Beauty Bits for the Extremities

Looking after one's hands and feet doesn't really have that much of a glamourous appeal, but for anyone with "problematic" skin like mine it's actually quite important! I have incredibly dry skin on my hands and not only does it not look nice when I don't look after it properly but it also feels really tight and uncomfortable too. I try a lot of intensively moisturising hand creams, and my oh my do I get through them. At the moment, two of my favourites are Fair Squared's Almond Hand Cream and Balance Me's Rose Otto Hand Cream*. Both have a subtle scent and a rich formula that offers long lasting hydration for even dry skin - and if you're not fussy (which I most certainly am not) they also double up as very good foot creams too.

However, one extra little step makes a world of difference to the appearance and feel of both hands and feet - exfoliation. If you exfoliate your skin regularly then not only does it make it look and feel softer and smoother but it allows your mositurising products to reach new skin. This allows them to be more deeply absorbed, improving the effectiveness of whatever hand or foot creams you choose to use. My favourite exfoliating scrub used to be L'Occitane's Almond Paste but it was just too expensive to keep repurchasing. I've found that  Dr. Organic's Manuka Honey Foot Scrub works almost as well on my hands, whilst Freeman's Bare Foot Lemon and Sage Foot Scrub* is a little bit more harsh which makes it perfect to use on your feet. I really love the scent of the Bare Foot Scrub as it's incredibly fresh, but if you like richer, warmer scents then you might prefer Dr. Organic's Scrub.

And just so you know, I've got a little twitter giveaway running today (March 3rd) where you can win your own brand new tube of Balance Me's Rose Otto Hand Cream, as well as one of Freeman's Charcoal & Black Sugar Polishing Masks. All you have to do is follow me on Twitter (link here) and re-tweet the competition tweet to enter. Obviously you don't have to enter but I just wanted to let you know in case you missed it over on my twitter page.

Do you have a favourite hand cream? And do you exfoliate your hands?

Click here to enter my Steamcream Giveaway to win a limited edition tin of your choice