Improve Your Skin in just Five Minutes

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Arnica, artificial colours, Bentonite, bright, clay. Relief, cool, cucumber, decleor, Decleor Energy Concentrate Youth Mask, Decleor Hydra Floral White Petal Skin Perfecting Hydrating Sleeping Mask, decongest, dermalogica, Dermalogica Skin Refining Masque, dewy, dull, Elemis, Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Gel Mask, Elemis Herbal Lavender Repair Mask, excess, glow, glowing, hyperpigmentation, inflammation, Ivy, kaolin, lemon, luminous, lychee, Mallow, mask, men, mineral oils, oily skin, parabens, peony, recharged, refined texture, refining, rhodiola, sebum, shine, shine-free, skin, SLES, soothing, Watercress

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Having a daily skin routine is important, but sometimes we need an extra little boost to get our skin back to its best. Rather than going for expensive (and potentially painful!) non-invasive procedures, there are things you can use which can improve your skin dramatically in just five minutes – masks! We’ve trawled through our products to single out the best masks, and we thought we’d share our favourites with you:

Decleor Energy Concentrate Youth Mask

This mask is perfect for ageing skin which needs a boost and contains highly concentrated extracts of peony, lychee and rhodiola to re-energise the skin. It helps the skin to look firmer, plumper and younger and will imbue the skin with a luminous glow. It should be applied to the face once or twice a week after cleansing for best results.

Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Gel Mask

This powerful gel mask from Elemis helps to completely resurface the skin, giving it a refined texture and ridding your complexion of excess sebum. The skin appears instantly smoother, shine free and more youthful and it’s formulated in line with the ELEMIS Promise, which means no parabens, no SLES, mineral oil or artificial colours.

Dermalogica Skin Refining Masque

This mask from Dermalogica is based on bentonite clay and contains kaolin and zinc oxide, which that remove impurities and refine the skin’s surface, helping to reduce oily-skin breakouts. It also contains mallow, arnica and cucumber which help reduce to inflammation, as well as purifying watercress, lemon and ivy which revive dull skin.

Decleor Hydra Floral White Petal Skin Perfecting Hydrating Sleeping Mask

Okay, so this one may take more than five minutes to work, but TECHNICALLY you only need five minutes to apply it before you go to sleep, so we think it still counts! It’s a refining mask which reduces the appearance of dark spots and hyperpigmentation and allows you to wake up with skin which is recharged, bright, glowing and fresh like dew.

Elemis Herbal Lavender Repair Mask

Skin which is over-sensitised and blemish-prone can really benefit from mask treatments and this one for Elemis is designed to soothe and repair such complexions. It contains rosemary, thyme and lavender, all in a kaolin clay base which is designed to give relief to skin, and cools and decongests oil rich skin. It’s non-setting and non-drying and also ideal for men who’s skin is irritated by shaving.

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Say Goodbye to Puffiness Around Your Eyes

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ageing, circulation, collagen, cream, crows feet, dark circles, decleor, dehydration, delicate, dermalogica, Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex, Dermalogica UltraSmoothing Eye Serum, Elemis, Elemis Absolute Eye Serum, Elemis Pro-Collagen Eye Renewal, eye, eye area, Eyes, fibres, fine lines, firm, firming, hydration, hyperpigmentation, lifting, nourish, nourishes, nourishment, particles, pearlescent, peptides, puffiness, puffy, renewal, sensitive, sensitive skin, skin, smooth, sodium laureht sulphate, spatula, tight, tighten, tightening, wrinkles

By Laitr Keiows (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

There are loads of reasons for puffiness around your eye area – tiredness, illness, stress and allergies are just a few of them. Puffiness around your eyes can make you look exhausted and far from your best, so finding a way to deal with it is a must. Fortunately, here at Pure Beauty, we have a whole load of products which can help to banish the puffiness around your eye area, and these are five of our favourites:

Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex

This eye cream from Dermalogica is a real powerhouse of a product, tackling several different issues all at once. As well as dealing with puffiness, the complex also helps to remedy wrinkles, crow’s feet, dark circles due to hyperpigmentation and skin sensitivity due to dehydration. It’s ideal for drier skin or skin with is ageing prematurely and will totally revitalise the eye area.

