Regular readers will know that I’ve tried a few different group buying websites with varying results. The idea behind them is that if enough of you get together and express an interest you can command a hefty discount by sheer weight of numbers. I think they tend to work best for treats such as meals out, spa and beauty treatments, comedy nights, exercise classes and so on.

Anyway, I am very fussy about which sites I’m happy to endorse. One of the nicer ones is Kahootz Leeds, a relatively new service that gives you a range of offers each week with up to 70% discount if you sign up to their mailing list. They regularly have a good choice of offers at local restaurants, spas and hairdressing salons, and they’ll soon be expanding to cover the Manchester area too. Regular site users can also gain site credit for referring their favourite deals on to friends, which they can then redeem against future purchases.

If you live within easy reach of Leeds, we have an excellent competition for you this week. All you have to do is click on the link below and sign up to receive the Kahootz newsletter, it’s as easy as that. This time next week, Kahootz will pick out three lucky people who signed up via this website, and they will each win a voucher for £25 to spend on pampering treats at Charles Lewis Beauty in Leeds.

You can spend your prize voucher on one or a combination of the following:

1. Hairdressing: haircut/colour, blow dry, hair up, half head of foils
2. Express facial
3. Spray tan
4. Back, neck and shoulder massage
5. Manicure/pedicure

If you’d like to be in with a chance to win these sweet pampering treats,  just head over to the Kahootz site and sign up to their newsletter using the following link: Penny Golightly and Kahootz Leeds Pampering Competition.

If you aren’t one of the lucky winners announced next week, you will then have the option to purchase one of these rather lovely £25 pampering vouchers for the discounted price of £11, if you wish.

T&Cs: Three winners will be drawn by Kahootz Leeds this time next week. You must use the Penny Golightly link to sign up, or your entry will not be counted. UK entrants only please. Multiple entries will be disallowed. Penny Golightly and www.pennygolightly.com are not affiliated to Kahootz Leeds, and your competition entries will not profit this site financially. No purchase required, no cash alternative. Your details will not be passed on to a third party without your permission.

• Australian Gold SPF15 continuous spray suncreen with instant bronzer
• Australian Gold SPF8 sunscreen spray gel with instant bronzer
• 4 sachets of tan accelerator lotion
• 1 tropical scented body lotion to make your tan last longer

Plus:

• 125ml tube of self-tan gel
• A shimmering Bourjois lipgloss

The Australian Gold products have a lovely tropical fruit and coconut scent, and the instant bronzer gives you a subtle natural glow which washes off with shower gel and water. The SPF 15 makes it easy to be safe in the sun during daylight hours. The SPF8 doesn’t offer enough UV protection for mid-day sun, but would be fine if you were mostly in the shade – it’s ideal to use as a bronzer on a night out if you want to give pasty limbs a glamorous makeover.

If you’d like to win all these gorgeous goodies, simply answer the following question:

How much does a 177ml can of Australian Gold SPF15 continuous spray suncreen with instant bronzer cost on the MyUrbanLook website?

All you have to do is leave the correct answer in the comments box below. Winner will be chosen at random from correct answers at noon on Thursday next week, UK entrants only please, one entry per person.

Good luck!

The available range of reasonably-priced, decent quality sunscreens increases every year, and I’m really happy about that for one main reason. If your little bottle of sunscreen costs a fortune then you might not slap it on as liberally or as frequently as you should – now just about anyone can afford to keep themselves safe and healthy without worrying too much about the cost.

Most of us don’t use anywhere near enough sunscreen. If you’re going out there just in a swimsuit or shorts you need about 2 tablespoons of the stuff to be safe.  It then needs to be reapplied regularly, especially after perspiration or swimming, according to experts such as Cancer Research.

If you’re looking for a new sunscreen the recommendations are that you check the labelling carefully, and seek out a ‘broad spectrum’ product with an SPF of at least 15 that’s been formulated to protect you from both UVA (which ages your skin) and UVB (which burns your skin) light. Fairer-skinned people and children need higher SPFs. To find out more about staying safe under the rays, visit SunSmart.

High street chemists such as Boots and Superdrug have some excellent value own-brand ranges (Soltan and Solait) that get great results in independent tests, and so do some of the supermarkets, particularlyAsda and also Sainsbury’s. Prices start as low as £3. All these shops regularly have promotions on branded sun creams and lotions as well, so you can save on the more expensive products if you’d prefer.

If you have very sensitive skin, Avon sell a very gentle but effective unperfumed mineral sunscreen, and frequently have money-off deals. Lips are sun-sensitive on everyone: try a shielding balm such as Neutrogena SPF20 (£2.88) or Nivea SPF25 (£3.47), or a bargain tin of SPF15 Vaseline Lip Therapy (£1.69). Or up the glam factor with a Collection 2000 SPF20 lip gloss (£3.99).

