Protect Your Skin from Saharan Sands

Photo by gracie shafqat on Unsplash 

Have you noticed your car looking much dustier than normal, recently? Or the signs in the supermarket advising you to double wash your fruit and veg? This is all because of the Saharan sands which have been blowing over the UK and settling on everything, making them extra dirty. This also means that there’s a good chance that the Saharan sands could be settling on our skin and causing problems with our complexions. With this in mind, we’ve curated a list of five deep cleansing products to help you to rid your skin of any environmental interference. 

Evolve Organic Beauty Deep Clean Micellar Water

This deep cleansing micellar water from Evolve Organic Beauty uses micellar molecules to gently lift and remove makeup and impurities without irritation. It contains moringa peptides to help remove micro particles of pollution from skin, and hyaluronic acid to lock moisture into the skin and increase the production of collagen. It’s the perfect product for ridding your skin of saharan dust particles and will help to keep it hydrated at the same time. 

Aromatherapy Associates Mattifying Deep Cleanse Face Wash

If you suffer from oily skin, finding something to properly cleanse without stripping your skin can be tricky. This face wash from Aromatherapy Associates has been specially formulated to deeply cleanse oily or combination skin and will remove makeup and daily pollutants to leave skin feeling balanced, toned and deeply cleansed. It’s vegan and nut free and contains lavender, tea tree and jojoba oil for antibacterial effects with a gentle, natural fragrance. 

Elemis Deep Cleanse Facial Wash

Never ones to leave the fellas behind, this facial wash from Elemis is designed to specifically tackle the challenges that male skin faces. It can be used on a daily basis without irritating the skin and contains oak bark, spearmint and peppermint in a unique milk protein base, helps to remove impurities, decongest the skin and prevent ingrown hairs. It removes daily pollution and decongests the skin without removing essential moisture. 

Dermalogica Precleanse

One surefire way to ensure you’ve deeply cleansed your skin is to use a pre-cleanse product, and this one from Dermalogica is the one that professionals swear by. It’s suitable for all skin types and will help achieve an ultra clean and healthy skin working with your daily cleanser. It’s designed to thoroughly melt layers of excess sebum, sunscreen, waterproof make-up, environmental pollutants and residual skin products that build-up during the day, making it the ideal ally against saharan dust. 

Medik8 Surface Radiance Cleanse

Medik8 have combined an exfoliating AHA/BHA complex of mandelic, lactic and salicylic acid as well as glycerin for a pore refining, deep cleanse in this Surface Radiance cleanser. It provides gentle exfoliation to help to smooth the skin’s surface while mangosteen and raspberry extracts  provide natural antioxidant protection and increase skin barrier function to thoroughly remove impurities and decongest the skin. 

Fake It ‘til You Make it! – Five of the Best Fake Tans

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body, bronzed, bronzing, caffeine, Caribbean, contour, copper, décolletage, deep, DHA, essential oils, exfoliator, face, fake, firm, foundations, glow, golden, gradual tan, hydration boost, long-lasting, magnolia, moisturiser, neck, non greasy, organic, self tanner, skin, South Seas, St Tropez, sun kissed, sweet almond oil, tan, tanner, tanning, tighten, vanilla extract, vitamin A

Whether you’re planning on jetting off for an early holiday or just hoping to get your legs out over the Easter bank holiday, it’s unlikely that you’re still rocking a golden glow from your last jaunt abroad. Here at Pure Beauty, we abide by the “fake it ‘til you make it” mantra when it comes to our tans, so we thought we’d share with you five of our favourite fake tan products for the very best bronzed look which could be straight from a Caribbean vacation. Oh, and as a bonus pro tip; don’t forget to get yourself a St.Tropez Dual Sided Luxe Applicator Mitt for flawless application!:

St.Tropez Gradual Tan In Shower Golden Glow Medium Lotion

Anyone who knows anything about fake tan knows that St Tropez is pretty much the industry standard, and this product is no exception. It takes the hassle out of self tan application as it can be applied in the shower to gradually build a golden glow and doesn’t leave you with that typical self tan smell. It only needs to be used for three days in a row for a beautiful deep tan and the formulation contains sweet almond oil to give 24 hour hydration.

South Seas – Tahitian Glow Self Tanner

This self tanner from South Seas is an easy to apply tinted formula which promises a streak free finish and a rich, natural looking tan. It contains organic DHA to give your skin immediate colour, as well as copper and caffeine which will tighten and firm your skin. For best results we recommend using a body exfoliator before application.

Decleor Neroli Bigarade Gradual Glow Lotion

This Gradual Glow Lotion from Décleor is so much more than a self tanner. It contains magnolia essential oils and vanilla extract as well as DHA, all of which combine to intensely moisturise the skin and give you a soft and radiant top to toe golden glow. Should be applied daily until the desired level of bronzing is achieved.

