At Home Pedicure

After spending a couple of days in the country in the middle of a Melbourne heat wave I looked down at my feet and cringed.  The skin on my feet and heels was looking very dry, my toenails were out of shape, the cuticles were also dry and in obvious need of a good tending to.

The only thing to do was to give myself a "homemade" pedicure using JOLI Natural Skin Care products - and a couple of other non-JOLI (not so natural... oops) products.

Home pedicure with JOLI Natural Skin Care

What you'll need is:

• a bucket large enough to house your feet comfortably
• bath salts - I choose JOLI's Unwind Bath Salts
• a pumice / scrubbing brush
• cuticle remover - you can search the Skin Deep database to look for a low rating cuticle cream
• a nail file - comes in the Manicure Pamper Pack
• a cuticle stick - comes in the Manicure Pamper Pack
• nail polish remover and cotton pad
• Enliven Facial & Body Scrub
• nail polish colour of your choice
• a bath towel
• two tissues rolled into a sausage shape or a couple of toe dividers

Trim and file toe nails before you begin.

Fill the bucket up with warm to moderately hot water and add a tablespoon of salts.  Find a spot that is comfortable and relaxing.  This could be in front of the TV, on an outside swing chair, in your favourite recliner while listening to music.  Spread the bath towel out on the floor and place the bucket on top.

Soak you feet in the water for 10minutes, until you start to see a prominent whitish greyish layer of skin on your feet - primarily the heels, pads and around the toes.  Use the pumice stone to scrub away this dead skin until it's all gone.  Repeat, soaking your feet and using the pumice if necessary.

Remove feet from the water and apply a dab of cuticle remover cream to each toe (cuticle area).  Rub in slightly and allow to sit for a couple of minutes.

Using the flat part of your cuticle stick push your cuticles up towards the skin and gently scrap and remove the cuticles with the flat edge of the stick.  After applying the cream your cuticles should come away nicely and cleanly, as the cuticle cream gently dissolves the excess skin.  NEVER cut your cuticles - this makes them grow back thicker.

Using a 5-10c size dollop of Enliven Facial & Body Scrub, apply the scrub to one foot at a time.  Massage the scrub thoroughly all over feet, top and bottom, paying special attention to areas where your skin gets hard.  The Enliven Facial & Body Scrub leaves your feet feeling soft and amazing.  It exfoliates while moisturising and smells great.

Re-soak your feet for a minute or two to wash away the cuticle cream.  Remove feet from water and dry them thoroughly, making sure you dry between the toes.  Excess moisture between the toes causes tinea and cuts in the toe folds.

If you're wearing nail polish remove the old polish with nail polish remover and a cotton pad.  Wedge the tissues in between your toes, or use toe dividers.  Paint your toes as desired.

You should now have gorgeous looking tootsies ready to show off to the world.

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Also: read an independent review of JOLI's products