Anyone who knows me well will know my deep sense of hatred of exercising. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be active when it’s something that I’ve not been told I have to do. For example, I love being outdoors and going for long walks with my nan and setting the world to rights, however if I’m told I have to go running because it’ll make me fitter/thinner it automatically makes me think it’ll be painful! This is proving to be a slight problem with two 10km races, a 10 mile sponsored walk and a half marathon to complete before October. To try to make my exercising a little bit more fun, I’m taking advantage of working for a retail company that specialises in beauty products by testing some lovely things out. I may not be good at exercising, but I’m determined to look at least semi decent while I attempt it!

When running often, I always find it wise to invest in a good deodorant that’ll keep me dry and smelling good, no matter how far I run. The new Vichy 48hr Anti-Perspirant Spray is great because it’s so gentle but so effective. I may be inventing new shades of red every time I exercise but I certainly don’t smell bad, so I suppose that’s half the battle won!
Make up also comes off, I understand women who prefer to keep theirs on when they’re at the gym or going for run in the fresh air, but I just get too self conscious that it’ll be sliding down my face because of the perspiration and so choose to go it alone. With a lovely little price tag the Klorane Make Up Remover Wipes are my chosen wipes. Fast, effective, simple and gentle, it’s everything I want in a make up remover.

Before I go out running, I always make sure that if I’m running with a bit of flesh on display (I’m talking shorts and a t shirt) I will wear the appropriate SPF factor. The La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Invisible Nutritive Oil SPF50+ is one of my new favourite things because it is lovely to use. It’s lightweight, non-sticky and most importantly invisible! Because I’m very fair skinned I do have to wear SPF 50, especially with the amount of tattoo’s I have. I hate sun creams that leave a white residue and make me look even paler than I already am! With this product there’s none of that.

There isn’t much I use while I am actually running as that would be a tad strange so I push through the pain and look forward to pampering myself afterwards….

I start with having a nice hot shower and treating myself to the Roger & Gallet Bois d’Orange Fresh Shower Gel, a revitalising and uplifting scent that cleanses my skin gently.
A couple of times a week I’ll shampoo my hair with a more intense formula to remove the build up of styling products and any excess oil, one of my favourite for this is the Schwarzkopf Professional BC Bonacure Deep Cleansing Shampoo. It may sound like it’ll be quite aggressive but it isn’t, it’s surprisingly gentle and makes my hair feel amazing afterwards!

After a lovely relaxing shower I’ll finish off with treating my feet, I mean they are the things that have done most of the hard work, so why not try the Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Sea Foam Foot Soak, it’s the perfect way of finishing off a pampering session and it makes me feet feel really soft!

I’m definitely finding my running is getting easier (not by much though) and I always know that once the pain is over I can pamper myself to my hearts content, surely that’s what all the hard work is for?