Project Princess

[BlackSwan]

I have a theory that every year you should treat one wedding you're attending as though it were your own.

Not that you're the bride, or as important as the bride...that's not the idea. I mean that for many women your wedding day is the one day when you try to pull it all together to look and feel your best, best figure, best skin, best hair. You get the picture. So if you do this once a year...perhaps with less of the stress that goes along with preparing for your own wedding day...then you'll look and feel amazing.

Last year I gave birth to my first child, so getting my figure etc back on track before a wedding I attended some months later was a huge challenge. I think I succeeded pretty well - I felt great at the wedding, not like the frumpy mummy I thought I might turn up as!

So now we have the Royal Wedding to look forward to I think we have the perfect opportunity to set that as a collective project due date. 29 April.

If any of you are inclined to give this a go - I thought it might be fun to do this with other like minded (crazy?) women.

The way it would work is like this - anyone involved can add a preparation ritual to the list. Let's not make this expensive. Don't we all have a bunch of unused exfoliant, teeth whitening paste, cuticle creams, waxes and potions at our disposal in our medicine cabinet?

Get the idea? Anyone interested?

Exhausted nurse, you're in, great! Like those suggestions, body moisturising is a complete oversight with me too. And water with lemon is a cleansing start & will remind us all first thing in the morning that we're committed to this!!

1. 8 glasses of water a day
2. Exfoliating
3. Using some kind of teeth whitener
4. Using some kind of regenerative face cream
5. Intensive nail care (feet and hands)
6. Some kind of eyelash growth serum
7. The Shred / other intensive exercise
8. At least 2 extra fruit & veg
9. £1 a day into a jar (fined an extra £1 if no cardio).

10. Hair oil (moroccan hair oil for eg, or kerastase etc) 11. No alcohol during the week 12. Daily vitamins 13. Body brushing 14. At least 2 servings of salmon or other fatty fish per week. 15. One early night once a week. Suggest 9PM. 16. Regular hair removal 17. Give up one naughty favourite item e.g. chocolate/crisps 18. No more fizzy drinks 19. DAILY body moisturising. 20. Warm water with lemon first thing in the a.m.

OUR LIST IS COMPLETE! Any edits welcome.

GOOD LUCK LADIES!

This is utterly brilliant and v inspiring. Please can I join?

Hi all,

Room for another one?

It's my 30th birthday in March and I'm having a big party so I've been doing this kind of thing since New Year.

So far I've:-

Been doing a full body exfoliation 2/3 times per week using these www.boots.com/en/Boots-Exfoliating-Gloves_40558/

face scrub 1/2 times a week with this www.boots.com/en/St-Ives-Invigorating-Apricot-Facial-Scrub-150ml_1110525/

Just finished 21 days of this www.boots.com/en/Soap-Glory-Wish-Upon-a-Jar-Wonder-Cream-50ml_1102620/ I need to find another face cream to replace this until the next 21 day stint, can anyone recommend one?

I've also been doing facial yoga for a few months - I fit it into my regime by doing it for a few mins every time I'm on the loo (which obv increases when you start drinking more water)

I've also been following the weight watchers plan since New Year so increased fruit, veg and water intake already. I've lost 9Ibs so far, hoping to shift a few more before the party too!

I really need some help with my eyes, I always look tired!

Ohhhh it will be nice to have other people trying to preen too

Sweetheart & gretagatsby, so glad you're joining us in our preening and primping journey!

This is working for me already... today I passed up the opportunity to buy 2 blocks of G&B chocolate for 3 quid. I felt you all looking over my shoulder!

I know this self-discipline will pay dividends. Let's have fun and keep each-other motivated. Interested in hearing how everyone gets on!

Sweetheart - interested in hearing more about the facial yoga. What kind of exercises does that involve and have you seen any difference?

So I completely messed up and left a healthy breakfast off the list. It's going back on & to keep this list to 20 I'm knocking the 1 pound in a jar thing off, sorry.

1. 8 glasses of water a day
2. Exfoliating
3. Using some kind of teeth whitener
4. Using some kind of regenerative face cream
5. Intensive nail care (feet and hands)
6. Some kind of eyelash growth serum
7. The Shred / other intensive exercise
8. At least 2 extra fruit & veg
9. Healthy breakfast daily.

10. Hair oil (moroccan hair oil for eg, or kerastase etc) 11. No alcohol during the week 12. Daily vitamins 13. Body brushing 14. At least 2 servings of salmon or other fatty fish per week. 15. One early night once a week. Suggest 9PM. 16. Regular hair removal 17. Give up one naughty favourite item e.g. chocolate/crisps 18. No more fizzy drinks 19. DAILY body moisturising. 20. Warm water with lemon first thing in the a.m.

Hey can I join you all from Monday? Have a fab weekend away planned but really need to take myself under control after that. I think that I will gym instead of shred and pass on the oily fish - other than that it sounds great!

BS, there are tons of facial yoga video's on You Tube. I watched ones by a guy called Jack Lalanne who has been doing it for years but there are hundreds to choose from. I've started by saying my vowels very pronounced over and over again.

