Survival kit for insomniacs

The best beauty advise in the world is to make sure that you get enough sleep since not only do you rest and heal your body and mind when you sleep, but the skin regenerates and it's during the night that your skin is most recipient to treatments. Some people don't need a lot of sleep to still function properly, but I'm not one of those people and if I don't get my required 16 hrs of sleep (no wait... that's koalas...) I'm cranky, can't focus, feel almost hung over even though I haven't touched a drop of alcohol (honestly!) and I'm so peckish I could eat a cardboard box, if I don't have any yummy goodies at home. Getting back into a healthy sleeping pattern can be difficult and it takes time, but today I'll show you some products that have helped me through those horrible times of sleeplessness.

Some common advise when you find it difficult to fall asleep is to avoid tv, laptops, alcohol and food a few hrs before bedtime and to take a hot relaxing bath. For me it works best having a nice long soak with aromatic scents, and traditionally scents like lavender and camomile are supposed to work really well to relax you. Lately I've been using St. Grape Exotic Pink Bath Salts which are made from Himalayan salt. The bath salts have a lovely sweet, and light lavender scent with a menthol punch to it and the salts are wonderful for softening up your muscles and detoxing your body at the same time as they make the skin feel very soft and nourished, which is great since the last thing I want to do after a relaxing bath is to start moisturising.

Just in case I don't manage to get a lovely night's sleep I'll also apply the Gatineau Age Benefit Ultra-Regenerating Nigh Elixir (£90) that at least makes my skin look like it's rested. The formula is a very intense anti-ageing treatment for night use only that revitalises the skin by targeting fine lines and wrinkles. The texture is lovely and silky with a slight glowing tint to it and it has a lovely clean and fresh smell. You only need a small pump of the serum to cover your face, and when you wake up in the morning the skin looks smooth, radiant and energised as if you had had a really good night's sleep. When it's eventually time to go to bed to try and fall asleep I'll spray Avon's Planet Spa Sleep Serenity Pillow Mist (£1.30) which is an aromatic and light scent with camomile and lavender over the bed clothes and in the room to make the bedroom a nice, peaceful and relaxing space. I also use the Avon's Planet Spa Sleep Serenity Balm (£0.90) on my pulse points - so on my wrists, on my neck and on my temples, although the balm smells a lot less of lavender than the pillow mist and I mainly pick up on the very subtle and harmonious scent of camomile that should help to send me to the land of nod.

Hopefully the bath and the relaxing lavender and camomile scent is enough to help me relax and get a good few hrs sleep, however if in the morning I haven't managed to get what I need and I'm feeling and looking tired I'll use The Body Shop Elderflower Unperfumed Eye Gel (£7) on the eye area. It's a fabulous eye gel that cools and soothes the eye area, and the elderflower helps to get rid of the build up of fluids under the eyes that cause dark rings. I keep mine in the fridge to enhance that refreshing sensation when you apply it and within a few minutes you should see how the eyes look less puffy and those pesky dark circles starting to fade. The last must have product for insomniacs is Dermalogica's Total Eye Care (£37) which I've mentioned a few times before, but it's such a great product that it deserves to be mentioned often. It has a light consistency that hydrates and smoothes out the eye area and since it has a slight tint to it and light reflecting particles, it works like an under eye concealer, making you look much more bright, fresh and rested. What do you use to help you fall asleep and do you have any tips on how to at least fake 8 hrs sleep?