Friday 22 April 2011

Summer Skin

Another gorgeous day and this time I got my legs out.  Scary.  This is not a decision I took lightly and, let me tell you, it took quite a lot of prep in the bathroom for me to feel confident enough to leave the house!

I don't really enjoy getting ready in the morning - putting on make-up, deciding what to wear and sorting my hair out always seems to take ages and I get impatient.  Not only that, it frustrates me that I spend so long getting ready (anything from half an hour to a an hour) yet look as though I take no more than five minutes.   But I love showering and bathing.  I spend ages and have a very particular ritual that I follow every single morning. I love beauty products, choosing shower gels, soaps, body scrubs and body lotion - you name it.  I buy these things a lot.  Some products are a real disappointment but there are others that I buy again and again because they do such a great job.  Here are my current faves:



Bliss Soapy Suds:  this shower gel is fresh and zingy, perfect for summer, and makes me feel squeaky clean without drying out my skin.  

REN Moroccan Rose Otto Sugar Body Polish:  Love love love this stuff.  It's a very thick sugary paste and smells absolutely divine - like actual roses.  Ones that have been freshly rained on.  My skin always feels super soft when I've used this.  It's quite a coarse scrub -  I usually use it on wet skin but on dry skin it gives an even deeper scrub and really gets rid of scaly or peeling skin.  It's quite expensive (£30 a pot I think) but definitely worth it.  I think I'm on my third pot of this stuff.   

Dead Sea Spa Magik Body Lotion:  I discovered this by chance recently in Waitrose.  It was lurking on quite an empty, slightly dusty, shelf.  They obviously don't stock it regularly because I'm now on my second bottle and the display doesn't look any fuller.  Whatever, I love it.  It is quite a rich lotion but sinks in quickly and leaves my skin very soft.  It also smells beautiful; fresh, clean and doesn't interfere with my perfume.  My only, very minor, complaint is that it makes the soles of my feet a bit slippy (gives yoga an element of danger!).  A bargain buy though for just under £4.

The MD Formulations Facial Cleanser and Illuminating Mask are quite simply the best facial products I have ever used.  End of.  I've tried all of the usual suspects (Clinique, Clarins, Origins, Lancome, Decleor etc) and nothing comes close.  I started using them because a patch of skin on my forehead is a little pigmented (sunbathing and the contraceptive pill don't really mix).  The pigmentation is still there but it's fading more all of the time.  The cleanser has a little acid in it I think (it tingles when you first use it) so it brightens, firms, tones and closes pores.  I wear the illuminating masque whilst I sleep, twice a week, and when I wake up my skin tone is definitely more even.  I can't recommend this range highly enough.  Not cheap at around £25 each but worth it all day long. 

In the foreground of this photo you can just see the bristles of a brush.  I use this on dry skin all over my body before I hop in the shower.  I've done this for years and it wakes you up if nothing else! 

What products do you rely on to give you confidence to bare all (or a little)?  

xxxx













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