Your at-home DIY beauty survival guide

You may not be able to visit your favourite beauty therapist at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you have to live without your must-have treatments.

Self-isolating has its advantages, including more time for beauty treatments that relax, rejuvenate and replenish.

Here’s our guide to DIY beauty treatments – and most use ingredients you probably already have at home.

Get glowing with this easy facial

  • Cleanse your face thoroughly before toning with witch hazel or rosewater to rebalance the skin.
  • Gently scrub over your face with this gentle, hydrating exfoliator:
    • Mix two tablespoons of almond meal with one tablespoon of Manuka honey.
    • Apply to your face in a small circular motion.
  • Remove the scrub with warm washers, which you’ve soaked in hot water and lavender oil, to refresh the skin.
  • Rinse the washer, lie down and place it over your face for several minutes to awaken skin and clean away impurities.
  • Apply a nourishing mask made up of one small ripe banana, one avocado, half a tablespoon of plain yoghurt and two drops of vitamin E oil.
  • Leave on for 15 minutes before washing off and applying a protective moisturiser.

Rehydrate flaky skin with this brown sugar body scrub

  • Mix one cup of brown sugar with a good quality cold-pressed oil (such as olive, almond or macadamia) into a paste, then add six drops of sweet orange essential oil.
  • Apply in the shower while skin is warm, using large circular movements towards the heart.
  • Rinse off to reveal super-soft, heavenly smelling skin.

DIY foot bath

Give your hands and feet some TLC with this mani-pedi

  • First remove any polish, file nails and apply cuticle remover.
  • Exfoliate away dead skin with a mixture of lemon juice and rock salt, then rinse with warm water.
  • While drying your hands and feet, use the towel to push back cuticles.
  • Soak your feet in a bowl of warm water to which you’ve added a few drops of peppermint oil – this has a cooling, stimulating effect.
  • Meanwhile, massage your hands and cuticles with warm olive oil.
  • Put your hands in plastic bags for five minutes to help the oil penetrate.
  • Remove your feet from the water and rub away any extra-dry skin with a pumice, before rinsing off and drying.
  • Massage in a rich hand cream – to which you can add a few drops of peppermint oil to get your circulation going – before putting on cotton socks.
  • Keep the socks on for at least 20 minutes for super-soft feet.
  • If you want to apply polish, first wipe over nails with polish remover so the new polish will adhere.

Get perfectly plucked eyebrows

  1. Apply baby teething gel to where you’re going to pluck, to numb the area and reduce pain.
  2. Start by removing the stray hairs between your eyes, underneath your brow bone, and near your temples.
  3. Tweeze a few hairs at a time, taking a step back every so often to gauge your progress.
  4. Begin with one eyebrow, and then move back and forth between the brows after every couple of plucks to ensure proper symmetry.
  5. Finish by wiping the area with a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel to clean the area and prevent ingrown hairs. To reduce redness, dab with an ice cube wrapped in a tissue and apply aloe vera gel.

home hair dye

Touch up tired hair with fool-proof home hair colouring

Modern multi-dimensional, gentle formulas mean you can DIY gorgeous salon colour at home.

  • Start out clean – if you have styling product or colour build-up, try this deep cleansing preparation a day before you colour: Mix one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with one tablespoon of anti-dandruff shampoo. Lather it into wet hair and leave for 10 minutes before rinsing.
  • When using permanent hair colour, or if you’re lightening hair, don’t apply heat. Instead, cover the hair or pile hair up on to your head.
  • If your hair is dry and porous on the ends, don’t apply colour to the ends until the last five to 10 minutes of the development time.
  • When touching up the regrowth of lightened hair, be sure to apply the colour with the tint brush provided. Apply to the regrowth first and wait until it has lightened to match the ends – then massage the colour through just for a few minutes to refresh the remainder of your hair.
  • Tone down brassy highlights the following day, by drenching freshly shampooed hair in whole milk or heavy cream for 10 minutes. The natural acids in milk and cream act to neutralise the colour.

Get hair-bare and reduce the ouch-factor with these waxing tips

  • Stop shaving two to three weeks before you wax.
  • Exfoliate before and after waxing to minimise and discourage ingrown hairs.
  • Minimise ingrown hairs by using hot wax rather than strip wax.
  • Once the wax is at a honey-like consistency, apply the wax in the direction of the hair growth.
  • Create a half circle at the end of your application for easy wax removal.
  • For thicker and coarse hair, usually in areas such as legs, arms and the bikini area, use thicker strips and apply a lot of pressure. For thinner hair on areas such as the eyebrows, cheeks and upper lip, use thinner strips.
  • To minimise the sting, take a deep breath and exhale as you pull fast. Then place a hand on the just-waxed skin to calm it.

More coronavirus lockdown tips and tricks

Written by Nikki Yazxhi.

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