My Essential Pre-Holiday Beauty Preparation!

I love holidays; I love everything about them (minus the packing and remembering of important things like passports etc, the paying for the holiday, and mostly the coming home); but I definitely love the excitement of looking forward to it, starting the holiday early at the airport - and yes I do mean boozing at wherever they'll put up with us in the departure lounge, boarding the plane, arriving (love it when that heat hits you as you step off the plane), and then of course the holiday itself.

However, before I go on holiday, there are definitely beauty chores that need tending to so that my holiday is as chore free as possible. I mean who wants to be shaving daily, or doing nail polish etc. when there's fun to be had?! Not me, that’s for sure! That's why I'm letting you know about my absolute essentials when it comes to my own holiday beauty preparation.

Hair Appointments:

The first chore to be tackled was my hair, because, other than the roots needing to be done, I wanted my hair colour as fresh and as vibrant as possible for the whole holiday; and with the potential for excessive fading due to the sun and swimming pool action, this was even more important for me. I stuck with the same colour combination I've been having recently, as I felt that a change (not in overall colour, just the tips) could mean that the colour build up that I had achieved so far with the orange-y tips could all be undone, thus there would be even more risk of fading.

I recommend having your hair colour done a few days before you fly if you're going for something slightly new/different, that way you have time to make alterations, should it not be to your liking. Otherwise, get it done as close to your departure time as possible for longevity.

Manicures and Pedicures:

Before gel nail polish existed, I would just go for a bog standard manicure before my holiday, in the hope that my nails would look nice for as long as possible; but then end up having to re-do or top up my nails myself throughout the holiday, since normal polish is extremely prone to fading and chipping very quickly, more so when in a holiday environment.

Nowadays, we have gel polish... thank god, and it has been an absolute godsend because it absolutely 100% lasts for my entire holiday (well unless I'm going on an extended break of more than 3 weeks - I wish!) without chipping, or fading. I had gel polish on both my finger and toe nails, which lasted for the entire holiday, and then some. In fact, the only reason it had to come off was due to regrowth. Although I actually have a post coming up soon about how to extend your gel polish a little longer, if only down to regrowth starting to show. I got my nails done the day before I went on holiday, which worked well for me as they lasted perfectly.

For your reference, I had my nails done at Blink Brow Bar at Selfridges in Manchester; and the colours I believe I had were Artistic Colour Gloss in shades Sexy (the coral-y pink shade on all but 'feature' ring finger), Sultry (the orange shade on my feature finger) and Halo (the sparkly top coat on my thumb and ring fingers)!

Hair Removal:

Well I've already written an article on hair removal recently, so I won't go into it in too much detail as you can read that here! However, when I go on holiday, I absolutely need to feel like I am hair free for the entire time. I mean nobody wants to be in a bikini with hairs that have escaped, or grown back poking out, do they (ew)?!

So, I tend to schedule in a bikini (Hollywood) and thigh wax as standard and then epilate the rest of my body (underarms and lower legs) as I can just about take the epilation pain there but then I keep on top of the fuzz with the epilator, if and when I need to whilst over there - which is rare, but I take it with me anyway! Now that I am doing some at home laser hair removal, I'm hoping that this will be a redundant step for future holidays though.

I also make sure my eyebrows are freshly threaded, as nobody likes a messy brow. ;-)

This isn't an eyelash perm image, it's an old image from a very old Max Factor False Lash Effect post.

Eyelashes:

I think this is another holiday essential if you want your eyelashes to look great whilst by the pool/on the beach during the day, but don't want to be putting makeup on for whatever reason. I personally don't wear makeup at all throughout the day whilst on holiday, unless going to a day time event/club - so having my eyelashes 'done' just makes me feel better about that.

I was actually due to have my eyelashes either permed or extended at Blink Brow Bar on the day that I left the country. However due to a mishap beyond my control, I was unable to make it there that day. I will be having these done on another occasion, so expect a separate review post on this soon.

Others:

Lots of people have fake tan applied before they jet off on their jollies, but I find this to be a total waste of time, since as soon as you hit the pool, the chlorine actually strips the tan straight off. If you're planning on staying poolside, this may not be such an issue, but I definitely like taking dips to cool down, at the very least. I do take a few short sunbed sessions to prepare my skin for the sun before I go, not necessarily the healthiest option, but I do find it helps to prevent overcooking my skin the moment I get there.

Weight loss - I always try to diet and tone up before a holiday. The fact that people will be seeing me in not much more than 'glorified underwear' through the day is a large factor in this. Obviously this is a personal thing, you may not need to lose any (lucky thing) but if you do, timing with this will depend on how much you need or want to lose.

Exfoliation is a key treatment to do both before and throughout your holiday if you're planning on tanning. The more you exfoliate, the better your tan will be, and the longer it will last. Dead, dry skin is not a good look at any time though. I tend to use a nice body scrub AND a scrubby mitt or sponge to slough away any dead cells.

