This week, we invite you to pamper yourself in a way that you feel soothed, relaxed and nourished. Even if you only have 10 extra minutes in your schedule, we’re here to show you how easy it is to treat your skin with our powdered masks! Here are our do’s and don’ts from Justine for creating the best at-home masking ritual.

Why you should mask at home

If you receive facials from your local esthetician, you know that masking can help with specific skin conditions you’re looking to tackle to achieve your skin goals. If you follow us on Instagram, Justine has shared her findings upon returning to the treatment room and seeing what she’s noticing with her client’s skin:

“From my time in the treatment room, I’ve seen that this past year has taken a toll on their skin. Mostly what I’ve been noticing is congestion, inflammation, and stagnation. This makes complete sense for the year we’ve had.”

Congestion can build up from dead skin cells, sebum, sweat, and of course from wearing a mask daily. Your skin cells regenerate every 27 days, and exfoliation is key to unclogging your skin from congestion. To help with the process, exfoliate your skin with our Exfoliation Mask or Essential Enzymes to remove the excess of dead skin cells that remain on the surface of your skin, so the new ones can shine through! 

Don’ts

If you remember only ONE thing from this post – Don’t let your mask dry out! We know it’s counterintuitive because we think the mask is “done” when it’s dry, but what it’s really doing is pulling the moisture from the stratum corneum and allowing it to dry out, depleting your skin of the much-needed moisture it needs. While your skin will feel soft immediately after removing the mask, secondarily, you’ll feel tightness. The next day, you’ll potentially have post-mask breakouts, dehydration, or peeling that can last up to weeks. Our suggestion is to keep a hydrosol handy to keep it moist or mask while you’re showering instead!

Stay away from physical scrubs – they can cause inflammation and scarring and aren’t worth the damage they will do to your skin in the long term! There’s no way to gauge how much you’re exfoliating the skin with this method. It can easily create an imbalance in your moisture barrier causing more breakouts and sensitivity in the skin.

Don’t attempt to include an acid peel at home! Honey and yogurt have a simpler and more gentle enzymatic function that works better as an at-home exfoliant. We love goat milk yogurt for this reason alone! Check out our stance on using acids in skincare here.

We know it shouldn’t have to be said, but don’t attempt to do your own extractions at home! We know the temptation is realer than real, but this should be left to a professional to avoid lasting, visible damage to your skin. (But if you can’t help but get that *one* pimple, here’s our guide to doing extractions safely at home.)

Don’t forget your neck and chest need love too! Don’t miss out on masking your decollete – your wise and older self will thank you for this!

Do’s

Take the time to REALLY cleanse your skin. Massage your cleanser into all those crevices, the sides of your nose, your chin, your sideburn area, and your jaw. Start at your forehead and move downwards towards your decollete to get all the debris and impurities cleared from your skin.

Use chemical exfoliation, meaning methods that utilize acids or enzymes, which is the gentler way of exfoliating. It offers a gentle and natural way to slough off dead skin cells. Botnia’s Exfoliation Mask includes pomegranate and pumpkin enzymes or Essential Enzymes with liquid pomegranate enzymes, that naturally exfoliate and brighten your skin. Mixed with our oats compound, this trio of powders treats uneven skin tone and texture.

Include facial massage in your self-care moment! Either it’s using a gua sha tool, or just your hands, facial massage has so many benefits for your skin. It stimulates the blood flow and oxygen and can help increase the delivery of nutrients to your cells, which is wonderful for healing acne scars. It can also help relax the muscles after a stressful day and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. If you also have seasonal allergies (um, hello fall pollen!), facial massage can also be beneficial for reducing sinus pressure. Circular motions work best to drain lymph and bring down inflammation, puffiness, and brighten your complexion. 

Which mask to use?

As mentioned, the Exfoliation Mask or Essential Enzymes is great for cellular turnover when used once a week. You can even use both together! We recommend it for almost any routine and skin type.

If you’re dealing with acne, we recommend the Sulfur Mask which has sulfur and oats that will gently treat and reduce inflammation. Use it up to twice a week. You can even spot treat nightly using the Fix-zit mask however we don’t recommend sleeping with it all over, as it can dry out your skin. 

Our Flower Mask is great for the wiser skin types, or someone with sun damage and need extra antioxidant support. In combo with our Soothing Repair Mask, this mask is a powerhouse for hydration. 

Last but not least, our Kale Mask is great for people who have sun-damaged or inflamed skin. The antioxidant powerhouse kale brightens the skin and reduces inflammation, oats soothe and bind moisture to the skin, and chamomile reduces redness and calms any irritation. We do not recommend Kale-Yeah for anyone who has grass allergies. 

In addition to our powdered masks, you can always add a pump of the Soothing Repair Mask to your mix for extra hydration. Bonus points if you sleep with the Soothing Repair Mask (used alone, not mixed with other masks) overnight for deep hydration. 

How to mask

Start with cleansing your skin and really take your time to massage your face and enjoy the scent of your cleanser and massage your skin really well.

Next, mix equal parts of Essential Enzymes, goat milk yogurt, (we like Redwood Hill Farms), alternative organic yogurt or organic local honey, and powdered mask. Start with a teaspoon full of each and mix and add until you have a pancake batter-like consistency. See our tutorial on Instagram here.

Apply the mask all over your face, neck, and decollete, and use a hydrosol to keep your mask moist.

Leave on for 5-10 minutes. 

Remove mask fully and follow with a toner or hydrosol before applying moisturizer. 

Need help choosing the right powdered mask for you? Email us at botniaskincare@gmail.com and we’ll help you find the right mask for your routine. On Instagram? Show us your mask selfies and tag us @botniaskincare!