SUMMER READY LEGS

Summer Ready legs
Summer ready legs. A phrase that manages to strike the "oh f**k god, my legs look like a pasty, scaly, snakeskin-like mess" feels into me, whilst simultaneously making me laugh out loud - literally LOL - because if we're being totally real here, I'm not sure I ever feel like my legs/body/face/entire being are "Summer ready".

I do however have some tips, tricks (which are probably common sense but just roll with me on this one, yeah? Cool, thanks guys...) and products to make your legs more summer ready, anyway. Oh, and by the way, huge disclaimer - when I say "Summer ready legs", I'm talking getting your skin into tip top condition, not shapes or sizes so screw you Protein World So, after some glowing, radiant, even toned and silky soft skin? Read on...

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.... (Jesus christ, you know you need to step away from the computer when you're quoting the sound of music in a blog post).

Exfoliate...
Origins Clear improvement scrub
Origins Clear improvement scrub
Origins Clear improvement scrub
Origins Clear Improvement detoxifying charcoal body scrub* (not released yet - sorry! - but will be soon) - I received this gorgeous product when I was invited along to the Origins/John Lewis event a few weeks backs and I have been loving this little pretty ever since. Firstly, the scrub itself is the perfect mixture of being abrasive enough to scrub away those scaly patches (Oh, it's just me that looks like a Basilisk all year round then? Awkward... p.s #HarryPotterFangirlForever) without taking half of your skin off like some scrubs do. It does contain oils which means that it's amazing for leaving your skin silky smooth, however if you're about to fake tan shortly after, you'll need to make sure any excess oil is washed off. It has a really unusual, slightly masculine peppery scent which I personally really like, but it might not be for everyone. Overall it is a truly gorgeous product and I apologise for being such a cock tease because it isn't actually released yet, but it will be soon, so keep and eye out on the website!

Moisturise...
Soap and glory the daily smooth
Soap and glory body butter
Soap and glory body butter
Soap and Glory, The Daily Smooth - I am a very lazy body moisturiser kinda' girl. I want to be able to slap it on, for it to absorb quickly, wack my clothes on and be out of the door in minutes. My top pick to meet my "lazy bi*ch girl standards" is Soap and Glory's The daily smooth body butter. This is perfect as it absorbs well, it leaves your skin silky smooth and really evens out the texture without making you feel all sticky and uncomfortable. It also has a very slight shimmer in it meaning that it's amazing in the summer for making your legs look all toned and honed (without stepping foot in the gym. #winning). Perfect pre and post tan as it doesn't irritate the colour and obviously keeps those limbs scaly skin-free, whilst also nourishing the skin and prolonging the colour afterwards.

Tan...
Cocoa brown tan gentle bronze
Cocoa brown tan gentle bronze
Cocoa brown tan gentle bronze
Cocoa Brown Tan, Gentle Bronze - You only have to look around at the unlimited pale skinned beauties to know that a tan definitely isn't essential to "looking amazing" but for me... I just prefer to be a little bronzed as my natural skin tone is duller than dishwater - Sexy Elle, sexy... - in summer after months of being wrapped up in multiple layers. I mentioned in my previous Spring essentials post that sunbeds and too much sun bathing are not for me, so fake is the way forward (a sentence I never imagined I'd utter...) I also mentioned - i.e totally fan girled over - the Cocoa Bronze tan Gentle bronze gradual tanner. In a bid to not sound repetitive - and bore you in the process - I've linked to that post above but in short; Gentle Bronze is so quickly absorbed, despite the fact that it's extremely moisturising. It develops a very natural glow that can be built up daily to produce a stunning, golden bronze, even colour. The photo's below show my legs before tan - i.e "Yo Elle, Casper called, he wants his legs back" - and after using Gentle Bronze 3 nights in a row... pretty lovely, right? My next stop is to try their 1 hour tan mousse and the scrub... basically all the Cocoa Brown tan products in the world please and thank you ;)
cocoa brown tan gentle bronze
The Extra Somethin' Somethin'
Bourjois gold bronzing powder
Bourjois gold bronzing powder
Bourjois gold bronzing powder
Bourjois Delice de poudre gold bronzing powder - Now, I make no bones about the fact that I am an absolute boring bitch home bird and would much rather spend my evenings in bed, watching netflix with all the pizza I can muster (which is a lot FYI, I am pretty much synonymous for being a total pig). However, on the extremely rare occasions that I do go out, or have an event which means getting my limbs out - f**k my life - then I like to add a little somethin' somethin' to my scrub, moisturise, tan routine and I do that in the form of the Bourjois Delice gold bronzing powder. I received this last summer at the Bourjois Summer event and whilst I'm not a fan of using it as a bronzer on my face, it is the perfect highlight/golden bronze glow to add down the front of the legs, to your décolletage, arms... basically any high points/places on show to add that bit of a sheeny, sexy glow.

The workout...
Yoga with adriene
An additional extra and not something that I ever thought would be included on this blog. Exercise... Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of exercise. In fact, I bloody hate it. To the point of actually not doing it at all until very recently (when I decided that I no longer wanted to be a sloth and really wanted to look like Tasha Oakley). Over the last couple of months, I have eased myself into some exercise with the help of Yoga with Adriene - who is ridiculously amazing and makes yoga a joy - and the odd Blogilates video - who is also amazing but actually kicks my arse - and I've actually started to enjoy it a little bit. I can't say I've noticed a difference in my legs/body but that's not why I've been doing it. I just feel better in myself, it's much more of a mental thing than physical thing... but that's surely what feeling good in summer is about right? (No? You think I'm talking bull you say? Well, let's just humour me on this one anyway shall we...)

So that brings my "summer ready legs" post to an end. I hope this post was useful and you discovered some new products/tips and tricks, and if you never... I hope you appreciated my "Oh f**k crap, I very nearly exposed my crotch" shots anyway. ;)

I would love to know what your Summer ready products/tips are? What items would you recommend for feeling more confident when it comes to baring those limbs in Summer? I would love to hear your thoughts!

As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this post!

xx

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