Tales of a Tanorexic - My current favourite Fake Tan

Hello again. I thought I ought to share with you my latest favourite purchase, well actually its a re purchase - which for me - means its GOOD.

Now, I love fake tan, but I'm oily and spot prone and if you are like me, you can find it a real problem getting a nice colour without going on the sunbed or sitting in the sun.

I have two favourite's right now, and I think I can say I have tried them ALL. So chuck your fake bakes, shove your St Tropez, and invest in something far more effective with a much nicer smell and colour.

Xen Tan.

Xen Tan is not a new product, I remember watching a review by a You Tube guru called lollipop26 a few years ago, and I think at that point it had just come out of cult status and become more mainstream. In short, the product has been popular among the experts for a while, but no one wanted to share it because it was really really good. (That tends to happen, proper guru's don't really share the really good stuff and keep it secret ;)). Xen tan has a wide range of products, all comparable to the ranges of its competitors (St Tropez etc), such as gradual tanning body lotion, a powder bronzer, instant tan, sprays and lotions etc so whatever preparation type you prefer, there is something for all.

I have bought the Mist Intense twice now, at £24 from Fenwicks and I love it. It claims to be a `Weekly Self Tan' but for me it doesn't seem to last more than a few days. It has a dark brown mist, with a vanilla sweet smell (this does not last, it became fake tan smelling within about 2 hours on me). You spray it onto your tanning mit (any will do, I use a He Shi mit) and apply it in an upward motion over your legs and arms in long strokes. The finish is great and is very very natural. I prefer to dilute it with a bit of moisturiser on my face because it goes quite dark. The colour is a believable olive brown, which could convince any stranger that you are originally of Mediterranean origins. Its not crazy dark, but its a nice colour, not orange. If you apply two coats, its a very dark brown. Again, not orange which I hate seeing. I wanted to recommend this to a few girls I saw in town last Saturday night, but I decided I like my nose the way it is.

I have also tried the Xen Tan Deep Bronze Instant Self Tan which is a thick gel cream texture and is for the face and body, again claiming to be long wearing, but isn't really. I really like this product too, but I find it a bit too sticky and not as pleasant as the mist. I recommend using this if your skin is drier.

On a final note, I have a cheaper brand which is my runner up.  I think L'oreal has a lot to say for itself in the fake tan department, and the Sublime Bronze Instant Result self tanning gel, is really a pleasure to use. Its about £9 and its got a nice shimmer to it (not chunky glitter, just subtle which we like), and is not dreadfully smelly either. It has, a slight caramel smell, but over time, like all DHA's (the ingredient that turns your skin brown) it does smell a bit. Its not terribly offensive, and nothing a quick spritz of DKNY won't mask for a bit. Its great if you decide you are going out at the last minute and want to bronze up your pastie body fast.

On a final note, I'm not a guru. I don't claim to be, I just love make up, and anything that compliments it. I think most girls I know are the same - but maybe I am a little obsessed, hence the name of my blog.

As always, I've photographed the directions and ingredients bit and added them below. Thanks xxx

This the the mist - its my favourite of the two  I've mentioned.

This is the Deep Bronze 

Here are a couple of links for you to check them out yourselves :)  :-Xen Tan Website link
Sublime Bronze link

How to get the best shave and the silkiest legs EVER!

Ok so... I like to get my pins out every now and again, and so having tried hair removal creams (Poo), Waxing and sugaring (Ow), and epilation (*#£@! Ow!), I have decided at my age that shaving is the hair removal choice for me. I do sometimes suffer from ingrown hairs, nics and cuts (I hate it when you get your ankles!) but using this method, I have found it keeps these kind of mishaps to a minimum, evens my skintone, improves the look of my lumps and bumps and makes my legs feel and look their best.

The reason we tend to get ingrown hairs tends to be because our skin is mainly dry, and needs exfoliating so I have a really simple scrub recipe which will be used as the shaving medium, but can be used on its own, just as a scrub anywhere on the body, even the face if you have dry skin. I discovered that my legs seem to have the driest skin on my body but whether you have dry skin or not, this method works for everyone. I do this before a night out on my arms and legs and before I fake tan.

Aqueous Cream

Aqueous cream is typically used as an external cleansing and moisturing agent and is particularly good for rashes and eczema, even men can shave their faces with it on its own if they suffer from it. It has moisturising and cleansing properties and its brilliant for conditioning dry skin. It was first recommended to me by my doctor as an alternative to calamine lotion when my son had chicken pox, to ease the itch, and to prevent scarring. It did not cause his spots to crack or scar and stopped him itching too, so I decided to reasearch it a little. Well, anyway - thats how I came up with this use for it.

The recipe

For the scrub all you will need is:-

1tbsp of Aqueous Cream
1tbsp of caster sugar (you can used normal granulated, but the finer stuff buffs the skin much better).

