DIY Hydrating Pore Strips with Your Leftovers

Paramore’s Hayley Williams is big on natural beauty (Photo: Populartv.com)

Well+Good readers and Paramore’s Hayley Williams have something in common: super hydrated skin and a love for natural, DIY beauty.

RELATED: My Five Beauty Obsessions with Hayley Williams

This summer, we tested a beauty recipe that’s also a rock star fave at our Hamptons Surfside Salutations reader event: Deep Sea Hydrating Strips. They’re made with kombu from the grocery store soaked in coffee (this morning’s leftovers are ideal) and a blended cucumber. They infuse your skin with the nutritional equivalent of green juice, says natural skin-care goddess and S.W. Basics of Brooklyn founder Adina Grigore, who created this recipe for her book Skin Cleanse.

Extra hydration is a brilliant idea when your radiator switches on—and remains in the volume 11 position for the next five months. And the strips are kind of Halloween friendly, too, since you’ll look like a sea monster when you apply them.

RELATED: Forget Everything You Thought You Knew About Your Skin Type

Why is it good for your skin? “Seaweed draws toxins from the skin, is full of B vitamins, clears away dead skin cells, and leaves you hydrated and dewy-fresh,” says Grigore, who also studied nutrition. “Cukes are high in antioxidants and in vitamins C and K, which help combat inflammation and aging; they also contain vitamin A—a natural retinol [that’s] great for skin tone and giving you a glow. Coffee is full of antioxidants and provides a healthy oil for your skin.

How to DIY this beauty mask? Grigore explains:

Ingredients
½ cup cooled coffee
½ peeled cucumber, roughly chopped or blended
1 sheet kombu seaweed

Add the coffee and cucumber to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a shallow bowl and add the sheet of seaweed. Soak until it is completely rehydrated. To apply, first put cotton into the cuke-and-coffee mixture and dab it on your skin. Then tear the kombu into strips and firmly press them all over your face, focusing on the under-eye area, forehead, nose, or any other dry patches. Leave on and hang out, making sure to scare as many people as possible while you look like an underwater monster. When finished, peel off and discard the strips of kombu and rinse your face clean. When you see how amazing your skin looks, feel free to toss the gross drugstore “pore strips” from your cabinet. Makes one use.

Want to see Grigore and Williams getting their sea monster on? Check out this video.

By Well+GOOD

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