Relax and unwind with Champneys: Personal Pamper Day – Beauty from the Inside Out Skin and Hair

Now I’m pretty sure than I’m not the only person who looks pretty haggard when under stress.  My already dark circles get darker, my skin looks sallow and I have a pretty neglected looking air about me.  A dozen different things are conspiring to steal my joy right now, but as a middle finger up to all of them, I decided to have a personal pamper party and treat myself with some soothing potions lotions and scents.

First, my Champneys candle.  It smells gorgeous, just like a posh spa.

And what pamper session would be complete without a face mask.

I know – I’m sorry! I promise the rest of the post won’t be so scary.  These paper collagen face masks from A Beautiful World are so great for drenching my skin with moisture and plumping it out when I get a bit of a sunken look about me.  Instant moisture and radiance makes up for the scary look while wearing.

Just for extra skin pampering, I followed with Innarah line smoothing treatment.  I love the Innarah range, and this serum is better than anything I have tried in the UK.

Next for the feet.  Now I would have loved a gorgeous foot massage but my feet were in pretty bad shape.  As I can’t really access my feet and I haven’t had a pedi since I stopped getting gel nails (about 7-8 months ago when I started blogging.  I wanted feet as soft as my face and though I didn’t think this product would manage quite that level of softness, I was keen to see what the results would be.

Footner exfoliating socks (available in Boots) are little plastic ‘socks’ you pop on your feet and sit there for an hour.  I put them on at the start of a 1 hour TV programme so I wouldn’t have to clock watch.  You then take them off and wash your feet off.  At this stage there was no real difference, but within about 5 days the skin started peeling off my feet.  I gave them a good hose down at shower time each day to get rid of the excess skin, and by the time the skin had stopped coming off I really did have baby soft feet.  I’ve kept them baby soft with Ishiso Dry2Alive, which is a rich and creamy lotion perfect for tougher areas such as feet, knees and elbows.

For my pins, it had to be Champneys spa treatments Mineral Detox Firming Hip and Thigh Gel – currently on sale in Boots at £6.67.  Not only luxurious, but perfect for getting my womanly bits swimsuit ready.

But what about my hair?  My hair suffers some serious neglect.  I prefer my hair on the shorter side, so when it curls it’s just above my shoulders.  I am growing it out so I can have a long hairstyle for mine and J’s wedding in August, so it’s pretty long at the moment, and I hate it!  I like the way it looks but I hate hair on my neck, especially in summer.  It got so bad one year I shaved my head.  Yes I am a little impetuous, but I rocked that look!  Not sure how great it would be for the wedding though.

I have a really dry scalp, and am very prone to flakes and weird looking skin round the hairline.  It’s an alopecia/psoriasis type thing more than just dandruff.  In the past I’ve tried all sorts, but I’ve actually sourced a range of products that are specifically for problem hair and scalps.  The root2tip range has everything you could want whatever your skin and hair type.  Their range is amazing, and so my choice of scalp treatment was easy.  I’ve been using the root2tip scalp hydration serum for a while, and my scalp condition has vastly improved.  It’s so nice to be able to put my hair up in a ponytail without worrying about the scale in the hairline.

I left this on overnight and washed off in the morning with my current faves, Trevor Sorbie frizz free shampoo and conditioner.  My hair needs no help in curling, it does that all my itself, but I do have a huge frizz problem.  This shampoo and conditioner combo have really helped tame my frizz, even on the days when I flop into bed without pouring a gallon of serum on my hair. The full range, with something to choose for every hair type is available in boots.

So all in all not only did I have a DIY spa session which really relaxed me, I got to pamper my skin and hair too.  There are times when I think it’s good just to have a bit of me time and relax with a nice cuppa, a candle, some beautiful scents and some luxurious treatments.  It certainly helped to relax my mind and rejuvenate my body, so I think I many have to make this a regular thing.