#98 Burney's Night

All-round gorgeous ELLE girl, Ellen Burney, left a well-worth-reading comment on my last post, so thought I'd reproduce, with an extra shot of skin wisdom.... enjoy:

" I've discovered – never mind rediscovered – Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Oil. I've tried all sorts of shaving gels and always find that for the money they run out so fast and so, with a plethora of hair conditioners sitting at the side of the bath (I only really use intensive conditioner on my hair which leaves all the others useless beside them) I've often used conditioner instead. Good, but not always top marks. I also went through a phase of a bar of Dove being the shaving option of choice but for the last few weeks I've been using J&J Baby Oil and it's the smoothest for longest and softest my legs have ever been. What else? Parissa Home Bikini Hot Wax - amazing... and fun - oh god and Nivea. Just a slab of Nivea Cream over freshly washed skin. On the luxe side of things though I am dousing my 60p cotton wool balls from Tesco with Pure Rosewater from Chantecaille. Everything in moderation.

And, why have I ventured back to Nivea & J&J? Because I have to abstain from all the harmful anti-ageing style products during pregnancy... and so many other things that I found myself wrapped in a towel for hours in the early days panicking as to what I could and couldn't put on my skin. But then I found that REN – already one of my skin creams of choice – was in fact entirely pregnant-woman-friendly (one of the founder's partners was pregnant and having the same skin scares as me) ... add to this Frederic Fekkai's sulphate-free range of shampoos and conditioners etc, Weleda's hair care range and, well, Nivea and J&J Baby Oil and I'm very happy. Plus I get to slip them into my boyfriend's shopping basket with a murmur of 'for the baby'... "

To follow Ellen's entertaining escapades, read her blog here: http://vagabondiana.blogspot.com/

#90 No Kidding Gloves

I remember reading once that Scarlett Johansson's bottom is as soft and pert as a fresh peach. That was the comment made by the make-up artist on the set of 'Lost in Translation', where the bountiful SJ spent an indecent amount of time in her scanties (remember those peer-through sheer pink ones?). Now, before this descends in to perv-ville, I'll cut to the chase and say that on reading those words, my heart sank. Heck, my butt probably dropped another couple of millimetres too. You see, despite dousing myself in lotion and scrubbing my skin until it threatens to bear bone, I've never had flawless, silky skin. It's always better in summer when arms are aired and I've been dipping in and out of the sea (which works wonders) - but on an average day in the middle of London, hidden beneath my clothes there will be a pair of blotchy arms, an unhappy looking thigh and perhaps a slightly scratchy-feeling calf. Schexy? Non. And though I've found some killer body creams in my time, none of them succeed in eking out sufficient, long-term changes.

So, imagine my surprise when I recently spent the evening with my sister and two of her buttery-bodied best friends, and discovered how they had all managed to emerge from winter's sarcophagus, as satin-soft as a Galaxy bar: Exfoliating Gloves - the really cheap ones you can pick up from Boots and Superdrug.

I've tried dozens of sponges, scrubs and body brushes in my time, but until I picked up these man-made (and very scratchy when dry) mitts, I had never come as close to that 'peachy skin' sensation.

My sister (who really does have the SOFTEST skin), has a shower and at the end, when skin is soft and warmed up, douses the gloves (wet) with Dove Moisturising Shower Cream and rubs, in circular motions, from toes to tops of arms. Round and round, just like Karate Kid mid-Wax On Wax Off session. She does it once a week.

Her friend uses Dove too, same gloves, but does it everyday.

Me, well, I've found that taking a lovely long hot bath, filled with NEOM Organics Bath Oil in Restore (there are no words), then popping gloves on, dipping them into the moisturising, oily water, and buffing away at skin while still wet and hot from the bath, shaves off all the scales and leaves things smile-inducingly smooth. To finish, a generous layer of Spiezia Organic Restorative Body Balm (another recent and much-loved discovery). No hyperbole - truly - just blissfully, baby-soft skin. Problem is, the winter wardrobe now seems to assault, rather than comfort... but, well, it's a small price to pay for a posterior as soft (one hopes) as Scarlett's...