Excuse this post, it is all going to sound a tad trite, but trust me as this is some of the best advice I can give you. It doesn’t include spending money in Space NK on fancy pants skincare, or heading down to Selfridges beauty hall for an eyebrow threading or a new mascara, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t involve spending any money at all really. Here is where I tell you how I genuinely looked and felt my best on my wedding, and how even now on my honeymoon I’m feeling better than ever.
Step 1 Water: Ok this is the boring step that I’ve talked about a lot. But the easiest way to say this is – swap every drink you have throughout the day for water. Your morning coffee? Water. Your afternoon cup of Earl Grey? Water. A glass of wine? Hell NO – water. You’ll drink more than you ever could by simply just forcing yourself. Green tea is the only other drink I consumed, and I also allowed myself a small almond milk latte every morning to help fill me up (more of that later). I consumed more water than ever in the 10 days prior to my wedding, and when I say my skin was glowing I mean it. No nasty grumpy little bumps on my forehead, no angry redness. Just pure plumpness.
Step 2 Say goodbye to sugar: This is the hard part, and believe me I tried everything but this, but this step is crucial if you want to look flawless quickly. No sugary drinks, no cakes, no biscuits, no salad dressings even unless I knew every last ingredient. The lack of sugar also made my skin less oily and I had no blemishes whatsoever.
Step 3 Extractions: One week before my wedding I had a 90 minute facial with my aesthetician Joanne Evans at SkinMatters at the Royal Garden Hotel. I saw her a total of about 5 or 6 times in the 10 months between my engagement and wedding, and each time she gave me the most amazing facial, complete with steaming and a full 30 minute of hardcore extractions. My skin always looks its best 5-8 days post facial. This is the only part of the system where a bit of moolah (£££) is required. Trust me. It’s worth it.
Step 4 Make Wheat Your Enemy: It’s sad but it’s true. Along with sugar, wheat is the next worst thing for your skin if you are blemish prone. It doesn’t necessarily cause breakouts, but it does exacerbate and make them worse. Breakfasts were egg whites, salmon (and that coffee I mentioned earlier – sweetened with agave syrup btw), lunches – a salad, snacks – some gluten dairy and sugar free brownies from the Good Life Eatery or some seeds, dinner some chicken and french fries. French fries you say? Well actually yes, as far as carbs go they actually have the least amount of wheat in them. Failing that, rice noodles or rice anything is an excellent wheat free carb choice that I loaded up on to fill up.
Step 5 Smile: Happiness is what truly makes you glow, and that’s ultimately what I put down looking and feeling my best to. I took deep breaths every day to alleviate stress. I did wake up this time last week on my wedding day with one blemish that was slightly red (almost 100% down to lack of sleep and stress) but I felt so happy, the rest of my skin was glowing that I genuinely didn’t care. I also had a fab makeup artist 😉
Following those 5 steps left me with a super flat tummy, glowing skin, loads of energy and confident that I’d done my best to allow myself to look and feel awesome both inside and out on my big weekend!
UPDATE – Now on my honeymoon, I am of course indulging, but the week of hard work before has meant that my skin is still happy and things are good. I’d recommend taking the above steps (especially the no sugar and wheat ones) one and a half to two weeks out of every month. Above photo taken approx 2 minutes ago. No makeup.