HD Brows Sun Stick

Not everyone likes to use a self tanner on their face but achieving a sun kissed glow on your face can be easily achieved with this Sun Stick from HD Brows. It can be used to contour the face for a subtle sculpted look, or all over the face for a beautiful bronze glow. It can be blended using a brush and is compatible with all foundations and base products. 

St.Tropez Gradual Tan Classic Everyday Light/Medium Face Cream

If you want to tan your face with a more permanent effect then this gradual tan face cream from St Tropez is the perfect product. It is ultra hydrating and doesn’t block the pores, and builds a perfect tan over time with daily application. Once you’ve exfoliated and moisturised your face it can be applied like a regular moisturiser to the face, neck and decolletage and will give you a hydration boost and a long lasting tan.

Beautify Your Brows with Precision

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accentuate, angled brush, arch, biotin, blend, blending, brows, condition, eyebrows, gel, HD Brows Angled Brow Brush, HD Brows Brow Beater, HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette, HD Brows Spoolie Brush, lipids, natural, nourish, overplucking, Panthenol, peptides, plucking, redness, regrowth, Revitabrow Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner, shape, shaping, spoolie, thin, threading, vitamin A, Vitamin C, waxing

Photo by Garin Chadwick on Unsplash

If you’d have taken a poll of all of your female friends a decade ago and asked what they felt was the most important area of their face when it came to their make-up routine, you probably would have got a variety of answers ranging from eyes to lips to cheeks. These days if you were to ask the same people that same question, there is a very good chance that the vast majority of them would answer “eyebrows”. 

In the last few years the focus on brows has become much more intense and many women say they wouldn’t mind leaving the house without any make up, as long as their brows are done. With this in mind we’ve put together a list of five products which create a kit for the perfect brows and will keep your eyebrows in great shape.

Revitabrow Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner

If you are fairly new to working with your eyebrows, there’s a good chance that you’ve probably got quite a thick natural brow. However, those of us who have been doing things to our eyebrows since the 80s, 90s, or even the early noughties have probably plucked their eyebrows into oblivion so that they now barely grow past a thin line! Fortunately Revitabrow has created the Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner which helps to address the visible signs of eyebrow ageing and encourage regrowth, to remedy over plucking. The combination of peptides, lipids, biotin and panthenol combine to create healthier looking more luxurious eyebrows.

HD Brows Spoolie Brush

Most brow experts, whether they be amateur or professional, will agree that the most important tool in your eyebrow kit is a spoolie. A spoolie brush looks like a mascara wand and is fairly essential for shaping your brows and keeping them neat and tidy, however not all spoolies are created equal and many are cheap and abrasive. This Spoolie Brush from HD Brows is specifically designed for blending make-up throughout the brow and is an ultimate for any brow lover.

HD Brows Brow Beater

Once you’ve got your eyebrows to a shape that is acceptable, you will need a product to help keep them that way. HD Brows Brow Beater is a lightweight eyebrow gel which helps to condition your brows and has a completely translucent formula to give you a totally natural finish. It keeps brows in place and can even help, over time, to train your brow hairs to stay in the correct position.

HD Brows Angled Brow Brush

An angled brow brush is another tool which many brow experts will agree is essential to have on hand. This Angled Brow Brush from HD Brows has slimline bristles and natural fibres which are firm enough to create precise lines when shaping your brows but is gentle on the skin and won’t leave any redness even when creating the cleanest lines.

HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette

Our final recommendation for your brow kit is an Eye and Brow Palette from HD Brows. It contains several shades of brow colours, as well as a highlighter to accentuate your brow arch. The powders are silicon-rich and blend beautifully with their silky smooth textures, while also being enriched with vitamins C and A to nourish your brow area while keeping it looking slick.

Simple ways to get fit at home

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90-degree bend, apps, back, breath, breathe in, cardio, chest, chin, co-ordination, core strength, crunches, elbows, fit, fitness levels, flexibility, focus, get fit, grow, gym, heart rate, hip width, hurt, inner thigh, jog, lengthening your spine, local sports centre, lungs, mental calmness, nknees, online videos, outside, over worked, palms, park run, posture, Relax, relaxes, reps, safely, shoulders, skipping, skipping rope, small changes, Sofa leg raises and crunches, speed, Stair runs, stamina, star jumps, step classes, stressed out, stretch out, sweating, tree pose, triceps, walking, weights, woods, Workout with bottle weights, world of yoga, yoga

When it comes to getting fit, many of us shy away from making a start as it feels like a massive mountain to climb, and the thought of sweating it out in a room full of regular gym goers just doesn’t appeal.

So, we don’t get started and nothing changes.

Let’s stop right here for a moment.

What if we said that you can start to shift your fitness levels for the better in the comfort of your own home in just 20 minutes a day?

Yes, you heard us right.

You don’t need anything fancy, it’s all in your house already, and in no time at all we think you might start to like it.

