Budget beauty, & Jerry Hall

                            

I am doing well with maintaining

Everything is going well. Tonight is bath night, with:

• oil
• essential oil (lavender for a good sleep)
• lots of scrubbing with a delicious soap
• body lotion
• 
  

I am truly "going for it"!! 

I'm also keeping up with:

• the skin care 
• & dry body brushing quite well

So I am pleased with myself, & have even had another delicious facial from the inspiring Camellia, who also gifted me:

• an eyebrow pencil, which I do need...having zealously overplucked my eyebrows in my youth (as you do!!)
• and she also gave me a pink gloss which I have secretly wanted for about 10 years.

The Secret to great skin

I once bought a magazine which had an article claiming to tell us how to have great skin. To be honest, it said to:

• cleanse, tone, moisturise 2x daily
• use spf daily
• & do a facial scrub once a week. 

Furthermore, they said that if we did this for 1 whole week...our skin would vastly improve. Well, this routine is basically what people do to maintain their complexion. 

Some might skip the toner & only cleanse at night, but anyone with good skin does have a basic maintaining routine. 

It's a bit like housework:  if we do a bit regularly, everything looks good & we don't have to do mammoth exhausting hours of cleaning to catch up.

Maintaining on a budget

It's way easier to maintain than repair. And the basics for repair are what we would be doing to maintain. 

It's not expensive. I had a friend with amazing skin. She was a solo mum with 5 kids, so money was tight. She used Rosken Skin Repair as a moisturiser, & at the time she used Ponds cold cream for cleansing. I suppose she uses something like Dove cleanser now. 

I've read about a woman who used Aqueous cream to clean her face & Bio Oil as a moisturiser...she's in her 80s & looks great, so being older is no excuse! 

Another lady I know, in the entertainment business, with beautiful skin, used Aqueous cream to clean & moisturise. 

And in a recent magazine was a high profile business woman who uses Cetaphil cleanser......& Johnsons Baby Lotion as a moisturiser. She has only ever used that lotion & she looked amazing.

Baby oil for cleansing 

• in the 1970s, some top models used baby oil to cleanse their faces
• the great actress Angela Lansbury, now well into her 80s, & still working, used it too
• Joan Collins used something similar for years, until it was discontinued
• in the 2000s, I read of a 54 year old former model, with beautiful skin, who had always used baby oil followed by pears soap, for cleansing
• Martha Stewart uses baby oil followed by a washable cleanser.

This all shows that we don't have to spend a lot of money to look after ourselves.

I know a lot of purists are totally against baby oil which is usually mineral oil. I was too, for a long time, until I realised that it was from Mother Earth. But you can use other oils instead. 

Jerry Hall's budget options

Jerry Hall, in her mid 30s, just after the famous Georgia May was born, was using:

• almond oil to cleanse
• followed by baby soap or neutrogena. (I copied her for ages, moving onto baby oil when I didn't have much money)
• at the time, she was also using Nivea....that thick one in the little blue tin. (Guess who still often copies that?) 
• in her 40s, she advocated a natural baby balm for daytime, & vaseline at night
• for years, she used olive oil on her body. 

Jerry is the epitome of old-time glamour......worth copying!

The most glamorous woman I have ever met (aside from my Nanna), Dhyana Muir, often used Ponds Vanishing cream, applying it all through the day. You can get it at Indian food stores.

My own budget skin care

• sometimes I've used petroleum jelly (vaseline) as a night cream. It is said to thicken the skin. It makes our skin soft
• I've used it with whatever basic cream I've had, like Nivea
• or with an oil, even Bio oil
• or I've used all 3 together, which gives me baby soft skin. I massage it in, then lightly press a hot damp facecloth to my face, neck & chest, to remove the excess
• or else I use Kawakawa Balm

When I'm being really good....& I sleep alone so I can do this.....I use some oil, lotion, & vaseline, rub it thickly over my hands, put on little cotton gloves, & sleep like that....my hands look beautiful the next day.

Have a little, do-able, affordable routine, & just do it! 

Elizabeth Hurley says we need to hydrate our skin, so don't forget to hydrate on the outside, & drink water to hydrate on the outside.