I was flipping through this month’s Real Simple when I came across an article called “Take a Vacation… From Your Beauty Routine.” All about giving you hair, skin and nails a little breather, it explains why less can be more and gives some tips for spa-like treatments at home.

It got me thinking. Why do we put chemicals directly onto our skin–especially if there are simple, natural, inexpensive alternatives? We worry about what’s in our food and the plastics we use, but for some reason when it comes to beauty treatments people often turn a blind eye.

I did a little research and found a few facial recipes I’m willing to try.

Soothing Oatmeal Mask

Cools and calms overheated skin, red skin, and heat rash.

• 1/2 cup full fat yogurt
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• Leave on 10-15 minutes, rinse

via Real Simple (Aug 2011)

Organic Banana Face Mask

Your skin will have a healthy glow after applying this tropical mask to your face. This recipe is designed for all skin types.

• Mash one half of a banana
• Mix in a tablespoon of orange juice and a tablespoon of honey
• Apply to the face and keep the mixture on for fifteen minutes
• Rinse with lukewarm water and then moisturize

via Marie Claire

Heavenly Honey Citrus Mask

This honey-and-orange-based mask is a quick fix to give your face an organic healthy glow.

• Combine three tablespoons of orange juice with half a cup of honey
• Apply to the face and leave on for half an hour
• Rinse with lukewarm followed by cool water, then moisturize

 via Marie Claire

Cup o’ Joe Facial Scrub

The coffee will exfoliate your skin while the olive oil provides a good source of moisture to keep your skin soft and hydrated. You can store your coffee scrub in the refrigerator if you prefer, but it will stay fresh for several weeks at room temperature.

• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 6 tbsp. coffee grounds (note: the coffee grounds should be very fine because you’ll be rubbing them onto your skin. Put them through a coffee grinder twice if you need to)
• Mix the coffee grounds and olive oil. (If you’d like to make more or less, the ratio is 3 tablespoons of coffee for every 2 tablespoons of olive oil.) The scrub should look like a coarse mud when finished.
• To use, simply take a small dollop of the coffee and olive oil mixture and gently scrub it onto your skin. Then rinse completely with water.

via PETA

What do you think? Are you willing to give any of them a try?

In case you’re crunched for time or just plain lazy, I found some organic alternatives to homemade skin care.

Jojoba Buff – Organic Exfoliating Crème Cleanser by Spa Goddess

Organic Micro-Polish Refining Facial Cleanser by Naturallogic

Pangea Organics Japanese Matcha Tea with Acai & Goji Berry Facial Mask

Lipstick usually doesn’t like me. I’ll find a color I love, smear it on and within a half hour the interior half of my bottom lip is colorless. Highly irritating–especially when those little tubes aren’t cheap!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really a lipstick girl. A swipe of gloss is usually good enough, but once in awhile a little pop of color makes you feel brand new–until you catch a glimpse of your reflection in the bathroom mirror at work and see that it looks like half of your lip is having an allergic reaction.

Until recently the closest thing I found to something that looked like lipcolor rather than an ailment was Covergirl’s Outlast Lipstain. While it doesn’t last nearly as long as anticipated, adding a little gloss to it made my whole striped-lip look way less noticable than any other lipcolor product I’ve tried (note to anyone thinking of trying it: I liked the idea of a matte stain but my lips felt so dry I had to add gloss).

Since I was closest to happy with Covergirl’s Outlast, my interest was piqued when I saw their Outlast All-Day Lipcolor while hunting for makeup to wear for my sister-in-law’s wedding.

It comes with two tubes. The first is the lipcolor, which comes with a little wand applicator. You apply it to clean, dry lips (no lip liner!) and let it set for sixty seconds without any blotting or rubbing your lips together. Once the color is set, you apply the second tube, which is basically a clear gloss.

Can I just say I’m in love? I was pleasantly surprised that I applied it once in the morning (I got Dusty Rose 530) and when I was getting ready for bed that night, I had to rub Vaseline on my lips to take off the remaining color. That has never happened to me before.

Now, admittedly, the color was beginning to cake and wear off a bit in the middle of my lips. But I only applied the top coat once! I think that if I reapply for moisture/gloss during the day I’ll have no issues at all.

Love it!

Do you have a favorite lipcolor or gloss? Do share!