The Top 5 Non-Food Products You Can Make With Pumpkin

There’s lots to make with pumpkin—including non-food items! After all, there’s only so much pie we can eat, right? After splurging on it, probably a bit too much, we can get that Fall glow back by making one (or all) of the below ideas:

1. Pumpkin Face Mask

No, I don’t mean a scary kind of mask—I mean a bright orange one. Yes, it’s made from pumpkin pulp! But don’t let that frighten you. It’s actually good for you. It contains vitamins (like A and D), zinc (which will help your complexion), antioxidants, works as an exfoliant (making your face super smooth), and helps prevent age spots and wrinkles.

If those aren’t enough reasons to make this mask, I don’t know how else to convince you! Plus, it is super easy and has just four core ingredients: pumpkin, egg, honey, and apple cider or cranberry juice, which are optional.

2. Vegan Pumpkin Face Mask

Here’s a variation of the above, but without the egg (it subs soy yogurt or soy milk instead). It also suggests adding more texture to the mask, like oatmeal for dry skin or brown sugar to act as an exfoliant.

3. Pumpkin Spice Facial Scrub

This scrub has some of the same basic ingredients as above (mainly, the pumpkin puree), but the brown and white sugars are what make the “scrub” part, which is excellent for making your skin softer.

The Vitamin E Oil also helps give the scrub a great texture. If you make this and put it into cute little Mason jars, it makes for a nice (unique and original) gift.

The only downside is, the pumpkin pie spice may make you want to eat the scrub – just be forewarned and have some other pumpkin-y snacks on hand to satisfy that craving.

4. Pumpkin Spice Soap

Okay, so this doesn’t contain the obnoxiously bright orange pumpkin puree like the above recipes, but it IS a fun, festive item you can make… in under 10 minutes! You just need pumpkin pie spice, a shea butter soap base, and red and yellow dyes. Easy, right?

5. Cinnamon Pumpkin Candles

Yes, now you can make cinnamon-scented pumpkin candles… and inside of those cute mini pumpkins you see everywhere. I love this recipe—which contains a few key ingredients like soy wax flakes, wicks, pumpkins, cinnamon sticks—and the final product is perfect for when you have guests.

Of course, after all of the above pampering and creating, if you want to make yourself a pumpkin smoothie or a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies afterward, I won’t tell anyone.

Life

About the Author
Natalia Lusinski
In addition to Simplemost, Natalia is an ongoing writer for Bustle (sex, dating, relationships, and money), HelloGiggles (pop culture and news), The Delite (feel-good stories), and Don’t Waste Your Money (yep, money issues!). You can also find her writing in the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune's RedEye, xoJane, Elite Daily, Scary Mommy, Elephant Journal, and Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, among other publications. She has a Ph.D. in couch-surfing, having spent four years sleeping on over 200 L.A.-area love seats and sectionals, all in an effort to whittle down her student loan debt. She still loves couch-surfing in other cities, too (hint, hint).

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