I started doing it because it is a family trait to have jowels and I can see mine appearing and want to hold them off as much as possible. I have noticed a bit of a difference in photo's with the old double chin and some days my face aches so I can really feel the workout.

Everyone has their own areas of concern right - like my nails are in pretty good shape so I don't need to worry about the hand / nail care. However my arse and face are other matters

How about a home facial once a week?

Massage in cleanser then remove with muslin/ flannel and hot water -repeat for a really deep cleanse

Exfoliate

Mask

Serum/ moisturise

LB29 HONESTLY..............

My hubby had a coke addiction ( the drink ) and his stopped drinking it now for 14 months and has lost 2 stone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he has not exercised and still does eat rubbish, so just shows how much weight regular coke drinkers keep on cos of the stuff

What's slighty depressing is that I already do a lot of the things on the list - but I still look haggard:

1. already drink lots of water
2. already exfoliate
3. not brave enough to whiten teeth but will book check up and clean/polish
4. will buy some serum
5. already buff nails and use hand/foot cream
6. not sure about eyelash stuff
7. already exercise
8. already eat lots of fruit/veg
9. already eat healthy breakfast

10. already use weekly hair treatment 11. don't drink alcohol at all 12. already take tons of vitamins 13. recently started body brushing 14. already eat lots of oily fish 15. will try harder to get early nights 16. will be more strict about hair removal 17. don't have many vices to give up - and feel a bit deprived if I give up chocolate and my one small daily coffee 18. don't drink fizzy drinks 19. already do daily body moisturising. 20. will start warm water with lemon first thing in the a.m.

The thing is, when I look at my appearance, the things that let me down are my clothes (ancient) and my grey hair. Both cost a lot of money to sort out! Oh well, I will do my best and will try to somehow update my wardrobe a bit with my tiny budget.

Oh another thing, I do find I eat less when I give up coffee. I think the caffeine upsets the blood sugar balance and also coffee makes me anxious/nervous and then I snack more. Bizarre. My one daily tiny coffee seems quite harmless and I really enjoy it though...

Count me in
Already do quite a bit on the list,but need more early nights,more exercise and less alcohol .

Terrificteens and Georgina - happy to have you here.

Naturelover, you're ahead of a lot of us already! How about venturing into the world of home hair colouring? And the next time the sales come round, I implore you to indulge in a little wardrobe restructuring!!

Blackswan I did recently try home colour (with a friend's help) and it is ok but not brilliant. I need to find the right colour. Hard to find a match. It was a bit too red and doesn't flatter my skintone. Went for 6-8 week colour as not brave enough (yet) to do permanent!

anon80 - that is good to know. I have been needing to shift about a stone and a half for a while now so maybe it won't be as hard as I think. I get really bad headaches when I try to stop, maybe the water will help.

I don't have any trainers! I was planning on jogging but will have to put it off until I can go shopping for some.

naturelover- it doesn't have to be expensive to sort your wardrobe out. Before i put all my weight on i had nice clothes but didn't spend much at all. I would but nice basics with money or vouchers that my mum would give me for christmas. I also picked up other nice basic pieces for charity shops. I then would buy other bits from primark that I didn't think would stay in fashion for long.

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Hi ! Please can I join in too. had second dc November , have been browsing MN daily since then but this is first thread I really want to join in with ! Have put on 3 stone since first dc and weight is upsetting as i am little dumpling But in the meantime before i lose it all reckon I would feel a lot better following these tips.

dairyleadunker congratulations on your second bub! It's such a challenge to lose weight after you've had a baby. And to tone up a bit. Apart from being too busy to eat I helped myself along with the use of a Slendertone (cheat) and some mamma mio tummy cream called 'Get Waisted'. I'm back in my old jeans now. But it took me a good 7-9 months to get anywhere close to my pre-baby weight.

Agree though, it's not all about weight loss. Doing things which make you feel good and like you're taking care of yourself are really important. You must be really busy with 2 dcs. I hope you can find some time for yourself!

LB29 I think that caffeine can be a problem - I drink decaff tea and coffee but I really love diet cokes even though I know they're dreadful for me (caffeine AND aspartame!). I go through stupid phases when I "allow" myself one can a day (mid-morning) and I love it but before long I notice that I'm more getting more anxious, sleeping less well and generally feeling "wired"/ jittery/ hyper. I then feel I need white wine in the evening to calm me down. I know that most people can drink caffeine without too many problems but it affects me really badly. I gave up these daily diet cokes a week ago and do feel calmer for it. Perhaps I'll permit myself one a week on a Saturday morning as a treat...

rubyrubyruby congratulations!

Ruby - you're IN. Are you ready for the big day?

I haven't read the whole thread, but I am in.

Black Swan, this is a great idea and really impressed at your success last year.

Wedding anniversary is 22 April, so would be great to look and feel human better by then. Two months not too daunting.

I found that I just couldn't fit in all the routines, I can manage to eat little but fruits and vegetables, but I find the other beauty rituals take up too much time, so I have been saving for surgical procedures...I know, I know, short cuts, but hey! Ten years off in one go and bye bye tummy flab!