vaseline + toothbrush.

Another beauty post, just saying.

Have you ever just felt like pampering yourself? Like, a lot?

I felt like that the other day. I wanted to pamper every aspect of myself - do my nails, do my hair, exfoliate my entire body, condition my cuticles, use a face mask, and so on.

I love it. I love the idea, and I think I love (even more so) the luxurious aspect of putting in the effort to do all of that. Because it's not easy! Just look at my preview of the list above. Doing my nails in and of itself is a huge task, because I basically do whatever manicurists do at my own home .. except a little more. And it's me, so it takes longer.

But sometimes all the work is what I crave. Why? I don't know .. maybe because I know all the work is going into myself. It is all purely for me. And I don't really spend time on myself at all. Even when baking, I have to make sure my family will eat it.

That face mask I made before (and froze! i have been craving it for a while, but i haven't had time or the strength to use it :( ) was excellent for pampering myself.

So that's the face part down.


I got my nails did too .. well, I was the one who did them. Oh about that - the color Folly, by Sinful Colors, is a gorgeous color, especially on tanned skin, but stringy as hell. Er that doesn't make sense .. okay, stringy as ice cream that is really old at an ice cream store and has weird stringy gooey translucent parts. Don't buy it. Either one of them.

I put rollers in my hair. Fail. It gave me spiral curls. And I admit, they made my hair more uniform (as opposed to my usual: lots of separate curls), but they made it curlier, too. AS IF THAT WAS POSSIBLE. And my aim was waves, hence the usage of 1 3/4" rollers. I felt like an old woman, looking at myself in the mirror, with rollers all up in der. It wasn't worth it .. unless I keep at it and perfect my method.

I used a body scrub by Sephora on my arms and legs in the shower. Heaven. I shaved (the next day - never use a body scrub on legs & immediately shave! skin is too sensitive at that point.) I scrubbed my feet with a pumice stone. And my elbows - curse Indian dry skin on elbows! And my knees. That kinda hurt.

You know why else knees hurt?

I also used a mud face mask I got from the Rotorua Thermal Mud Range in New Zealand. Then I followed up with a refreshing astringent & apple cider vinegar toner combo that tightened my pores, and I applied Clinique All About Eyes around my eye area after using a good ole face moisturizer.

I soaked my feet with a Coconut Foot Creme by Burt's Bees. And put on thin long cotton socks, and I felt like Victoria Beckham, who apparently wears nothing else to sleep other than cotton gloves and socks after slathering on a rich lotion. I felt like her so much. Except I was wearing clothes.

I rubbed a generous amount of Lemon Butter Cuticule Cream into the cuticles of my freshly did nails.

And then, after all the above and maybe more, I focused on my lips. This is how you can EASILY, with basically zero effort, get softer lips instantly. There is also another way I will post about later that I have used and is really effective. This is the quick fix method.

Put a thin layer of Vaseline on lips.
Run a dry toothbrush over lips. This will sting.
Rinse lips, and dry. Or wipe with a tissue before rinsing.
Slather on a non-stick form lip balm, like Blistex, Carmex, or Rosebud Salve.
Your lips will feel super tingly, and almost raw, but it heightens their sensitiveness. Trust me, it feels so luxurious and indulgent.
And all you needed was Vaseline & an old toothbrush!