Masks aren’t just for Halloween

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acne, acne prone skin, active fizzing formula, Aloe Vera, Antioxidant vitamins, apples, banish dull, beauty bag, beauty routine, blackheads, botanical extracts, brightens skin, Burdock, calming ingredients, calming stressed, Chia Seed Oil, Comfrey, dark circles, dark spots, Decleor Energy Concentrate Youth Mask, decongests, deep hydration, delicate eye area, Dermalogica Blackhead Clearing Fizz Mask, Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque, dry skin, dull, Elemis Absolute Eye Mas, Elemis Superfood Vital Veggie Mask, excess oil, Eyes, firms, fresh, Gentle exfoliators, grey, Halloween, hydrate the skin, ingredients, irritation, Jan Marini Luminate Face Mask, kaolin clay, light mask, lightening agents, luminous glow, lush, lychee, magic, mask, moisturise, oleic acid, omega 9, Orexcellence range, peony, plumper and firmer, pores, prematurely ageing skin, pumpkins, radiant glow, re-energise, redness, reduce, rhodiola, rich blend, skin, soften, sparkle, super-concentrated, sweets, textured mask, tired eyes, tones, topped up, trick or treat, unisex, wake up, winner, youthful

As pumpkins are carved and scary costumes are being taken out of cupboards, Halloween is very much on the way. While the sweets handed out for kids who trick or treat won’t do much for your skin, or waistline, this is a timely reminder that adding a mask to your beauty routine could be a good move.

If you would like your skin to look plumper and firmer when you wake up in the morning, look no further than the Decleor Energy Concentrate Youth Mask. Part of the Orexcellence range, this textured mask is made from a rich blend of peony, lychee and Rhodiola that together re-energise the skin and leave you with a fresh, luminous glow.

The Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque comes topped up with super-concentrated, antioxidant vitamins that are perfect for calming stressed, prematurely-ageing skin. Things don’t stop there because as the ingredients get to work adding deep hydration, botanical extracts of comfrey and burdock soothe skin so it is left happy and youthful again.

If you want a mask that packs a punch, you need the Jan Marini Luminate Face Mask in your beauty bag. While this brightens skin from the very first use, this mask comes with lightening agents that progressively reduce the appearance of the dark spots and discolouration that can get you down. Gentle exfoliators remove the dull, dry skin that can make complexions look grey and thanks to added calming ingredients, irritation and redness are reduced.

You might think that acne-prone skin doesn’t need a mask, but this isn’t the case. If you to ease blackheads, then the Dermalogica Blackhead Clearing Fizz Mask is for you. This unique mask comes with an active fizzing formula that cleans pores and target blackheads. Kaolin clay has been added into the mix and this works to absorb problematic excess oil and purifies the skin, while the magic of apples help to hydrate the skin so it feels lovely and fresh again.

If you want something your partner can use too, the Elemis Superfood Vital Veggie Mask has been created for unisex use and will please all skin types. Regular 10-minute sessions will banish dull, dry skin leaving you will a more radiant glow than ever. Aloe Vera helps to soothe, moisturise and soften skin while avocado adds a boost of lush, natural omega-9 and oleic acid. Bringing up the rear is chia seed oil that nourishes and means you are left with incredibly soft, smooth skin and smile!

If you only want to work on your eyes, fear not, we sell the Elemis Absolute Eye Mask at Pure Beauty and it’s a winner. Perfect for tired eyes that have lost their sparkle, this light mask kicks dullness into touch and as it rehydrates the delicate eye area, it decongests, firms and tones too. This mask also deals with pesky dark circles whilst nourishing and smoothing at the same time. We said it was a winner!

If you would like help finding a mask for you, get in touch and we would love to help.

Team Beauty

Healthy Halloween Treats

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31 October, apple a day, banana, bases, blood sugar, bones, bunch of bananas, carve, celery, chocolate chips, cool concoction, cool costumes, core, crunchy carrot, cucumber, drinks, eye of newt, five a day goal, freak, fruity frogs, fussy eaters, ghost, guests, Halloween, Instagram, jelly sweet, kiwi fruit, lychee, magic, marshmallows, munched, naughty, olives, party, pepper, photo, pumpkin, sick salad, silver platter, slice, sliced grapes, spiders, spooky snacks, strawberries, supreme, sweets and chocolates, tangerine segments, temptation, toe of frog, tomato sauce, Vitamin C, waistline, wash

With cooler than cool costumes being chosen and tricks being planned, Halloween is in the air and it is coming to get you!

While many of us think of stocking up on sweets and chocolates for 31st October, but these aren’t the only things you can serve up to party guests and doorstep visitors.

We have had a look at some spooky snacks which look, and taste great, but won’t play havoc with your blood sugar levels or waistline.

Haunted pizzas
Make your own bases, then add tomato sauce, cut out ghost shapes from mozzarella and make olives for eyes, and when it comes out of the oven, you will have a wicked haunted pizza that people will be dying to eat.

Serve a skeleton with slime
This idea is super simple but also totally delicious and good for you. Place slices of crunchy carrot, cucumber, pepper, and celery together on a plate in the shape of a skeleton. Then mix the eye of newt and toe of frog (avocado and lemon juice to you and I) and you will have slime to go with your bones.

