There was a howling northerly interrupting the pleasantness of my morning beach walk yesterday morning.
I was a little bit annoyed but quickly reminded myself that it’s these winds which signal the real start of spring around here.
Then I got annoyed again.
Dammit.
My legs.
Yes, those two body parts that have had a mostly cosy few months (except for a brief US summer interlude) hanging out under jeans, leggings and tights will have to outed.
And you know what that means, don’t you?
I will have to make up the TLC winter deficit with some urgent spring loving.
This is the situation I’m faced (or legged) with:
1. There’s the small matter of de-forestation that needs to occur. As you know I’m a lazy-girl beauty devotee. Why would I spend valuable shower time shaving my legs when they’re going to be covered up? Why? (Umm, hope Mr SY is not reading this. His on opinion on why may vary quite dramatically from mine).
2. And then, of course, we have the scaling issue. If you looked at my legs at the beginning of September you would swear I was descended from a fish. A particularly ugly looking groper type fish. No offence to gropers. Gropers need scales to get about their daily business. Me, please refer to lazy-girl beauty statement above.
3. Let’s not forget the neon colour of said legs at their September reveal. And I’m not talking of the on-trend chartreuse neon I’m coveting in my current wardrobe. No, I’m talking of a neon fluoro colour similar to the tube light you switch on in your kitchen or garage. Yep, blinding.
Now, much as the ultimate lazy-girl approach to the big leg reveal would be to leave them completely covered all year round, unfortunately, living where I do puts a big, sweaty stop to that.
Let’s take a look at how to love your legs this spring, shall we?
1. Crack open a new razor. I’m terribly guilty of continuing to use a razor waaayyy past its throw-out date. My new razor of choice: Gillette Venus & Olay* (pictured above, $14.99; replacement cartridges $19.99 for three). I know some of you out there don’t love the razors with the moisture bars attached. Me? I LOVE them. They speak to my inner lazy-girl because I can skip the shaving cream bit. So, in this one the moisture bit uses the same key skincare stuff that is found in Olay products. You just need to wet the blade (or drop it in the bath like I did) and off you go. It’s not the first Gillette Venus I’ve owned. For me, they’re worth the few extra dollars for the smooth finish that the five blades and pivoting head deliver.
2. Get scrubbing. In the nicest possible way. This means having an exfoliator that I can easily grab and use in the shower. No time for phoofing (umm, please do not Google this world, that’s not what I’m talking about) around. I just need it to do the job quickly. Here are two that work a treat - the Pevonia silky skin body scrup is luxe in a bottle at $75 a pop and the Burt’s Bees honey and shea sugar scrub ($29.95) that seems good enough to eat. And the unusual pink device also pictured? I’ve just started using it too. I’m not sure the Le Edge ($39.95) is my thing … a bit scrapey on the skin but I’m going to persist and see how it goes, especially once I start getting the odd salon spray tan or two.
3. Slap on some moisturiser. Firstly give them a further helping hand in the shower by using something lovely and gentle before the scrub (your legs may go into post-winter shock but that’s ok, they’ll get over themselves). I’m seriously loving the Karma Company goats milk soaps ($6 each) and the whole family has got on board with the Johnson’s Body Care Natural Glow Body Wash ($9.99) pictured front and centre below. Post shower, I’ll reach for either the eco store body extra moisturising body lotion ($13.99) or Aveeno skin relief moisturising lotion ($12.99). Both are supermarket buys so easy to slather on and re-stock as required.
4. Start using a self-tanner or gradual tanner. Mostly I’ll just apply these to my legs because I’m lazy-girl like that and if a special occasion outfit really calls for a touch of colour or more bits of my body, I’ll book in for a salon spray tan. Where I go they get the colour just right for me, ie non-orange and just a light glow so doesn’t look ridiculously out of place on my normally sun-protected skin.
That’s it … not too much effort at all, really.
Makes you wonder why I wait until September, doesn’t it?
What’s your leg prep routine for spring look like?
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Self-tan guinea pigs needed
The first 5 have responded – thanks everyone!
Ok, listen up fellow neon-legged Stylers … I’ve got five different self-tanners that I need help with trialling. Who’s up for doing a little application trail and emailing me a few sentences about the result? If that’s you, then be one of the first five to email me this morning with your postal address details and I’ll get the product out to you early next week.
Disclosure: the above product were sent to me for trial and editorial consideration in accordance with my disclosure policy. *Re the Gillette razor, Proctor & Gamble, makers of the Gillette Venus & Olay razor, hosted me at Ocean’s Resort Mooloolaba last weekend to trial a number of their new product releases. I was not paid to write this post.
