Beauty is a Beast.

In my case, apparently, this particular beast.  According to my ex anyway, who used to call me Captain Caveman on a regular basis.  By "regular" I mean about every six weeks, or two weeks after the date on which I should have got my legs waxed....  And if I'm honest, B agrees...

The thing is, I'm not very good at beauty.  I never have been.  I don't get my legs waxed often enough, I don't own any make up that wasn't a freebie (I keep trying to rectify that but I go into spasms of panic at make up counters and walk away empty-handed), I've given up wearing my lenses because I can't be bothered any more and I've still got polish on my toes that was put on in September.  (I worked that one out the other day, was disgusted at myself and then realised that I don't have any nail polish remover either).

I used to have a beauty routine. It went like this:

Every evening, I would:
Clean my teeth and get into bed.

I've enhanced this recently, since I looked at some pictures of myself and was horrified at how old I looked. So now I:
Clean my teeth, wash my face, put anti-wrinkle cream on and get into bed.

It's not great though is it?  Admittedly a lot of this is laziness (have caught my man and no longer need to make an effort, or something) and exhaustion (can't spare an additional five minutes of couldbeinbed time), because I definitely was better when I was single:  I used to stay in on Sunday evenings and pamper myself properly, but that went by the wayside a long time ago.

Either way, when the people at Aveeno wrote and asked if I wanted to try some of their products, my thoughts went something like this:

1. Why do I get moisturiser when other people get Green and Blacks?  I definitely have opinions on chocolate.
2. Oh, help! A sponsored post! Do I do sponsored posts? How do I do a sponsored post?  Will people hate me if I do sponsored posts? 
3. Moisturiser?  What's that....?

So it was in a tryanythingonce sort of a way that I said I would be delighted, and I have been diligently trying their products for the last month (they've probably given up waiting for me to write anything it's taken so long, but I don't really feel you can try a moisturiser once and say whether you like it or not (unlike chocolate - Green and Blacks take note)).

Now for the sponsored bit - please tell me if I've got the etiqutte of this all wrong. It's my first time. Be gentle with me.

They sent me three products.  First off I got Creamy Moisturising Oil and Hand Cream, and then later on they sent me the Daily Moisturiser.  Now the thing is that I started off using the Moisturising Oil and then they said "oh, you must have the Daily Moisturiser too, it's an essential part of the routine" or something like that, so I said I'd be delighted, got it, and then realised that I couldn't work out why I had two different products that essentially do the same thing.  They do, don't they?  And in trying them, I've discovered that to the untrained leg (I've been using them on my legs) yes, they do exactly the same thing.

And that is, well, you guessed it, what it says on the tin (aka somewhat underwhelming plastic packaging).  But they do it well.  My (overdue for a waxing) legs are smooth and moisturised, and still not presentable in public, but that's not their fault.

As for the hand cream, well, I was impressed.  It claims to last for 24 hours even through handwashing.  And probably it does if you're only washing your hands every time you go to the loo. I however, am washing my hands every time four people go to the loo. Not to mention doing about five lots of washing up a day (we don't have enough plastic plates to put them in the dishwasher), and, sorry Aveeno, it doesn't last through that much handwashing.  But it is good.  My hands always used to look unloved. Mostly because they are.  They are red and dry and cracked and sometimes quite sore. Or they were. Now they're still not very pretty, but if you close your eyes and stroke them, they feel lovely.

Now all I have to do is remember to use it.

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Picture Credits:
Captain Caveman picture from Crossfiteastbay.com, but presumably copyright Hanna Barbera.
And Aveeno picture from Aveeno. Funnily enough.