Guest Post: Surviving the Christmas Season Dolly Rouge style!

Make time for awwww

If you haven't heard of Dolly Rouge (www.dollyrouge.ie) before now then it's time for some catch up!  We love Kat and Rachelle, their honest assessment of all things cosmetic, their dedication to the 'value for money' cause and feel a special affinity with their love of cute animals.  Although their festive season survival guide does include face wipes , we agree that yes it is better than falling into bed with a full face of makeup on and waking up looking like Alice Cooper.  And wish we had done it ourselves last night.  And er the two nights before that too.

Dolly Rouge's Top Tips to Survive the Christmas Season
In keeping with the festive spirit we've decided to bring you some handy tips to help you get through the holidays intact. There's no doubt about it: Christmas is a stressful time, with the expense, the planning and the heightened expectations of family togetherness.  Hopefully these tips will see you right!

• Pace yourself with food and especially drink. If you're on the beer/spirits make sure your first drink is always a soft drink. This helps, as you usually arrive at your destination thirsty, so if you ordered an alcoholic drink you would knock it back too fast.  Remember, slow and steady wins the race!
• Stay active. Just because you're on your holibobs doesn't mean you should sit on your bum for the whole week! Even a quick stroll after dinner each day will clear the head, tire out over-excited kids and pets, and keep you from feeling like a stuffed turkey.
• Have some activities planned for after dinner if you have guests. Having something for everyone to focus on can help alleviate the stress of it all. And if needs be you can beaver away in the kitchen without interruption while everyone else is engrossed. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, a favourite in our house is Trivial Pursuit. Word of warning though, this may lead to World War 3 if your house is as competitive as ours!
• Take a deep breath. Remember what Christmas is all about, breathe in deeply in times of stress and release the tension with your breath. If it's all really getting on top of you and you feel a meltdown coming on, try practicing mindfulness. This is simply being mindful of and immersing yourself what you're doing at that moment in time. So if you're say chopping the carrots, hyper-focus your mind on the sound, sight and smell of it, blocking out everything else. This technique helps shut out the negative thoughts that go through your head in times of stress.
• Remember it's OK to say NO! I struggled with this one for years. I always felt obliged to accept every invite, or to always have a drink. Now I ensure that himself and myself get to spend one whole day and night together free from interruptions (turn off that phone/pc). Set a night aside, grab your duvet and get on that couch or an evening of un-interrupted movies and snuggling. Good for your sanity and your relationship, especially at this time of year when frazzled nerves lead to arguments.
• Don't fall into bed with your makeup on. With the crap most of us put our bodies through at Christmas time it's the least you can do take off the mask before you hit the sack. If you're too exhausted/inebriated to faff about with cleanser, grab yourself a pack of face wipes. We like the Lidl ones for dry and sensitive skin. Obviously you wouldn't use these everyday but they are brilliant when you just haven't the will to get your hot cleanse and polish on.
• De-gunk your skin for the new year. Once everything has settled down and the last of the guests have gone home, give your skin some TLC. The makeup, late nights and alcohol have more than likely taken their toll and left your mug in need of exfoliation and hydration.  Use your favourite scrub, steam your face over hot water for a few minutes, then apply your favourite mask. Moisturise well afterwards.Your skin will thank you for it.
• And our final tip, get some awww into your day. No matter how jangled the nerves are, try to appreciate the awww moments. Whether it's cooing over the new arrival in the family, watching your kiddies playing happily with their Santa gifts, or taking some time to pet your anipals, life is all about these moments. Don't let the mayhem steal them from you. To get you started, here's some awww of our own, Kat's Santa Paws, aka. bunny Einstein.

Hoppy Christmas Everybun! We'd love to hear your own tips and tricks for surviving the season in the comments.

Thanks a million Rachelle and Kat - make sure you head over to www.dollyrouge.ie to check out more!