My Top Summer Beauty Products: Body

 1. Garnier Ambre Solaire Golden Protect Shimmering Protection Lotion SPF 20 - £.8.30 from Feel Unique 

2. Origins A Perfect World Intensely Hydrating Body Cream with White Tea - £27 for 200ml from Boots 

3. Origins Modern Friction Scrub - £30 for 125 ml from Boots 

4. Redken Colour Extend After Sun Mask £17.25 from Feel Unique, Mark Hill Holiday Hair Cover Up! Protection Spray £5.99 from Boots

5. Fake Bake Flawless £26 from Boots 

6. This Works Perfect Skin Miracle £28 from Boots

7. Essie - Fiji and Tart Deco £7.99 from Boots 

8. YSL Elle Summer Edition £35 for 90ml from Boots

Without competition, the most important beauty product for summer in my opinion is sun tan lotion to protect from the harmful and premature aging effects of UVA and UVB rays. This new shimmering protection lotion from Garnier adds a golden shimmer to the skin whilst adding a radiant glow. It has a non-greasy formula and holiday fragrance enriched with Monoi Oil which leaves you protected and hydrated throughout the day with a glistening pearly glow.

A good exfoliator is key when trying to prolong and maintain that gorgeous sun-kissed glow. Without this, skin can become dry, peeling and uneven after sunbathing. This skin-refining exfoliator from Origins eradicates dead skin cells, uneven patches and signs of skin damage and discolouration to produce smooth and polished skin with a natural-looking tan.

An essential step after exfoliation is moisture replenishment, to help to maintain your tan whilst hydrating the skin after sun exposure. Origins intensely hydrating body cream is perfect for this as its rich and creamy texture sinks into the skin beautifully to prevent it from peeling and create a healthy glow.

If you are not a fan of baking in the sun, but love having a natural-looking tan, then a good fake tan can look just as good without the harmful effects. My favourite fake tan is the Fake Bake Flawless tan (full post here) because, as stated in the name, it creates a flawless even looking tan. If fake tanning is not your thing, I would recommend This Works Perfect Skin Miracle to even out the skin tone whilst giving a bronzed sheen to the legs, helping to give you that extra bit of confidence in the hotter weather.

Protection for your hair can be just as important as your skin if you want to keep healthy-looking and hydrated locks. To protect, this spray from Mark Hill is perfect; with SPF it helps to protect from the suns rays and prevent a dry scalp or fading colour. To intensely treat sun-damaged and dry hair, this moisture rich hair mask from Redken helps to reverse existing damage and prevent colour fading.

To complete the polished look for summer, a pretty nail varnish is at the top of my list. My favourite colours for summer are bright corals or pretty pastels. I absolutely love Fiji from Essie as it looks light, feminine and polished whilst Tart Deco adds a bright splash of colour.

A light summer spritz of perfumeis the final step in my summer and holiday preparation. I have always been a fan of YSL Elle perfume, so the summer edition is great for me!

What are your essential summer items for the body? My next post will be my favourite summer beauty products for the face!

Topshop Nail Varnish: Milkshake

Nail varnish has always been one of those things I buy more on impulse, as a treat to myself and I love browsing the different ranges, picking my favourite shades.

This is the first nail varnish I have purchased from Topshop, and surprisingly it is my the first piece of Topshop make up in general. I was so impressed with the shade range in Topshop's flagship store on Oxford Street in London. So many beautiful shades, varying from bright, pastel, metallic and dark. Initially, I wanted to get a nude colour but I have always been a sucker for pink nail varnish and loved the look of this pale pastel pink - 'Milkshake'.

After having such high hopes for this, I was disappointed when I put it on my nails. I found that the colour was a bit too baby pink for me - but maybe this was a lack of judgement from me when looking in the shop. I wore it for a couple of days and it chipped almost straight away even with my usual base and top coat applied. One good thing about this product is that I found it didn't need many coats to get the desired coverage. I do think that the packaging is quite cute, as with the other products, but I don't think you get that much varnish in each pot.

I am still really tempted to try out a few more of the shades as I think this is their major strength which differentiates them from other brands and there are some really lovely ones that I have my eye on.

These are a few of the shades I would still like to try.

What do you think to Topshop nail varnish, have you tried it?

The Key to Strong Nails!

After a long period of getting acrylic nails on a monthly basis, the strength and healthiness of my nails has been utterly ruined!! I tend to keep my nails short at the moment as I find they are much easier to look after, but they hardly ever break and keep strong (which used to be rare for me!) due to one amazing product - OPI Nail Envy!!

As you can see - I have been using this for a while and really would recommend it! To use, I apply one layer of this as a base coat underneath my nail varnish and then apply a new coat on top each day for about a week. I have to admit, I find it difficult to remember to paint it on top of my nails every day but even without doing this everyday, using this for a while really will dramatically improve your nails!  

I am planning on growing my nails soon, as part of my summer preparation, and I definitely would be able to do it without this product!

Have you tried this - What do you think? I would be interested to see if there were any other great products like this that people like to use!

   

Nails of the day

I have always been a lover of more neutral nail colours, mainly nudes and pinks. I found this beautiful peach shade from Barry M, which surprisingly is my first nail varnish purchase from them. At only £2.99 it is such a bargain! Its really pretty and stands out whilst also looking delicate and sophisticated, which is how I love my nails to be. I really would recommend this colour to anyone looking for a light summery shade as a variation from the standard nude colours!

What do you think? Do you have any new shades you love?

My Favourite Spring Nail Varnishes

Following my last post on my favourite fashion pieces in the shops this spring, I thought I would show my most loved nail polishes this season!

 I love this coral colour from Rimmel and the more I wear it the more I love it! Initially, I wanted a more pastel peach colour but I went for this instead. The colour is apricot punch, and it has a fruity smell once its dried, which I have to say, I find really odd but doesn't take away from the lovely spring colour!

 My next favourite is this pale lavender colour from Nails Inc. There are loads of lovely pastel colours from Nails Inc. but this is one of my favourites. There are also a few lovely ones from the new Revlon range.

Finally, these Chanel spring colours are on my nail varnish wish list - if only I could afford to get my hands on them! Out of the three, my number one choice has to be the pastel peach - I am really loving this colour at the moment.

What do you think? What are your favourite nail colours for this season?