It’s time for us to load up on salad, hit the gym and start taking care of our bodies. Clarins’ 5-step skin care regime is a perfect way to fight the wrinkles, banish cellulite and smooth dry skin – but, with many of us vowing to tighten the purse-strings this year, such luxury may no longer be affordable.

With budgets in mind, we’ve created a 5-step beauty regime designed to prepare your body for the bikini season, whilst helping you to save money.

Step 1 – Exfoliate

Rather than spending nearly £30 on a luxury exfoliating cream that runs out after a few squirts, we suggest you invest in an exfoliating brush. Exfoliating brushes are cheaper, they last longer and they can prove more effective at removing dead skin cells and improving circulation.

Try the Body Shop ‘Body Brush Round’ for a wallet-friendly £7

Step 2 – Moisturise

After having a good scrub with your exfoliating brush to remove all that dead skin, you’ll need to sooth the fresh skin with a rich, creamy moisturiser. Instead of spending £37 on a luxury brand, choose Dove Body Silk Cream. It comes in a sizeable, long-lasting tub, smells fantastic and leaves skin looking radiant and feeling soft.

You can buy Dove Body Silk Cream for a mere £3.59 at Chemist Direct.

Step 3 – Firm

With weight fluctuation, comes loose and damaged skin. Clarins knows the secret to youthful skin is firmness. No need to spend over £50 on a toning and firming cream, however, when Garnier offers a great alternative for less than £10. Garnier Ultralift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Day Cream promises to smooth even the deepest of wrinkles over a 7-day period.

You can buy Garnier Ultralift Ant-Wrinkle Cream at Tesco for £9.38

Step 4 – Contour

For problems with water retention, cellulite and stubborn curves, Clarins recommends contouring products. Nivea ‘Goodbye Cellulite Gel-Cream’ tackles dimples, smooths blemishes and offers a far cheaper alternative to luxury brands, without compromising on quality.

You can buy Nivea ‘Goodbye Cellulite Gel-Cream at Superdrug for £10.67

Step 5 – Hands

No matter how much you take care of the skin on your face, your hands will always give away signs of ageing. It is important to moisturise them regularly in order to prevent dry skin and wrinkles. Try Nivea ‘Hand Age Defying Q10 PLUS’ and save nearly £15. Although simple, this hand cream promises to smooth fine lines, guard against age-spots and moisturise dry skin – all for under £5.

You can buy Nivea ‘Hand Age Defying Q10 PLUS’ for £3.09 at Lloyd’s Pharmacy. 

As we all know, hair can be a touchy subject.

It is estimated that in a lifetime, a woman will spend almost £37,000 and 2 ½ years trying to make her locks look as luscious as Cheryl Cole’s or Jennifer Anistons’ (surely a wig?).

A bad hair-day can often mean a bad day in general for girls, although that’s no wonder if we’ve spent 2 ½ years frantically rubbing egg, mayonnaise, lemon and beer (all legitimate treatments!) into our scalps and our fringes still can’t follow the basic laws of gravity.

1/3 of women believe that hair is the most important aspect of physical appearance, and I am definitely one of them.

It came with some disappointment, then, when my hair suddenly began to snap off and fall out at a very alarming rate. This has resulted in a kind of static halo of frizz that, if caught in the wrong light, looks fairly terrifying.

I suspect this sudden change has something to do with using hair straighteners from the age of 12 and all throughout teen-hood, and perhaps thinking that bleaching my hair in the first year of University was a good idea.

Brittle hair is a very common occurrence in women who blow-dry, straighten, curl or colour on a regular basis. Unfortunately very few of us are blessed with naturally perfect hair, so a lot of these damaging regimes are pretty much unavoidable.

Luckily in my desperate search for a decent frizz-remedy, I have discovered something quite surprising.

I stumbled across Vo5 ‘give me moisture hot oil’ in the current ‘3 for 2’ sale in Boots. The product claims to seek out weak areas of each strand and once there, strengthen and reduce breakage. It also claims to remove 75% more chlorine than shampoo does. I have tried a lot of products with a lot of similar claims and still look like Garfunkel on a bad day, so I was rather skeptical.

