Shaving/waxing and general hair removal, is something that most girls choose to do. It's up to you whether you remove it or not, but I like to leave my legs silky smooth. I usually just buy cheap razors and I don't think I've ever shaved my legs without cutting them, so much blood comes out as well from the tiniest cut. My Mum on the other hand, swears by hair removal cream, which is probably just as good, just without the cuts. I can never really get as much hair removed as I want to with the razor, so it was my lucky day when the lovely people at Remington sent me their brand new epilator and 'perfect shaving kit' to try. There are a lack of reviews of epilators on the internet, possibly because most people are petrified of using them after hearing horror stories of how much they hurt. My fearless Mum, has always dreamed of owning one, so between us, we tested this out for you. Is an epilator the new way to shave? And which products will make shaving that little bit sweeter? Read on to find out...
Firstly, get a nice candle. Within my 'perfect shaving kit' I was sent this beautiful Neal's Yard candle (which smells delicious). A top tip for using an epilator, light a nice scented candle to take away the pain. Focus on this instead, calm your mind. I'd actually recommend having a bath first to open up your pores (it makes taking hairs out less painful) and then use a candle to relax yourself.
The ultimate shaving tip: obviously make sure you've scrubbed away and exfoliated all of that dead skin. This is the first Soap and Glory product that I've used and oh my gosh it smells incredible. It smells of maple syrup and I promise, you will want to eat yourself after washing with this. If this was edible, I'd have eaten it all by now. Basically, scrub away all those dead skin cells in order to keep the skin looking smooth, this also means your tan will last longer on holiday as the skin wont shed as quickly. 
I'd also recommend the Nivea water lily and oil shower gel, it soothes and softens the skin ready for urm, ripping those hairs out. That's the only way to explain what an epilator does.
Next it's time to get rid of the hairs. Yeah so this little machine may look scary. It's an epilator and I'm sure you've heard of them before. Many women and particularly a lot of my Mum's friends absolutely swear by using epilators, apparently if you remove your hairs with them, it takes longer for them to grow back, which is what most women want I suppose. It also pulls them right from the root, whilst that sounds extremely painful, again, I assume that's what a lot of women want.
I'm going to be completely honest with you and say that whilst I can see why people use them, they literally rip your hair out, I won't be getting rid of my razor just yet. This little barrel moves so fast and really does rip the hair out, from the root and you can really feel it, it hurts I'm not going to lie. It's like when you get your eye brows threaded, but sharper and worse. It kind of feels like someone is plucking each individual leg hair. I do think epilators are incredible if you can face up to the pain, due to them being able to remove all the hair from the root, but unfortunately, I found that it took far too long to remove all my leg hair (mainly because I was flinching after every tiny section, I didn't dare go down my leg like you would with a normal shaver) and it just wasn't worth the pain when I can just grab some hair removal cream or a razor. My Mum said it would take quite a bit of getting used to and it did make her itch a lot because of the pain. Whilst these little things are full of power, it was just too painful for me, I think it's much easier and quicker and less painful to just use a razor. Epilators start from around £19.00 though which makes them quite reasonable if you want to try them, I'd love to know what you think about them so do leave a comment below and let me know if you've ever used one before.
The last step is to moisturise. I personally wouldn't recommend moisturising straight away after, I must have pretty sensitive skin because usually, if I put anything on my legs after shaving, it makes me itch, feel irritated and just generally not so nice, it also makes my legs really sore and red. When you do end up moisturising (wait about an hour, I do it just before I go to sleep), I am loving Korres body butter at the moment. This is a freshly cut fig body butter and it's oozing with flavour and leaves your legs softer than they've ever been, I can't wait to get some more stuff from the collection. The final step would be to fake that glow. It feels weird saying that as I haven't worn fake tan for about 5 months now, but if you like looking tanned, pop some Rimmel instant tan on. Again, I'd either recommend to do this the day after shaving or the day before, otherwise, the tan will go into your open pores, which can cause irritation but as well as this, it won't look smooth or natural, it will just look quite dotty/spotty on your legs. If you just want a natural glow, I'd highly recommend Palmers cocoa butter gradual tan.
I hope you liked these quick and easy shaving tips, will you be straying from your razor or hair removal cream just yet? I think I'll be sticking to my razor and shaving foam - quick and easy. Do you have any shaving tips or are there any shaving products that you can't live without? Have you ever used an epilator? What are your thoughts on epilators?
Lots of love, Em x
P.S, I've been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan 'best new beauty blog' award and I am speechless, I'd love to have your vote, no words can explain how much it would mean to me. You can vote for me here. Thank you so much.
