Seduce your skin with berries. Just whip up some beauty potions and pastes in your kitchen. Nomita Khanna has some recipes

ALL STRAWBERRY
The queen of berries is luscious and comes loaded with Vitamin C. Just eat ‘em to help improve the body’s absorption of iron. They come with anti-bacterial properties and also play a role in traditional medicine (they cleanse and purify the digestive system). Rich in salicylate, an ingredient found in many commercial acne creams, teenagers with acne would do well to include strawberries in their diet. Have a strawberry with champagne or in your glass of juice — just some of the ways to pop it into your mouth.

A strawberry cocktail to revitalise and enervate dull skin is:
* Eight strawberries
* A kiwi
* A cup of pineapple juice

Blend the strawberries and the kiwi together. Add the pineapple juice to this blend. Say cheers to good skin health and drink up!
Strawberries have a mild bleaching effect on the skin and can therefore help clear blemishes.

The ways to go about this are:
* Wash your face and then rub a cut strawberry over it. This will whiten the skin and also heal sunburn.
* Make a paste with half a cup of fresh ripe strawberries (mash them with a fork), and a tablespoon each of milk and rice flour. Apply this paste on the face and let it sit for 20 minutes. Rinse off with warm water. Not only will you look drop-dead gorgeous, but smell delicious, too!

Treat dull, oily skin to strawberries. Make delicious scrubs with them to gently remove dead skin and unplug closed pores.

Some recipes for fruity scrubs are:
* Mix two tablespoons of ground oatmeal, a tablespoon of yoghurt and two ripe strawberries. Scrub off the dirt and grime on your body and face by massaging this paste over slightly wet skin. Look as rosy as this sexy fruit.
* Combine five mashed strawberries, two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of salt. Massage your skin with this. Rinse well for soft, yummy skin.

Since strawberries work like a humectant, they enable the skin to absorb more moisture.

Mask up:
* Combine half a cup of strawberries, two tablespoons of yoghurt, a teaspoon of honey and 1/8 teaspoon of lavender essential oil. Mix well and apply the potion to your face and neck. Rinse off after 10 minutes.

For a fruit-scented bath, no better fruit than this scrumptious berry. Here’s a recipe that contains two natural emollients — fresh cream and castor oil. A perfect way to pamper the senses.

* Process half a cup of strawberries, two cups of water, half a cup of heavy cream and a tablespoon of castor oil to get a smoothie. Pour it in your bath and stir well. Mmmm... total indulgence!

Yet another cosmetic benefit of this berry is that it helps whiten teeth. Sink your teeth into a strawberry and let the juice coat your teeth. Leave it on for five minutes to remove discolouration, if any, and you have a set of snazzy sparklers.

Ra Ra Raspberry