A Peek into My Life: Post-Exam Paper Pamper Session

Hiya dolls!

First things first, wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! I've been missing from my blog for a while, forgive me, I've been so busy! Been juggling my Christmas break by hanging out with family and studying for my first exam which was on 3rd of January 2014. It was really hard to study when all I wanted was to chill on the sofa and watch Christmas with a hot chocolate in hand, but I had to. My first exam ended on Friday, and I thought it went pretty badly. It left me feeling weary, down and moody. So I came home, stared into space for a bit and decided to pamper myself before moving on with life (which basically means prepping my tutorial work for the coming week- sad life, I know).

As I'm typing this, I'm playing Bruno Mars' - Treasure, Jason Derulo - The Other Side and One Direction's - Best Song Ever on repeat. Such lovely songs to chill to- hee!

I popped into the shower, turned the temperature to slightly-more-than-lukewarm and got busy with pampering myself. After rinsing shampoo off my hair, I liberally applied Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Intensive Mask to the ends of my hair, and a little on my roots as well. I love the scent of this mask- it smells so fruity-floral and leaves my hair feeling smooth and soft. While I let the hair mask do its magic, I soaped myself, rinsed it off, squeezed a decently sized splodge of Soap & Glory Some Like It Hot Body Softening Thermal Scrub onto my palm and massaged the scrub onto my body. This scrub contains macadamia oil, aloe vera, sugar and white sand grains which gives it a really nice sweet, fresh scent and a grainy texture. I like using this particularly on my elbows and knees as it scrubs dead skin cells away rather well and leaves my elbows feeling (and looking) smooth and less wrinkly. The most interesting thing about this scrub for me is that it warms up when rubbed on the skin! It leaves a warm toasty feeling on the skin, and is perfect for cold winter days (or nights) like these! 

After I was done in the shower, I applied Soap & Glory Butter Yourself Body Cream on my skin. I tend to avoid body butters (or anything with that texture) like the plague because I really dislike the feeling of thick sticky cream on the skin, but I decided to give this a go and see if it would change my mind- and boy, it did! I used a small amount on my whole body and massaged it in- it left my skin feeling so smooth and moisturised! The scent is also right up my street. It has notes of frozen yuzu, orange oil, green fig, and jungle pomelo essence, making it a sharp, distinct sweet citrus scent. I like the scent, although I can imagine those adverse to sweet scents may find this cloying and sickly sweet.

I then got round to pampering my face! After cleansing and toning, I used the Ginvera Green Tea Whitening Marvel Gel to gently scrub my face. This gel is not the kind of exfoliator that has apricot kernels, but it is one which is massaged into the skin until white flakes appear. The white flakes are supposed to be dead skin cells. It was only my third time using this product that day, and I have not really formed an opinion on it. It does leave my skin feeling clean, but it left my skin feeling slightly sticky, if that makes sense. Will probably have to use it more and see how it goes! After 'scrubbing' my face, I used Good Things Five Minute Facial Face Mask. This clay mask smells lovely- like sweet fruit (sensing a pattern here?), and it leaves my skin feeling clean after I wash it off. Despite it being a clay mask, it does not leave my skin feeling dry and tight; quite the opposite actually. My skin was left feeling soft and supple. 

I always follow up a clay mask with a hydrating mask, and I randomly chose one from my pile of sheet masks, the My Beauty Diary Chocolate Truffle Sheet Mask. I was expecting this mask to smell like alcohol (I don't know why) but it actually had a light chocolate-y scent- amazing! I left this sheet mask on for 20 minutes and after removing it, I patted the leftover essence into my skin, and also spread the leftover essence on my arms, legs and neck (I'm crazy that way). This mask did cause a bit of an allergic reaction to my skin, I had a very small rash on the skin near my right eyebrow, so I won't be repurchasing this specific one. Otherwise, it left my skin soft and smooth. I was all about having my skin soft and smooth that day- hee! I completed my pamper session by slicking on a thick, balmy layer of Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm on my lips. The weather is harsh during winter, and this lip balm keeps my lips soft, protected and nourished. Plus it has a citrus-y scent, what's not to like?

So that was my post-exam paper pamper session. One hour after that, and I was refreshed, happy and feeling like I was ready to take on the world again!

Do you pamper yourself? What are your favourite pamper products/routine? =D

xx Amanda