Holiday prep and a few new purchases...

So, given that I’m off on my first (of 4!) holidays of 2012 shortly, I thought I’d share a few of my recent summer wardrobe purchases and, as anyone who knows me knows, given that I’m an absolute sun worshipper, I thought I’d also share my little regime for getting your skin prepped ahead of the lazy days on your sun lounger catching the rays.

First up; wardrobe brights. Here are a few items I’ve bought in the last month or so but not yet worn (given that it’s been more like winter than summer until um, yesterday!)

From the left; I’m loving the neon fashion this summer and although most of the neon colours do nothing for me at all, I really liked this top from H&M in a sort of neon coral/pink. I think it’ll look great with white jeans and my new fave pumps (or a pair of chunky heels if you’re going out) and it’s the sort of colour that will really ‘pop’ against tanned skin. The photo doesn’t do the material justice really and I can’t find it on the H&M website to add a link but it’s in store now priced at £24.99.

Next up are me new trews! I can’t wait to wear these – I bought them about 6 weeks ago and they only had a Size 8 not a Size 10 so I had to go for the 8 even though I was fairly sure they wouldn’t fit. I got them home, tried them on and yes, I could go them up, just, but I couldn’t actually move in them and there was no question of my sitting down. So I decided they would be my ‘aim’ trousers for holidays. I decided that in 6 weeks I’d lose two or three pounds, just enough to enable me to wear them comfortably. After a fair amount of willpower and a few runs here and there, I finally this morning managed to put them on AND sit down in them! Hurrah! The trousers have therefore made the cut for my holiday packing. Courtesy of Primark for just £14! I just replaced the plastic green belt they came with for a tan leather belt to make them look less cheap....

Finally, a brightly striped dress I picked up in Forever 21 a few weeks ago for a bargain at £16 (copied from my friend in work who yes, is 12 years younger than me so I appreciate I’m probably too old for this number). It’s fairly short with a high elasticated waist band which I’ll wear with a thick belt over, and heels or wedges, to give the illusion of long legs, again only once I’m tanned and probably only whilst abroad. I don’t think I could get away with this one in London at my age!

Oh and whilst I’m on the subject of packing, whenever I get given free samples, I like to put them to one side to use when I’m going away so here are a few products I’ll be sampling this holiday;

The new Molten Brown skincare range for normal to oily skin

Estee Lauder’s ‘Idealist’ which is meant to be great for people like me who have big pores (my husband says the pores on my face are so big he could curl up and sleep in one of them, cheers!)

Deep Cleansing mask from Nude. I’ll probably get this out towards the end of the holiday to give my skin a good clear out from all the suntan lotion etc. I’ve sampled a few of the Nude products and I have to say, they are luuuuurrrrrvvvly.

Now – on to my skin prep regime. I’d like to say I did this more often than just before I go on holiday but I generally don’t – I don’t have the time or the inclination to do it other than when I have the motivation of an imminent  beach holiday to prepare for or before a special occasion. I’ve posted two versions of this; one being the ‘splurge’ products , the other one being with ‘save’ products:

So I start by dry brushing my skin from head to toe paying particular attention to the fronts and backs of my thighs, my bum, the bobbly bits on the backs of my upper arms (everyone has those right?), my elbows and my back. Ok so that pretty much covers my whole body! I give it a really good brush till my skin is red raw and all dead skin cells must surely have been brushed away, then I move on to the body scrub.

The Bliss one goes on dry whereas the Vitamin E one from Superdrug (I’ve used this for years and swear by it) just needs a couple of drops of water to add a bit of movement to it. Stand on a towel, pop your exfoliating mitt on and start scrubbing! I really go for it till my arms ache. The Bliss scrub smells heavenly (lemon & sage) whereas the Superdrug one is purely functional.

Then hop under the shower to wash yourself down, pat yourself dry and finally feed your poor skin with a moisturising body lotion of choice.

My newly discovered favourite of the moment courtesy of my very generous sister-in-law, is this Clarins Satin-Smooth Body Lotion. I’ve been using this twice daily for a few weeks and the difference to the smoothness of my skin is incredible, even my husband noticed it. My favourite ‘save’ body lotion, especially if it’s before bed when you just want something that dries fast and doesn’t leave a residue or is overly scented, is good old E45 moisturising lotion.

Anyway, regardless of what body moisturiser you use afterwards, just make sure you use lots of it and leave it to soak in.

I try and do this twice in the week leading up to holiday and by the time I go, my skin feels prepped and ready for the sun and I swear it makes your tan last longer. Even more so if you slip the exfoliating mitt in to your luggage and give yourself a gentle exfoliation every couple of days (or just use a handful of sand instead of a mitt and do it whilst at the beach!)

After that mammoth post I’m off to Spain and will no doubt bore you with all the details when I get back. Adios Amigos!

xxx