The oil comes in a neat bottle with markers measuring 5 separate portions. You apply it before shampooing and leave it to work its magic for a maximum of 1 minute. (There are some fairly scary warning signs on the bottle advising you to keep the substance well away from your eyes and to never exceed the 1 minute waiting time, so I clamped my eyes shut adamantly throughout the duration, just in case.)

The results were truly astounding. My hair felt soft and sleek and well-nourished once I’d let it dry. Of course, I knew the frizz was still in there somewhere- it’s not miracle-grow- but it was definitely a lot less noticeable.

2 days on, and my hair still feels a lot healthier and less fly-away than it did. At about £4 a bottle, this is a very good buy and something I would recommend to anyone suffering from particularly unruly hair. It doesn’t quite give the Jennifer Aniston look, but I’m sure her hair is made of nylon anyway.

You can find more information about Vo5 ‘give me moisture hot oil’ at the Vo5 site.

Those who haven’t yet had the chance to dip their toe into the ‘fish pedicure’ waters will be pleased to know that high-street store Superdrug has just made the craze accessible to the masses.

This is no normal pedicure, forget an ethereal looking beauty therapist rubbing your feet to whale music because you’ll be plunging your feet into a tank full of Garra Rufa fish who thrive on sucking and nibbling away the dead skin cells on your tootsies.

Until now this treatment has only been available in specialist spa’s and salons, but Superdrug has now introduced a living spa and some fishy friends to their store on Kensingston High Street.

The Garra Rufa fish live in the treatment tank in clean water which is filtered and sterilized with UV light, and customers will now be able to visit the store for hand and foot treatments which will leave their skin feeling soft and exfoliated. After the fish spa a trained therapist will massage and moisturise your hands and feet which will help to prolong the treatment results.

The full treatment includes a 20 minute spa session, followed by a five minute massage for £20.

Anish Sabherwal, Superdrug business development manager comments: “We know that our customers want to experience the latest beauty services, but don’t want to pay Bond Street prices.

“Fish nibbling your feet may sound strange, but it’s a mainstream treatment in Japan and really does make a noticeable difference. In our mission to offer everyday accessible beauty on the high street we’re looking at all kinds of treatment, however strange, that our customers may like to try.”

If like us you would love to pick up a bargain but would rather be chilling on the couch as opposed to entering a death match over the last pair of size fives then behold…the internet sale.

Yup so online sale shopping is not without its down falls. If you’ve ever sat there for hours ‘adding to basket’ only to click ‘proceed to checkout’ where you are confronted with angry red, bold letters stating ‘one or more of your items are out of stock’, then we feel for you. But at least you didn’t travel all the way to town to find out there was nothing you liked (Silver lining and all that!).

So without further ado, here is a round up of our favourite online beauty sales and what they have to offer:

Feel Unique

The Feel Unique sale is offering up to 70% off some of our favourite beauty brands. We snapped up the cult Xen-Tan Dark Tanning Lotion (236ml) for £16.19 instead of £25.95! What’s more, worldwide postage and packaging is currently FREE!

Cheap Smells

Cheap Smells are offering various post Christmas seasonal offers. Our top pick has to be Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat for only £14.95 as part of their ’3 Day Winter Mega Deal’. Thats 38% off the retail price and again, postage and packaging is currently free.

Gorgeous Shop

The Gorgeous Shop winter sale is currently offering hundreds of beauty items for up to half price.

We love Korres Rice Proteins Serum – For Split Ends (15ml) which is now £9.80 knocked down from £14 and will help dehydrated hair back to its former glory.

HQ Hair

Despite the name of the site, Hq Hair offers a fantastic range of high end beauty products. The online store is currently offering 30% of everything when you enter the code ‘saletime’ at the checkout.

The environments harsh extremes can play havoc with our skin and cause a variety of unwelcome side effects from dehydration and sensitisation, through to extreme chapping and flaky patches. If this sounds all too familiar and you would like to invest in a skincare routine which is going to see you through winter then there are plenty of systems available. Clinique for instance, have recently introduced the ‘Comfort On Call Allergy Relief Cream (£35)’ to their range, which is designed for dry, sensitive and reactive skins with barrier restoratives and skin comforters to keep the skin healthy and nourished.

