You’ve got the sandals, painted your toe nails but what kind of a state are the back of your heels in? Here are seven products that should help smooth them to make you look respectable.
Peppermint cooling pumice foot scrub
The pumice granules in this scrub apparently help banish rough skin, getting your feet back into shape. Although I am not a fan of products in tubs, what was inside redeemed itself. A grey, sludgy scrub with a pleasant peppermint smell, it is easy to apply. Used liberally around the heel area, it can also be used on other areas of the foot with hard skin. It lathers up quickly, while your feet probably also benefit from the massage they are getting. Although I doubt this would shift really hard skin, it’s a great way to maintain soft feet. It also makes your hands feel great too.
Price: £4.50
Available from: The Body Shop. Tel: 25 747741. Opening soon in Nicosia, Larnaca and Paphos. There is a complete range of peppermint cooling products for the feet and legs.
Propoline Pedi Care Cream
Another product from one of my personal favourites – Apivita, the Greek herbal cosmetics company. An exfoliant cream for heels, knees and elbows, this is a great unisex product. The cream contains the fruit acids AHA, which are so efficient you don’t even have to massage the cream in. Meanwhile, olive oil and other emollients help rehydrate and regenerate the skin. Sounds great and was surprisingly effective. While the packaging suggests this cream is used twice a day, I fear you would have no skin left if you did so. With quite a strong, refreshing smell, this left my heel visibly smoother after only one quick application. It was absorbed into the skin rapidly too.
Price: $5.15
Available from: pharmacies
File a foot
Foot files (or cheese graters as we used to lovingly call them) have come a long way in the last few years. Gone it seems are the awful metal files that are best used on dry skin (great when you only realise once you’re in the shower that you’ve forgotten to do your feet). New from the Body Shop is a two-sided file a foot with an elegant handle and a smaller head (a bit like a big toothbrush). One side is rougher for tough bits of skin and the other side offers a smoother pumice for softer bits and the hands. And the best bit? Best used on wet skin. Again more of a maintenance tool than something that will shift really problem skin.
Price: £2
Available from: Available from: The Body Shop. Tel: 25 747741. Opening soon in Nicosia, Larnaca and Paphos.
Titania Pumice Sponge
What would our feet do without pumice? This sponge though offers a great advantage over the more traditional pumice stone in that it never seems to go smooth. Until now this has been my preferred choice and used on a regular basis proves surprisingly efficient. Again, once your feet have gone to pot it would probably be of little use, but it is great for keeping them in shape all summer and the price makes it real value for money. The packaging claims it will also remove nicotine and other stains and is suitable for both hands and feet.
Price: £1.30
Available from: supermarkets
Karin Herzog foot oil and cream
This is an amazing product that really has to be tried to be believed. After my better half came back from a stressful and tiring day, complaining about his feet, a quick foot rub with the Foot oil and Foot cream had him begging for more. The next day he was fit as a fiddle. The oil and cream nourished, oxygenated and refreshed his tired soles while giving feet a warm feeling as if cocooned.
Price: £14 for foot oil and £15 for foot cream
Available from: Jenospace, Tel: 22 668800
Sally Hansen Pedicure In A Minute
No, it doesn’t give you a full on pedicure but pedicures aren’t solely about painting your toenails anyway. It’s all about the well being of your feet and this is one product you should definitely include on your must list for summer. Pedicure In A Minute instantly polishes away dryness, leaving your tired soles soft and revitalised. The blend of natural sugar crystals, vitamins A, C, E, pro-vitamin B5, olive oil and tea tree oil guarantees those rough spots will be gone forever.
Price: £9
Available from: at department stores and chemists
Relaxing footbath by Peggy Sage
We’ve got the creams and the foot scrubs, so how about trying these babies? The dissolving tablets refresh and relax tired, swollen feet, combating wetness and acting as an antiseptic at the same time. The combination of essential peppermint oil, menthol, sagebush, sage and thyme give the effervescent tablets their extremely relaxing properties and offer a foot spa in the luxury of your own home. Once you’re done, try the soothing cream for dry and tired feet.
Price: £12 for tablets and £12 for foot cream
Available from: Tel: 99 548338 for availability