So there you have it, my holiday preparation essentials. I would normally have posted this earlier in the year, however I obviously still had a lot going on then with my personal life (and then technical issues), so it's a case of better late than never and this will hopefully help those of you jetting off for some winter sun. You lucky things.

What holiday preparation do you do?

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

My Xen Tan Spray Tan!

Back in July, I attended a Xen-Tan event and I've been wanting to blog about it ever since, but due to internet/email/laptop issues, have been unable to do so, until now. The event was focused around the Xen-Tan brand, the products within it and celebrity fans of the brand, which you can also view here.

At the event, I met lots of lovely people, got pampered with a Jessica manicure and a Xen-Tan spray tan, and came out of it actually looking alive, rather than the almost deathly pale shade that I usually sport.

Having my nails done.

More nails being done.

Nails again!

I chose the darker shade of tan and was really, really pleased with it. It wasn't too dark, and it wasn't orange in the slightest. I could see the colour difference straight away when I moved the string of the oh so flattering (and not at all embarrassing to wear) paper knickers to another position and I already felt better for having a 'healthy' colour.

Chatting with lovely bloggers and PR ladies.

And again. I love how my tan looks here, especially on my legs haha.

Over the course of the evening, my tan developed into a lovely, even shade - bar my hands which were noticeably paler than the rest of my body. I think the girl who did my spray tan was a bit too cautious with them, and so this was the result of possibly over-moisturising them and just doing the one coat of tan as opposed to the 2 she used on the rest of my body.

My tan shortly after having it done, note the pale hands, especially my right hand. Nail polish used in my manicure, which is just about showing was 'Venus Was Her Name' by Jessica.

That being said, I was still pleased with the tan in every other way, it lasted about 11 ish days before I felt it had faded noticeably, but evenly, and would happily go back for another... just without the pale hands lol.

Apologies that the only images I have are ones taken at the event by Xen-Tan and the PR team - my images of my tan etc were on my old laptop that I no longer have access to. Also, apologies for the way I look in the image above, no make-up (bar tinted lip balm), flushed cheeks and my hair just scraped back off my face coupled with extreme awkwardness in front of the camera is not a good look for me haha.

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Myleene Klass Nails! :-(

The pack contains a nail file, and a clear sheet of stickers too.

These were meant to make up my Valentine's day manicure, and I reaaaallly wanted to love them, but unfortunately they just don't work for me or my nails. I've had these kinds of things before, and honestly I've never had this much trouble with them.

For a start, they were too large for my nails, I really don't know who would have a thumb nail as large, or as wide as the biggest sticker in the pack, and whilst I know my nails are quite petite, I don't think they're so small that they wouldn't be catered for within a set of these stickers.

They say these can be used on fingers or toes, but in my opinion they should really make a separate pack for toes so that they can concentrate on getting better sizes for each, rather than trying to cram it all into one pack.

The stickers also didn't have enough stretch or flexibility in them to cater for my nails that have quite a curve to them, which meant that the sticker creased and folded at every opportunity, it hasn't even stuck down at all in some places because of this (and it's clearly visible too). This ultimately means that the nail sticker isn't properly stuck to my nail, isn't water tight and will probably fall off at the first trickle of water.

I also found that this caused the sticker to catch on my hair, even getting some stuck in it at one point - now these are meant to last for a few days and I can't imagine how much hassle it would be to have to do my hair on a daily basis with these catching on my hair in the process.

As you can see, it looks like I've literally just stuck any old stickers onto my nails - not a good look, and not something that I am used to with these as I've previously only had good experiences with them (I'm looking at you, Kooky Nails)!

Surprisingly it was my little finger that turned out the best (I say surprising because that was the first nail I did, and also because it's my smallest fingernail, and one that has a fair amount of curve to it too), although it wasn't without fault.

I'm wondering if I have a faulty set, or whether others have had similar problems with these as I surely can't be the only person in the world with dainty, curvy nails? I'm really disappointed as I was also sent a fabulous looking black and white polka dot set that I was really looking forward to wearing, not so much now though.

If you have fairly flat nails, I don't think that there'd be such an issue as they can be cut down to size if they're still too big - although it would be a bit of a faff! I did like that these nail stickers came with a separate sheet of clear stickers to wear over  the patterned ones to protect the design and stop it from fading. Unfortunately I never got that far though.

Have any of you tried these before?



PR Sample - Views & small nails are my own!

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Free Manicure with Errrm... Certain Ladies Products!

Ok, this might not be the most glamorous post I've ever done, but it is one that I thought you lovely ladies would be interested in all the same.

Basically, if you buy specially marked packs of Always and/or Tampax Pearl, you'll be entitled to a free manicure at 'one of hundreds of beauty salons across the UK' - visit here or here to find salons close to you, but do this before you go out and buy these packs especially for the offer, just in case there isn't a salon close enough to you! You also need to be able to print off a voucher, but you can buy multiple packs for extra manicures!

For more information about the offer, you can use this link or the aforementioned links above!

Closing date for the promotion is 31st March 2012 (specially marked packs will be available in store until Decembre 31st 2011), so there's plenty of time to take advantage!