Plus, for the shave..
1 razor of your choice (I use a gilette venus)
A bowl or sink full of warm water (to rinse your razor)

Also make sure you do this in the bathroom near the sink, don't do it in a running shower or while in the bath, you need dry skin to make this work best. 

Get ready to jump in the shower (or bath) afterwards and feel how lovely and smooth your legs are!

Ok - here's the method....

1) Mix together a small amount of the scrub and  rub it onto the upper part of your leg, or wherever you usually start. If its too thick and is dragging, wet your skin a tiny bit and it should give it a bit more slip, but you want it to feel quite rough and get the circulation going. 

2) Rub it in FIRM circular motions with the palm of your hands, you want to really slough off those dead skin cells. If your skin is really dry, it might start to absorb a bit of the aqueous cream, don't worry - just add a little water and rub it, it will go white and be more visible. Pay particular attention to your knees and ankles, and add MORE SUGAR if necessary, to really smooth the skin and release those ingrown hairs.

3) Continue this motion over the entire leg. Then take your razor, wet in hot water (not scalding) and start to shave your leg as normal, using your bowl of hot water to rinse off the scrub and hair. Rinse it thoroughly each time it starts to block up (the sugar can block the blades but will release easily in water). You can continue to rub the scrub over your legs as you shave, even if you have shaved those bits already, expecially if its taking a few strokes to get the hair off (if its been a while...). It just adds up to a smoother result.

4.) Once you have completed your shave on both legs (well, of course), and you are happy that you have both shaved and exfoliated thoroughly, rinse of the remaining scrub off of your body in the shower or bath.

When you've showered/bathed, you will notice that your skin feels like it doesn't need moisturising, but do your normal routine, or go and do your fake tan. Your skin is perfectly prepped to receive tanning products and should look and feel gorgeous!

Any feedback - as usual, let me know. :)

here is a link for you too, just a tad more info about aqueous cream....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueous_cream

Slick beauty - Oil cleanse - an Oil-a-phobes guide

As an oily skinned, shiny faced female, I have always been taught from my beauty peers, to avoid and banish oil at every opportunity and I would have been horrified by the mere suggestion of an `oil cleanse'. I even remember being a teenager and repeatedly washing my face with soap and water (drying my poor skin terribly and then making it EVEN MORE OILY) because I was so disgusted by my spots and shiney face.

It may suprise you then, that I am infact quite an advocate of slathering the stuff all over my thirty something face, but not to make myself oily, in fact the "like attracts like" approach seems to counteract my still oily, volatile complexion, and makes it look much much better (for a tanorexic, former sun bed junky anyway) making my skin clean, supple, more balanced and hydrated.


Some of you will be familiar with the recent hot cloth cleanser trends, like the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish, where the creamy, camphor smelling cleanser is buffed off with a muslin cloth which has been soaked in hand hot water, and various other pricey cleansing oils. There are many similar cleansers on the market, and although I can recommend cleanse and polish, I got better results with the home-made oil cleanse.

Shocking.

Bearing in mind  how I was constantly in fear of oil, longing for my oil free matt finish over the years, where I'd even toyed with using toilet cleaner as a spot treatment (that was a desperate teenage moment). How could I have been so wrong? How could I have de-greased so excessively, never knowing that grease was in fact - the answer. We live and learn,


Enough of my own experiences, let me give you an idea of the premisce on which it works, what I recommend, and a method too.

There are two oils combined in the oil cleanse method, a mixture of castor and olive oil. The theory is that the castor oil works to dilate the pores and so is good for oily, congested skin, whereby the olive oil is conditioning, healing and moisturising for drier skin. The oilier you are, the higher proportion of castor oil is blended with the cleanser, the drier your skin, the more olive oil. For me, it was two parts castor, to one part olive oil. The oil is massaged over the face and neck, and is then wiped off with a hot cloth or flannel, and repeated. The result, is smooth, clean oil free pores with no residue left, only soft CLEAN skin.

There was a slight downside for me (typically), and having enjoyed this method - it has worked for me well, I was so intrigued by it I wanted to research a bit more. I  also love to mix or experiment so I tried it with castor oil on its own. It does work, alone. But, I noticed a few negatives,  it actually made my skin quite tight after the cleanse and it also, over time, made my face a bit hairier (!). I later learned that castor oil actually helps to thicken hair and so is good for someone with hair loss, through ill health perhaps or to help grow back over plucked eyebrows or thinning eyelashes from ripping them out with heavy duty eyelash glue. I was heavily put off by that. How dreadful and unfair, to find a solution to my over productive sebum, only to be backhanded with a beard.

So... after more toying and experiments, I found another solution which I can recommend whole heartedly.

Coconut oil.

