Summer Ready Skin

I don't know about you, but once Summer starts rolling round I always seem to take much better care of my skin and try to stick to some kind of body care routine. I'm very good at keeping up my skin care routine all year long, but for my actual body I kind of neglect using products on an everyday basis during the colder months. It's most likely because during the Winter it's so easy to cover up with jumpers and thick tights that really, it doesn't overly matter if you do forget to slap on a bit of body butter in the morning!

But now that it's starting to get slightly warmer, I think it's always good to put together a simple yet effective body care routine just to get you back into the swing of things and prepare yourself (and the world) for starting to show a bit more skin! The main areas I like to focus on are my arms and legs as I love wearing little cami tops and skirts when it's warm, so these are the selection of products I've been using recently to start preparing my skin for the Summer!

My body care routine starts whilst I'm in the shower and one of the first products I will use is an exfoliator. The one I've been loving recently is the Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub (£8.00 LINK). This stuff smells incredible, if you love sweet, rich scents then this will be right up your street! This sugar scrub helps buff away dry skin and with the added shea butter leaves your skin feeling lovely and soft, plus smelling amazing. I will use this around twice a week as it's a fairly rough body scrub, definitely not something you'll want to use everyday!

Next, if I'm shaving my legs, I will reach for my Soap & Glory Whipped Clean Shower Butter (£7.00 LINK) which is a body wash and in-shower body butter in one. I don't really use this as a body wash but as a replacement for shaving gel as it lathers up really well and leaves my skin feeling super smooth! If you also don't have much time in the mornings, this would be amazing to apply at the end of your shower to leave your skin feeling soft all over. Again, like all Soap & Glory bath products, it has a beautifully rich scent that smells good enough to eat!

My final in-shower step is to use a skin softening body wash. I've been using the Nivea Diamond Touch Cream Shower Oil (£1.99 LINK) everyday for the past few months and have been really loving it! It has a beautiful, creamy floral scent that really lingers on the skin long after a shower. It also lathers up into lots of luxurious little bubbles that leave my skin feeling soft and clean.

Once out of the shower I immediately apply some form of body lotion/ oil. My absolute favourite body product to use during the Summer is The Body Shop Brazil Nut Beautifying Oil (£10.00 LINK). This dry oil sinks into the skin really quickly and leaves no oily residue behind, meaning you can get dressed straight away! I also love the super sweet scent of this product as it instantly reminds me of being on holiday last year! This is also a great product to use if you have just shaved your legs as it doesn't irritate the skin like a normal fragranced body lotion would. 

If I'm after something a bit thicker that will really help hydrate my skin then I will reach for my Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Milk (£10.00 LINK). This is a great product to use if you have used both the scrub and body wash in the shower as it really helps ties all those amazing sweet scents together. As this is much thicker than my oil I will use this around 2/3 times a week to help moisturise my skin and leave it feeling amazingly soft.

So this is my super simple guide to getting Summer ready skin! With just 5 products all from the high street this little routine is affordable, easy to use and works really well. I know we're still a few weeks off from actually being able to bare a bit more skin, but it's always good to prepare so that when it is finally warm enough you can go bare-legged without having to worry!

What products do you use to get your skin Summer ready?

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Review | NSpa Beauty & Bathing Rituals

 NSpa Beauty & Bathing Rituals*

Hello everyone! I was recently contacted by NSpa and asked whether I would like to try out  a selection of samples from their Beauty and Bathing Rituals lines. I had never heard of the brand before, but after some researching I was very excited to be able to try out some of their products. NSpa (Nirvana Spa) is actually a day spa here in the UK and along side this, they also produce a range of spa-inspired products including their beauty, bathing and hair rituals. The amazing thing about NSpa is that despite their products being of such high quality, their prices are extremely affordable and are available in Asda stores and online! They are also against animal testing and none of their products are tested on animals which is something that really draws me to a company.
 
The first 3 samples I tried out were from the Beauty Rituals line. I'm always on the hunt for new skincare, especially if it's available on the high street as I'm not someone who tends to splurge out on skin products regularly! The Beauty Rituals skincare line consists of 19 products and they're all devised into a 4 simple steps: Cleanse, Exfoliate, Treat and Moisturise. All of the products from the Beauty Rituals range are dermatologically tested and are suitable for all skin types including sensitive skin, which is what I have. Plus they also have the same fresh, clean scent and smell like you're having a spa facial!

