I’ve never been a bath kind of girl and even though last winter I started enjoying a relaxing bath now and again, I definitely prefer showers especially in summertime, which are a lot quicker but can be super relaxing as well. Needless to say that I’ve built quite the collection of in-shower products, but these are the ones I’m going to recently when I feel the need of a relaxing pampering shower experience…

Hair – I wasn’t a Lavera hair products fan at first but since I bought quite the stock at the beginning of the year, I’m inevitably using them on a daily basis in order to finish them. I have to admit I quite like the Basis Sensitive range (especially the scent), in particular the Lavera Basis Sensitive Mild Care Shampoo (£5.45) and the Lavera Basis Sensitive Hair Conditioner (£5.95) which create a great combo together. They have the same subtle almond-y scent, which is absolutely delicious and super relaxing, and whilst the shampoo really goes deep down and gently clean my oily scalp (even though I always feel I need a bit too much product to feel satisfied), the conditioner does a good job in lightly hydrate my hair without weighing it down – however I wouldn’t suggest it if you have hair prone to tangles. Something I’m applying between the two is the Argan Dew Restorative Hair Treatment*, of which I only have some little samples and which I’m only recently testing, but which has already left me pretty satisfied. It’s an Argan oil, Jojoba oil and Shea Butter based hair mask which aims to deeply hydrate, repair, protect and re-energize your hair in only 5 minutes. The scent is subtle but relaxing which makes this mask perfect for any pampering shower. I also apply the Argan Dew Miraculous Oil* on damp hair right after the shower, which should be lovely on dry hair, however having oily hair I’m not sure I’m a fan.

Body – As for my body I was all about the & Other Stories body wash however I finished my last one, so at the moment I’m enjoying the super inexpensive Petit Marseillais Gel Douche Lait de Vanille (£3.10) not because it aims to be something particularly good for your skin, but simply because I’m a vanilla lover and I adore the scent which makes every shower so relaxing and nice. I’m a scrubs lover and I just love testing new formulas even though I just the #1 fan of the & Other Stories offerings once again, but I’m enjoying the Soap & Glory Flake Away Body Scrub (£8) which has the classic Soap & Glory scent (nice) and it’s quite good at scrubbing away any dry skin, though I just can’t still say it’s equal to the & Other Stories offerings. When it comes to hydrate my body I’m the lazier girl and I just feel like all those in-shower body conditioner were thought for lazy girls like me. Not that I always remember to apply the Nivea In shower Body Moisturiser Dry (£3.56) but it’s nice to have a quicker in-shower option at your fingertips – this one you just apply it on your body and then rinse it off like a hair conditioner but for your body. I’m quite the fan of the concept and I’m quite keen about trying the Lush offerings but they maybe are a bit too expensive.

Face – When in the shower I like to wash and cleanse my face with a gel formula and I find when you’re having a hot shower it’s the best time to deeply clean those pores of yours. I’m loving the Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel (£12.31) which containing papaya extracts which are natural AHAs, not only deeply cleanses your skin, but lightly and gently exfoliates it too. It prepares my skin to a good after-shower face mask session, and recently I’m loving the Lush Cupcake Fresh Mask (£6.25) of which I’ve already talked recently here; this is a lovely multi-purposes face mask which is definitely amazing on skins on the oily side, but never leaves my skin dry or itchy, whilst creating a nice matte texture. It also contains some bigger grains which act like a scrub when you remove the mask after the 10 to 15 minutes are passed, making the whole experience even better. My skin always feels oh so soft after this quick but effective routine, it’s just the best Sunday pamper treat for your face.

What are you using in your shower recently?

Miel Café is growing pretty quickly recently and I’m so happy about my blog right now, I never felt so passionate about something like with this little space online, and being that I work on it and my little blog design business full time, I decided to open my sidebar to some sponsors.

Not that I think my blog will be the biggest in a few months, but recently I’m all about thinking about spamming and sponsoring your own blog and what it means to me, and I think it’s so important to have a chance to stand out even if you’re on a budget, have a little blog or business and can’t stand out by your own between the sea of blogs nowadays. I do appreciate when big or small blogs give you the chance to advertise and place a little banner of your blog in their sidebar to drive you some traffics, especially when they think about bloggers on a budget. I also love swaps and think it’s a great way to support other blogs you like while they are supporting yours.

Many and many blogs are opening their sidebars to some sponsors today, which with me is totally fine and I like to support them sometimes when I can especially blogs I really like. I don’t really want to make my blog a business anytime, don’t judge me, it’s just that I work on it practically 24/7 and I just like the idea of helping others while others are helping me. This is a pretty scary step actually, I’ve been thinking about opening my sidebar from a while now and finally decided to just do it hoping you can appreciate. So I created a few packages which you can find here or here, and which include three swaps, eight small and one large ads per month. Hopefully you can find something for you between them whether you’re looking for a free swap or a super affordable ad!

Here is a little summary of what I offer:
. Swaps – free little banner space at the bottom of the sidebar which still ensure visibility. Three places available per month, two displayed a time on rotation. This is completely FREE, all I ask for is my banner in your sidebar in return! I love swaps and I hope to find some good matches to my blog!
. Small – this is a super affordable ad space for blogs and business on a budget. Displayed in the middle of the sidebar eight a time with rotation for fairness, hopefully this will attract some of my readers which may will click on your banner. Coming at only ~ £4, I tried to make it the more affordable I could to help any blogger really!
. Large – coming at only ~ £11, I decided to offer also a large advertising spot, which will be accurately selected if there will be more options in order to fit with my blog. This will have a large ad space on top of every other banner and there will be only one available per month. This advertiser will have a dedicated q&a post and two #ff on Twitter per month – it’s the best and affordable way to increase your traffic!

I didn’t plan to grow my hair this spring but it was actually pretty long at the beginning of summer this year, which was ok with me until the hot weather hit us a few weeks ago and I just couldn’t stand it. I have thick oily hair which takes ages to dry and is also very heavy and the only positive side of having long hair I could find was being able to style it in a lot of different ways – but considering that I only place them in a ponytail or a bun, I had no excuses. Also I chop my hair quite often and I’m pretty used to shorter hair length which is totally fine with me, however I can’t remember the last time I chopped it this short.

As you can see and imagine I’ve chopped my hair recently, around 5 inches fell on the floor, but I was super ready to say them goodbye. I love how shorter hair looks, it is a lot more lightweight and fresh for summertime and my plain hair can actually look a bit more alive and messy without all the weight that made it so flat and not voluminous at all. Not that now it looks amazing on its own, but it’s a lot better and I can style it a lot more easily and it dries quicker too which is always a plus in summertime. But what is not an understatement is that I always chop it myself (with my mum’s precious help) and being that I have no big expectations and I just want my hair to have the same length all around, it’s pretty easy. The trick is to get some good hair scissors like these and forgetting about using some classic all purposes scissors which won’t give a precise cut, simply decide the lenght and cut the first piece, then follow the line you just cutted for the rest of your hair. I ask my mum to help with the back which is a bit more tricky, but for the rest is just as simple as that and I just prefer cutting my hair myself on a regular basis instead of talking to an hairdresser, which not only is too expensive, but sometimes won’t get what you really desire and I always end up being dissatisfied about something.

Are you thinking of chopping your hair for summertime?