We have some great tips to share with you…
These 5 steps are not just transforming, not just effective, they’re also a pleasure (because who doesn’t love a bit of pampering?) and they also get results – fast.
- Start with a good scrub. Exfoliation buffs off dry, dead skin cells and boosts circulation for instantly smoother, brighter, less blotchy-looking skin. It also helps any subsequent body products to work better. Simply rub a handful into your skin before bathing, paying particular attention to rough areas such as elbows and knees. Try Dead Sea Spa Magik Dead Sea Salt Brushing, £14.10, which contains 21 minerals including magnesium to calm stressed skin; potassium and sodium to treat puffiness and dehydration, and calcium to boost collagen and elastin for suppleness and tone.
Tip: Make your own scrub by mixing one handful of seasalt with a similar amount of light vegetable oil, such as sunflower, rapeseed or even almond oil. However, Elemis founder Noella Gabriel says daily body brushing can eliminate up to one pound of toxins per day, and also improve lymph flow, skin firmness and keratosis pilaris (those annoying little red bumps on upper arms and thighs). Work upwards from your feet, using long, firm strokes. Don’t press hard – the bristles should do the work.
- Soak up extra benefits. A highly mineralised bath lets your skin act a bit like a poultice, so it’s both drawing out impurities from the pores, whilst also absorbing and depositing helpful minerals that ease dryness, dullness and irritation. Try Westlab Pure Mineral Bathing Himalayan Salt Detoxifying, £4.99, which contains 84 beneficial minerals such as magnesium, calcium, copper, potassium and iron to detox, soothe and treat. Alternatively, Elemental Herbology Detox Botanical Bathing Infusion, £20, features essential oils instead: grapefruit, juniper and rosemary fight fluid retention and cellulite, while almond, jojoba and peach kernel oils soften, protect and repair. For shower fans, Murad Detoxifying White Clay Body Cleanser, £30, uses kaolin clay to draw out impurities without drying the skin, while ginger stimulates the local circulation and glycolic acid refines the skin surface.
Tip: Mix a DIY therapeutic bath and body oil with 1 tbs of sweet almond oil and 8-10 drops of your favourite essential oil. Try rose oil, which improves cell production, lifts the spirits, lowers heart rate and rejuvenates mature skin; or lavender oil, which is soothing and relaxing to both skin and soul. Swirl it into your bath or simply smooth it all over your body.
- Add massage. Massage boosts any beauty treatment, easing tight muscles, boosting circulation, speeding healing, increasing lymphatic drainage and even lifting your spirits by triggering endorphins. Although having a treatment by someone else works best because you don’t have one set of muscles doing the work while the others are trying to relax, self-massage is still beneficial. Try rubbing your feet for five minutes with Clarins Soothing/Relaxing Body Treatment Oil, £40, which contains a blend of geranium, petit grain, camomile, basil and hazelnut for both relaxation and satiny-soft skin.
Tip: Combine stroking, kneading rotating and squeezing movements to massage your toes, arches, ankles and heels, or try firm clockwise circles along your shoulders and up the back of your neck.
- Treat trouble spots. If you fancy giving your bust a boost, Temple Spa Bosom Pal, £39 contains a special firming complex, plus lifting, elasticising botanicals to treat the effects of gravity, weightloss, breast-feeding, etc.. Alternatively Elemis’s algae-rich Pro-Collagen Neck & Decollete Balm, £49, stimulates natural collagen production to improve suppleness, firmness and smoothness, and reduce lines and wrinkles by up to 78%.
Tip: Rev up circulation to help depuff areas prone to water retention – especially your cellulite zone. That’s why bodybrushing works, although anti-cellulite creams also help – the trick is to use them daily.
- Get a super-smooth finish. Complete your pamper session with Temple Spa Duvet Relaxing Body Cream, £32, which is luxuriously smoothing and firming thanks to omega oils, antioxidants and botanicals.
Tip: Boost the benefits of any body cream by applying it extra thickly over dry areas, then wind clingfilm on top while you rest for 20 minutes. Afterwards, unwrap yourself to reveal super-soft, silky skin.
Do you have any good bodycare tips you could share with us? We’d love to know!
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