was a tube of glossy lip balm.
Next up: feet and hands. I preferred the foot scrub to the hand treatment. It left my skin smoother, most likely due to the cornmeal. The original recipe called for 2-3 tablespoons of cornmeal mixed with 2 tablespoons of mashed avocado, but the avocado I was using wasn’t as ripe as some of the others. Having nearly no experience with avocado, it was lost on me how much this mattered until my spoon slid into a truly ripe one. To improvise with the not quite ripe, I added a little olive oil and lemon juice to moisten and smooth out the texture. It worked out so well that the leftovers ended up on my legs. I’m now soft, smooth and completely relaxed. Yes, it was a very good day.