Elemis Absolute Eye Serum

This eye serum from Elemis is all about the hydration, giving a wash of moisture around the eye area to decongest and tackle puffiness and dark circles. It conditions and nourishes the delicate eye contours, supports and tones the skin around the eyes and has a light texture that disappears immediately so that you can get on with applying your make up without having to wait for things to soak in.

Decleor Lift and Firm Eye Cream

As well as lifting and firming the area around the eyes, this cream from Decleor contains pearlescent particles which adds radiance to your skin. The peptides in the formula encourage circulation and re-energise the support fibres of your skin, which reduces puffiness and smooths wrinkles. It comes with a specially designed spatula to help you to apply the formula to the delicate eye area without causing ‘drag’, which can damage the delicate area.

Dermalogica UltraSmoothing Eye Serum

This eye serum comes from the Ultra Calming Dermalogica range, which means that it’s gentle on the skin and doesn’t contain any ingredients which might irritate the already-delicate eye area. It’s a potent but lightweight product which soaks evenly and quickly into the skin and gives immediate tightening and firming results. It’s perfect for those who suffer with sensitive skin but are trying to deal with the signs of premature ageing.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Eye Renewal

Elemis Pro-collagen products are notorious for their stunning effects and this eye renewal cream is no exception. It firms the area around the eyes, adding moisture and nourishment to the skin and obliterates dark circles and fine lines. It dramatically increases cell renewal and bears the Elemis Promise, so you can be sure that it doesn’t contain any sodium laureth sulphate or other nasties.

Hair Loss – What’s Causing it and How to Prevent It

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bald, baldness, conditioner, decleor, dermalogica, Elemis, Elemis Quiet Mind Temple Balm, female, female pattern baldness, follicles, hair, hair loss, heat, iron, Male Pattern Baldness, multivitamin, patches, polycystic ovarian syndrome, roots, shaft, stress, styling, supplement, thinning, vitamin A, Vitamin B12, weight, weight loss

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Hair loss is something that women rarely discuss and the taboo surrounding female hair loss can stop us from seeking proper help when it does happen. We’ve all heard of Male Pattern Baldness, but did you know there’s also Female Pattern Baldness? There are many things which can contribute to female baldness and hair thinning and we’ve put together a list of the main culprits:

Hormones

A woman’s hormones are a delicate balance which keep everything running smoothly, but when things get messed up it can have a lot of knock on effects, and hair loss is one of them. Pregnancy, menopause and even conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome can cause hair loss. If you think a hormone imbalance might be contributing to your hair loss, ask your GP to perform a simple blood test to take a look at your levels.

Vitamin Deficiencies

There are a number of vitamins which can affect hair growth and if you’re lacking iron, vitamin B12 or vitamin A, you might have problems with hair loss. Try to eat a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and veg and proteins, and take a multivitamin supplement to bolster your system.

Weight Loss

Losing too much weight too quickly can have a dramatic effect on your hair and it’s not unknown for a sudden drop in your weight to cause temporary baldness. If you’re planning to lose weight, try to do so healthily over a decent period of time rather than crash dieting as this can send your body into shock.

Too Much Heat Styling

We all know that heat styling can break your hair, but too much of it over time can weaken and damage hair follicles, destroying their ability to grown new hairs and this can equate to bald patches. If you must style your hair with heat, use a good conditioner, try not to pull too hard on the shaft of the hair and try not to let the heat styling implement get too close to the roots of your hair.

Stress

One of the single most common causes of hair loss is stress and the only way to halt the effects is to reduce the amount of stress in your life. Take a look at what the main sources of stress are in your life and ask a friend or partner to help you change them. Taking some time for yourself to de-stress is a good idea, so treat yourself to some Elemis Quiet Mind Temple Balm for rubbing on your temples when you feel overwhelmed.

Self Care – How To Start Loving Yourself

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anxiety, bath, care, company, confidence, decleor, depressed, depression, dermalogica, Elemis, exercise, friends, hair, isolation, love, low, mood, nails, sad, sadness, seasonal affective disorder, self-care, self-esteem, shower, treat, walk, wash, washing, yourself

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There’s a very real correlation between mental health issues and not really looking after yourself properly. A lack of self-esteem, depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can all leave us feeling totally unwilling to spend any time on ourselves, and this can feed into a very self-destructive cycle. We know how difficult it can be to force yourself to love who you are, but doing little things to care for yourself each day can really help your mood to take an upswing.

