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" Have you heard of borage? Perhaps you have, perhaps you haven&amp;#039;t. By the time you&amp;#039;ve read this, you won&amp;#039;t be able to forget about it.  It is an annual herb, a gristly, thistly plant with a stunning, dainty flower. It used to be cultivated in many a garden but these days it is more commonly grown accidently, as a weed, rampant along train tracks and wastelands.   It has traditionally been a staple soup ingredient in many European countries - that is kind of obvious from its name, I think. Borage Soup. Served up by warty caricatures in Roald Dahl&amp;#039;s stories\u2026 I&amp;#039;m on a mission to rebrand this weedy herb - to add some glamour to it. The incredible properties of borage are fit for more than sweaty bowls of soup. (Woah, actually, don&amp;#039;t mean to be a downer about soup. Soup rocks. I just feel a bit dubious about borage soup. What can I say, I must be very phonetically sensitive.)  This herb should be famous for the way it can enhance beauty. It should be splashed across Cosmo\u00A0Oh, hello!  Firstly, let&amp;#039;s chuck &amp;quot;borage.&amp;quot; Every so often it is called &amp;quot;starflower&amp;quot; a far more apt and sparkly sort of a name. Secondly, let&amp;#039;s big up its CV. Borage has been used for donkeys years as a way to revitalize people&amp;#039;s spirits. Greek naturalist Pliny, who said that the plant &amp;#039;maketh a man merry and joyful.&amp;#039; Which clearly explains its role in one of the world&amp;#039;s favorite refreshments- did you know it is one of the little know ingredients of a Pimms cocktail? Only replaced by a strip of cucumber very recently \u2013 replaced, I can only imagine, by people ignorant of its ancient credentials. Ha! As if cucumber can maketh us merry and joyful!  Thirdly, let&amp;#039;s make it known how merry it can make your SKIN. I read somewhere that it has the ability to smooth out wrinkles and inject some youthfulness in to your face. Basically, it is like Botox.  I am definitely up for trialing this- in the name of reclaiming an ancient herb from the badlands. Recipe A handful of borage leaves and flowers An egg white Whizz them up together in your blender and smush it around your face and leave it for five minutes. Experience It is dead easy to blend it up but a bit tricky to put it on my face \u2013 I was sitting up though, making a Youtube video for you. It is slimey, but once I am used to the sliminess it feels quite nice. I spend most of the time rubbing it into the corners of my eyes, where my smile lines betray what a joyful person I am ordinarily. I rub it off with water and dry it like normal.  Results Oh. My. Ancient Greek Naturalist. My skin feels so soft and smooth and PLUMP! I do sometimes stick clay and various bits and bobs on my skin in the name of therapeutic self-extravagance but this is far and above lovelier then anything else I have smeared on it. I spend the day getting people to touch my face to feel how smooth it is. I feel pretty sure the line that seems to attach my eye bag to my cheek has been ironed out rather a lot too. The effects last for another day, but on the third day my skin is back to normal \u2013 a bit patchy and dry and far less smooth. I am definitely considering how to incorporate this wonder herb into a weekly facial routine.  Conclusion  It&amp;#039;s not quite a new face, but it must be up there amongst the best, non-invasive smoother-outerers out there! And virtually free too.  I hope I&amp;#039;ve managed to give this plant the facelift it deserves.  Now to start eating it again, eh?  Starflower soup. Coming to a hipster restaurant near you. Watch Lucy making and applying the borage face mask right here:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/beauty-hair/how-to/a34490/borage-facelift-natural/>