Beautyholics Anonymous » Feet

Botanics of Australia Soothing Foot Rub – Minty Goodness For Your Feet

Tine — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Wouldn’t it be perfect if you have someone doing this to you after a long day at work?

Sigh. Wishful thinking.

Still, there is an alternative to having soothed, tired feet, and that comes in a tube of goodness from Botanics of Australia. But you’ll have to do it yourself

Description:
Uplift your senses and pamper your feet with this essential oil enriched rub. The native Peppermint cools and soothes tired and aching feet. It’s a beautiful cooling rub for your feet that improves circulation and leaves your feet feeling soft and refreshed.

The Foot Rub is a light translucent gel. It absorbs very quickly to the skin, which is something I really like. Many a time when I have foot cream on, especially on the heels, I’d be walking on tippity toes just so I don’t soil the carpet. With this fast-absorbing gel, I don’t have to worry about that at all.

It has a lovely peppermint cola scent, and when it’s rubbed on your skin, it feels deliciously tingly.

If you’re looking for something that would solve your cracked heel problems, then I’m afraid this gel is not for you. It’s not emollient enough to soften and heal dry and cracked heels.

However, if you’ve had a long day at work, especially if you tend to stand and/or walk a lot for your work, when you come home at the end of the day and want something utterly refreshing for your tired feet, then I’d highly recommend this.

Oh, and if you manage to get someone to rub this on your feet, props and bonus points to you too

Botanics of Australia Soothing Foot Rub is currently only available on FashionAddict.com.au, for AU$7.95 (150ml). Cheap as chips, I say.

What I like about this: Refreshes and soothes tired feet. Aces!

What I do not like about this: It’s only sold online.

Note: This product was provided for consideration. Now if they’d only provide someone to rub it on my feet as well, because the husband sure ain’t gonna do it.

Pedicure Woes

Tine — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:53:30 +0000

I love getting pedicures. It doesn’t matter to me if the nail colour selection is poor; if the removal of cracked heels is good, and the massage of the calves and feet is good, then the nail salon is a to-visit-again in my books.

A new nail salon opened near my apartment a few days ago, and since it was offering a 20% discount on all services, I thought I’d give it a go. Everything was brand-new, and more importantly, the place looked very clean. They had foot spas connected to luxurious massage chairs. They had OPI and China Glaze. I was sold. It didn’t matter to me that the nail people barely spoke English. I wanted it.

Everything was okay, I was enjoying a good massage from the chair and the mini jacuzzi at my feet, until the actual pedicure began. To my utter disappointment, instead of using only nail files on my dry heels, the pedicurist whipped out a corn plane and began shaving at my heels. For those of you who are not familiar with a corn plane, here it is:

I had a very bad experience with this when I was in Bangkok with Beetrice a few years ago. We had a pedicure at one of the better salons (better = at least not dodgy-looking like most of the others), and the pedicurist just went home with the corn plane on my heels. She was so vigourous with the corn plane, that she nicked my heel and it bled. I had to hobble the rest of the trip because the nick became a really bad sore. Needless to say, I avoid salons that use corn planes from then on.

So back to my story with yesterday’s pedicure.

To give the pedicurist some credit, I’m glad she didn’t go nuts with the corn plane on my heels. She held my foot up and shaved like she was peeling carrots. Next came the foot file. She didn’t do a good job with that one, and after the pedicure was over, I left the salon with rather peely heels

My point is: as much as you can, avoid the corn plane. If done wrongly, it can nick your skin. It’s worse if you don’t know if the salon sterilises their equipment properly. Go nuts with a foot file instead. In Malaysia, I frequent a nail salon called Nails Hansen in Penang, and they do a fantastic job with different foot files, which remove all the cracked bits. My feet always feel like a million bucks when I left that salon. Yesterday’s experience, they felt (and looked) like a buck twenty.

Second point is: talk to the pedicurist and let her know what you want/don’t want. I made the mistake of not telling her to not use the corn plane. She doesn’t speak much English at all (although at one point, with my jeans hiked up to my knees, she caught sight of my legs and asked me “Miss, you want wakshing?” [waxing]) but I should have at least indicated to her I did not want her to use the corn plane. Mum was right. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Now I’ve got to get back to fixing my heels. Sigh.

Beauty Tip of the Day: Cleaning Cracked Heels

Tine — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:44:51 +0000

If, like me, you suffer from dry and cracked heels, and you don’t wear bedroom slippers or shoes in your home, chances are you might probably end up with dirt in those cracks of the skin. You know what I’m talking about? It’s those grey lines on your heels, caused by trapped dirt.

If the skin is very dry and the cracks severe, you may not be able to remove the dirt with rubbing your heels with soap alone. As much elbow grease I used, there was only so much of dirt I could remove by rubbing soap frantically on the heels with my hands, hoping to get rid of the ugly grey lines.

This is where a foot file comes in handy.

What I’d do is this:
1. Wet the foot file when in the shower.
2. Squirt some shower cream on either side of the foot file (if the heels are very dirty, try using the rougher side of the file)
3. Rub the foot file (soaped side) on the cracked heels.

This way, you’d not only remove trapped dirt from the cracks in the heels, you’d also give them a good exfoliation. Just remember to slather some foot cream on those tootsies after you’re done. When exfoliated skin is not well-moisturised, it leaves room for it to peel.

This doesn’t just work for those with dry heels; if you have problems removing tough dirt from your heels (e.g. you’ve been walking barefoot on the road or something), try cleaning your feet with the foot file. Easy peasy.

