Can winter just be over already? These icy winds and deathly cold mornings (and evenings) make it really difficult to not stay in bed all day. Plus, the condition of my skin just goes down the drain if I don’t pay it enough attention. Crinkly, dry skin is not a sexy look is it? Today I thought I would tell you all about the body products that I have been reaching for on an almost daily basis.

We all know that the key to keeping our skin in tip top shape is to exfoliate. I’m not going to give you that lecture, but you can go read a post I did about exfoliation over here if you would like to.

Before I hop into the shower or bath, I take my preferred exfoliator and use it on dry skin (make sure to stand on a towel or bath mat so it doesn’t go everywhere). I find that this gives a more intense exfoliation, it also lifts the hairs and unglues any ingrown hairs so you will get a closer shave.  I have 3 exfoliators on high rotation at the moment.

The first one is the Renew Salt Polisher from Sorbet. At R45 for 250g this is such a steal and so I never feel guilty for using huge amounts. The smell is quite unique and a nice change to the normal floral-y sweet smells that I tend to gravitate towards. I love that this doesn’t leave a thick oily residue on my skin afterwards, but it is still moisturising enough for my body not too feel parched afterwards. The second two exfoliators are both from Soap and Glory. Now as far as I know, you can’t get these in South Africa at the moment, but if you know someone heading to the UK, investing in one, or both of these is definitely worth your while!

First up is the lesser abrasive of the two – The Scrub Of Your Life. This comes in a tube and goes for about £7. I like to give my body a really good exfoliatione a week and so I use this as my mid-week scrub – I like to concentrate on my upper arms, knees, heels and elbows especially. Soap and Glory have an amazing signature scent called Original Pink Fragrance packed with so much deliciousness like lemon, peach, strawberries, jamine, summer rose and patchouli. Yummy!

The second scrub that I use from Soap and Glory is called Flake Away (RRP £7.50). More intense than The Scub Of Your Life, this hard working body polish also leaves your skin feeling super nourished because of the shea butter and sweet almond oil that it contains. The exfoliating particles are made up of sugar and salt crystals – so you know it’s going to do a good job!

On my non-scrub days I have been going crazy over this lifesaver from L’Occitane. If you love all things almond and beautiful smelling, this will be a winner in your books – it is the Almond Shower Oil (R110 for 75ml). My, oh my I cannot rave about this enough! Obviously it smells amazing, a sweet all encompassing almond fragrance. My skin loves it because it nourishes like no other shower oil, to the point that if I am having a really lazy night, I don’t even bother with a moisturiser. What I really like about this product (besides the already aforementioned) is that it transforms into a very light foam when it comes into contact with water which makes me feel like I have cleansed my skin properly and not just rubbed a nice smelling oil all over it. I have started to use this as my shaving medium when I shave my legs and it definitely makes a big difference to the condition of my skin post-shave. I also find my razor glides a lot better and so I have a lot less nicks. After a good 12 years of shaving you would think that I had it down to a fine art, apparently not. If you don’t have a L’Occitane store close by, you can shop online here.

To be honest, I’m not the hugest fan of moisturisers. They feel heavy on my skin which irritates me a bit. But I know that in winter, especially in the drrrrryyyyy JHB climate, they are so important and so I do my best to use one every night. Because I would have already used something pretty fragrant either in the bath or shower right before bed, I don’t like my moisturiser to be too over powering, and that’s why I like the Shea Body Butter (R150 for 200ml) from The Body Shop. This body butter is specifically for very dry skin and has cocoa butter from Ghana, babassu oil from Brazil and beeswax from Zambia (all of which are fair-trade) to give skin the intense nourishment that it needs. My two other favourite body butters are the Vitamin E and Coconut flavours. Dying to get my hands on some of the Coconut Body Scrub…heaven!

I have mentioned it before but I am going to chat about it again because it really is an awesome product with a really good price tag. The Oh Lief Tummy Wax (R99 for 125g). If you are pregnant (or post pregnancy/breastfeeding) this is 100% okay for you to use, yay! Another plus for new mama’s is that it can be used as a nipple cream. I have been using it on stretch marks that have recently decided to rear their ugly heads and I have really seen a difference after using this consistently. They definitely aren’t as raised or as red. What I love about Oh Lief is that is it locally produced and doesn’t contain any nasties (harsh chemicals, fragrances, petroleum, parabens, artificial colours) plus zero nut oils. When I apply the Tummy wax, I make sure I really work it into the area, no use just slapping it on and praying that it does the right thing. I recently burnt my hand quite badly on the oven grill and I’m going to apply this to see if it helps with the scarring, fingers crossed! You can shop online here.

One area I really tend to neglect – my hands, aren’t we all guilty of this? You would think that I would pay more attention to them since I am constantly painting my nails but nope, they get pretty much ignored. In the winter they get so dehydrated that it actually gives me the heebie geebies and so I have been making a conscious effort to try and take care of them. I’ve been using two mini hand creams recently and have found them to be such a help. The Clinque Dark Spot Correcting Hand Cream SPF 15 (R415) is one of them. Although this is specifically formulated for those that suffer with pigmentation on their hands, it is still a fantastic moisturising and anti-ageing hand cream. My hands don’t feel sticky after using it and the fragrance is subtle yet pleasant. This is fairly lightweight and so I tend to use this one more during the day time (especially because of the built in SPF). Clinique is available from Red Square and online, here.  For night time, I like to use the Dr Hauschka Hydrating Hand Cream (R260 for 50ml) as it is thicker. I really feel like this treats my hands and cocoons them in a fragrant bubble of nourishment. Again this isn’t sticky and a little goes quite a long way.  Dr Hauschka uses only natural and organic ingredients and is vegetarian. You can purchase Dr Hauschka online from Faithful To Nature over here.

Sho, this has been quite a long post! I hope that you have found it useful, let me know if you have any body care favourites in the comments below. If you want to read up on the hair products that I’m obsessed with, just click here.

Hooray for the weekend!

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