But what about the tan? Most people can still tan through SPF15, it just happens more slowly with less risk of burning and it might just save your skin. If you don’t want to grill yourself until your face is the texture of old leather then there are plenty of excellent fake tanning products out there too. Stock up before you hit the beach, the festivals, or your best mate’s barbeque.

This article by Penny Golightly originally appeared on the Lastminute.com blog.

Do you have any favourite sunscreens that work well and are reasonably-priced?

Buying these products from salons costs a small fortune, but you can cut out the middle man by visiting a hairdressing supplies shop such as Sally Hair and Beauty. They have branches all over the UK, and my favourite one is right in the middle of London on Shaftesbury Avenue. This shop sells to non-trade customers as well as people in the hair and beauty biz, so whoever you are you can just walk in and find yourself some real bargains.

Inside the shop it’s an Aladdin’s cave of shampoos, conditioners, styling products and tools, hair dyes, beauticians’ supplies and much more. If you’re not sure what products would suit you best then try the staff who are really approachable and helpful, or there’s always at least one friendly hairdresser per aisle who’ll give you the right advice.

My top tips in Sally are the salon-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner: buying in bulk is the best way to save, with 5-litre bottles starting at less than £9.50. That’s the equivalent of 25 of the 200ml bottles from the supermarket, so you’re getting salon quality at a massively reduced price. They also stock Denman combs and brushes for different hair types which are gentle on your hair when you’re styling it, leaving it in better condition over time.

After I switched to salon-quality products my hairdresser spotted the improvement in my hair right away, so for a beautiful barnet Sally’s definitely worth a visit next time you’re in the middle of town.

Sally Hair and Beauty, 81 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 5DX. Telephone: 020 7434 0064.

This article by Penny Golightly originally appeared on the lastminute.com blog.

I was interested to see what the £10 spa deals from lastminute.com were like, as my previous spa-hopping experience has shown me that the price you pay often has no relation to the standard of service you receive. So I bought vouchers for myself and a friend next time the offer came up, and we booked in to use a spa in Sutton.

The deal included use of the spa facilities and a choice of short treatments, including a mini facial, a back massage, a manicure or a mini pedicure. My top tip for a day like this would be to book your treatments for the late afternoon when you call the spa – the last thing you want to do is soak off the massage oil, nail polish or expensive moisturiser and eye cream by getting into the pool or jacuzzi afterwards, or sweat it off in the gym or steam room.

The spa and gym turned out to be part of a large hotel chain, and when we arrived the place looked fairly generic and anonymous. Having said that, the spa itself was excellent once we’d found it: clean and fresh with friendly and polite staff. The gym was on the small side but had everything you could want if you were hoping to burn off a few extra calories with some aerobic activity, so we got stuck in to the exercise for a couple of hours. The indoor pool was attractive and we enjoyed a swim, a soak in the hot tub and some poolside lounging around. So far so good, but the real revelation was meeting the therapists after lunch – both of them turned out to be well trained and skilled people who used quality beauty products including Dermalogica and Essie.

My friend opted for the back-of-body massage and said it was one of the best they’ve had in years, high praise indeed. The pair of us floated off home feeling fabulous, and agreed that we’d both go again at the drop of a fluffy towel.

This article by Penny Golightly originally appeared on the lastminute.com blog.

Spa bath salts. For the basic mix, stir together equal parts of fine sea salt (from the supermarket) and Epsom salts (from the chemist). You can then mix in a few dried herbs and dried citrus zest (try combinations of rosemary and orange, basil and lime, or mint and grapefruit etc), or a handful of dried flowers such as lavender or rose. Store sealed in a large airtight jar, with instructions to use a handful of mixture per bath. Epsom salts are pretty powerful, so don’t give them to anyone with a heart condition or high blood pressure.

Fizzing bath grains. Mix 50g fine sea salt and 100g of bicarbonate of soda (from the supermarket), and 50g of citric acid together to make the basic mix. You can get citric acid from many Asian supermarkets and some chemists. Vary the colour or scent by adding a tiny amount of food colouring, flavouring, perfume or essential oils. Mix well, then sieve. Put in an airtight jar and label with a note saying that a heaped tablespoon of powder is enough for one bath.

Milk bath. Buy some finely-textured dried skimmed milk powder. Scent each jarful of powder by mixing in the crushed-up contents of two chamomile teabags. Alternatively you can scent it by swirling a few drops of vanilla essence inside the jar and allowing it to dry completely (the airing cupboard’s good if you’re in a hurry) before adding the milk powder. A small handful of mixture is needed per bath.

Brown sugar body scrub. Mix 500g Demerara sugar with 125ml of light oil (such as grapeseed or sunflower) for the basic scrub. If you want to scent it further, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and 2 heaped teaspoons of ground cinnamon, or add a heaped tablespoon of ground coffee. To use, rub a small handful over wet skin in the shower, then rinse off – and be careful as it can make the shower tray a bit slippy.

