SPONSORED: Get Your Skin Ready for Summer

The weather has gotten a lot warmer in the past few days, which has naturally meant that sitting at the office is twice as tough (not for me at the moment, which means big grins all around).

Now just like your mind needs a little boost to get the party summer smile on, your skin also needs a bit of a makeover after the exhausting cold winter. After all, you want to feel gorgeous inside and outside once you are finally free to roam the sunny parks (that's not meant to sound like my inner stalker speaking).

Here are some tips for preparing your skin for summer.

Start Off with Exfoliating

It all starts by exfoliating the skin properly. Don’t just exfoliate the face either; your whole body could do with a bit of a rub. 

There are great products for men, such as the Yves Rocher Blackberries Exfoliating shower gel. But you can even consider trying a simple homemade, natural exfoliator. For instance, the oatmeal and sea salt exfoliator recipe at Inhabitat is a good pick.

Add Extra Moisture

If you have a tendency for dry skin, you’ll definitely need much more moisture after the long cold days and nights of winter. Although lotions are typically the first choice, you could swap the usual lotion to an oil-based moisturiser for summer.

The oils can actually enhance your tan while keeping the skin in top condition, not to mention the extra moisturising effect of oils!

Now it must be said that oils can take a bit getting used to. The chances are your skin is already really dry and adding a bit of oil for the first time makes it feel…well oily.

Use a thin layer for the first times at home; after a few applications, your skin should be more open to the oils! Very oily skin can actually be a symptom of dry skin, so don’t automatically assume your skin’s too oily!

Get a Proper Sunscreen

The biggest mistake to make when preparing your skin for summer is to skip the sunscreen.

You don’t want to be sitting under the shade all day long (or maybe you do!), so adding enough sunscreen will guarantee you don’t look like a cooked lobster once the summer sun dies down.

If you don’t like adding lotion, get one of the spray bottle options instead!

Don’t Shy Away from Shaving

You don’t need to go hairless, but you’d be feeling much better if you at least keep your hair under control. Shaving during summer just seems like the right thing to do to me.

Remember to shave after you’ve warmed the hair follicles. This isn’t anything fancy; just sit in a warm bath before bringing out the razor. 

Remember proper moisturising to prevent ingrown hairs and itching!

You may need a few more beauty products for the above, check this out if you are looking for a bargain. VoucherBin has plenty of offers from top UK beauty brands, so you might end up saving a bit of money.

And don’t forget to check out the fashion section for summer styling tips!

*SP

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Blackberries Exfoliating Shower Gel by Yves Rocher

My bathroom is starting to look like a store room for Boots at the moment, with tubes of every imaginable shower wash, body polish and toner lining every inch of once available space. I have no idea where 90% of it comes from but that doesn’t stop me from trying them all out! The Blackberries Exfoliating Shower Gel by Yves Rocher had been eyeing me up in the bath (if you actually thought something mildly rude, all I have to say is…..shame on you, shame….).

Now I know that this is the second Yves Rocher post in a row, trust me the blog isn’t going to turn into some kind of love in, but this shower gel is one of those products that you just have to tell people about. I literally started to write this post up as soon as I had finished using it the first time. Not wanting to rush to judgement I have been using it ever since to get a more balanced view - I also committed the cardinal sin of not photographing it to within an inch of it’s expiry date before using it.

You can expect to pay around £3-4.50 for a 200ml tube of the shower gel and this is what Yves Rocher say about it:

'The elegant pampering of an exfoliating shower gel, enriched with Kiwi seeds to gently scrub your skin. It’s formula, deliciously scented with Blackberries, contains organic Cornflour water. 

Leaves your skin perfected cleansed, delicately scented.’

Paraben free, the chances of this drying out your skin are incredibly low from just looking at the ingredients. 

The fragrance is simply put of this world - it's like smearing yourself in blackberry jam, so sweet, it even has a jam like texture that is really easy to apply.

To assist with exfoliation the shower gel uses Kiwi seeds, these are larger than blackberry seeds and stand out in the gel. While these seeds act as a fantastic exfoliant and they really do scrub off that dead skin to reveal a rosy glow. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is more seeds - it's a bit sparse on that front I'm afraid.  

Washing with the gel is a breeze although personally I have to remind myself that while it smells like jam and looks a bit like jam I shouldn't lick myself (weirdo alert).

This does the job. It could do it better with more seeds added to the ingredients but even so the results are great. My skin does have that soft glow after using that you would expect after exfoliating large sections of your body and in addition to my skin feeling soft and hydrated it also smells amazing. If you throw into the mix the fact that the actual exfoliation is so gentle you would harder believe dead skin is being removed and you have a winner.

The fragrance lingers on the skin for a good half an hour and after using this again on Friday I still detected hints of this coming off my arms and over a fairly potent aftershave while travelling on the underground. Heaven!

