DIY Acne Facial {aka Dream Steam}

You’re going to love these Lush copycat Dream Steam tabs.

It’s a DIY acne facial that’s easy to make, gorgeous to look at, and gives you clear, calm skin.  All you do is drop this fizzy steamer tab into a cup of hot water.  The steam helps open your pores, while the lavender and chamomille essential oils soothe and calm both your skin as well as your senses.  The combination of rose petals and fragrant rose essential oil alleviates redness and calms sensitive skin.

Use these steamer tabs in combination with my other natural homemade skincare recipes for your best skin yet.

• To cleanse your face try my foaming face wash that you can customize for your skin type.  Whether your skin is dry, oily, combination, sensitive, or mature, there’s a recipe that’s right for you.  Or try my peppermint and charcoal soap.  It smells amazing!  Plus it helps improve circulation, giving your skin a healthy pink glow, unclogs pores, removes impurities, and improves the overall health of your skin.
• To tone skin and tighten pores, try my DIY tea tree toner.  It’s a gentle, natural way to control excess oil, shrink the appearance of pores, and reduce redness.  Or try my simple DIY facial toner that you can customize to your skin type.
• To moisturize your skin, try my face serum recipes for dry, oily, sensitive, mature, acne, and normal skin.  It’s simple to make and amazing for your skin.

Benefits of this DIY Acne treatment {Dream Steam tabs}

1. Bye-bye, pores!  These little babies help open pores and then remove any impurities, dirt, and oil stuck in pores.  This results in tighter pores that are smaller in appearance.
2. Calm, clear, soothed skin — Use this acne treatment at the first sign of any trouble (or just to keep skin in tip top shape).  They are gentle and work great for sensitive skin.  One of my favorite things about them is how they help reduce redness.  Having fair skin myself, my skin tends to get red and inflamed in the dry winter month or when I eat spicy foods or when I’m stressed or …. the list could go on and on.  But these adorable little tabs help with all of that.  The soothing combination of lavender, chamomile, and rose essential oils calms my skin and reduces the redness.
3. Helps clear up and prevent acne— Pimples, zits, blemishes, acne… whatever you call them, it’s a sign that our skin is not happy.  These facial steamer tabs can help.  Opening the pores, calming the skin, and releasing the antibacterial properties of lavender, chamomile, and rose essential oil helps get rid of and prevent new pimples.
4. Relaxing— Not only are these steamer tabs a great DIY acne treatment, they are also a fabulous way to relax and pamper yourself!  Just pop a couple tabs in hot water, cover your head with a soft towel and breathe in the relaxing aromas.  You’ll instantly feel like you’re at the spa even though you never left the comfort of your own home.

How to make facial steamer tabs?

yield: 16 facial steamer tabs in the heart-shaped mold pictured below.  You may get more or fewer facial tabs depending on the size of your mold.

step 1 (optional): sprinkle dried rose petals in the bottom of silicone molds

This is just for looks, but it’s so pretty.  I think the rose petals add to the relaxation and spa experience.

Plus they make these facial steamers a super cute gift.  Put steamers in a jar then add label (get free printable label here), place jar in a bowl along with a fluffy towel and tie it all up with a pretty ribbon.  Voila!  You have a great gift that every teacher, mom, and friend would love to get.

step 2:  add 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup citric acid to a glass bowl, then mix well

step 3:  add the following essential oils, then mix well so that oils are completely blended in with the dry ingredients

8 drops lavender essential oil

6 drops rose essential oil

4 drops chamomile essential oil (either Roman chamomile or German chamomile works well)

4 drops tea tree essential oil

step 4: add 2-3 Tbsp witch hazel

tip: start with 2 Tbsp, then see if you need more.  If mixture is too wet, you can add more baking soda and citric acid to dry it out.  If mixture is too dry, add a little more witch hazel until you get to the right consistency.  You want the mixture to resemble damp (but not wet) sand.  See the photo below.  The mixture should be able to form a ball, but when you drop the ball it should easily break apart.

