Office Beauty Essentials

 When it comes to work, I'm fairly laid back when in regards to beauty. I don't tend to wear any make-up, do anything special with my hair, or worry too much if my nails aren't painted. I do, however, keep a few little beauty essentials on my desk at all times to keep me fresh and happy.

Hand cream- Top of my list of must have items no matter where I am, but especially at work. I can't stand having even slightly dry hands, so when I am sat at a desk for 7 hours a day, I need one close by. At the moment I am using the Pink Pepperpod Replenishing Hand Cream from Molton Brown which may well be the best that I've ever used...but that's a post of its own.
Lip balm- I love the Soap & Glory Smooch Operator lip balm because of its rich and buttery yet non-sticky formula and gentle vanilla scent, so I always like to keep a tub of this on my desk. I'm halfway through my third pot at the moment.
Hand gel- I am a hand gel obsessive and panic if I don't have on stashed nearby. Using phones, keyboards, shared toilets and assisting with courses in various locations all mean potential for germ spreading so I like to keep my hands sanitised. My current bottle was only 59p from Lidl and the aloe vera leaf powder makes it that little bit softer on the skin.
Perfume- I do my fair share of dashing around to different locations to assist with courses, deliver things to tutors and attend meetings, so I think it is essential to keep a bottle of perfume on the desk so that I can freshen up during the day. At the moment I am working my way through Guess "Seductive" which isn't a favourite but it is a fresh and fruity scent that gives a nice midday lift.

What essentials can you not cope without at work? Do you keep beauty bits and pieces on your desk too?

Annie xx

Bath and Body Works PocketBac Hand Sanitisers

I don't know about you but hand sanitisers are one of my handbag essentials. I like to be able to know that I can quickly disinfect my hands anywhere any time I want to. Bath and Body Works, a beauty cult company from the US make the nicest range by far in my opinion.

The cute and colourful little bottles hold one of 40 different fragrances and they range from the likes of cherry blossom through to ice cream sundae so there's something for everyone to enjoy. The three that I have are Vanilla Berry Sorbet, New York Golden Apple and Pink Vanilla Macaroon and they all smell amazing in addition to killing off germs. There is still a faint alcoholic smell like you get with all hand sanitisers but this is largely disguised by the intended scent.

The sanitiser has a light, liquid gel formula that like any other evaporates away on the skin however like most others do, I haven't found that this dries out my skin or stings like billy-o on scratches, instead I'm just left with hands that feel soft and clean and smell yummy. The little blue balls that are dispersed through the product also vanish on impact with the skin so theres's no worry about being left with grainy hands.

Bath and Body Works isn't readily available in the UK at the moment, but the hand sanitisers are super easy to get hold of on ebay for just £1.99 with free postage. Definitely worth investing and they also make sweet little extra make weight presents. I'm hooked.

Annie xx

My Summer Holiday Skin Essentials List

Evening Ladies,
Its a really nice evening here in Bath. The sun is shining, its nice and warm and now that its less than a month before I go on holiday I can start getting excited and thinking about what I'm going to take.
Clearly, being me, my first thought was "what beauty goodies do I just HAVE to pick up before going?" which made me think about what beauty products I couldn't possibly go away without and thought that some people might be interested to know what I can't leave the country without. To break things down a bit I've split the list in to skin care, makeup and hair products so this is post one of three.
Here are my summer holiday skin essentials.

1. Nivea Creme: This is a fairly new product to my routine and already I know that I couldn't live without it for three weeks. I cover my legs with this every evening and they just drink it up. I get incredibly sore, itchy, eczema prone legs and I've felt a huge improvement from using this cream.

2. Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration: Another eczema aimed product. I find that sun cream really dries out my skin leaving it itchy and patchy however this one is designed specifically to moisturize which in turn leads to a more even tan... Plus it smells amazing :)

3. Lush Tea Tree Toning Water: Another fairly new addition to my skin care routine but by far my favourite part. I use this toner twice a day; once before applying makeup in the morning and once after cleansing in the evening. It has really improved the appearance of my skin and it is also very cool and soothing on sun kissed skin. A little secret is to pop it in the fridge during the summer so after a long hot day you can use this to cool down the face and rehydrate your skin. Therefore, holiday essential!

4. Soltan Aftersun containing Insect Repellant: Everyone knows the importance of aftersun, but if, like me, you are one tasty lady in the eyes of all things bug like then this saves a lot of time (and a little weight allowance in your case!) so that when you get out of the shower in the evening and apply your after sun you are also ready to go out for the evening safe in the knowledge that you won't be bitten to pieces by anything nasty.

5. Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets: An oily complexion plus a hot climate can lead to somewhat shiny skin by the middle of the day if you are out being adventurous so popping one of these out from your handbag is a quick and easy way to keep an oil slick situation at bay. I'll be carrying these and a small pot of loose powder at all times in Mallorca.

6. Vaseline Rosy Lips: I tend to wear a lot less makeup on holiday because I get that it all feels a little clogging and claustrophobic so instead I pop a little bit of this on to keep my lips nice and soft and protected and the slight colour to it makes everything look a little more made-up and pulled together.

7. Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula: This isn't necessarily a holiday essential as such but it is definitely a big part of pre-holiday beauty because it is amazing at improving the appearance of scars and stretch marks. Of which I have both. The scars are due to eczema and they heal really quickly with a daily dose of the cocoa butter so its well worth the investment if those are something that you suffer from.

So those are my top 7 summer skin products. Do you use any of these? Do you have a holiday holy grail skin care product that I should know about?
Annie x

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