After going from having never heard of Yves Rocher to stalking their website for new things to try I have to say in firmly converted. 

It's pretty difficult to get excited about a shower gel I know but this has everything. A slight tweak to the formula and you have an amazing product. As it stands it is just a bloody good product.

I'm glad I tried it and have been using it ever since.

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Mazorin Wash Trade Face Scrub

I have been so impressed with the contents of my Limited Edition Birchbox for Men that there are a few products that have taken a pounding since it arrived just over ten days ago. The Richer Poorer socks were by far the best I’ve ever had on my feet, but the wow factor has been reserved for Mazorin Wash Trade Face Scrub.

A 150ml tube of the face scrub adorned my Birchbox, and once again, to my shame it was a brand I hadn’t had the chance to try……until now.

I have to say, that at £15 for a 150ml tube it sits well and truly above the prices I usually pay for a face scrub. Casting my mind back I think I was slightly stunned by the £8 cost of the Ted Baker Grooming Room equivalent. At nearly double the price this has to do something special to warrant any value for money brownie points.

This is what the Birchbox website has to say about the face scrub:

‘Get that flawless ‘I woke up like this’ complexion thanks to this gentle yet effective face scrub from Mazorin. Specifically designed with men’s needs in mind it lifts away impurities with a blend of bamboo and maracuia powder while white willow extract keeps grime at bay thanks to its antibacterial protection for a crystal clear complexion.’

The Mazorin site goes into a little bit more details as to what the ingredients will do:

‘For flawless skin, free of blemish and impurities:

The Bamboo & Maracuja powder exfoliates dead skin cell and unclogs pores;
The active ingredients help prevent blackheads and ingrown hair;
The gentle formulation leaves your skin hydrated and deeply cleansed;
Suitable for all skin types but fantastic for people with sensitive skin.’

The first time I used this I completely forgot to shake it and I ended up giving the tube a confused look as a watery liquid drained out over my palm. Yes, I can be that simple at times and yes, it took me a few minutes to figure out that I needed to shake the contents.

Second time lucky and after rinsing my face off in the shower I squeezed out a pea sized amount and started to massage it into my face. After shaking the texture was firm and the micro-beads from the bamboo are visible to the eye and really noticeable to the touch. Just rubbing between your fingertips will leave a strange sensation, you can feel it exfoliating and getting warmer. For me I found just how gentle the ingredients and texture were when applying to my face really pleasant.

A breeze to rinse off the results are almost instantaneous and even before drying I could tell that my pores had been opened and my face cleansed really well. My face wasn’t as tight and it had a healthy glow, something of a rare occurrence for me. After drying my face off and before moisturising my face received the prod test - the skin was soft and smooth.

As a bonus, since I started using this I’ve found that shaving is easier - less ingrown hairs and my stubble does seem softer. Result!

Finally, throw in the fact that this smells so fresh and clean, it reminds me of Nivea Cream and you have a winner on your hands! 

Despite the price I am delighted with the Mazorin Wash Trade Face Scrub. It is going to last for an absolute age as only a tiny amount is needed, even for a face as large as mine. After using this on my face and being impressed with how gentle it was I used it on my very recent tattoo to clear off the dead skin and ink. Once again, results were impressive. 

With no parabens you should take the time to look more closely at Mazorin Wash Trade Face Scrub. 

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Dirty Works Coconut Caress Body Scrub

Get the puns out the way early, that would be sensible advice had I not been writing about Dirty Works Coconut Caress Body Scrub - seriously, just drafting this resulted in lots of sounds reminiscent of an episode of Beavis & Butthead.

So, in the interests of moving on and getting these out of the way I will not be using phrases such as ‘Coconut Caress is Coco-nuts‘, ‘I’m a dirty boy’, ’getting down and dirty’ or ‘I’m a little scrubber’ from now on - promise.

To fully appreciate my experience you really need to know how I started using this - picture a man clinging to consciousness trying to get showered before work. Eyes haven’t fully opened and support being provided by both arms propping me up. 

I actually went to grab a different body wash but picked this up by accident. 

So, what do they say about it?

Clean up your act with this feel good scrub to leave you revived, recharged and ready to go!

Change your ways and buff yourself to innocence! With Walnut shell granules to help brush roughness away and Coconut Oil to condition and moisturise.

As soon as you step under the shower and squeeze the scrub out its like being smashed in the face with a bag of coconuts - wow, that coconut oil is strong! Really strong. It also requires far too much effort to squeeze it out as the scrub is really thick in texture.

I’m not normally a big fan of coconut but with this it is much sweeter on the nose. Yes, I can just sit here sniffing the tube. Sad, very sad but true.

