Floral Water Skin Brightening Recipe

Learn how to make skin-soothing floral water straight from the garden and use it in a recipe for a lush, all-natural facial. Sue Goetz, author of the book The Herb Lover’s Spa Book: Create a Luxury Spa Experience at Home with Fragrant Herbs from Your Garden, joins us today to share her recipe for an uplifting summer treat, Floral Water Skin Brightener.

Abundance is the best way to describe a garden in mid-summer. Herbs are lush in leaf and flowers in full bloom. Capture that abundance! Herbs steeped in water release all the precious essential oils of the plants. Those essences hold the amazing nurturing qualities of the herbs.

This recipe uses the skin-smoothing properties of roses, the healing effects of lavender and a fresh, uplifting note of spearmint. Don’t be afraid to add generous handfuls of fresh herbs to create a rich, fragrant water.

Floral Garden Water

(From page 152 of The Herb Lover’s Spa Book)

Ingredients

• A handful of fragrant, fresh rose petals, plus additional handful for later
• 2 tablespoons fresh lavender buds
• A handful of fresh spearmint
• 2 cups pure filtered water
• 1/2 cup witch hazel or vodka (optional as a preserver)
• 3 drop lavender essential oil, if desired
• 3 drops rose essential oil, if desired

Make it!

Bring water to boil in a glass pan, remove from heat.

Add the lavender, spearmint and one handful of rose petals and allow to sit for 30 minutes. This will make a simple water infusion of the fragrant plants.

Filter out the plants and add the second handful of fresh rose petals.

Pour in the vodka or witch hazel (has a slight odor) and shake to mix well.

Allow to sit in the sun for another 30 minutes. Strain off the plants through a coffee filter or cheesecloth.

Add essential oil (if desired) and shake well. Pour into a glass bottle with a spray mister top. Shake well before each use.

Floral Water Skin Brightener

(From page 153 of The Herb Lover’s Spa Book)

Use your hand-blended floral water as a base ingredient for a lush, fragrant facial. Plain yogurt is a nourishing skin softener (don’t use a low fat or non fat, you want all those natural fatty ingredients). Yogurt also has an astringent quality which means it will tighten pores. Baking soda in the mix will add a slight grit to help draw out impurities and neutralize PH. All these ingredients combine to make a quick, easy facial that will brighten skin to feel fresh, renewed and soft.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup floral water
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda

Make it!

Mix all ingredients until smooth. This should have a good creamy consistency, not watery or runny.

Gently massage into damp skin in circular motions all over face and neck. Avoid tender eye areas. Rinse well. Pat skin dry gently with a soft towel.

For more information visit www.herbloversspa.com or grab a copy of The Herb Lover’s Spa Book: Create a Luxury Spa Experience at Home with Fragrant Herbs from Your Garden.

Also see:

Skin-Renewing Herb Garden Facial in Four Steps