Bath ‘tea’. There are loads of recipes for these mixtures, with all kinds of herbs and flowers, or even with oatmeal. If you can sew, seal the mixture inside big squares of loose weave material such as muslin or cheesecloth. If not, buy ready-hemmed muslin cloths and tie the mixture inside with some string or ribbon. Use one ‘tea’ bag per bath.

Glycerine soaps. Unlike traditional soaps, clear glycerine soaps don’t have to sit around for a long time to wait for caustic soda to become less toxic. If you have access to basic glycerine soap, e.g. from a nearby craft shop, then you can gently melt it down in a double boiler or low-power microwave, thoroughly mix in colours and scents, then set it into moulds (tapping gently to get rid of air bubbles) to be ready a few hours later. If you don’t have moulds, clean empty margarine tubs and yoghurt pots will do. Don’t add fresh or dried herbs/flowers, as the liquid in the soap will make them brown and go off. You can add small plastic toys or flowers etc to make fun stocking fillers, or clean dry sand to make body scrub bars.

Natural room freshener. Cut oranges and lemons into 1cm thick slices and stud their rinds with whole cloves, then dry (but don’t cook) slowly on the lowest oven setting for a few hours. If they aren’t quite dry after this, put them on kitchen paper and leave them in the airing cupboard or on a radiator overnight. Once completely dried, mix with cinnamon sticks, dried bay leaves and whole star anises, and package nicely in a bowl or pot.

Quick fancy candles. If you’re arty, you can carefully melt the surface of wax candles with a hairdryer. This gives you a few seconds to stick tiny things onto the candle, such as sequins, glitter, pine needles, thin ribbons or patterned/drawn-on pieces of tissue paper.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and brush real gold leaf onto a bowlful of pears. No, not really, I’m cracking open the Irish cream liqueur and putting my feet up in front of The Nightmare Before Christmas. See you on the other side.

Lips are very sensitive and have hardly any oil glands, so they don’t moisturise themselves very well naturally and can suffer badly from the effects of strong sunlight, irritating cosmetic ingredients, and cold, windy weather. For these reasons, everyone can benefit from a drop of moisturiser or a slick of lip balm from time to time.

If your lips are really dry, look for balms that contain natural plant oils and butters (such as shea butter or cocoa butter) that sink into the skin. Mineral oils tend to stay on the surface of the skin and form a barrier so that the skin underneath has a chance to repair itself, so for lighter moisturisation you can try plain old petroleum jelly such as a tin of Vaseline Lip Therapy (£1.15).

Most of the lip balms I’ve come across – including some top cult beauty favourites – contain all sorts of irritating ingredients that encourage dryness and peeling over time, but that’s not the case with Balm Balm (unscented version, £2.81), or Naked Beauty Lip Balm (£2.10 plus 65p P&P from www.naked-beauty.co.uk), which are both ideal for use at night. These are both solid balms that melt onto your lips, and they are unscented, simple and effective.

If you don’t mind a little vanilla flavour, you can also try Baby Bottom Butter from Waitrose. This is hailed as some kind of cosmetic miracle, but it’s basically a very simple and non-irritating butter made from a mixture of semi-solidified olive oil, chamomile and vanilla. The olive oil may have some useful antioxidants in it, and most people will find the chamomile soothing. At £2.35 for 125ml it’s worth trying for a couple of weeks as part of your nightly skincare routine. You can also try layering it over your usual face moisturiser to give your lips an extra boost.

For daytime use you might prefer Neutrogena Norwegian Formula SPF 20, in stick form, to protect against UV damage. It contains a tiny amount of fragrance but this fades quickly once it’s applied, and it does contain moisturising agents and sun protection which both help to prevent dryness. Extra sensitive types might like E45’s fragrance-free lip balm with SPF 15 (£1.99). Any product that offers sun protection needs to be reapplied from time to time.

Is there any truth in the rumour that your lips can get ‘addicted’ to lip balm? The answer here is a resounding no. There are two factors at play. Firstly, lips tend to be dry anyway, so they respond well to a suitable lip balm and if you stop using it then they go back to being as dry as they were before - that’s not addiction.

Secondly, most of the sticks and balms that fashion magazines recommend contain a mixture of moisturising agents and irritants. The moisturising agents give you immediate relief, but over time the irritants cause dryness and peeling, so you use more balm and feel better temporarily, and then the irritation becomes more prominent again, so then you use more balm…and so on.

Irritants in lip balms may make your lips redder and tinglier – don’t be fooled into thinking they are more effective products because of this sensation. The more sensitive your skin is, the more problems you’re likely to have after a few days. Common irritants found in lip balms include camphor and mint (mentha, peppermint, spearmint, menthol etc) and if you want lovely lips then you might be surprised how good you look after avoiding them for a couple of weeks.

*smooch*

Penny x