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tip: Just like with a bath bomb, water causes the combination of baking soda and citric acid to bubble up and fizz.  I want as much of this fizzing and bubbling to happen when I use the facial steamer as I can.  The more that the mixture fizzes now, the less it will fizz later when I use the facial steamers.  So to prevent too much bubbling from happening now, I use a spray bottle to add the witch hazel.

step 5:  put the mixture into silicone molds

tip:  I love this heart-shaped mold from Wilton (I got it here), but you can use any silicone mold you want.  I find the ice cube size (about 2 Tbsp) works best.

tip: press down firmly with the back of a spoon or with your fingers.  Pressing firmly helps to make sure that the facial steamers will hold together when they are dry.  If the mixture is too loose in the molds, then it might crumble later when you remove them from the molds.

step 6:  Allow them to dry completely and then pop them out of the molds

tip: make sure they are completely dry before trying to remove them from molds.  Depending on the humidity in your home, this may take a few hours or it could take a few days.  If you have lots of humidity in your home (because it’s raining outside, you live in the tropics, or you’re making them near a humid area like a bathroom), then you may want to run a dehumidifier to help get all the extra moisture out of the steamer tabs before you try to unmold them.  Once they are completely dry, they will easily pop right out of the mold.

step 7 (optional): print out the free printable label and attach it to a pretty jar

get the free printable label here

Here’s the facial steamer tabs recipe one more time

yield: 16 facial steamer tabs in the heart-shaped mold pictured below.  You may get more or fewer facial tabs depending on the size of your mold.

see the full step-by-step recipe above for more detailed instructions and tips

step 1 (optional): sprinkle dried rose petals in the bottom of silicone molds

step 2:  add 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup citric acid to a glass bowl, then mix well

step 3:  add the following essential oils, then mix well so that oils are completely blended in with the dry ingredients

8 drops lavender essential oil

6 drops rose essential oil

4 drops chamomile essential oil (either Roman chamomile or German chamomile works well)

4 drops tea tree essential oil

step 4: add 2-3 Tbsp witch hazel

step 5:  put the mixture into silicone molds

step 6:  Allow them to dry completely and then pop them out of the molds

step 7 (optional): print out the free printable label and attach it to a pretty jar

How to use Dream Steam tabs

1. start with a clean face – use my homemade face wash (recipe here)
2. place 1-2 acne facial tabs into a wooden, glass, or ceramic bowl
3. pour hot, steamy water over the tabs
4. close eyes (you don’t want steam or essential oils to get in your eyes)
5. use a soft towel to make a tent over your head and the bowl to trap the steam
6. keep your face over the steam for a couple of minutes to open and clean your pores (tip:  if you ever get too hot or uncomfortable, simply lift up the towel and turn your head away from the bowl to cool off and get fresh air.  When you’re ready, put your head back over the bowl.  Relax and enjoy.
7. when you’re done, use a clean towel to dry your face
8. use toner (find my recipe here)
9. finish with a face serum to seal in moisture (find my recipe here)

Where to get supplies to make DIY facial steamer tabs

baking soda– Costco has a great deal on a big bag of baking soda

click here or here for citric acid

witch hazel– this is the kind I like, but can also get at Walmart or Target

dried rose petals– I got mine here.  I also use these to make beautiful floral bath salts (recipe here).

heart-shaped silicone mold– I got mine here.  You may also be able to find it in baking section of craft stores.

here are a few other essential oil recipes that I think you’ll like:

Sore Muscle Massage Lotion Bar {Lush Wiccy Magic Muscles copycat recipe}

Shimmering Dusting Powder (copycat Lush silky underwear}

Sea Breeze Bath Bombs

Lush copycat chocolate-orange delight lip scrub

Face Serum Recipes for dry, acne, sensitive, oily, mature, and normal skin

DIY tea tree toner

simple DIY facial toner

Foaming Face Wash {5 Ways for 5 Skin Types}

DIY Peppermint & Charcoal Soap

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