Self-Care Cosy Pamper Night In

In my house, pamper nights tend to fall on a Thursday evening. You might be thinking 'what a random, mid-week day to chose for a pamper evening' and yes I guess you're right. Most people would say it's more of a Friday night or a weekend job, but it became a Thursday for me ever since I started to fake-tan. I would tan on a Thursday so that I had the Friday to correct any mistakes before going out-out on the Saturday. Now I don't really go 'out-out' anymore, in fact at the moment due to the U.K being in lockdown I don't really go out at all, except to Asda on Saturday morning and even that is worth getting dolled up for these days. You never know who you might accidentally see in the veg aisle from a 2m social distance...

But even during the normal months, when the world is in full swing and you get home after a long day at work. When you walked from the train station and got caught by one of those 5-minute rain showers so now you're drenched head to toe. Sometimes you just need to hit refresh on yourself; put on a face mask, eat too much food and wash it down with a glass of wine, and that's ok!! Trust me, nobody here is judging you for drinking a bottle of wine on a Thursday night.

So here we are, it's Thursday, and to combat the loneliness we're all feeling at the moment I thought we could have a pamper night in together because sometimes you just need a friend.

Shower, scrub and exfoliate

Have a shower and spend as long as you want in there. Maybe stick your head out every 5 minutes or so to catch some fresh air because I'll tell you now the number of times I've spent too long in the shower, overheated and got light-headed is uncountable so someone please tell me I'm not the only one. Spend this time really looking after your skin; scrub off any old unwanted fake-tan, exfoliate and shave (if you're into that), cry, and maybe apply a hair mask if you're feeling super boujee. I don't have a bath so my only option is to shower but if you do, please make the most of it and throw a bath bomb and some oils in there too... and make a Santa beard from the bubbles. 

Get into your comfies

At some point, you're going to have to get out of the shower. So when you do and you've got your hair in a towel wrap and a towel dress on, get yourself fully moisturised to lay on your bed catching up on your phone for 10-15 minutes. I find scrolling through my news feed watching videos of dogs or reading the latest posts in my skincare and beauty Facebook groups to be quite relaxing.

15 minutes later... Ok, 30 minutes later you're going to want to actually put some clothes on so I would normally grab my favourite comfy PJ's and put my hair up. If you want to make your night extra cosy, change your bedding. Nothing says comfort like soft legs and fresh bedding.

Do your skincare routine

And if you don't have one? Make one! Skincare is so important and it doesn't have to be fancy or take 10 years to do. My usual skincare faves are the Kiehls Creamy Eye Treatment, Simple Facial Wash and Refreshing Toner but to be honest it's always switching up. I'm currently test running the Boots Glow range so look out for my thoughts and opinions on that soon.

Pick a movie or series to watch

We all know and love Netflix but sometimes you can find yourself stuck not knowing what to watch because you feel like you've seen it all. So here are some recommendations from yours truly that if you haven't watched, you need to watch.

Series: Gilmore Girls, Stranger Things, Dark, Gossip Girl, Hollywood, Dead to Me, American Horror Story, Black Mirror, The Haunting of Hill House, You, Locke and Key, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Gavin and Stacey, Peaky Blinders, Inside No9, Dirty John, Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, After Life, Love, Queer Eye, The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

Films: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Clueless, Two Weeks Notice, 50 First Dates, Eddie the Eagle, Sixteen Candles, Burlesque, Letters to Juliet, The Notebook, The Terminal, A Cinderella Story, When Harry Met Sally, Along Came Polly, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Scott Pilgrim VS The World, The Breakfast Club, The Theory of Everything, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Cook yourself dinner

I'm writing this whilst stirring my Cheese and Bacon Tortelloni so it's not like I'm whipping up a 3-course meal. Ordering take-out is great somtimes but it can often leave you feeling bloated which you don't want when you're trying to make yourself feel good. So go for something quick and easy, something you can eat whilst you get engrossed in watching one of the shows I just recommended. Something comforting like pasta. Mmm.

Paint your nails and do a face mask

The typical pamper night stuff. As cliche as it sounds, it honestly does make you feel a hell of a lot better! You could do your eyebrows too if you do them yourself. I tend to tweeze mine and use the Revolution Brown Tint because as a natural blonde they don't quite look right against my brown hair when they've grown out.

Freshen up your fake tan

Now if you're like me it's about time to fake tan. New week new me and all that. I know I wrote a post about fake tanning a while ago, but to be honest with you I've been using the Sunkissed Self Tan Mousse for a while now and I LOVE it. When you first put it on it's terrifying because you look so orange. I kept telling myself 'it's fine, it'll be fine' whilst almost breaking a sweat from fear of looking like an oompa-loompa but when you wash it off the next morning it's such a lovely natural looking deep colour and bonus it fades on its own so I hardly have to scrub any off the following Thursday!

Time for bed

Last but not least get an early night. Sleep is important and although it's easy to get distracted by your phone, try to put it down as early as you can so that you have time to unwind. I suffer from migraines so I try to limit my time looking at a screen (often fail) for a long time unless wearing my blue light glasses, and if I do spend too long on my phone, laptop or looking at a screen, it's near enough impossible for me to sleep that night because my brain is way too active still. Looking after yourself on the inside is just as important as the outside.

There, don't you feel better?

Whilst I'm here, follow www.instagram.com/amywithlove for mini blog posts during the week!

xA