JOIN USThe perfect Sunday skincare
Every working woman values her Sunday. She owes it to herself to catch up with her beauty needs once every week. You don’t necessarily have to head to a spa or a salon to do that. Use all the resources that you have at your disposal in the comfort of your home. So, here’s what you can do to pamper yourself and make the most of your rest day:
Luxury pre-bath exfoliation & massage
• Exfoliation: For a body scrub, mix rice powder and almond meal with yoghurt and add a pinch of turmeric. Apply this mixture and leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Then, rub gently on the skin with circular movements. Wash off.
• Massage: Use olive oil for a gentle massage. To 50 ml of olive oil or sesame seed oil, add eight drops of essential oil. Choose any one essential oil from rose, lavender, neroli, jasmine, lotus, etc. Essential oils should always be diluted. They should never be used by themselves. While massaging, take special care of your elbows, knees and ankles. Use circular strokes on the shoulders, elbows and wrists. Stroke down the muscles of the inner arms and then upwards on the back of the arms smoothly. Using your palms, massage in large circles the front portion of your body, moving upwards and outwards from the centre. Use circular strokes for the abdomen. Apply oil to the whole leg, stroking upwards. Using both hands, one on the inside and one outside, massage down the front of the legs, from knee to ankle and then upwards at the back of the legs, from ankle to back of knees.
Luxury bath
You can try one of these bath additives to remove fatigue and leave your body soft, smooth and fragrant:
• Honey bath: Add two tablespoons of honey to a bucket of bath water. It is said to induce relaxation and leave your skin soft and moist.
• Vinegar: Add two tablespoons of vinegar. This helps relieve itching.
• Eau de cologne: Adding a few drops of cologne makes you feel cool and leaves the body fragrant.
• Almond oil: Add one tablespoon almond oil to your bath water if you have dry skin.
• Powdered milk: Add powdered milk to the bath water for dry skin.
DIY wonders
You can even try transforming some home ingredients into your very own DIY beauty product:
• After-bath body lotion: Mix 100 ml rose water with one tablespoon pure glycerin. Keep in a bottle with a lid.
• Body & face mask: Mix ripe papaya pulp with two parts honey, two parts yoghurt, two parts powdered dried orange and lemon peel and three parts oatmeal. Apply this on face or body and wash it off after half an hour.
• Beauty bundle for a bath: An ideal way of using natural ingredients is to tie ingredients in a clean cloth, wet slightly and then rub the cloth bag on the skin. You can use besan, oatmeal, dry and ground mint leaves, rose petals, almond meal, a little turmeric powder.