Strategic holiday prep

Getting ready for a holiday? I made a special post on holiday packing a while back (see May 31st  ) so today I'm concentrating on the beauty side of a holiday preparation, especially a Summer one! Here are a few of my pre holiday beauty parlour musts:

Manicure and Pedicure

Wax

Eye brow shaping

Eyelash tint

Body Scrub

Hair Mask

MANI

I actually save on this one and do it myself and perhaps get an upgrade on my pedi that always needs more work..

PEDI

I love Cowshed pedicurere's. The therapists are meticulous and accurate and the products they use excellent. They have an extensive selection of my favorite polish (Essie), use Seche Vite top coat and an amazing mint foot scrub from Cowhed's own product line. They also get rid of dead skin with an elctric file that leaves your feet baby soft. At £45 it's pricey but absolutely worth it and I bet it will last me a month (with a little help from Seche Vite top coat).

www.cowshedonline.com

The therapist removing dead skin

The extensive selection of Essie polish

Cowshed minty foot scrub leaves feet baby sofy

Before...

... and after!

WAX

Painful as it is, it's the only thing that will last more than two days. I always bring with me my electric depilator, but a pit stop for full leg and bikini is always a must. I love Benefit's salons for a good wax, the therapists are very well trained and Adriana at the Spiatafield's branch is an absolute hair removal whizzard. 

www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk

The perfectly pink Benefit store (treatment rooms available
only in some stores)

BROW WAX AND LASH TINT

Adriana also waxes my eyebrows to arch-perfection for a tidy look and  in the summer,  I always get an eyelash tint in "blue-black" as I don't like wearing make up. The result is great and lasts 2 months!

Eye lash tint

SCRUBBING

To prepare my skin for the sun I like to scrub every other day for the body and a few times in the week  a week before going away . Clinique's Sparkle Skin body scrub is one of my favorites because it comes in small granules that don't slide away from the body. For the face I love Dermalogica's Multivitamin therofoliant scrub because it's not too aggressive.

HAIR MASK

It's always good to give your hair  a good injection of moisture before a holiday in the sun- I love Shu Uemura's Moisture Velver hair range (the hair masque is amazing). What comes with me though, is Kerastase's solar range- shampoo and conditioner have the smell of summer to me!

 

PACKING

Finally it's time to pack- same rules apply as my previous post of May 31st but this time, because I am going to several different locations I needed a little help from my "Pack This" notepad (genious). I imagined a line down my bed and lay out clothes for the different holiday destinations: one more fun and colorful the other more nautical and grown up.

Stripes, navy, denim and a touch of neutral for the first part of my brake...

..brights and prints for the last part!

Pack This! note pad from Conran shop