This method works great for when my cracked heels get dirty, and I hope it works for you too.

Getting Rid of Cracked Heels the Cheap and Easy Way

Tine — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:13:00 +0000

Fancy getting rid of the hard callous skin on your heels, but not willing to pay for a pedicure? Well, I’m going to show you how it’s done, with cheapo but good products, which will guarantee good results (but you gotta be hardworking and stick to the regime, of course).

Now I had seriously UGLY heels. I’m talking about extremely cracked heels, till they’re bleeding, that kinda thing. I reckon I took after my dad, who has very dry, cracked heels as well. You know lah, women with dry, cracked heels can’t wear mules or sandals without the cracked heels exposed for all to see. I was always very embarrassed in trying on new shoes at the shoe shops if I’m not wearing long jeans, because I was afraid people might look at my ugly heels in disgust.

The problem with cracked heels is that it’s not only an indication that your heels are very dry, but when you walk barefoot, whether it’s at home, or even outside, the dirt tend to get trapped at the cracks, which makes it very difficult to remove. Trust me, it’s bad enough that the cracked heels look ugly (with the dry whitish dead skin); it’s even worse when it’s cracked AND grey with difficult-to-remove dirt.

If you’ve been to a nail salon for pedicures, you’ll know that the pedicurist always rub your skin raw till all the dry, dead skin is removed before they slather your legs and feet with cream and paint your toe nails. To be honest, I wasn’t really all that keen on the colouring of toe nails when having a pedicure; it’s the removing of the hard skin which I wanted. But then I realised, paying RM38 (Nail Hansen, Gurney Plaza) for a pedicure almost once a month just to remove the hard skin’s a bit expensive, when I can do it myself at home. Of course, it is a totally different thing when you’re there to splurge and indulge

After long and hard observation at what the pedicurist did to my feet, I realised that, hey, I could do that too, and thought I’d try it out at home (without the painting of nails). Lo and behold, in less than 20 minutes, I had smooth heels!

Enough already, get me some smooth heels now!

Okay, okay, let’s get started. First of all, you need a pumice. I do NOT recommend the pumice stones you see at drugstores; they are TOO hard, and more often than not, you end up over-scrubbing the heels till they’re practically bleeding. Try the softer ones, like the one they sell at Watson’s.

This is about RM8, if I’m not mistaken. It’s not as hard as the pumice stone, and it works wonders.

Before you start scrubbing the dead skin away with the pumice, wet the feet and legs. By the way, this is best done when you’re taking a bath or shower (‘cos you already wet anyway). Lather your feet with shower gel, making it nice and slippery. Next, and this is the fun part, scrub away! I recommend lathering the feet with shower gel first so that it’s easier for you to scrub at the stubborn hard skin, and also it’s less damaging to the skin. Scrub a little harder if the dead skin’s still a bit too stubborn to let go, but continue to keep lathering the feet with shower gel if they get rubbed off. Don’t forget the areas such as the balls of the feet, and the side of the big toes.

Once you’re satisfied that the hard skin’s been removed, wash the shower gel and skin residue off your feet. Next, it’s time to apply a scrub on your feet and legs. I use St Ives’ Invigorating Apricot Scrub (agak RM17 per tube) for this.

I know, I know, this is a scrub meant for the face, but honestly, I do NOT recommend this on the face, as I find it too harsh on the skin (there’s a Gentle version for the face which I have not tried though; anyone who has used this, do share your experience on whether it’s good or bad on your face). Use a dollop of the scrub (about the size of a 20sen coin) for each foot, and scrub away. Do not forget the legs, as they need the exfoliation too. Pay more attention to the heels, and the balls of the feet. Do not forget to scrub in between the toes either. Great way to remove trapped dirt. After you’re done, wash.

After your shower and skincare regime, it’s time to moisturise the feet. I’d recommend you use a proper foot cream for the heels, as they’re richer, and would work better than regular body lotion. There are a lot of foot creams out there, cheap ones, expensive ones. Do use what you’re comfortable with. There are medicated ones too, as offered by Scholl and Ellergy, which are good for very cracked heels (you know, the cracked-till-they-bleed kinda heels). I’m not keen on the smell though; it smells like medicated powder to me, which I’m not too fond of. Plus the smell stays on my hands and fingers after application, even after I’ve washed them. As for me, I use Ginvera’s Green Tea 2-in-1 Cracked Heel and Elbow cream (less than RM30 per tube; can’t really remember how much it costs though).

This cream’s not as rich as the other foot creams, but it works. Plus, it smells good, which is a huge plus in my book. Apply the cream generously on the soles of the feet, paying extra attention to the heels. Rub the cream in. Do it twice, as the cream’s not very rich. Rub the excess cream on the balls of the feet, and your elbows if you want.

Now comes the hard part, which I almost always forget. You have to use the cream on your feet (after you clean it, of course) EVERY DAY. Use the scrub on your feet once a week, and the pumice stone once a month. After a week, you’ll emerge with nice smooth legs, and better still, smooth heels. I’d recommend wearing bedroom slippers at home. It’s better for your feet to have as little contact with the hard floor as possible.

There ya go. Hope this tutorial helps those with callous heels. It certainly helped me BIG time. Plus, you can get all of these at Watson’s, so it’s quite a good deal. These items will last you for months. Cheaper than going for pedicures, right?

Now strap on your favourite mules or sandals, and flaunt your pretty (and smooth) heels!