Melting Cleansing Gel* (Step One - Cleanse) | £6 for 250ml | Info | LINK
I have never tried a gel cleanser before and I was very interested to see how well NSpa's Melting Cleansing Gel would work for my skin. This cleanser uses grapeseed oil to help dissolve makeup and impurities to leave your skin feeling clean and fresh. It also has neroli, avacado and apricot oils as well as Vitamin E to leave your skin feeling nourished and soft. To apply this cleanser, you massage a small amount into dry skin, wet your hands, massage in again so that it turns into a cleansing milk and then rinse. It's gentle enough to be able to be used morning and evening. I found it removed some of my makeup easily but struggled with products like mascara. However, it did leave my skin feeling clean, soft and has also kept my blemishes at bay - perfect! I've really enjoyed this cleanser and I'm very tempted to pick up the full size next time I'm in Asda!

Hot Cloth Polish* (Step Two - Exfoliate) | £7 for 150ml | Info | LINK
Next up I tried their Hot Cloth Polish. Again, I've never tried a hot cloth cleanser and this was yet another product I was very excited to try out! Unfortunately I didn't receive the muslin cloth that comes with the full size of this, so I just used an ordinary flannel instead and I found that worked just fine! The Hot Cloth Polish uses cocoa butter and almond oil to help dissolve makeup and impurities and then the muslin cloth buffs away dead skin cells leaving your skin feeling soft and clean. It also contains the same neroli, avacado and apricot oils and Vitamin E to help leave your skin soft and moisturised. To apply the Hot Cloth Polish, I massage in a small amount of the cream into my face and with a hot, damp flannel I wipe my skin to remove the polish. This leaves my skin feeling amazingly soft and removes the rest of my makeup left on from the Melting Cleansing Gel. For me, the Hot Cloth Polish has been the stand out product from the Beauty Rituals line and I will definitely be purchasing this soon!

Illuminating Beauty Serum* (Step Three - Treat) | £7 for 50ml | Info | LINK
The final product from the Beauty Rituals line I tried was the Illuminating Beauty Serum. This is a light weight serum designed to give a natural dewy glow to the skin as it contains tiny bits of golden shimmer. I find that this leaves my skin feeling so soft and smooth as well as giving my skin a luminous glow. You can apply this under your makeup to give a glowing base or use it throughout the day as a sort of "pick me up". I think this is a lovely product and definitely something that's great for Summer when you want a natural looking glow to your skin.

The next 3 samples I tried were from the Bathing Rituals range and are all from the Jojoba & White Jasmine line. The NSpa Bathing Rituals line consists of 8 full size products and 3 travel size which again have a 3 step process: Cleanse, Exfoliate and Moisturise. All of the products in the line contain essential oil of sandalwood and oriental fragrances which make the scent quite floral but very gentle and fresh which I really like!

Jojoba & White Jasmine Moisturising Shower & Body Wash* (Step One - Cleanse) | £2.45 for 225ml | Info | LINK
The first Bathing Rituals product I tried was the Moisturising Body Wash. As it contains rose hip and jojoba oils the formula is very luxurious and it leaves your skin feeling extremely soft. I found this body wash to lather up so well with just a small amount and it actually felt like it was cleansing my skin. I really enjoyed using this body wash and I love the fact it also comes in a travel size so will be perfect to use on holiday!

Jojoba & White Jasmine Body Polish* (Step Two - Exfoliate) | £2.95 for 225ml | Info | LINK
The next product I used was the body polish and I have to say this is one of the loveliest body scrubs I've used! It contains small pieces of walnut shell that gently buff away dead and dry skin which leaves your skin feeling so soft. I'm really not a fan of harsh body scrubs as my skin is sensitive, so for me this polish is perfect as it's gentle yet very effective! I'm definitely considering picking up this product next time I'm in Asda as it works so well for me.

Jojoba & White Jasmine Body Lotion* (Step Three - Moisturise) | £3.95 for 250ml | Info | LINK
The final product from the Bathing Rituals line I tried was the body lotion and once again, this is another amazing product! It contains shea butter, rose hip and jojoba oils that really hydrate and moisturise the skin. It's also a light weight lotion and literally sinks into your skin in seconds! I've found this the perfect body lotion to apply before fake tan as it sinks in so quick and doesn't leave any residue on your skin. This is such a brilliant product and I will definitely be picking this up in the future once I've used up my huge collection of body lotions and creams!

So these are my views on some of NSpa's beauty and bathing products. I hope you enjoyed the post, sorry that it's quite long but there is so much to say about all of the products! I highly recommend trying the NSpa range, it's amazing quality but at such affordable prices. They're the perfect products to use to have a spa treatment at home!

Have you tried NSpa products before? 
What are your thoughts on the Beauty and Bathing Rituals lines?

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