Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Welcome to our new weekly column on the YOU magazine website, www.you.co.uk Below you will find the current question and our advice, with a list of where to source the products mentioned. To look at past columns, click here. And for lots more solutions to your beauty dilemmas, visit Q&A, just click here.
August 23rd, 2009: Beat stings and itches
Q Before now, I’d always been a mozzie free zone. My entire 28-year-old life I’ve had maybe one or two bites a year max, but now I‘ve been bitten alive! I went out running one night: 45 bites on my calves. No joke! The itching was unbearable. I have tried natural remedies such as vinegar, tea, hot water - but it still itches. Any tips?
A First off, we will say that this has been a dreadful year for insects, and bite-y ones in particular - despite all that frost and snow over the winter. Poor you! Let’s look at prevention against future bites, first: you might like to know that what you eat, as well as supplements, can have an impact on how tasty mosquitoes find you.
Pharmacist Shabir Daya of www.victoriahealth.com explains: ‘Without doubt the single most successful supplement for the prevention of all insect bites is Vitamin B1 (Solgar Vitamins 500 mg) £14.79 for 100 tablets (take one tablet daily). This vitamin emits an odour that is not perceived by the human nose, but definitely has repellant properties - and hence avoids those bites in the first place.
 Dietary intakes of foods rich in B vitamins will also help to a degree to prevent insect bites, as will garlic’. (Sarah stuffs her horses full of garlic for that reason…)
We have friends who never head for tropical climes without a large jar of Marmite, which is packed with B vitamins (to eat rather than slather on!). Other foods rich in B vitamins are asparagus, broccoli, spinach, bananas, potatoes, dried apricots, dates and figs; also nuts and pulses, fish, brown rice, wheatgerm and wholegrain cereals, avocado, herring, salmon, sunflower seeds and walnuts.
Now let’s tackle the bites you’ve already got, and how to take the ‘ouch’ factor out. Sarah perennially recommends aloe: either a leaf from an aloe plant (you can strip off the outside, revealing a sticky healing goo inside which can be slathered over bites), or in the form of a ready-made (less messy) gel, like Jason Aloe Vera Gel 98%, which is priced from £3.29 for a 120 ml tube (from Victoria Health). Shabir Daya’s suggestion is Sting Soothe, £7.95 for 30 ml, by Quantum Health: ‘This has a great base of aloe vera oil together with the cooling and healing properties of sage, peppermint and rosemary oils, coupled with vitamin E oil.’ (From Victoria Health again.)
If the bites are making you feel self-conscious about the raised red lumps, meanwhile, you may want to camouflage them: the best cover-up of all time is Estée Lauder Maximum Cover Camouflage Makeup for Face and Body SPF15, £24, which conceals all imperfections - not just bites but surgical and acne scars, birthmarks, ‘sun spots’ and varicose veins. It’s completely budge-proof and waterproof, and comes in four shades, so you should be able to find one to match your bitten legs…
We  . . .
 Friction de Foucaud, £15.95 for 125 ml spray. Who knows what the fickle British summer going to throw at us next? Still, we do know we’ll have some of this energising body tonic to hand for whenever the thermometer rises. Stimulating, toning, invigorating (and a secret weapon of cool, chic Frenchwomen since 1946), it’s perfect for tired puffy limbs and reviving you when the weather’s made you go all floppy – thanks to an essential oil blend of orange, lemon, lavender, rosemary and thyme, plus a whooooosh of camphor and menthol. We like the refillable atomiser, but it’s also available as a 250 ml splash, for £16.95.
FRICTION DE FOUCAUD
SKIN SOOTHE
SOLGAR
MAXIMUM COVER
Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic - Archive
August 15th, 2009 - Sunscreens
August 9th, 2009 - Good Skin Care
August 2nd, 2009 - Lash Conditioners
July 26th, 2009 - Spa Treatments
July 19th, 2009 - Organic Tinted Moisturiser
July 12th, 2009 - Hair Protection
July 5th, 2009 - Cellulite
June 28th, 2009 - Sexy Summer Scents
June 21st, 2009 - Eyeliner Tricks
June 14th, 2009 - Natural Suncare
June 7th, 2009 - Anti Ageing Skin Care
May 31st, 2009 - Natural Nail Polishes
May 24th, 2009 - Body Polishing
May 17th, 2009 - Rosacea
May 10th, 2009 - Manky Feet
May 3rd, 2009 - Makeup Makeover
April 26th, 2009 - Facial Hair Removal
April 19th, 2009 - Teen Skin
April 12th, 2009 - Swimmers Hair
April 5th, 2009 - Make-up For Damaged Skin
March 29th, 2009 - Are Sunbeds Safe?
March 22nd, 2009 - Weak, Flaking Nails
March 15th, 2009 - Puffy Eyes
March 8th, 2009 - Camouflaging Red Cheeks
March 1st, 2009 - Hair Colouring in Pregnancy
February 22nd, 2009 - Thinning Eyebrows
February 15th, 2009 - Acne
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