Antioxidant rich foods should be a mandatory staple in your diet if you want glowing youthful looking skin (and who doesn’t want that). While we believe nourishing your body with raw beauty foods is incredibly important for giving you long lasting results, there’s no harm in letting the same ingredients amplify your collagen boosting efforts by doubling as a face mask!

Face masks are a great way to give your skin a little extra love. And while clay masks, sheet masks or Stormtrooper looking LED masks may be an effective option, we may not all have the time, patience (or let’s be honest, money) to do them all the time.

Luckily, your pantry is stocked with skin loving ingredients that can work wonders through your insides and out over your skin too! When you’re preparing your avocado toast, scoop out the remaining bits left over that you might not eat and you’ve got yourself a DIY fuss-free face mask!

More importantly, you have full control over the ingredients so you can tailor it to your specific skincare needs (and there’s no nasty, 17-syllable additives that make you question your proficiency in the English language!)

Here are 5 homemade face masks that will help you build collagen and keep your skin looking smooth and radiant!

Cacao is an incredibly rich source of flavonoid antioxidants that have been shown to work wonders on your skin when ingested but also applied directly to it. It helps to mop up free radicals and repair the damage caused by unprotected sun exposure. Combined with the cleansing and anti-inflammatory effects of oatmeal and the antibacterial properties of honey to relieve clogged polluted skin.

Cacao also works as an anti-inflammatory to help soothe irritated skin so be sure to use this mask after your day long dalliance in the sun!

Preparation: 2 tablespoons of oats, 1 teaspoon of cacao and 1 tablespoon of honey – mix into a paste and apply

Grapes are nature’s anti-aging jewels, packed with the age-defying compound resveratrol. This antioxidants function like a vacuum within your skin, devouring any free radicals before they damage the collagen and elastin fibres. Combine the grapes with soothing aloe vera that helps to promote healing within the skin by causing an increase in collagen production as well as the extracellular matrix that helps to strengthen collagen structure

Preparation: 6 red grapes (mashed) with 2 tablespoons of aloe vera – mix into a paste and apply

If you have a butternut squash staring back at you from your pantry and don’t know what to do with it, try using it in a face mask. Squash is one the richest sources of vitamin A and it provides a generous dose of vitamin C, the precursor to collagen, to your skin with it! Combine with antioxidant, vitamin and mineral rich avocado to help repair a damaged skin barrier. It’s also packed with omega-9 which has anti-inflammatory properties to help soothe your skin.

To naturally remove dead skin cells, add in a squeeze of honey which consists of gluconic acid – a type of alpha-hydroxy acid that operates as a natural chemical exfoliant to help brighten your skin.

Preparation: 2 tablespoons of avocado with half a butter squash (pureed in a food processor) and one tablespoon of honey – mix into a paste and apply

Sesame seeds are one of the richest plant-based sources of copper available. Aside from being an antioxidant powerhouse to help fight free radicals, copper peptides have been scientifically proven to promote the production of collagen and elastin within the skin. They are also a rich source of glycosaminoglycans that help to hydrate your skin naturally by producing hyaluronic acid. Combine ground sesame seeds with olive oil to give your skin healing moisturising mask!

Preparation: 2 tablespoons ground sesame seeds with 1 tablespoon of olive oil – mix into a paste and apply

The last of our DIY collagen building face treatments consists of a breakfast bowl – literally. Oatmeal is great as an anti-inflammatory to help soothe your skin and is also a wonderful source of collagen stimulating beta-glucan. Combine with the moisturising goodness of honey and apply directly to your skin for a deeply soothing mask.

If you’ve got oily or acne prone skin, add in half a teaspoon of baking soda to unclog your pores and help absorb excess oil.

Preparation: 2 tablespoons of oats and 1 tablespoon of honey (half a teaspoon of baking soda - optional) – mix into a paste and apply

There’s no doubt you can eat these face masks as easily as you can put them on your face, so don’t be shy to make a spoonful (or two) extra as an ingestible treat. Feel free to don these masks in the kitchen while you’re whipping up your next meal! These masks smell so good, believe me you’ll be hungry once you’ve finished your pamper session. Be sure to let us know what your favourite DIY collagen boosting mask was on our socials @rawbeautylab and share any of your favourite DIY face mask recipes with the Raw Beauty Lab family below!