Bare Legged Beauty: My Go To Products For Perfect Pins

Admit it, we all spend most of the Winter months in a Yeti like state of being - woollen tights and comfy jeans mean that we don't really have to worry about the state of our overgrown legs. But with Spring (hopefully) just around the corner, shaggy chic is no longer acceptable. And if we want to dig our long forgotten Summer glad rags out of the depths of the wardrobe, and start parading our perfect pins around in the Spring sunshine, then it's time to start thinking about preening them to silky smooth perfection again. Here are the few of the products I turn to when I dare to bare.

Exfoliating

In order to ensure a silky smooth finish, it's important to exfoliate. Scaly is not a good look, my friends. My favourite product for doing so is Soap & Glory's Flake Away: a super effective body polish that smells divine, and couldn't be easier to use. Just massage it into your legs and then hop in the shower to wash it off. My skin has a habit of being quite sensitive, so I don't like products that are too abrasive, but at the same time, there's no point in spending money on a gentle exfoliator that doesn't do a thing. This, I find to be the perfect balance between the two. The grains are quite fine, not like rubbing gravel into your legs, but still substantial enough to make a huge difference to their appearance. And with shea butter and almond oils included in it's list of snack-worthy ingredients (sugar and peach powder? Yes please!), it's not at all drying, something I have previously found to be a big issue with exfoliators. 

Moisturising

Equally as important as exfoliating before shaving, is moisturising afterwards. For this, I like to use Soap & Glory's The Righteous Butter Body Lotion. Can you tell I'm having a bit of a moment with Soap & Glory products? I think it's got something to do with the mouthwatering scents. One of my favourite things about this product in particular, apart from it's fabulous fragrance, is the pump dispenser. I, like many others, am guilty of being a lazy moisturiser. I just want baby soft skin with none of the work - is that really too much to ask? Apparently so, but I find that having a product in pump form on the shelf of my bathroom makes moisturising a lot less of a chore, as it takes no time at all. Just jump out the shower and slather it on, baby! Another huge pro for me is the fact that it sinks in immediately, and doesn't leave a sticky residue. I hate having to wander around, partially nude and freezing cold, because I have to wait until my moisturiser doesn't double as an adhesive before I can dress myself. So a product that eliminates this ritual gets a massive thumbs up in my book. Bravo, Soap & Glory. Bravo.

Tackling that pesky cellulite!

A huge part of looking good is eating well and exercising regularly, and I do try to stick to a healthy diet and stay relatively active. Unfortunately, however, I've never met a pastry I didn't like. For that reason, whenever I want my legs looking picture perfect, I like to have a quick fix product on hand to give my cellulite an extra kick in the nads, if you will. My weapon of choice for combatting the dreaded orange peel is Bliss' fatgirlslim. A skin firming cream with QuSome-encapsulated caffeine (no clue, sorry!), you just work it into your troublesome areas for about 30 seconds, and watch this magical cream take effect. It's quite an odd sensation as you can really feel it working when it's on - the only thing I can compare it to is the mentholly feeling you get when you apply that 4head relief stick, but on your legs.  I enjoy the fresh feeling, and this stuff really packs a punch! Of course, it's no substitute for a good old-fashioned healthy lifestyle, but it's nice to have that fast working product to give you a little more confidence in your bum-skimming party dress. 

And there you have it; my go to products for when I want to flash some flesh and need the perfect legs to do so. Which products do you reach for when you seek photo ready pins? Have you tried any Soap & Glory or Bliss products? Let me know!

S.

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Singapore Spree: Sephora Haul

Due to some kind of colossal oversight, there are no Sephora's in England. Tragic but true. So, whenever I go on holiday, I make a point of seeking out the mothership and going a little crazy with my credit card. Some might call it unnecessary, but hey, if you can't splurge on holiday, when can you, eh? Naively, I thought that the store was more a western thing, but on my recent trip to Singapore, I saw them dotted around all over the place! Needless to say, I returned to England with a severely depleted bank balance, and beauty products coming out my ears. As excited as a kid at Christmas to have a play around with all my new purchases, I couldn't wait to share them with you either. So, here is a summary of all the cosmetic treats I picked up.

Firstly, I'll tell you about what is arguably my favourite buy: Fishwife by Butter London. I've been lusting after this beauty for rather a while now, so you can imagine my squeal of delight when I saw it perched atop the Butter London display. Unavailable in the UK for reasons I can't quite fathom, this is possibly the most beautiful polish I've ever owned. A stunning holographic sea foam green with flecks of gold and all sorts in it, I have worn this solidly for about 3 weeks now. It also seems to be immune to chipping and is so easy to apply - the Wonder Woman of the nail varnish world! I'll do a full review on this at a later date, but it's definitely replaced my previous favourite, Fiver, at the top of the nail art hierarchy.

