We are all negotiating our way through various levels of anxiety now so what better time for a little self-care. It may seem trivial in light of the current crisis but what better way to alleviate boredom and boost our mood.
My hands are so dry from all of the hand washing! What can I do?
Make sure that you are using a gentle fragrance-free hand soap. Once your hands are dry, be sure to immediately use a hand cream to seal in the moisture. Make sure it doesn’t include any irritants such as retinol or other anti-ageing serums, allergens or fragrances. You could try the Norwegian Formula Hand Cream by Neutrogena for £3:99.
You can pop a thick layer of this on with some cotton gloves and leave overnight or while watching a film. Nighttime is a really good time to give your skin a rest and rehydrate your hands. If you don’t have any hand cream, you could use Vaseline or olive oil.
My eyebrows have lost their shape and are overgrown!
Don’t even attempt to try waxing these. Your best bet is to tweezer them. Start by planning out the shape. Find the beginning of your brows by holding a brow pencil vertically at the middle of each nostril and then mark that spot for later reference. Pivot the pencil to the outside of your iris to find your arch, and again make a mark. To find the tail end of your arch, swing the pencil until it grazes the outer corner of your eye and mark it in with a pencil.
Next step is to trim your brows. First brush the hair up with a spoolie and trim only the very long hairs using some small nail/brow scissors.
To prep before plucking, massage some facial oil into the brow bone area. This will lubricate your skin and hair follicle, prevent hair from breaking, and take the edge off the skin’s sensitivity from tweezing. When plucking remember that less is more! To get the most painless pluck tweeze hairs in the direction of hair growth while holding the skin taut. Always use natural daylight. To prevent overdoing it, tweeze a few hairs then step away from the mirror to gain perspective. I love these leopard print tweezers by Tweezerman.
How do I stop my skin looking tired and drab?
When we are stuck indoors all of the time, it’s easy for our skin to start looking dull. Firstly, make sure the nutrient content of your diet is high as a diet rich with polyphenols is important to help you glow from within and boost your immunity. Once a week I like to do a 10 minute exfoliating facial using The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. This formula contains a high concentration of free acids so only use this if your skin is not sensitive and are an experienced user of acid peels. It’s definitely strong AND effective. It knocks a decade off in 10 minutes and leaves my skin absolutely glowing.
If you are struggling with wide open pores and a greasy complexion from too much junk food and Netflix, give Niod’s Mastic Must a go. Apply a generous amount of this translucent masque to clean face in the AM. Leave on for 10 minutes. Made of highly-densified sap from Greek mastic trees, it purifies and shrinks the look of pores without drying. The sap is a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. The visible difference afterwards is astounding. My top tip is to blast the masque with heat from the hairdryer immediately after applying.
How do I remove my old gel manicure?
Got nails like talons and gels hanging on for dear life? Don’t worry! I’ve got your back!
Tools needed:
- a nail file
- acetone remover
- tin foil
- cotton wool
- cuticle oil
- a cuticle pusher
Step 1.
Use the file to gently remove the to coat of gel from your nails.
Step 2.
Soak a small piece of cotton wool in acetone, hold it against your nail and wrap it tightly with tinfoil. Repeat this process until each individual nail is covered.
Step 3.
Leave the acetone to work for 10-15 minutes.
Step 4.
Squeeze and twist lightly to remove the tin foil and cotton wool from each finger… with any luck most of the gel will slide off.
Step 5.
Use a cuticle pusher to softly take off the gel from the surface of the nail.
Step 6.
To finish, use a buffer to smooth out any rough patches on the nails and finally apply cuticle oil to your cuticles.
Should I be bothering with makeup now that I’m working from home?
It’s totally up to you. I personally feel more productive and ready to hit my home office if I have put some makeup on and it helps me feel good… something we all need right now! I’m also using the lockdown to work through some of the makeup palettes and skin care lotions that have sat collecting dust in my bathroom.
Follow #projectpan2020 to see how others are working their way through their beauty stashes and be inspired to use what you already have.
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