Coconut oil, may sound tropical and a bit yummy, but in fact it has no smell at all, and is very solid, with no taste - resembling lard actually (I have not tried a lard cleanse.....yet. Joke), so doesn't look all that appealing. But after doing a little research and trying it as the sole ingredient in my oil cleanse, I've found it to be very effective. It is said to have proteins in it, along with vitamin E, is healing and also applied as a moisturiser is good for psoriasis and eczema. The same can be said for olive oil, but the coconut oil seems to have just the right balance of my cleansing needs, having oil balancing and moisturisation benefits. Eureka!

Although it is solid, it has a very low melting point, and so by running the bottle under the hot tap or standing it next to the radiator for a bit, you'll soon find it becomes a fluid again quite quickly. If you are impatient like me, I often grab a knife and scrape a marble sized amount from the bottle and it melts quickly in my hands. Massage a small amount of the melted oil onto your face and neck, and remove it with a hot flannel or muslin cloth - whatever you prefer to use. You soak the flannel/cloth and wring it out so its still got some heat, but is only damp, then rest it over your face. Let the heat open the pours. Then use the flannel to gently work around the nose and wherever might be congested or dry and flakey. I know I love it and thats why I'm recommending it.

My coconut oil cost me £1 at an oriental supermarket. If you want to try the castor oil and olive oil cleanse, go for it. You can even add caster sugar as a really good scrub. These cleanses work, and are so cheap! I'd love some feedback too. Maybe any other oils that may be worth a try? Or your experiences?

Here is a bit more info that you may find useful:-
 http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils

Thanks for reading :)

Love Nelly xxx

PS:- Come and have a cheeky "like" of my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NellyVeeee#, or follow my personal day to day shenannigans on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ElenaMVerrall


 

Product Rave - Skin Wisdom ( at Tesco's) beauty balm.

 I have been using this product for a while, have bought it for many friends as a gift, and every time I'm asked where I got it and told how much they love it....it is the above named Skin Wisdom Beauty Balm, from Tescos. The range has been developed by one of the REAL skincare Guru's, Bharti Vyas, who has been writing beauty books, appearing on tv for many years, and for the past few - making great skincare ranges/products for Tescos. Here is a link I found for her http://www.bharti-vyas.com/
.
But *hand on heart* everything I am bringing to the reader is tried, tested and loved. I will gladly give my opinion of some of the other items in the Skin Wisdom range, but lets focus on the hero first.

The product is a pale peach coloured cream, which a slightly fruity fragrance. It acts in a similar way to the Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, with the exception that it doesn't work as well when applied as a thick mask. I'll photo a swatch of the two side by side. Its texture is also slightly more fluid. It feels very refreshing on the skin and can be used on the eyes (I would always recommend any cream product be used sparingly on the eyes to avoid puffyness).

Anyway, this has been a fantastic find, and I recommend it to everyone, regardless of age or skin type. Mine is sun damaged but oily and problematic, but now with some concerns regarding anti ageing. My mother is in her 60's and she also loves it too, she also has quite sensitive skin.

My preferred method of use is  - if I'm going out - after I've cleansed and used my Decleor Prolagene Gel, I will apply two pumps into my hand and pat it over my skin gently with my finger tips. I spend as little time as possible handling the product and try to gently press it into my skin quickly. The rest is left to sink in and absorb. The result is smooth, even, glowing skin which is ready for makeup. It does actually make such a difference, I'm quite happy to dust on a bit of bronzer on my face and I'm good to go.

You can also apply it on top of make up, pat it on under the eyes, around your mouth, forhead etc, anywhere it looks a bit dull or needs rejuvenating. It sinks in without smudging as you don't need to rub it in - the skin seems to drink it right up.  I've also been known to mix it with foundation or to make a concealer more blendable. Its brilliant.

The packing is great, it explains clearly what the product does, and its ingredients etc. In short, great product. £6.00 at Tesco's. Buy it :). See more images of the packaging below.

The skin wisdom gentle eye make up remover is also very nice, and less than £2. I'm in the middle of trying out the 'Ultimate Lift' range, they have just brought out which has peptides in the form of Matrixyl as an anti ageging ingredient. I have only used it once so far but will give it a couple of weeks and then give a candid review for you.

I'd love to know what you think of the product, or indeed if you have any recommendations of your own.....please let me know by following me on twitter @ElenaMVerrall, and coming soon is Nelly's Obsession facebook page, which I'll hopefully have up and running soon.

I will say quickly, I know I have not reviewed many products and given a negative opinion so far on this blog, but thats because blogging has been something I do in my SPARE time, of which I have had little of recently (I work full time for a letting agents and am a mum too). I will be doing alot more :-). And hopefully....... I am less camera shy - a few video's too.

Thanks :-)

Nelly xxxx