We’re gonna come straight out and say it: you should put food on your face! If you want delicious, healthy, glowing skin - it’s time to start feeding it accordingly with skin food. And we don’t just mean the kind of skin food that you eat (hint: our Collagen Beauty). We mean, quite literally, lathering nature’s goods all over your noggin.

It’s not as glamorous as what this ethereal hand bath may suggest. You might find it more on the sticky side and less on the soothing side. You’ll probably smell more like your breakfast and less like these flowers. And you’ll absolutely get judgemental looks from your family members - but just pop those leftover cucumber slices over your eyes to block out the haters in no time.

But despite the lack of glamour and probable mess, you’ll come out the other side with skin that glows like the sun and feels like a baby’s bum! Plus, it’s an opportunity to reduce food wastage. No more carelessly tossing banana peels, stalky-end cut offs of fruit and veggies, and other scraps. Smear those suckers on your face before they get the chuck for a complimentary complexion boost that will cost you nothing more than a few weird looks!

There are a bazillion different fruits, veggies and other natural foods that can do everything from hydrating, refining, pimple combat, blackhead removal, balancing pH, anti-ageing and more, so we’ve put together our top 9 favourite foods that you can eat for breakfast and smear over your face at the same time for radiant, yummy skin!

1. Manuka Honey

Manuka honey takes the cake as Queen Bee of all the face foods, and it deserves all the buzz it gets in the health food world. The difference between Manuka honey and regular honey is the trees that the bees gather the pollen from Manuka Tea Trees! Tea tree oil in itself is a legendary pimple remedy due to it’s antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. As it turns out, these properties are transferred into Manuka honey. However, unlike tea tree oil which can be really harsh and painful on pimples, Manuka honey is very gentle and leaves your skin feeling incredibly silky smooth and hydrated, and is perfect for every skin type.

Simply use it as a quick 5-minute face mask after you have cleansed your skin (some people actually use it instead of a cleanser). If you’re wondering how honey could be practical for daily use considering the stickiness, then the great news is it literally glides off your skin with just water, leaving no sticky residue!

PS if you’re like us and you care about the bees - find and support your local beekeeper! We source the Manuka honey in our Golden and Mermaid Lattes from a local and ethical supplier. Most beekeepers are really passionate about helping bees, and they actually help them survive by giving them a safe home on their property with plenty of plants and flowers for them to keep them happy and alive.

2. Coconut Oil

If you’ve got 99 problems, we can guarantee coconut oil will solve like 87 of them!

You know the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ where the dad insists on putting Windex on any and every ailment? Well, we feel that way about Coconut Oil! Put it in your food, on your face, in your hair, on your body, brush your teeth with it, rinse your mouth with it, put it in your eyelashes, and you can even shave your sensitive bits with it!

Great for any of the above, but for your face, it is AMAZING for removing eye makeup, and can be used sparingly as a moisturiser. It is also great for helping to heal acne scarring!

3. Garlic

Hold your nose for this one, because although the smell may be offensive, garlic is the most powerful weapon to fight off any unwanted monsters on your face! When all other methods have failed, go in with the big guns and exterminate that sucker from your face with even the most sparing swap of fresh garlic. Simply crush a clove and dab it on the unwelcome blemishes. Leave it on for a few minutes, and give it a good wash with cleanser to get rid of the smell. However, if you have sensitive skin, garlic may be too harsh for you.

4. Egg white

If you want your skin pores to be tighter than your spanks, don’t let any egg white slip through the cracks. Dip your fingers into the egg white residue from your egg shells, rub that skin tightening magic on your face while you’re waiting for the eggs to cook, and try not to move your face because it kind of feels like glue! Leave for about 10 minutes, then cleanse it off. Slightly uncomfortable experience, but totally worth it. This stuff is porefection.

5. Gelatin blackhead peel

You know those incredibly satisfying blackhead peel videos using the black masks? Save yourself the $20 and do it yourself with just 2 ingredients that you should already have in your pantry (unless you’re vegan) - Natural Gelatin and milk! Simply mix them together in equal parts, microwave for 30 seconds, and smear in a thick even layer over the problem areas on your face (especially nose!). Wait for 10 minutes, and let out an evil cackle as the pesky blackheads are forced out of their homes and meet their fate.

6. Banana peel

We’re all bananas for smoothies at Nutra HQ and most of our smoothies use frozen banana! So that’s a lot of banana peel that we go through every week. One of the most apPEELing ways to use the leftover skin is on your skin! Amazing for both oily and dry skin, rub that bad boy all over your face for hydration, oil control, and to treat acne.

7. Apple cider vinegar

ACV is on the same wavelength as coconut oil, in that you can use it for so many random remedies. Morning metabolism kickstart? Check. Hair conditioner alternative? Check. All-purpose cleaner? Check. Stop cats from biting cords around the house? Sure, why not!

But for your face, ACV makes an excellent toner by balancing your skin’s pH, prevents bacterial growth, exfoliates dead skin cells and may also help acne by reducing oil and unclogging pores. However, don’t put this stuff straight on your face! Make sure you dilute it with water to suit your skin conditions. For sensitive skin, use 1 part ACV to 4 parts water. For oily skin, use 1:1. And for everything in between, play around to see what works for you.

8. Green tea

Even though we know it’s never a good idea to squeeze pimples, sometimes the urge is too great and all hell breaks loose when an offensive white head claims real estate smack bang in the middle of your forehead. So you squeeze the heck out of the beast, and you’re left with a giant red throbbing mound.

What next? Rub a green tea ice cube in a circular motion around the blemish for a few minutes. It’s a bit messy, but the ice combined with green tea with help soothe the area and reduce inflammation.

9. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are high in Vitamin A & C, which are found in many skin products for treating acne. But more importantly, tomatoes are high in an antioxidant called lycopene which acts as an inner sunscreen and can help protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun. (Obviously, don’t replace sunscreen with tomato if you’re going out in the sun. You’ll look weird with red stuff all over your face in public, and it doesn’t offer complete protection… it’s just great as an extra source of natural protection). Simply rub leftover cut offs of tomato all over your clean skin and leave for a few minutes, then wash it off with a natural cleanser.