If you are concerned about spending a lot of money on products you haven’t used before then pop down to your nearest department store and have a chat with the skincare experts. They will almost always be happy to help you find products which suit your skin and will often give testers so you can try something out for a week or two to see if it is right for you.

We tried out a few products from the Dermalogica range, all of which are formulated to protect the skin against the winter environment:

Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask

Dermalogica’s Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask calms and sedates hypersensitive and environmentally stressed skin. A combination of vitamins A, C, E and F and ProVitamin B5 with mineral and nutrient rich botanical extracts of algae, allatonin, liquorice, comfrey and burdock soothe the skin and decrease sensitivity. It also evens out the skin tone for perfect make up application.

Dermalogica Barrier Repair

This is a unique anhydrous (waterless) moisturiser which melts gently into sensitised skin to soothe, repair and protect the skin from environmental aggressions. Formulated with Dermalogica’s anti-ozonate complex to shield skin from environmental stress, plus evening primrose oil and emollient silicones to strengthen the skin’s natural lipid barrier, helping to avoid future assault. Shea butter, vitamin c and bisabolol combat free radicals and moisture loss.

Dermalogica UltraCalming Cleanser for face and eyes

Extremely gentle cleansing gel cream which can either be rinsed or gently removed with cotton wool leaving no irritating residue for the most hypersensitive skin that cannot tolerate even water. The cleanser contains Dermalogica’s Anti-Ozonate Complex, a powerful anti-oxidant which helps fight skin damaging free radicals. Anti-Ozonate Complez protects the skin from ozone pollution, one of the strongest known oxidising agents. Calming botanicals such tree, green tea, liquorice, oat, marshmallow, raspberry, sage and red clover sedate irritating skin.

All Nighter is Urban Decays answer to the melting makeup face, whether that may be from over exerting yourself in a club, taking a stroll in a tropical rainstorm or just after a very…very… long day, that make up ain’t going anywhere as it will be firmly fixed to your face with this godsend.

The formula comes in a bottle with a spray pump and comes out in a light mist which will cover your face easily in just two pumps. This basically acts as a fixer for all of your immaculately applied makeup and will keep it looking perfect for 16 hours! YES 16 hours…really. This means you could even pop on your makeup before bed have a good nights sleep and wake up ready for work!

It is designed to be weightless so your face isn’t left with any dewy looking residue and has intelligent temperature control which keeps your make-up from melting when it is warm and humid or dehydrating when its cold and windy.

All Nighter is allergy tested, dermatologist tested, vegan, cruelty free and free of oil and parabens. £17 may seem like quite a high price point but for 118ml and as little as two spritz’s enough to get you through the day, a little goes a long way.

If you want your hair to look like you’ve just stepped of the catwalk then it’s definitely worth paying Hersheshons Blow Dry Bar a visit. This is a great way to transform your everyday hair into a dramatic evening look in just 30 minutes. Simply walk in (no appointment necessary), browse the eight fabulous styles on the menu and choose your favourite for the team of stylists to recreate.

The menu is ever changing but currently features 8 signature looks which you’ll have difficulty choosing between:

The Super Straight
Super sleek, poker straight hair for a sophisticated and sexy take on the modern goth. Inspired by fashion’s enduring style icons Carine Roitfeld and Jane Birkin.

The B-52
A tougher, up-to-the-minute interpretation of the classic Bardot. Forget the sex-kitten, this looser up-do adds a little boyish edge to any outfit.

The Marcel
Recreate the glamour of silver screen goddesses Rita Heyworth or Sophia Loren. These perfectly, polished waves pay tribute to the style legacy of French hairdresser Francois Marcel.

The Rick Rack Jack
Reworking an old school technique used to create frizz, this is a fresher version for anyone wanting to channel a retro, 1970s American vibe. A style that complements dressed up or down fashion.

The Classic
The references here are pure Upper East Side Manhattan. Sleek, polished and very groomed. For those who like their hair to scream ‘expensive’.

