From The Straits Times    |

Here's how to make a DIY beer mask b.png

Just chilling, watching Girls and splashing ourselves with beer. Typical night in

On the very rare occasion when we find ourselves with spare six-packs lying about our pad – and believe us when we say we love our lager – we get down to mixing our own rinse-off mask.

There can only be one compelling reason why we’re willing to let perfectly good beer go down the drain, so to speak, instead of down our gullet, and this is it: Ale alleviates acne. Who knew?

Now, we can only say to the skeptical teetotalers out there that our anecdotal experience based around a boozy body of research on the beautifying benefits of beer.

For starters, the brewer’s yeast in your liquid gold has been shown to stall sebum production and pummel acne-aggravating bacteria into submission.

The good folks at the University of Munich, bless their hearts, have examined said yeast – which is actually composed of countless asexual fungi; that’s a cocktail conversation-starter right there! – and found that the minuscule microorganisms function as startlingly effective zit zappers.

Venturing further down the rabbit hole, we also uncovered compelling evidence that suggests that the brewer’s yeast in beer can be incredibly curative: It’s crammed with skin-friendly stuff like pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin b12 and riboflavin, so much so that German-based cosmeceutical company Dayenne has begun building entire skincare ranges around the new hero ingredient.

Being beauty brainiacs and unapologetic alcohol appreciators, we knew we had to test this out for ourselves. The following is our carefully fine-tuned batch recipe for a spot-clearing beer mask:

STEP 1. Start by filling a clean canister with a generous tablespoon or two of unflavoured plain yoghurt, into which you fold a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

STEP 2. Next, introduce a teaspoon of skin-brightening lemon extract; substitute with a pinch of freshly grated citrus zest if you must.

STEP 3. Splash in a good glug-full your beer of choice, then use a spoon to jumble everything up in the bowl. At this point, it should be resembling curdled mayonnaise in colour and consistency.

STEP 4. Crack open an egg, separate the white from the yolk (save the latter for future gastronomic use) and plop the white into your bowl. The albumen in egg white is a bodybuilding powerhouse of pore-tightening proteins.

STEP 5. Whisk this mixture on the lowest speed possible for about half a minute until frothy. Resist the urge to chug down the concoction like eggnog!

STEP 6. Use clean fingers to smear this mess onto your face, kick up your kitten heels for fifteen minutes (more than enough time to polish off the remaining beer!) and wash off with a splash of warm water.

Obligatory caveat: If you have sensitive skin, save yourself the heartache of a potential case of “Asian flush” (oh, we’re having so much fun with these spirited puns!) by testing the mask out on the nook of your elbow. If nothing happens, proceed without inhibition.

Voila, the perfect nightcap in six easy steps. Rinse and repeat if you’re intent on completing your “12-step programme”!

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