Eczema - dare to bare

It's summer time. All you want to do is eat ice cream and wear that little summer dress that's been hibernating in your wardrobe all winter. 

But if you suffer from dry skin or ezcema, you might not be quite as summer-ready as you'd like.

Here are Bedtime Beauty's tips for making sure you can dare to bare this summer:

- cut your nails. This might not sound cute but neither is dry, scratched skin. If you find it hard not to scratch, or scratch in your sleep, make sure your nails are cut short. You can still paint them to keep them looking glam!

- don't use shower gel or soap. Just use water on the affected area. You will only upset your skin's balance if you lather on chemicals

- don't use cosmetic moisturisers with fragrances or alcohol. You might have a go-to moisturiser that you use on other parts of your body, but don't necessarily use it on your ezcema

- go back to basics. Sudocrem is an antiseptic healing cream commonly used for babies. It's gentle enough to use on your skin too!

- don't wear scratchy fabrics. These will just irritate your skin

Now go out, and enjoy the sunshine!

Lip salvation!

Trouble with chapped lips in the cold weather?

Keep a lip balm on your desk where you work - you'll find you're much more likely to reapply throughout the day if it's in sight!

Homemade face fix!

Need a simple face mask? Bedtime Beauty has trialled a very natural, homemade recipe for clearer skin. All you will need:

- one lemon
- honey

That's all folks! As always Bedtime Beauty has pre-tested this simple solution and can say that it produced visibly clearer skin immediately. Here's how to do it:

- slice up you lemon! (carefully)
- Bedtime beauty used one whole lemon and this created a more runny mixture. If you want more of a mask and less of a cleanser, use half a lemon.
- add four squirts of honey
- mix it up!
- pin ALL hair off your face
- apply mixture as cleanser/mask as you would normally do (for cleanser a circular motion is best)
- leave for a few minutes
- wash away! (make sure all the honey is gone!)
- check out results in the mirror

Bedtime Beauty also followed up with a normal everyday cleanser, and was amazed by how much more effective it was after using this mixture!

So go on! It's easy peasy lemon squeasy!

Bedtime Beauty Tip

Know that horrible feeling when you think you're all ready to go and then find that your nails aren't done? Yes? Then here's a handy tip...

If you are driving to wherever you're going, paint your nails right before you leave - be very careful not to smudge them!

In your car, put the air con/other on and direct the air onto your nails (put both hands on the wheel!) They'll dry in no time!

Bedtime Beauty Tip

Apply makeup/moisturisers with your fingers? It might seen like a quick fix but unless you wash your hands first, you could be rubbing bacteria into your skin. This can lead to infections and blemishes.

Make sure to wash your hands before applying any beauty products with your fingers - it will help them do their job without any nasty side effects!

No More Clumps!

Avoid ugly clumps of mascara in your eyelashes. Sometimes you can actually decrease the flutter of your eyelashes by overloading them with sticky, gloppy mascara. They get clumped together and loose their oomph factor - sad times.

You can overcome this problem following a few simple tips:

- When applying mascara, wiggle the brush gently but constantly from side to side, working your way up from the roots of the lashes right up to the tip. This will help separate them.

- You can add length and definition by applying a clear mascara (using the technique above) before allowing to dry and going over with a coloured one.

- Don't over apply mascara - especially if you have naturally long lashes.This can make them look like scary spider legs!

- Don't overload the brush - start off with whatever is on the brush when you take it out of the liquid and try to use only that. This will help prevent getting too much liquid on the lashes.

- After you're done applying mascara, use either a clean eyelash comb or eyebrow brush to wiggle through the lashes before they completely dry. This will help separate them.

And voila! Beautiful, clump-free lashes. Flutter away!

Bedtime Beauty Tip

Caught out by the sudden appearance of sunshine? Not enough time to get a spray tan, and don't want to risk a potentially streaky tan at home? Bedtime Beauty has a solution. Instant tan can be applied quickly and the best part it you can instantly (!) see how it will look. As it also washes off you can always start over again if things do go wrong. Rimmel currently make a matte effect, water-resistant instant tan which comes in light, medium and dark, which is easy to apply and quick to dry, which isn't too expensive either. So keep calm and get your tan on!