Beauty Sleep

We all know that in order to look & feel our best we need on average 8 hours of sleep each night. But how many of us actually get that amount? Personally I tend to get about 6 hours because I often stay up past 1am reading my Kindle, browsing blogs or catching up on my favourite American TV shows. Its a bad habit I need to break because it leaves me feeling completely knackered the next day. Not only that but I look tired too & it takes an industrial amount of concealer to hide my dark circles. There are however several beauty products that work overnight to stop you from looking quite so awful. Heres a few of my favourite night time treats for teeth, skin & hair.

Pearl Drops Beauty Sleep
In the past I've used Crest White Strips to whiten my teeth with great success but I have heard some horror stories about the long term effects they've had on some people's gums. Beauty Sleep is a new serum for teeth that claims to gently whiten your teeth whilst also strengthening them & nourishing your gums. You just rub some onto your teeth using your finger after brushing. Its very very minty tasting & definitely leaves my smile looking brighter. I had a scale & polish the other day and my hygienist did comment on how healthy my teeth & gums were. This is something you'd have to use for a long time to see proper results but anything cheap that can whiten your teeth safely without the use of harsh chemicals is a must in my bathroom cabinet.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
I've tried quite a few facial serums now but the one I've seen the best results by far from has to be the classic Advanced Night Repair by Estee Lauder. Just a few drops of this golden liquid turns any basic moisturiser into a luxurious night cream that instantly makes your skin feel beautifully soft. Over time it makes your skin look brighter and reduces the appearance of fine lines as well as blemishes. It may seem pricey but it does last a long time as you only need to use a little bit.

Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask
If my skin is in desperate need of a moisture hit I often reach for this super hydrating mask. Its so thick yet it sinks right into the skin and works overnight to plump up your face. It doesn't make a mess on your pillow even though it doesn't really set like you'd think a mask would. This is another product you need to use a few times before seeing great results but your skin will definitely thank you for it. A special trick is to layer this up with some Hydraluron, goodbye dry & dehydrated Winter skin!

Alpha-H Liquid Gold
If I'm having a bad skin day I know I can always rely on this little bottle of magic to sort me out. I've waxed lyrical about this product but nothing makes my skin look quite so amazing. Liquid Gold is a mixture of 5% glycolic acid, licorice extract & silk proteins which have the power to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, hyper-pigmentation, sun damage, acne, scarring and breakouts. Its worked wonders on the bumps under my skin and keeps my blemishes under control. Every time I use it (probably once a week now) I wake up with brighter, tighter, clearer looking skin. This is a chemical exfoliant which may sound scary but using chemicals is far less abrasive than traditional exfoliants, reducing the risk of broken capillaries on your face. If I'd discovered this sooner I probably wouldn't have purchased a Clarisonic.

Redken Real Control Overnight Treat
This thick white cream transforms your hair overnight so you wake up with gorgeous silky ends. It makes your hair feel so soft in the morning and stops it from looking frizzy & damaged. Other overnight hair products can feel too greasy or make a complete mess of your bed sheets. This stuff stays in your hair and just feels nice when you brush it out in the morning. You can even use it as a pre-shampoo treatment by using it at night then washing your hair in the morning.

What are your overnight essentials?

Redken Real Control Overnight Treat

Nighttime is the perfect opportunity to feed your skin with everything its in need of. So what about your hair? Some people do hair masks or cover their hair in coconut oil but both of these options can be messy and frankly, too much effort. Something I've recently added to my nighttime pampering routine is Redken's Overnight Treat. This is another bargain I picked up in TK Maxx as it was reduced from it's RRP of £27.50 to £12.99. I've always been a fan of Redken products, especially their Blonde Glam & Extreme ranges, so I figured it'd be good to try it out.

Overnight Treat is a thick white cream that aims to renew and repair severely damaged hair while you sleep. I simply apply one pump of product to the ends of my hair, rubbing it in to all the strands, and when I wake up my hair feels really soft and looks less frizzy & damaged. When you first apply the cream it will make your hair look and feel a bit clumpy as it dries but that totally disappears by morning and you're left with lovely looking & feeling hair. It doesn't make your hair feel greasy at all and doesn't make a mess on your pillow. I just brush it out in the morning but you can wash it out and it will still help your hair. You can also apply it to damp hair but I can't stand sleeping with wet hair so I just use it when my hair is dry. As a bleach blonde, my hair needs all the help it can get. If I apply hair oils during the day I find that the ends of my hair can look greasy and overloaded with product. I now stick to just using oils when my hair is wet and use Overnight Treat to make my hair look nice when I wake up. I really like this product and its made such a difference to my dry, desperately in need of a cut, ends. Its definitely one to check out if you have dry or damaged hair.