Food for Your Face: 5 Key Natural Skin Care Ingredients!

Homemade beauty products are simple and quick to make—even moreso if you already have the ingredients in the pantry. Keep your kitchen stocked with these essentials to whip up on-the-spot masks, cleansers, and lotions without even a trip to the store.

Honey: Cleopatra knew what she was doing with those milk and honey baths: the bees' sweet stuff is a natural humectant, so it's made to hold moisture. For a simple skin lotion, mix one teaspoon honey, one teaspoon vegetable oil, and ¼ teaspoon lemon juice, rub on dry skin, and rinse off after ten minutes. Find more honey recipes at the National Honey Board?s website.

Sugar: The glycolic acid in sugar—and the rough texture&makes;makes it ideal for exfoliating while giving skin a healthy glow. Make a body's worth of sugar scrub by combining ½ cup sugar, two tablespoons of cream or whole milk, five drops of orange oil and one cup of olive oil. Leave on for 10-15 minutes and then rinse off.

Olive Oil: The vitamin E and antioxidants in olive oil make it another great moisturizing option: try soaking your nails in a cup for a shiny, at-home manicure; apply it to your hair, leave on half an hour, and then shampoo for gleaming locks; or rub it onto hands and feet for soft skin.

Eggs: The protein in eggs is especially good for your hair. Add one to one ounce olive oil, one tablespoon lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar for an easy shampoo—or combine one teaspoon of baby oil, one egg yolk, and one cup water for a quick conditioner.

Fruits and Vegetables: You already know they're key to good health—turns out they're important for great skin, too. Different recipes take advantage of the vitamins, minerals, and clean scents of different foods: avocados are great for vitamin E, carrots are high in beta-carotene and antioxidants, ginger is energizing, the folic acid and nutrients in strawberries have been shown to fight acne, tooth tartar, and cancer.