Pretty much my favourite thing to do ever is lie down. And since everyone needs a hobby I like to combine lying down with smothering goop all over my face.
Enter the Ayur Sandal Face Pack. I found this at my local Indian grocer and the combination of sandalwood–one of my favourite fragrances–and mud proved irresistible.
This comes as a powder containing sandalwood, multani mitti (Fuller’s earth), calamine, and kaolin. They suggest you add rosewater to make up the mask, but I preferred to use plain water as I’m not that keen on the rosewater I have. You could also add in any extras you like. Milk and yoghurt seem popular in recipes I have seen for Indian face packs; other options include honey, green tea, or lemon juice (always patch test before using ingredients you haven’t tried before).
As you’re mixing this yourself you can make it up to your preferred consistency. For my first attempt I probably made it a bit too thick and will be adding more water next time.
For anyone who has changed a few nappies the colour of the mask may prove to be slightly disconcerting. My web-cam-under-fluorescent-lighting photo really doesn’t capture its full glory:
I recommended closing your eyes, lying back, and letting the gentle waft of sandalwood transport you to India. Also really low lighting.
This performed as is fairly standard for a mud-based mask: it slurped up the slightest trace of oil on my face and left it temporarily smooth and finer pored. It is sold as an “anti-dryness face pack”, but a thousand times no. Don’t even go near it unless your skin leans at least slightly towards the oily side.
As an added bonus this left my skin lightly fragranced with sandalwood–which I enjoyed as I undertook the rest of my evening’s lying down–and at $3.99 for 100g didn’t leave my wallet in to bad a condition either.
If you don’t like Indians or India don’t buy their stuff. In other countries people make fun of india and its culture but they all watch bollywood movies, use ayurvedic products and crowd up indian restaurants so much that actual indian people and their families don’t have any place to sit. I live in America and i’m saying this from experience.