The other contender for favourite purchase is a Too Faced palette, aptly named Pretty Rebel. It is packed with some magnificent metallic shades, perfect for either dolled up or grunged down looks, as well as a couple of matte neutral shades, one of which has become a staple part of my everyday make up, and a questionable pink shade. Not sure why they thought that was a good idea, but hey, I'll try anything once. I've never bought anything from Too Faced, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but the palette is very similar in quality, design and pigmentation to it's Urban Decay counterparts. I actually only got it because of one magnificent shade, Girly, which is an iridescent brown with shots of green in it. I spent a long while umming and ahhing about whether it was a good idea to spend a considerable amount of money for 10 shadows when I only really wanted one of them. I'm so glad I took the plunge though, because I absolutely love it! Again, I will do a more detailed post on this wonderful palette another day. It's just so much fun to play around with!

Sorry about the photo quality! I have yet to find anywhere in my house where the lighting is decent enough to get a good photo!

Next on my list are the Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment, and the standard Tinted Lip Treatment in the shade, Coral. I love these products, and have been wanting to replenish my dwindling collection for a while now, so of course I had to pick up a couple! I had never tried the Advanced Therapy product before, but I have to say, it has worked wonders on my dry, flaky lips as an overnight treatment. As for the Coral Lip Treatment, the colour pay off is fantastic for a tinted balm, and, as always, I love that it contains SPF 15.

I then got the Bliss FatGirlSlim Skin Firming Cream. A while ago, my friend recommended this to me, along with it's partner product, FatGirlSleep, as one of the best anti-cellulite products she had ever tried. Cellulite is one of my biggest insecurities, so I was really keen to give it a go! Now, I know that it is no substitute for a balanced diet and good old fashioned exercise, but sometimes it's nice to have that extra kick of confidence that a caffeine based product like this one can give, be it on a night out, or a special occasion, when you're desperate to wear that new skirt, but are worried about the dreaded orange peel. I didn't get both products, as it is quite a lot of money to part with for a product that I had never tried before, plus, I had a weight allowance to worry about. So far, I'm really getting on with it though. Although not drastic, I can see a difference when I've put it on, and, weird as it sounds, it's one of those products that you can feel working, which I really like. I think I'll give FatGirlSleep a try at some point soon. Maybe when my bank balance has had a little more time to recuperate.

The next was a bit of an impulse buy. I hate it when they put stuff near the tills. Disaster waiting to happen! It's a Philosophy Lip Shine in the flavour, Melon Daiquiri, and as well as providing a beautiful peachy shimmer for the lips, it's delicious!! I can see myself reapplying this rather too often on the days I miss lunch. Yum!

I also bought a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in the shade, Cashmere. If I'm being perfectly honest, I only bought this because I have never owned an NYX product, as they aren't readily available in the UK, and I wasn't going to leave having not bought something from the brand. But actually, I'm loving this pencil! It's been getting most of its use as an inner corner highlighter, but I really like it as an eyeshadow base or on its own, scribbled across my lids. It's a really beautiful pale gold colour, and it only cost S$9! (£4.50) Such a steal! I'm really glad I picked this up.

Finally, I got myself a travel brush set. I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many brushes. I really like the Sephora brush collection, but can't get past how long the handles are. Honestly, they're like chopsticks for giants. Can't be working with those. But the travel sets are a much better size, easy to travel with (clearly), as well as being quite a lot cheaper. I got the Face and Eye Travel Tool Kit, and I've gotten quite a lot of use out of them already.

I also got a couple of things in duty free on the way there, the first being Benefit's Porefessional. Now, I'll be honest, I heard rave reviews about this product, and although it does happen on occasion (cough cough, Philosophy Lip Gloss), I rarely buy something unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. But I used this primer for the two weeks that I was away, and it didn't really do it for me. I don't know whether it's aimed at more oily skin, but it didn't really minimise my pores at all, although it did make my skin look a bit smoother. As for staying power, it was OK, but nothing amazing. Granted, it might have has something to do with the humidity and heat of Singapore, so I'm going to give it a second chance now that I'm home, but honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for this one. It's such a shame, because I was really excited about this product. I'll just stick to my trusty bareMinerals Prime Time from now on I think.

Last, but not least, I bought the essential duty free purchase, a new perfume! It's Daisy Sunshine by Marc Jacobs. A deliciously fruity scent, I knew I had to have it the moment my nose caught a whiff. I'm not too enamoured with the somewhat garish bottle, much preferring the more subtle original version, but with a smell this delectable, who really cares. I only wish that I could have found a 100ml size.

So there you have it, my Sephora haul. It's quite a long post, but then again, I bought quite a lot of stuff! And, let's be serious, when do I ever manage to write short blog posts? Condensed is not my thing, and for that, I can only apologise.

Do you have any of the products I have recently purchased? What do you think of them? Like me, do you suffer from a distinct lack of Sephora's near you? Let me know!

S.

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