skin care: how to make your skin smooth and glow

Last month I vowed to start taking good care of myself again and was on the quest for vitality – I want glowing skin, luscious locks and strong nails. Back in October I blogged about the nails and earlier this month about hair. Today I am sharing with you what I have been doing to achieve fresh, winter happy skin.  Apart from too much mulled wine and cocktails at the weekend resulting in a huge spot on my chin, it’s actually doing ok this winter!

So here are my facial skin care tips:

Be clean

I feel the most important tip is to always thoroughly clean your face at the end of the day!

Simple enough but so many of us skip it!

Going to bed with makeup or the day’s grime on will lead to a block up in your pores which can result in bacteria build up which equals spots and worse. Not convinced? Check this article out.

from the daily mail

Invest in a few more minutes

Face wipes just don’t cut the mustard. Sure they are handy for festivals and late nights out but on your average day spend a few more minutes when cleaning your face! I wash with a face wash (not soap as this dried skin out) and then cleanse after. After washing your face, it may look clean, but run some cleanser over your skin and you’ll be shocked at how much more grime comes off! Why do this? Because the cleaner the skin, the better the creams sink in. Think about it, it is like sticking a lick of paint over the top of a dirty wall.

How to avoid a hangover this party season!

For a Monday morning I felt quite sprightly today. Surprising in itself but even more so because me and the girls drank a lot of wine and cocktails this weekend! Although a little tired Sunday morning (that will be the 4 hours sleep I got Saturday night) and my skin looking a tad duller, I felt fine – no headaches, nausea or that feeling that I wanted to curl up and die!

I will let you into a secret, please don't hate me – I have only ever had one hangover in the whole of my life. Yes, just the one. I always wake up feeling semi normal and totally functional.

My friend joked yesterday that this was my human “super power”

A bit of it may be luck but I also like to think I know the rules to avoiding a hangover as well as finding a few tricks that work for me. 

With the festive season nearly upon us, let me get you in on the secret...

Lush's lip scrub - buff away chapped lips: review

This weather is not kind to my lips. My lips are not friends with the bitter wind, the freezing cold, the office heating system or the drizzly air. I find that my lips are permanently chapped and dry, and that I grow a disgusting compulsion to pick the dry skin off my lips. (Don’t gimme that – we all do it secretly!)

tasty, handmade and preservative free! 

I had even given up the lipstick for a while as soon as I put it on, it just highlighted the dryness and the cracks. Not pretty.

But my friend Sophie introduced me to my knight in shining armour last week and this little pot of brilliantness has now reformed my lips to soft and kissing worthy once more!

"Burger and Lobster", London - simple concept, fun taste

I did it! I finally made it to “burger and lobster” (Mayfair)

Me and the Boy went the other day, after meaning to go there for months, since it came highly recommended from my housemate who went there for a first date. After months of not having the time to go (wedding, homelessness in between renting, new flat, manic work load etc) and a failed attempt with the girls one Saturday at 6pm (a 3 hour wait can go stuff itself thanks to the no booking under 6 persons policy), I went this Tuesday. 

I have had a few days off this week to spend some time with the Boy who has just come back from a three month deployment so we decided it was probably best to try and go midweek and for an early dinner to avoid the disappointment of a killer wait. And we were right. 4pm on a Tuesday and we walked right in and had our meal served to us in about 10 minutes.

Why the quick service?...

"Lush" spa, tailor made massage

My birthday may have been two months ago but I still haven’t cashed in the beauty treatments that the Boy bought me as a present. So this weekend I had the first of three treatments, my “tailor made massage” at the Lush Spa on Kings Road in London. 

I have always been bit of a fan of the Lush products but didn’t even realise that they had a few spas! They also have places in Kingston, Poole, Leeds, Edinburgh and Liverpool. They also have some in Japan, France and Korea in case you fancy popping there!

I am bit of a beauty treatment junkie and do like to indulge in one every couple of  months, so I like to think I know my stuff about what makes a good treatment.

lush spa treatment room

I can honestly say that this massage treatment was one of the best I have ever had, not just in terms of the massage itself but he experience as a whole – it was truly unique, relaxing and self-indulgent! This is the crème de la crème of pamperings!

Fresh cut flowers - care and tips for your bouquet

My cold, wet Friday afternoon was brightened today, not just because the weekend was nearing, but because a beautiful bunch of flowers from the Boy arrived! A melody of carnations, mixing pinks, creams and ones with a pink filly edging (which a quick google assures me is a “picotee”!!!).

Once the initial “ooh I feel so adult having flowers delivered to me” feeling wore off, I suddenly realised I had no idea what to do with them!

Flower bouquets always look so pretty when they are wrapped up in their packaging until you undo them to pop them in a vase. They go from being a sophisticated ensemble from a skilled horticulturist to basically a vase with loose flowers plonked in it with a bit of fancy green stuff around it, something that a kid could have put together.

But inside the box was a helpful guide on how to care for flowers. So here are some simple tips that you might find useful in arranging your flowers in the vase and looking after your beautiful bunch…

Paco Rabanne Black XS perfume: review

The other day I noticed that I was getting a little low on perfume. I have a couple of bottles on my bed side, Lady Million and Loverdose, but I like to have a few to choose from  - perfume is like an accessory, different days warrant different smells, so it is nice to have variety. After all, you wouldn’t want to wear the same accessories day in and day out. 

Whilst I was thinking this, I was also trying to be a good girl and think thoughts my parents would be proud of, ie "save some bloody money"  but then something brilliant happened... the next day, £30 worth of John Lewis vouchers came through the post as part of the reward scheme for using the credit card! 

a new addition to the beauty buys...

Barry M berry lipstick in #160: review

I have been loving lip colour the last few weeks and have been opting for a look that focuses less on the eyes (just a slick of black liquid eyeliner) and more on the lips. I recently blogged about a new find, using Revlon’s just bitten kissable balm stains for the first time, and it seems I can’t get enough of painting my lips!

I do tend to stick to similar neutral shades and pinks however but as the gloomier weather is drawing in though, I seem to want to steer more towards deeper and richer colours. I am keen to dip my toe in the “berry” tones and am looking for an almost purple velvety colour. I must confess though, I kind of chickened out and instead opted for a warm pinkish red. Although the colour in the stick looks like the kind of colour I want to be brave enough to flaunt...

Barry M in #160

Laura Mercier bronzer: review

I love bronzer. Not going to lie. It is a staple, not just in my make up bag, but in my life. Well, who doesn’t love a warm glow that looks like you’ve had a bit of time in the sun?! Especially this time of the year when it is becoming glaringly obvious that the sun is starting to hibernate.

Over the summer, whilst I had a bit of colour to my body, I was using one from NARS in “casino”.  However, even a bronzer junkie like me has to admit that having a bronzed face and a pale body isn’t the best look and therefore I have  swapped this for a lighter shade (actually it was in my bag that was robbed in Ibiza but it was time to lighten up anyway).

Laura Mercier matte radiance baked powder

Roxie, steak and wine cafe, Fulham, London

Me and the girls have just moved to Fulham, and have been drooling over all the restaurants, cafés and eateries in the area, so have now decided we will be doing a "dinner club" once a month so we can basically eat our way around the area!

juicy steak and chips! 

This week, we ventured to Roxie, a steak and wince cafe on Fulham Road. We all had a medium rare steak with either the creamy mash or double cooked chips, which was all cooked to perfection. 

creamy mash 

I absolutely love mash potato but find that it can often be quite lumpy so its always bit of a gamble ordering it out. But it's safe to say, this mash was 100% lump free. My only complaint of the mash and chips...there wasn't enough! I needed more.