Holiday Prep: Skin and Hair

If you follow me on Twitter, you will know I've been very excited about going on holiday with my boyfriend. The time is finally here! We fly at 7am tomorrow morning, so today has been a day full of pre-holiday prep... I've packed, checked I have my hand luggage essentials, printed my documents and of course I've prepared my whole body ready for a week in the sun. 

As women we like everything to be perfect: our hair, our nails and our skin. With this in mind, I've compiled a few of my favourite products and pre-holiday beauty routines for this post, so we can all look great on the beach. 

I like to use a body scrub on my legs and arms for around a week before I go on holiday, not only will this ensure silky smooth skin, but it makes shaving a lot better. By using a body scrub you are removing dead and dry skin cells, this means when you shave your legs the shave is closer. Anything that gives me a longer lasting smoother shave I will try! I always find shaving my legs such a chore, I'm 5 ft 11 so you can imagine how long my legs are! 
I love this Soap and Glory scrub, it really is the 'Scrub of Your Life' without feeling too harsh and scratchy.

After all that scrubbing and shaving, you will need to moisturise! My all time favourite is the Body Shop butter: it smells amazing and works wonders. There are so many flavours (yes, that is the right description!) to choose from its hard to pick a favourite. I tend to use the nutty ones such as almond, brazil nut or coconut. They still smell great without being over-powering to any perfume you might want to wear. However, I also love the blueberry one too. Some of the flavours are in the Body Shop sale right now, for only £5 ! Perfect time to invest and stock up.

 











The last thing you want when getting bikini-ready is shaving rash or in-grown hairs. Germolene antiseptic cream is the perfect cure. Stops any irritation and gets rid of any redness, what more do you need? My Nannan used to use this on me when I was younger, I was so clumsy I would fall and cut myself all the time. She called it magic cream.

When it comes to looking after the skin on my face, I love Temple Spa. My boyfriend's mum let me use her foaming Temple Spa cleanser just once and I was converted! I have combination skin; it can be dry but also it can get oily. The 'Good to Go' cleanser solves all this! As for moisturiser, I use Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser. It doesn't clog my pores but keeps my skin looking glowy. 

The sun and pool water tends to dry hair out, so before I go away I always use a hair mask. Lately I've been using an Argan Oil mask I bought in Home Bargains. Yes, really. I'm not even sure what brand it is! But you can find it on amazon here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Argan-Oil-Hydrating-Hair-220ml/dp/B00DT41ZB2. It leaves my hair so shiny, soft and bouncy. It's also really lightweight so doesn't leave any unwanted residue. The perfect hair pick-me-up. 

Before using the hair mask, I use a clarifying shampoo. The humidity abroad wreaks havoc with my naturally wavy hair, making it incredibly frizzy! To tame this frizz I use a lot of product. So to make sure my hair is completely clean before I go away I use TRESemme Deep Cleansing Shampoo. It cleanses away product build up which may weigh hair down, so I also use it when I get home too. 

I've also had my eyelashes tinted this week before I go. I have pretty decent eyelashes, but they are very blonde at the ends. The lash tint covers this and gives a subtle hint of mascara. I don't wear much make-up day to day anyway, but when I'm on holiday I usually wear even less. I've never been a big fan of waterproof mascara so a lash tint seemed like the obvious second choice and so far I am impressed. Unfortunately I couldn't really catch a good picture of my eyes  to show the results but I would recommend it. 

As I go away tomorrow, I won't be posting until next Sunday, 6th July. However, when I get home there will be lots of exciting posts to look forward to including a holiday look-book and a couple of book reviews. Orange is the New Black seems to be everyone's guilty pleasure at the minute, but did you know it based on a real-life memoir? Well, I've bought the book to take on holiday with me.. Should be an excellent read! 

Do you have any pre-holiday beauty rituals? What is your favourite moisturiser? Leave a comment and let me know!