Now, we all make new years resolutions, whether we publicise them or not. And, yes, they mainly consist of losing weight; to join a mega expensive gym, to go jogging every evening or to start going to an advanced three hour spin class four times a week. This year mine was to have healthy skin and a healthy start to the day. I decided I was going to start really looking after the skin all over my body (instead of just focusing on my face). I wanted to make this really simple, because over complicating new years resolutions are the main reason why we fail. Firstly I invested in a good body brush (I chose a wooden, hand held, Botanical brush from Boots, £6). I've read in several beauty articles that rubbing your skin gently (but firmly) with a body brush, always brushing towards your heart, stimulates the blood flow, which helps improve skin tone and over all firmness and may even help prevent bad cellulite in later life. I use this on my upper arms before I get into the shower, and then on the rest of my body with which ever delicious smelling body wash I can get my hands on. I also started buying face masks and making time for these at least twice a week. I've found that Superdrug have an amazing collection of face mask packs for just 99p each (although at the moment they have an offer on 4 for the price of 3 and you can get at least two uses from each pack, as my house mates and I found out). Although they're cheap, they work just as well as any other mask I've tried, and not only do they help improve the appearance of my skin, they also allow me to have 10 minutes every day where I can fully relax (which I'm hoping will also eventually help my skin too). I also invested in a good primer, it's no top of the range Mac or Clinique - I am a student after all - but at around £11.99 Revlon's Photo Ready make up primer is a really good bargain. I find it really helps smooth out my skin, especially the skin on and around my nose and even gives a matt effect so I use less of my Mac Studio Fix (N4) powder. This wasn't part of my resolution but I find it's really starting to make a noticeable difference, especially after a good face mask. The last thing on my resolution list was to get the most out of every day, instead of sleeping in every day, missing lectures, and not leaving my bed till around 12pm. I have an alarm set at 8.30am every day (9.30am on lazy days) and as soon as it goes off I open my blinds, let the day light in, grab a piece of fruit and a refreshing drink and do ten minutes of gentle yoga. If any of you have ever owned a Wii Fit then you might have picked up some positions from using it, alternatively if you search on youtube it's really not hard to pick up some easy-to-remember moves. I find doing this every morning whilst looking out my open window helps wake me up and prepare me for the day, and makes me feel a lot fresher - this helps me work harder and feel motivated, which I appreciated when I was revising for my exams early this month. It's just a healthy, relaxing routine to get into, to help with your over all out look on life (I've also noticed I'm a lot more flexible and my posture has improved slightly). So there you go, it's been almost a month and so far I've kept to my easy resolutions, hopefully I'll keep up with it all and pick up other tips along the way.
xx
