Magic's in the Make Up: How To Beat the Mid Week Blues

I am a long term sufferer of the mid-week blues; with the previous weekend a distant memory and the coming weekend two days away, I can't help but feel a little 'blah'. However, over the last couple of months I've followed the same mid-week evening routine to help ease me into the second half of the working week.

Candles

Lighting a candle is one of my favourite ways to unwind and really sets the tone for the evening. My favourite of the moment is Sanctuary Spa's 'Daydream' candle from their Sleep range. You may remember I blogged about the Sanctuary 'Sleep 4 in 1 Restoring Body Elixir'. I loved the scent so much I purchased the candle to match - I think I've now repurchased this about four times! Similar to the body elixir, the 'daydream' candle reminds me a lot of Tom Ford's 'Black Orchid'. The scent throw is fantastic with the essential oils of ylang ylang, frankincense and patchouli. For the quality, it's an affordable option priced at £12.50.

Skincare

One of the first things I do when feeling a little blue is pin my hair back and take off my make up. There's much to be said about the power of a clean face! I remove my make up using Emma Hardie's 'Moringa Cleansing Balm', followed by cleansing with my Clarisonic. REN's 'Hydra-Calm Cleansing Milk' is the perfect accompaniment to my Clarisonic; it's quite thick in consistency and extremely gentle on the skin. A face mask is always a good way to feel pampered and one of my favourites is still REN's 'Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask'. I follow this up with my Origins 'GinZing' moisturiser, No 7's 'Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm' and the Nuxe 'Reve de Miel' lip balm. You can read a more in-depth post about my favourite skin care here.

Bath Time

Soaking in a hot bath is probably one of the easiest ways to help wind down mid-week. I've become guilty of sneaking out to Lush at Wednesday lunchtimes to pick a new bath treat. One of my newest discoveries is 'Ceridwen's Cauldron' luxury bath melt. You put the whole melt in the bath, muslin bag and all. The cocoa butter, oats and beautiful selection of essential oils (walnut, tangerine, lavender, sandalwood, frankincense,) melt into the water creating quite a milky, moisturising bath. You are left with a bag of oats to use as a wash cloth. The scent is absolutely divine and leaves my skin feeling out of this world!

While soaking in the bath, I love to use a hair mask. My favourite of the moment is Charles Worthington's 'Moisture Seal Intense Melting Balm'. This is my second pot of the balm; I melt the balm between my fingers, transforming it into an amazing smelling oil before applying it through the length of hair. I normally leave the balm in for around twenty minutes. Once washed out, my hair is left silky soft, nourished and unbelievably shiny!

Clinique's 'Deep Comfort Body Butter' is one of the first body butters that I actually enjoy to use. It melts into the skin well, doesn't leave a greasy residue and is unscented, perfect to use after a perfumed Lush bath!

Nails

A sure fire way of instantly perking me up is to paint my nails a bright colour. Sinful Colors do an amazing range of brights at such an affordable price (£1.99!). If I'm really feeling the mid-week slump, I always turn to glitter! One of my new favourites is the chunky love heart glitter in the bottom left hand corner from Urban Outfitters!

Watch/Read/Listen

After I'm all pampered out, I like to coory in my pj's and either read a good book or watch a film. I've recently just finished 'Stoner' by John Williams and Philip Pullman's retelling of Grimm's Fairy Tells and highly recommend them both. I also love to download magazines on my iPad; I've got this months Allure ready to go! While reading, I often listen to music. One of my favourite mixes is the one featured above: Homefriends by Ross One and Harley Viera-Newton. Seriously, go and download this from Soundcloud (it's free!), it's perfect night in music! Of course, it wouldn't be Magic's in the Make Up without some Disney...an hour and a half of perfect escapism!

I would love to hear how you beat the mid-week blues!

Love Nic