Once I’d flexed my muscles and squeezed enough out it felt thick and gooey in my hand, no signs of any walnut shell granules. With Ted’s Grooming Room Step 01 Face Scrub I found that as soon as I put it on my hands I could feel the micro-beads. With Coconut Caress I had to rub this between my palms and as it spreads boy does the abrasion follow.

As I started to rub this over my body the walnut shell granules gently dug into my skin but in a way that you kind of knew that it was removing every inch of dead or dry skin from my torso. The scrub doesn’t lather but it is so smooth you can actually see the granules as they become more and more abrasive - too much pressure and you’ll find yourself losing hairs off your arms (I jest).

The granules don’t disintegrate like other products so until they are washed off you can continue to rub them over your torso which means you don’t need that much of this for a full upper torso wash and exfoliation.

After stepping out of the shower and drying, my skin did have a subtle glow to it and was extremely smooth to the touch. It was 100% clear to me on the day of using and still the day after that my skin had taken a pasting and had been treated to some TLC.

The coconut fragrance while strong when washing doesn’t stay that way. You can detect hints of the coconut oil for a few hours on the skin after using. Personally I don’t use this on my face as it does interfere with how my aftershave smells but for washing my torso - ’pits and body this is perfect. Not a hint of the dreaded BO after washing using this and with the lovely results I can’t help but recommend this to people who want a bloody good exfoliating body scrub.

Do I feel innocent after using this? Well no, but I also don’t feel like I’ve been robbed as 200 ml costs just a £1 if you shop around which represents exceptional value for money.

Do I feel revived and recharged? Well it certainly wakes you up, but recharged? That's just a claim too far. Even so, this has far too many positives to let the mindless marketing blurb stand in the way of top marks from me.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

One question that will nag away at me - why use walnut shell granules and why not coconut husk?

Thank you for visiting and reading my latest post. You can keep up to date with my musings using any of the buttons on the top right-hand side of the page.

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Lush I Should Coco

I had been mildly successful in avoiding Lush stores – while being able to smell them a mile away I've never really managed to get over the general sense of revulsion I experience when walking near one. I bit the bullet and actually decided to venture into their Manchester store a couple of years go (looking back, sadly for me it was actually close to a decade ago) – yes the hype I’d read about Lush overcame the rational (well I think I’m rational) thoughts bouncing around my noggin (that’s head for you non-Northern readers).

"I Should Coco" soap bar. I’d read about the "I Should Coco" soap bar online and saw it as too girlie to actually use. I bought a 100g bar and from the first time I used it I was hooked.

The pictures show the bar in all its glory and I won't be going into any amazing description of it. The only thing that you tend to miss nowadays when buying it online like some sort of subversive is the coconut on the top as shown below from my latest eBay purchase. For £1.95 for a bar weighing 100g it was never cheap soap by any stretch of the imagination. 

Layered into three shades of pink the topside of the bar was coated in flakes of coconut making it very easy to grip, even when wet. Basically the soap looked and oozed a very feminine vibe. It’s not something you’d be rushing to take into the showers at the gym.

The bar itself contains creamed coconut along with Orange and Coriander oil which smells almost sickly sweet. I wasn't never sure whether I should be washing with it, or indeed taking a sizeable bite from it. The mild coconut aroma is striking and blends fantastically well with the Orange oils.

After it is immersed in warm water, the aroma from the bar increases but never becomes overpowering on the senses. I'm now down to my last nub of the soap and actually worried about the day it is no more, deceased like a certain Norwegian Blue (if you don't get it reference 'Dead Parrot' by Monty Python).

The beauty of this soap is that that it lathers up superbly, with a little going a very long way. The coconut flakes act as a mild abrasive, exfoliating dead skin as you wash meaning that not only did you not need to use half a bar in the shower, but you also didn't need to use a different product to moisturise after washing.

The final results were and continue to be amazing, my skin felt clean, fresh and above all moisturised. Any traces of body odour after travelling on a packed tube train were removed and the soap left a very subtle but noticeable coconut fragrance that lingered for a few hours. What more could you ask from a soap?

I now regularly use this in the shower and haven't noticed any adverse effects at all. I'm actually quite tight with the use now though! The only problems apart from the actual price is that when used in the bath the soap does fall to pieces rather quickly. It turns the water pink, there is an oily residue around the bath and floating pieces of coconut seem to take an absolute age to remove when getting dried!

Overall I love this product and will not be returning to 90% of the major high street brands.

Using this encouraged me to try more from the Lush range. I’ve been converted – I’m no longer a Lush-o-sceptic!

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BeautykingUK needs you! 

I'm so in love with this soap that I think we should let Lush know how we feel. 

Show your support for the reintroduction of "I Should Coco" by clicking on the poll on the right hand side of this page - two seconds of your time could sway opinion.

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