Skipping
Let’s go back to basics and grab a skipping rope to get fit. It’s super simple and you probably remember it from your school days, but you’re jumping the rope, not stepping over it, and the idea is to increase your speed over time and being out of breath will show you are working well! Clear out some space, go outside if you need more room, and we would say skip for one minute, then do star jumps for a minute and keep going for as long as you can.

The reason this is good for you is because it gets your heart-rate up and gives you some cardio action, but it’s not too intense. Oh, and using the rope can help improve your co-ordination which is never a bad thing!!!

Sofa leg raises and crunches
To do this, simply sit on the edge of your sofa and put your hands either side of you. Straighten your legs out in front of you, raise them to 45-degrees, and then go back down, stopping just above the floor. Do twenty reps of these and avoid dropping your legs back to touch the floor in between. In addition to this as you sit on the sofa, do 20 crunches by bringing your knees up to your chin and then straightening your legs directly out in front of you.

This might hurt to start with, but both exercises work your abdominal muscles and improve your core strength, and you don’t even have to get up off the sofa – so try this double win!

Stair runs
Forget the step classes at the local sports centre, you can use your stairs to get fit. Start with walking up and down them ten times, then do it two at a time – you will feel a difference. As you become fitter, up the speed and you will see your fitness and stamina improve. You might find that in time, you start to walk to the shops rather than drive the car, try a jog in the woods or even have a go at a park run, you never know what small changes can bring to your life.

Workout with bottle weights
Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted hip width apart on the floor. Hold a bottle in each hand with your arms outstretched above you, then bring your elbows towards the floor with a 90-degree bend in your arms, hold for one, and keeping your elbows where they are, unbend your arms to bring your forearms towards the floor. Try not to let your arms touch the floor as you do this, and while you can start with ten reps, build it up to 30 on each side over time. If you do this you will strengthen your triceps, shoulders as well as your chest. If you enjoy this, you can buy some real weights, but start here just to check out how it makes you feel.

Yoga
This beauty won’t see you out of breath, but it will help you to improve your focus, core strength, flexibility and mental calmness and it can help you to relax and stretch out – what’s not to like?

If you don’t feel like braving a class, there are a lot of online videos and apps out there which safely introduce you to the wonderful world of yoga where there is something for everyone.

We love the easy to do tree pose. To do this, bring one foot up to rest on the inner thigh of the opposite leg above the knee. Once you are feeling balanced, put your palms together and raise your arms above your head until they are nearly, but not quite, straight. Then, breathe in and out slowly as you maintain your balance and and feel your strength grow. We like this because it’s brilliant for posture and lengthening your spine, but it also opens your lungs and relaxes your mind which makes it great if you are feeling stressed out and over worked.

Got an indoor fitness tip you think we would like? Send it over, we would love to know more.

Team Pure Beauty

How to put social media boundaries in place

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While social media can be a place to bring people together and share ideas and dreams, it can also lead us down a darker path and take over life.

There might be a sense of community online, but the combination of overuse and the constant need for attention and validation can be detrimental to mental wellness and distracting when it comes to productivity.

We have some top tips around how you can set up your boundaries, so you keep safe online and take what you need from social media and keep the rest away.

Set time limits
Have a think about how long you are spending on social media at the moment each day and then consider what a reasonable amount of time might be.

Two hours?
An hour?
Thirty minutes?

This is for you to decide and we are all going to be different, but what is key here is that once you choose a time limit, stick to it. Keep an eye on your watch, and look at what else you are able to do that brings you back into the real world. Facebook will still be there when you go back and that Twitter DM can wait.

Kick toxicity to the curb
If you are reading posts from a person who is always negative or are in a group that is toxic, get away. We don’t need that in our lives be that in person or online, so go through your feeds, work out what and who aren’t doing you any favours and walk away. No need for this to be a drama, just let things slip away and feel good vibes come back.

Be positive
It’s an oldie but a goodie but “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” is relevant when it comes to social media. Even if you’re speaking out against something, this can be done in a positive way if you offer alternative ideas and solutions rather than just throwing open a bag full of criticism. “I have another” can prevent discussions from becoming nasty and let you pass on your thoughts in a constructive way. Or, just move on and keep your thoughts to yourself rather than plastering it across IG for all to see.

Don’t give it all away
You might be having a bad day, you could’ve won the lottery, and your boss might have annoyed you, but you don’t have to put everything out there online. Yes, be part of the conversation but given that we don’t share everything in real life, you don’t want to let strangers know what’s up every second of the day.

Unplug
Checking social media can be a really bad habit, and an addictive one, but you do have a choice to decide when and how often you use it (see point one). Make one afternoon a week, or one day at the weekend a social media free zone and let your mind wander onto other things. Get outside, meet real friends, watch a movie or go to the beach and let the online world go on without you.

Team Pure Beauty