Kiwi frogs
If you want to ensure that your five a day goal is reached, even when the temptation is to go for the toffees, fruity frogs are a real winner. Layer thick slices of ripe kiwi fruit, add a slice of strawberry to make a tongue, and blueberries are great for eyes, and you will soon have a healthy witching treat, even fussy eaters will enjoy.

Sick salad
This sounds gross, but it is actually really delicious. Buy an extra pumpkin, wash and clean it, carve out eyes and a mouth and put your masterpiece on a large plate. Then, place a cool concoction of fruit like strawberries, sliced grapes, tangerine segments, blueberries and melon balls in the mouth of the pumpkins, and you will have a sick salad just waiting to be eaten – but take a photo for Instagram (#halloween) before you do!

Banana ghosts
Now you see them, now you don’t! Banana ghosts are really simple to make, look brilliant, and are just a little bit naughty too. Take a bunch of bananas (medium-sized and not too soft), peel and chop them in half, stand flat side down on a plate, create mouths and eyes from chocolate chips and you have a seriously spooky offering.

Satsuma pumpkins
For a tempting dose of Vitamin C, why not use a little magic to turn your satsumas into pumpkins? Take a bag of the little lovelies, peel them, put them on a spooky napkin on a plate, add a carrot stick to make a stork and a sprinkling of plastic spiders, and you have created a scary masterpiece. You can also smear celery sticks with peanut butter, strategically place a handful of fake spiders and you’ll have some spooky logs just waiting to be munched.

Just add eyeballs
If you want to really freak your guests out, forget the ice and add eyeballs to their drinks. You can buy jelly sweet versions, or if you want to go for the natural option, stuff a lychee with a blueberry, pierce with a cocktail stick and then rest this on the rim of a glass and watch their mouths fall open!

We hope we have shown you that sweets don’t have to reign supreme when it comes to Halloween, and we wish you a very scary 31 October.

Team Pure Beauty

First Date Rules

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100%, airs and graces, alcohol, app, attention, authenticity, babysitter, bad joke, bar, bargain, be present, best friend, blushes, bowling alley, call, caution, charity shop, chemistry, cocktail, compare, crying, dangers, dating game, designer clothes, despondent, disappointed, drink, ex, expectations, first date, friends, fun, good impression, gory details, high-flying career, honesty, hurt, leave, longterm relationship, love at first sight, magic, nerve-wracking experience, nervous, new friend, one that got away, person, pressure, proposal, public place, respect, restaurant, romance, safety, set up, smile, stutter, text, texting, Tiffany, Tweeting, website, wedding speech

Whether you are meeting up as the result of an app, website or are being set up by friends, going on a first date can be a nerve-wracking experience.

We know it can be tough, so have put together some tips on how to get things right so you can save your blushes, and get away with your respect intact if things aren’t working out the way you hoped they would.

Manage Your Expectations
Even before you agree to a time and place to meet, it is a good idea to just take stock of the situation. While love, at first sight, can happen, in many cases you aren’t going to a proposal over that initial cocktail. High expectations are great, but they can create pressure and if the desired connection isn’t made, you can feel disappointed and despondent. See each date as the chance to meet someone new and take it from there and don’t have the Tiffany website on your phone just in case.

Think of Your Safety
We know your date is all about having fun, but you do need to think about safety, so plan to meet for the first time in a public place be that a bar, restaurant or bowling alley. Let a friend you trust know about your plans and call or text them when you are back home. It is easy to get carried away with the romance of a first date but there can be dangers out there so there is no harm in exercising caution at the beginning of something new. You might also want to have a friend who can phone you at a set time which can give you a reason to leave if you want to and don’t drink too much alcohol as you want to be aware of what is happening around you.

Keep the Ex Chat to a Minimum
If you don’t want to put the other person off, you probably don’t want to spend the entire time talking about your ex and don’t compare them to your date. If you are back in the dating game after the end of a longterm relationship, yes it’s fine to talk about that, but going into all the gory details, or even worse crying over the one that got away, won’t do you any favours.

Be Yourself
If you want to find someone who is right for, then you need to be yourself. There is no point in putting on airs and graces to impress someone, wearing designer clothes if you love a bargain from the charity shop, or pretending to have a high-flying career and huge home if that isn’t the case. People want authenticity and honesty and even if the chemistry isn’t sizzling by the end of the evening, by being you, you might end up with a new best friend who likes you just the way you are.

Be Present
There is nothing worse than spending time with someone who isn’t present and interested. While you might need your phone for safety reasons, or to keep an eye on calls from the babysitter, why not put it in your bag and give your date 100% of your attention. Leave the texting, Tweeting, and Instagramming for later on and be in the moment while you are on your date because hopefully, that is where the magic is going to be!

Remember, They Will Be Nervous Too
Let’s be honest here and say that we know that dating can be scary, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past. Dates with someone new can be a gamble for both of you, so if they stutter or tell a bad joke, give them a chance because they might be trying to make a good impression and that bad joke may well be part of their wedding speech one day!

We hope these ideas will help ease your nerves and make you see that you need to go out with an open mind and a smile and you may just be surprised at how your first date turns out.

Pure Beauty