Bargain beauty buys!

Every bride wants to look her best on the big day. But how do you achieve the look you want on a budget?

The answer – PREPARATION!!!

Each bride’s skin and beauty routine is different, but there are some simple, and relatively cheap ways to get you started.

The key to preparation is to start well in advance. If you have a year to plan your wedding, then although it seems like ages in before the big day, it’ll benefit you in the long run.

The most common areas that most brides like to spend extra time (and money) on is:

• hair
• face
• body/weight
• hands and feet (and nails)

Hair

Its generally advised to not do anything too drastic to your with regards to colour, for your big day. What happens if you hate it? Or the tone now doesn’t match your dress? The last thing you want to happen is to look in the mirror and hate your appearance. But if you do want to have a bit of a change, then make any colour changes before you choose your dress.

It is also important to keep your hair in good condition. Colouring your hair damages it, and matched with straightening, curling and blow-drying, it can soon end up as pieces of straw growing from your scalp! Its therefore imperative to condition your hair regularly.

A good, but affordable brand is John Freida. This brand has conditioning mask pots for blonde, red, brunette and black hair, for less than £5. If you use it once a week, a pot should last 2-3 months. There are of course more expensive brands, which claim to be better, but if you look after your hair and treat it regularly to a conditioning mask, and use heat protection spray whenever you use hot instruments on it, spending the extra money may be unnecessary. Good for your hair, good for your budget!

Face

This is one area which differs from bride to bride, but all require the same result –  a super gorgeous face!

Skin differs for each person, and the products used therefore will be different. However, the first product which is definitely a must have is a good moisturiser! One that works for me is Pond’s anti-wrinkle moisturiser. I’m not old, or wrinkly yet (!) but its a good hydrating cream which I’ve found has worked on my ever changing skin type! (At night its dry after I was my face, during the day it can be a mix of dry and oily = nightmare!). Boots Vitamin E cream has also been recommended to me – both these brands are relatively cheap (between £2 and £4.50 a tub), so well worth just trying them out!

Finding a good moisturiser can be like finding a needle in a haystack, but once you’ve found one that works with your skin, you will see instant results!

Acne can be a total pain in the bum. It can leave scars and generally look a bit, rubbish (I should know, I suffered with it in my teenage years.) If this is something that affects you, a trip to your GP, although embarrassing, can really be the answer to your prayers. Loads of different options will be offered; creams, tablets, and also the Pill, its just up to you to decide which to try and see what results you get from them. But give it a go! It can make a real difference to how you look at yourself each day!

Body

The bain of every woman’s life!!! There’s either a little too much of it, or too little of it. Bits that wobble and joggle, and bits that have just appeared from no where! I am not a fan of exercise, the only thing I am a fan of is my lovely man, and a good old Chinese – hence why this will be the biggest battle I will have to over-come in the lead up to my big day. But a good diet (not too many Chinese’s), drinking plenty of water, and maybe a bit of exercise thrown in (if you really want to push yourself), can have a considerable effect on your body over time. You may not loose loads of weight, but it might help to skim those chubby bits down.

But body preparation is not just about loosing weight! Its also about treating it! A twice weekly body scrub can have immediate effects but ridding you of dead skin, and buffing your body up, leaving it looking fresh! I swear by St Ives exfoliating body scrubs (the sugar scrub is also very good), and for me, there is no better, and more affordable brand. For around £4-6 a tub, which lasts 2-3months, this is pretty much a bargain buy!!!

Fake tan. This is actually another thing to add to my “fan-of” list. I am partial to a bit of colour (not orange I hasten to add!). A light fake tanning using products such as St Tropez(my favourite brand) will not only make you look a bit healthier, but also help to hide any lumpy or bumpy bits! Before your big day (and I’d also suggest a trial run a few weeks before), you need to expfoliate your whole body – perhaps 3 days before the big day. 2 days before, shave all areas that need shaving (!), and give your body a quick once over with the exfoliating scrub. Day before the big day, get tanning! This will allow any mistakes to be corrected, such as streaks, or allow you to top it up a little more!! If it all goes wrong, don’t worry! A warm bath and the good old exfoliating scrub will get it off!

Hand, feet and nails

Your big day is going to mean you showing off your hands a lot – everyone will be grabbing your hand to get a look at your sparkler!! So you will want your hands to be in tip top condition!

There are a couple of well known brands which do lovely conditioning creams such asNivea, along with shop’s own brands, but my personal favourite is Evelyn and Crabtree’s La Source – a freebie I got from a wedding magazine a few months back! It is light and silky, yet makes your hands feel like they’ve been totally pampered! It is a bit pricer than the more well known brands at around £13 a bottle, but a little goes a long way and so is pretty cost effective!

Its also nice to do your nails/have them done for your big day! There’ll be a lot of photos taken of your hands and ring, and so you don’t want to be, and if you do it yourself, pretty cheap! I love Boot’s No 7 varnishes which come in at around £6, and Nails Inc (Nails Inc is a bit more expensive showing off manky nail varnish! A simple light pink is simple but effective at around £10-15, but the bottles are big and the varnish itself is high quality and used in salons across the country).

Its also important to give your feet a treat! Make sure you go into your marriage with pretty tootsies! A quick scrub with a foot file and some moisturiser does wonders! Add in a lick of nail polish (especially if you are wearing peep toes shoes) finishes the preening off!