The Mid-Week Remedy

I don't usually have the time (or the inclination) to throw myself a bit of a pampering party mid-week. However, lately I've been burning the candle at both ends, going out a lot into central London (which leaves my skin and hair a polluted mess) and for the first time in a long while I've been going out drinking at the weekends. A month into this new lifestyle of mine (it's a temporary foray into the fun life I'll be returning to once my final year at university ends) has left me in serious need of some all over refreshment. Cue the Mid-Week Remedy, the battle against clogged pores, dull skin, dry hair and positively reptilian looking hands... I wish I was joking.

This is a two-step face mask combo that works really well. Start off with a healthy layer of Super Facialist's Tea Flower Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask (my full review can be found here) which I swear acts as a kind of dirt-magnet. It pulls all the gunk out of my skin and leaves it thoroughly cleaner with my pores looking a lot more refined. I'm actually almost (about one application away) done with this mask which is a travesty as I love it and won't be able to repurchase it until the end of my spending ban. Once I've washed the Super Facialist mask off my face using my trusty Superdrug Cleansing Sponge (if you don't already know what I mean you can read about it here) and then I apply quite a thick layer of Origins Drink Up Intensive Mask. I find that this mask doesn't just add some much needed moisture to my face it also brightens it up a little and stops it looking dull. It's a lovely product and I can understand the hype surrounding it!

While my face masks are doing their work I like to apply an oil as a hair mask. All I do is apply a generous amount of hair oil to my dry hair (lengths and ends) and massage it into my dry hair. If you shower before bed then leave this on for as long as you can and then wash it out, maybe with a little bit more shampoo than you usually use, when you wash you hair. I prefer to shower in the mornings so I tend to sleep with the hair oil in my hair. I find that when I wash my hair the next day my hair is left smoother, softer and more hydrated which also means it is less frizzy. It is the only sort of hair mask I use on a regular basis! I used Moroccan Oil (if you're interested in a full review you can read mine here) because it is a pretty heavy oil and does a lot of good but you can use anything at your disposal, you can use any sort of hair oil (or even olive oil- I've read about people using it for beauty purposes) that you have lying about.

So, now I'm slathered in product, I wash my hands and then exfoliate them while they are still damp using an exfoliating scrub. I like L'Occitane's Almond Delicious Paste (I reviewed this here) but any scrub will do, I've also used Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush Body Scrub before (reviewed here) and it worked in a very similar way. People often forget to exfoliate their hands but as I suffer from very dry skin on my hands I've found it essential and I do it very regularly! I've recently added in CND's Solar Oil to my hand pampering routine (it's supposed to be good for your nails and cuticles). I've used it a couple of times and am a little skeptical actually so can't rave about it here, but here's hoping it's doing me good! When that has sunk in, for an added oomph, I apply some of Reverence de Bastien's Nail Unguent (although I probably don't need this double whammy it does leave my cuticles and fingernails pretty happy). I then follow up with any hand cream that is nearby and the Mid-Week Remedy is complete!

Do you pamper yourselves during the week? What products to you like to use?

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