The Bardot
A lady-like elegance that pays homage to Hitchcock heroine, Tippy Hedren. Added height at the crown creates a retro glamour yet the look remains modern by ensuring the front and sides are kept flat.

The Wavy Gravy
A Hersheson classic which is undoubtedly the defining hair style of the Noughties. Touselled beach babe meets rock’n'roll. Kate and Sienna we salute you.

The Big and Brushed
Another look pushing the high-octane lifestyle. Similar to the ‘classic’ but with a bouncier, more fresher feel to hair that has a ton of movement.

You can ether visit the blow dry bar in the basement of Topshop’s Oxford street branch, or venture on over to the new and enormous Westfield centre in Shepard’s Bush.

All styles are priced at £22 and if you are concerned there is nothing on the menu to suit your style then note that the stylists are flexible and will taylor the chosen look to suit your style.

Visit the Hershesons website

Liz Earle have always produced natural and nourishing products which work miracles for the skin. Their new Superskin Concentrate is no exception. It is a blend of 100 pure plant oils, intended as a night time treatment to restore the skin.

The softening argan and rosehip oils help to hydrate dry, mature skin and the lavender and chamomile essential carry plus protective vitamin E to help to revive the skin.

In terms of consistency this product is far more like an oil than a serum so it initially might ward of those with oily or combination skin. However, it actually works magic on calming oily t-zones and can help even out uneven skin tones.

Use the concentrate a few nights a week instead of your normal night moisturiser to see the best results and for those of you who currently swear by Decleor Aromessence oils, this is definitely a must by to see how they compare!

You can purchase Superskin Concentrate for £36.50 ether directly from the website or from QVC. Also whilst you are there be sure to browse their other products, we especially love Superbalm which is a great alternative to Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Protective Cream, only it smells far more divine!

An eyelash solution intended as a prescription treatment for people who don’t have enough eyelashes could spell the end of mascara, reported The Daily Mail.

If you could say goodbye to messy mascara application and wake up with fuss free long thick and dark eyelashes would you?

Well this could all be possible if eyelash lengthening drug Lattisse receives its European drug license. The drug which was initially intended for people suffering from eye issues such as glaucoma has been found to increase length, thickness and darkness of lashes.

It is now being used as treatment for people suffering from hypotrichosis, which is the medical terminology for not having enough eyelashes, as well as being used by chemotherapy patients. Already having gained a drug a drug license The United States, it is also already being used by women as a cosmetic treatment.

Women who participate in the U.K trial will be given the £100 treatment for a six month period. The liquid drug is to be applied daily in a similar way to a mascara and can also be worn under your usual make up whilst waiting for their lashes to thicken.

Should Lattisse successfully achieve its European drug license we can all say a fond farewell to expensive and inconvenient eyelash extensions, false eyelashes and lashings of mascara, we live in hope!

Long dark eyelashes have long since been associated with femininity. Mascara and other beauty products make it possible to achieve this look but sometimes it all gets a bit too high maintenance. Mascara is tricky business and can take up a lot of time during your make-up routine only to end up giving you the spider lash effect.

JinnyLash is a semi permanent treatment that involves attaching between 30-100 synthetic lashes onto the natural eyelashes. The end result is natural looking, fuller, longer and beautiful lashes. With the correct care the lashes can last several weeks, until they naturally fall out.

The most important thing is that this JinnyLash doesn’t damage your natural lashes unlike some other extensions on the market and no mascara, eyelash tint or perming is needed because a natural looking C shaped curl means even those with short , straight or downward sloping lashes can achieve individual lashes that curl upwards.

Prices charged are at the technician’s discretion but the JinnyLash centre (based in various department stores around the U.K) charge £150 for a full set and £80 for a half set with a retouch price of £1 per lash.

JinnyLash recommend retouch treatments every two to three weeks but as the lashes are totally harmless and fall out with your natural lashes you can just go back when you don’t like the way they look anymore.

It does seem quite pricey but then think of the money you will be saving on mascara and think of the extra half an hour in bed you will get every morning. Also, Cheryl Cole swears by them and who can argue with that!