The Ultimate Thrifty Thursday FAIL :(

When you have a free house what do you do? Nick a bit of Mum's rosé? Turn the music up loud and soak in a hot bubbly bath wasting the week's supply of hot water? Sit in pure silence taking in that new book you got for Christmas but haven't had a chance to even check the front cover out yet?

All of these things seem wonderful, but today I spent my free time in my free house mixing random household groceries together in a bowl then splatting it all over my face. All in the name of science... And beauty... And curiosity...

Researching the time-old classic of the home-made face mask was fun to do but proved difficult as most of the ones I found had something odd in it...like an avocado or almonds. Who the hell has this stuff at home? (Rhetorical question...)
I have a bunch of 'nanas sitting in the fruit bowl so I instead researched 'banana home made face mask'. Much better: I mashed one ripe 'nana in a bowl, mixed in a tablespoon of honey and then mixed it into a thick paste using Oat Burst Porridge Oats...the best I could do on such a stingy budget! Baring in mind it is -6 degress outside in Hertfordshire today I also added a splosh of boiling water from the kettle to warm up the proceedings. This, I'm sorry to say, is how it looked:

Smearing the mixture all over my poor face and lying there fighting the dog off made me feel like a muppet. After 10 minutes I was washing it off (it took about 3 minutes to ponder how I was going to get it all off without covering the bathroom).

To the recipe's credit my skin does feel ever so slightly tightened and, unless I'm going a bit mad, looks brighter. It is also baby soft. Looking a little further into it (and to question my sanity) I found out that bananas are a natural tightener for skin anyway (or 'an astringent' if you want the posh word), honey is a moisturiser and the oats would have been the exfoliant. All very woderful but I won't be doing it again in a rush.

So instead I need to find CHEAP alternatives from the shops...Here goes:

1) Body Shop Honey & Oat 3 in 1 Scrub Mask - £10
The ONLINE REVIEWS alone is enough to make me want to buy this; a 3 in 1 for a tenner?! Barg.

2)  APIVITA 2 Express Gold with Prickly Pear Masks available at Marks & Spencer - £5
Only 5/5 reviews for this and a description that uses the words 'exceptionally soft and supple'. Oooer!

3) Anatomicals Face Mask Pack x 3 at ASOS - £3
Erm did someone say £3 for THREE face masks AND FREE DELIVERY?!?! These, my friends, have been purchased. Let's see it the cheapies can do the job. Mmmm... chocolate! Reviews next week!!!