My Perfect Relaxation!

Everyone knows what it's like, you go to work/ college etc all day and have 'just one of those days' then when you finally get home all you want to do is have a relaxing evening and wind-down to go to bed. I have these days quite a lot recently! And so I thought it would be good to share with you all just how I like to switch off when I step through my front door.

To start off with I run a nice, hot, very deep bath. Is there anything more relaxing than a nice hot bath?! I then light my favourite candle and starlight.

I got a Yankee Candle in Soft Blanket for Christmas and I absolutely love it. It's such a soft, calming scent with a slight sweet hint to it. Like all Yankee Candles it just somehow manages to make the entire room smell lush! My starlight was from a little stall in Winter Wonderland in London, my boyfriend bought it for me when we went last year and I just put a little tealight inside and it just looks gorgeous and makes beautiful patterns around the room. I love little things like that.

I bought some Dead Sea Spa Magik Salt Brushing ages ago and have only recently got in to using it.

As you can see from the picture, it is salt crystals within an oil, which is scented. This works to exfoliate and deeply nourish your skin at the same time and is great to use when bathing. You rub it in to dry skin all over so that the salt can lightly exfoliate and then relax in the bath and let the oils soak in to your skin. My skin has never felt so soft and nourished as after using this, it really is wonderful!

Then whilst laid enjoying the candles and the oil treating my skin I like to go the whole hog and apply a face mask and hair mask as well for a full head-to-toe treat! My favourites are this hair mask from Moroccan Oil and this face mask from The Body Shop. 

This hair mask is their restorative one and as you can see, it is really thick and great for an intense treatment for your hair once a week. I just apply this liberally through damp hair and just let it work for around 20-30mins before rinsing off. It leaves my hair ridiculously soft and I genuinely believe it goes a long way to repairing my split ends.

This clay face mask is from the Seaweed Collection at The Body Shop and is described as being good for oily skin with large pores. It works so well to absorb the oil on my face and leaves my skin feeling so refreshed and deeply clean. The smell admittedly is slightly off-putting but it is definitely worth putting up with for the wonders it does to your skin. 

And that's it, I am totally relaxed and pampered ready to face the world again. After a good nights sleep first...

How do you like to wind down after a busy, stressful day? In much the same way? All comments are more than welcome :)

My Mum's New Facial Skincare Routine!

My mum is the biggest product-phobe you will ever meet. She has never used proper skincare products, apart from the odd Body Shop face mask here and there. Her usual routine is to wash her face in the shower with soap (!!!) and that's pretty much it! She actually does have very good skin considering, but doing her make-up the other day (another first for her, not a drop of make-up has touched that face ever, not even on her wedding day) I mentioned her skin was slightly on the dry side and she agreed to at least try a skin care routine. This decision was helped by the fact that she does actually have a few decent products that she has been bought by family members etc and so she didn't even have to go and purchase any. These are the products I advised her to start using regularly:

From top left clockwise - nSPa Brightening Detox Scrub, nSpa Replenishing Moisture Mask, Olay Anti-Wrinkle Firm and Lift Day Cream (SPF 15) and nSpa Youthful Eye Cream. Before going any further I thought I better mention as well that another reason my mum has agreed to start a routine (and let me try different make up looks for her) is because my brother's wedding is very quickly approaching and being the mother of the groom she wants to look her very best!

So, I had advised her to use the Detox Scrub once every few days, roughly twice a week. This is just to help buff away any dry skin and leave her face looking radiant, but not to overly use as that can lead to your skin overcompensating and producing a lot of oil. Her skin is also quite sensitive really and so would probably react if she used it more often than this. This product smells lovely and not at all harsh on the skin. It is actually perfect for her skin type, and she has already commented that she really likes this, well done nSpa, you may have my mum converted!

I have told her to only use this Moisturising Mask once a week, after exfoliating preferably. Again this smells LOVELY, but then I really think all nSpa products do, I really am a fan. I was once told not to use a face mask the day before a big event as they can cause break outs as they draw the impurities out of the skin and so your skin is always better a couple of days after using. Almost as in a 'it has to get worse to get better' sense. I strongly believe this and always make sure I use a mask at least 2 days before so that my skin looks great for that special occassion. Therefore, I have advised my mum not to use this within 2 days of the Wedding!!

I remember reading another blogger saying (sorry it slips my mind where I read it but it was quite recent!) that you should always apply your eye cream BEFORE your moisturiser so that all that lovely cream can sink in to your eye area without being interrupted by the moisturiser, and then once it's all absorbed apply your moisturiser. In theory this sounds a good idea and so I have been following this advice since. And so obviously I passed that advice on to mum. So now after washing her face (which she is still using soap for, not quite fully converted yet!) she applies a very small dab of her Eye Cream around her under-eye area and then continues getting ready. Then when she's all ready to go she just needs to rub in a little of her Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream before heading out for the day, simple!!

I tried to keep her routine simple as I knew that if I tried getting her to do a lot straight off she would have been put off completely. But as they say, every little helps. And I'm sure she will look positively radiant in all the upcoming wedding pictures!!

Can you recommend any good, simple skincare products for older women that can be easily done on the go?