Working up to my holiday

The promise of hot sunshine and lazy days in my bikini makes me try to buff up a bit. My gorgeous Xen-Tan has just faded, so I scrub off the last with a loofah. I will have a few pale in-between days then redo the Xen-Tan the day before I fly. I have an addiction to No7 Microdermabrasion face scrub. Its got tiny particles that effectively polish off every dead skin cell in sight. None of the grainy peach-kernel nonsense there!! I'm currently also working Decleor's Aromessence Ylang Ylang face oil into my skin every night. It smells divine and you wake up fresh-faced and glowing. I have very temperamental combination skin and this is the only thing that makes it better. I have discovered Umberto Giannini Overnight Moisture Balm. It is like a night cream for the hair. I smooth it onto my hair before I go to bed and it gives a nice shine to your hair when you wake up. I don't think it would work for really greasy hair, you should then only work it into the ends of the hair. I also have an addiction to The Body Shop's Coconut Body Butter. It smells juct like hot sunshine and summery fun to me. When its time for bed, I cover my feet with foot cream and put on moisturising socks. I use a rich handcream and then Nails Inc Vitamin E Oil Slick pen on my cuticles (terribly dry due to my obsession with nail polish). Then you just have to hope your neighbour doesn't play music all night so you can get your beauty sleep! :)

Duo-Tone French Manicure

As there was nothing on tv on Sunday night worth watching I decided to make myself a duo-tone French manicure. I used my fave pink at the moment Rimmel 60sec "Funtime Fuschia" and painted the tips in a bright bubblegum pink from Bourjois. It turned out pretty cool, looks like boiled sweets :)

Sunshine! PART 2

The morning after Xen-Tan - The Results. I rinsed off the self tan guide colour as instructed with water only, no soap. I still smell a tiny bit of that familiar self tan smell, but its not strong like other fake tans. The tan is a lovely, streak-free golden glow, albeit not as Amazonian as I had hoped (which is why I am doing it again tonight) but there is no trace of the dark patches that showed in the guide colour, to my relief! I had visions of showing up to the office covered in leopard spots.. When applying the tan, use vinyl not latex gloves, or get a self tan mitt. I used cotton wool to apply to my face, hands and feet and its amazingly streak-free. Although in my sleepiness last night I must have washed off a bit on the side of my hand which is now a pale colour. Oops :) My white sheets have a slight hint of mud, but it's not bad and it will definitely wash out. All in all, I will give this 5 0f 5 stars; as self tans go, this is the best I've tried!

Sunshine!

In the absence of sunshine I have decided once again to reach for the bottle to look tanned. So I bought some Xen-Tan Dark Lotion. I donned some vinyl gloves, and the first pump came out of the bottle. My goodness! The self tanner lotion is REALLY dark chocolate brown. It smells of marzipan, which is lovely compared to the other self tanners I've tried. It spread fairly easy. The skin turns a muddy brown with some patches, so I am a bit nervous about tomorrow morning when I wash the guide colour off... The stuff is a bit sticky on the skin so I am glad I didn't slap this on before I had to go somewhere. I can smell a hint of the old fashioned fake tan smell two hours in, but it's not strong or nasty at all. So far so good....

Euro 2008 - Patriotic nails

Sweden won their first match in the Euro 2008 football cup last night, so I was dying to show my patriotic streak :)

Wild Nails - Orly Manicure Miniatures "It's Up To Blue"

If you are looking for a turquoise blue to complement your summer tan, look no further than Orly's Manicure Miniatures in "It's Up To Blue"! It is a shimmering tropical sea blue with just the faintest of emerald green to make it pop. You will need two coats for an even finish. It took an hour to dry fully, and it was still fairly soft after 3 hrs but the colour is worth the effort! I give it 3 of 5, mainly losing out because it takes so long to dry.

Luscious Lips - Bourjois Roughe Hi-Tech

I love lipgloss, in fact I may be a little bit obsessed with shiny lips, so when I heard about Bourjois new lip tints I was a bit sceptical about it. I remember way back in the 90's when The Body Shop released a lip tint in a pencil, sort of a permanent marker for your lips. It was a bit stingy and chemical but the colour stayed. I bought a lip tint pen from Bourjois a while back which I liked. So I thought why not try this stuff? I got the poppy red called "Rose Pixel". The bottle is a bit fiddly and I was worried it would leak in my bag but it didn't. It smells OK and the colour is nice rosy tint. The colour tint faded after some coffee and needed reapplying but as this was quick and easy, it wasn't too much of a problem. I would give it 3 of 5 stars.