5 things to do before a Valentine’s dinner date

Lovers the world over have something to rejoice about this year for Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday i.e a weekend! This means you can spend the whole day with your Valentine (thereby avoiding the dinner crush) or it could mean whole day for primping for the hot dinner date.

Here are 5 things you can do to get ready for your Valentine dinner date:-

• Paint your nails in the morning - Nails always take time to dry so if you paint them in the morning, you have time to let them dry properly and if you make a mistake its less stressful to repair than if it was just an hour before your date.
• Do a mask in the day - take half an hour to yourself and slap on a tissue mask. It helps cool and calm your skin and aids in instant skin brightening. You can use a ready made tissue mask like the Garnier brightening mask or you can use a tissue mask soaked with moisturising lotion (toner). Careful that you do not use a toner that has too much alcohol. At the same time, you might want to try a coconut milk soak for your hair too.
• Scrub your body - Get into a hot shower and use a body scrub or loofah to exfoliate your skin of dull dead skin cells. You can easily make a scrub yourself using some coarse salt and honey or you can just use a store bought one like the Garnier body scrub or H20+ Milk Body Scrub. It’ll leave your skin feeling smooth and silky which is a delight to the sense of touch.
• Moisturise your body - Don’t forget to slap on the body lotion once you get out of the shower. Using lotion or cream on damp skin helps with absorption and keeps your skin feeling soft and tactile.
• Layer your perfumes – To help perfume last longer on your skin, layer it over a shower gel and body lotion of a similar scent. You will smell good all over, not just on your pulse points.

What you should NOT do before a hot date is:-

• Go for a facial - sometimes, your skin might react during a facial or during the extraction process. You should not put on makeup after a facial so its best you book your facial for another day.
• Squeeze your spots - if you have spots, don’t squeeze them! Not only before a date but at all – your skin might be inflamed and it doesn’t look good. Instead, if you have spots, try dabbing tea tree oil on them to reduce the swelling. Or use a concealer like Make Up For Ever Full Cover to cover the redness until you can get it treated.
• Try something new - If you have never tried using false eyelashes or green eyeshadow, now is NOT the time to experiment. You don’t want the false lash to fall out halfway through dinner or for your date to ask you why your eyelids have strange colours on them! Stick to what you know and the colours you know work for you and flatter you. Save the experimentation for another day.

I’ll be at home – no date for me – so I might treat myself to a bit of a home spa.

Feel free to share any more tips to get ready for a hot date, and enjoy your Valentine’s Day and the weekend ahead!

Stay beautiful,

Paris B