Summer might be acting like a tease (in Lahore and Islamabad at least) but we all know that sweltering weather is just around the corner. If the heat has the ability to make you feel drained and depleted, imagine what it does to your skin. You might not feel it but your skin also becomes parched during the hot summer months (thanks partially to the excessive sweating) and there’s no better way to stay hydrated than using a facial mist spray. But just buying an ordinary facial mist can set you back about Rs. 5000 if you’re picking out something fancy from the imported makeup counter at your usual haunt while our easy peasy DIY recipe will set you back by maybe a few hundred rupees if even that! Worse still, commercially made mists might contain harmful ingredients like chemicals, alcohol (which dries out your skin) or synthetic fragrances that can irritate the skin while a homemade facial mist ensures that you end up with a quality product that caters to all your skin requirements. Best part about making your own mist at home? You can customize it with the ingredients that work best for you and just brew a fresh batch whenever you run out. Read on to discover our beloved two step recipe.

Step 1: Brew Some Tea

The base of our facial mist is always green tea. You can even use rose water or coconut water or even good old plain water as the base but we prefer the aroma and antioxidant properties of green tea. Boil a cup of water with a stick of cinnamon in it and let the tea bag seep. We love to use Dilmah’s Moroccan Mint tea bags for this because they smell divine and are super refreshing in the summer.  You can also add mint leaves (three to four per cup) if you have redness or acne or even just for the smell. Once the tea is cooled remove the tea bag and strain the cinnamon stick and leaves away. You can pour it into a spray bottle and refrigerate it.

Step 2: Customise it

We love rose water and it’s the only toner we swear by so obviously it makes its way into our facial mist spray. It’s a miracle product that you can never go wrong with for your skin and not only does it keep you hydrated it also improves the overall appearance of your skin. We like to add equal parts rose water to our green tea facial mist and add a drop of rosehip seed oil. You can replace rosehip oil with anything from almond, witch-hazel (for acne prone or irritated skin) to jojoba oil or completely skip this add-on if you already battle with excessive sebum. A little aloe vera in the mixture also goes a long way but it can cause your mist to become a little muddled so we tend to skip it. If you’re looking for more instructions we’ve already come to the end! Pop it in your fridge, let it become nice and cool and enjoy all summer long.