Wash Regularly

One of the first things that falls by the wayside when people are depressed is regular washing, choosing instead to languish in your comfy clothes and not take care of the most basic of functions. The problem is, the less clean you are often the more depressed you feel and the more depressed you feel, the harder it is to get yourself sorted. It may take all of your strength to do it, but giving yourself a nice bath or shower can really help to set you on the path to feeling better.

Look At Yourself Through Someone Else’s Eyes

If you’ve got issues with low self esteem, it can be really difficult to have a subjective opinion of yourself, because you’re internally programmed to just hate what you see. Try to look in the mirror each day and refuse to listen to the internal voice which cuts you down, but instead try to look at yourself through someone elses eyes. Training your brain to think differently, in the style of “someone else might think I have nice eyes” “someone else would probably love my thick hair” can really bolster your confidence.

Take Time For Yourself

When you’re feeling down, there’s a tendency to feel like shutting yourself away and doing very little, but getting out and about and doing something for yourself can create a real upswing for you mood. Take yourself for a walk, go and have a coffee, get your nails or hair done – it’s all minor stuff to most people but it will feel like you’ve conquered Everest if you do it, and you’ll have the added bonus of having nice hair or nails in the bargain.

Accept Help

If you’re lucky enough to have people around you who want to help, LET THEM! It can be very easy to isolate oneself and shrink away from offers of help from other people when we’re feeling low, but allowing people in can lift a weight from your shoulders, which in turn can help lift your mood. They say that “misery loves company”, but sometimes misery can go a long way to being cured with just a little bit of company.

How to Avoid Winter Sniffles

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alcohol, antibacterial, asthma, colds, coughs, de-stress, decleor, dermalogica, diabetes, drink, eat, Elemis, flu, germs, green tea, healthy, Ill, illness, immune system, iron, protein, Relax, sleep, stress, vaccination, vaccine, virus, vitamins, water, winter

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Why is it that Mother Nature just doesn’t seem to get our memo at this time every year that we simply DO NOT HAVE TIME TO BE ILL?! Coughs and colds, aches and pain; they’re all enough to cause a serious slow-down at what is the busiest time of year for many of us, but we really don’t have the time (or opportunity) o take to our beds and sip Lemsip until we feel better. Here’s a few things that you can do to avoid all the usual nasties that are doing the rounds at the moment:

Eat Well

Making sure you get plenty of fruit and veg in your diet, as well as iron from meat or beans, will bolster your immune system and give it the best fighting chance of warding off viruses. We also recommend drinking green tea, which is great for your system in many ways, not least of all because the steam can help to physically clear germs away from your nose. Protein-rich foods are also best for giving your immune system a boost.

Get Plenty of Sleep

Sleep is when your body has the best opportunity to fight off germs because it’s not concentrating on doing all the other thinks like blinking anf thinking! This means that broken or missed sleep will leave your immune system at a real deficit because it’s not had a chance to work. If you’re struggling to drift off, try a de-stressing massage before bedtime.

Don’t Drink Too Much Booze

We know that’s a hard ask in the season of work dos, family gatherings and general festive merriment, but alcohol gives your immune system a real battering, leaving you susceptible to viruses and germs. If you’re out for the night, try alternating one alcoholic drink with one glass of water or soft drink to try to keep a handle on things.

Sanitize!

We know there’s a risk of looking a bit Howard Hughes if you wander around disinfecting things, but one of the most common ways to catch coughs and colds is through transferring germs from infected surfaces. Thi nk about machines at the gym, work phones, handles on the Tube – they’ve all been touched by a potential barrage of germs, so keeping a bottle of antibacterial hand gel in your bag is a really good defence against it all.

Don’t Forget your Flu Jab!

For many people, flu can be a few days for feeling absolutely rubbish, but if you’ve got a chronic illness such as diabetes or asthma, flu can hit you much harder than others. If you have a pre-existing illness or a compromised immune system, you’re probably entitled to a free flu jab at your G.P. surgery and we highly recommend that you go and have it. No-one needs flu at this time of year and it’s wise to do everything you can to avoid it.