Beauty bloggers are putting watermelon on their faces and here's why you should too.

Surely up there with beach days and barbecues, one of the best things about summer is the availability of watermelon, which at this time of year retails for around $1 a kilo.

But if you’re just eating this juicy, sweet, vitamin-packed fruit, then you could be missing out on one of its best uses – as an ingredient in your skincare routine.

While Koreans have been using antioxidants and free radical-fighting lycopene-packed watermelon as a treatment of inflamed skin for years, the rest of the world is just starting to catch on as watermelon makes its way into sought-after skincare products and DIY hacks.

One skin care product, Glow Recipe's Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask was so popular, that when it was first launched by the K-beauty brand in May 2017, it soon had a 5000 person waitlist.

Of course, the "soothing, amino-acid rich watermelon extract" was just one moisture-boosting ingredient that added to the product's "incredible" results. And this month the brand's gone one step further, releasing a moisturiser made almost entirely out of watermelon.

"Ninety percent of this silky moisturiser is derived from antioxidant-packed watermelon to flood skin with weightless hydration and instant radiance," the Glow Recipe website reads.

While both the Glow Recipe sleeping mask and moisturiser can be shipped to Australia, you're looking at a $32 shipping fee on top of the $56 for the mask and (we presume) a similar amount for the moisturiser.

However, if that's not in your price range, there are a bunch beauty bloggers' DIY recipes using watermelon as a toner, mist, mask or acne treatment.

DIY Toner

While some recipes suggest you add other ingredients, it can be as simple as blending a watermelon. This is also touted as being helpful for balancing the oil in the skin and helping with acne.
1. Puree 1/2 cup watermelon flesh in a blender. 2. Add 1 tablespoon of filtered water. (You can also strain it if you'd prefer it chunk-free). 3. Using a cotton pad, apply to skin. 4. Leave for a few minutes then rinse off.

DIY Mask

This at-home recipe comes from the Glow Recipe team via Vogue and is perfect for irritated (or sunburnt) skin. They say all you need to do is cut almost all of the pink flesh off a slice of watermelon (and save the rest for eating). Pop your watermelon rind in the fridge for 10 minutes so it's nice and cool and then, using a mandolin, thinly slice and apply directly to your skin. When it no longer feels nice and cool, just take it off.

DIY Mist

Also from Vogue is an idea to turn this from a mask to a mist. Instead of thinly slicing your watermelon rind, grate it and strain it, leaving only a nearly clear liquid behind to put into a clean spray bottle for an after-sun cooling mist.

And hey, if you really can't be bothered, just eating watermelon is a great way to get the benefits of its high water-content and vitamin A, B6, C, lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids.