SUMMER HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Tried and Tested - DIY Pre-Holiday Beauty Treatments

Over the years I have become very used to prepping myself to be 'beach-ready', rather than paying someone else to do the job. I'd rather save the money and I can fit it into my own schedule easily rather than having to keep to an appointment.

LVL Lash Lift 
This is only thing I've recently paid to have done. I'm now a week into getting them done, and I'm really pleased. I naturally have straight, long, fair lashes, so this has given them a great boost. This procedure is becoming very popular now, and I found my salon through Treatwell, which is great to find treatments with trusted reviews. The process takes an hour and requires you to keep your eyes closed for the whole time. I actually didn't feel the urge to open my eyes until the very end, and the hour goes very fast. Your lashes get pushed back over a shield to create a lift and then some heavy duty 'Blue/Black' dye gets applied. When I go on holiday I'm going to try and wear minimal eye makeup to keep as many of my lashes intact for as long as possible. The lift should last 6 weeks, and my beauty therapist told me not to use oily eye makeup removers, as I think the oil will break down the lift prematurely. It also looks great when I wear mascara, as they really fan out. Its less of a curl and more of a 'lift' (exactly what the procedure is called!)

The 'after' - blacker lifted fluttery lashes.

Fake Tan
For about 10 years now, my go-to fake tan is the standard St Tropez Bronzing Lotion. I make sure do a full body tan a couple of nights before I go away, then I take with me the St Tropez mini in-shower tan and gradual tan that I've picked up from magazines (more on that in a future post). Although the St Tropez tan is pretty heavy duty, it gives me a solid but natural looking tan that lasts about a week.

Wax
I have quite fair fine hair, so this helps when I wax my legs, as there's not that much to rip out. And over the years hair has grown back less and less. I buy Veet's pot of wax, and stock up on it when its buy one get one free (2 for £10! Bargain!). This is great to use all year round, and one tub probably lasts me a year, so its great value for money. As long as you are firm and quick with the removal its fine to do yourself, and something you definitely get used to doing.

Mani / Pedi
As mentioned in this post, I always paint my fingers and toes rather than paying someone to do it (as I think I can do just as good of a job and would rather spend the money on a new nail varnish!). I like to put time aside in the evenings before I go away, to paint my nails. I normally do this whilst something good is on TV, so I make sure I sit down and not knock anything for the next hour!

E x