Get Your Feet Ready for Sandal Weather

Woohoo! Spring is here and sandal weather is just around the corner. I know i’ve neglected you, feet. You work so hard all year round. But I’m going to make it up to you. Bye Bye boots and heavy socks. Not that I don’t love you and the way you keep my feet warm and dry through the winter. It’s just that I can’t wait to feel the warm summer air tickling my toes.
Here are some tips to love your feet from funky to fabulous.

1. Go polish free for a bit. Remove any polish you may have applied for the winter and let your toenails breathe for at least a week or so.
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2. Give them a good soak in warm water and bath salts. Soaking gives your feet that relaxing Aaaah feeling. it also helps soften up skin to make exfoliating easier and gets toenails polish ready. Grab a bucket or a small tub. Add some bath salts some lemon or cucumber slices, flower petals or mint leaves and a few drops of the essential oil of your choice. . Kick back, relax, read a book. Let feet soak for about 10 minutes.

​From our shelves:  Free Lion Relaxing Bath Soak.
​We make it with mineral and Dead Sea salts, whole milk powder (to help soften skin), Lavender, Chamomile, Geranium and Cedarwood Essential Oils (to soothe and relax) and rose, lavender, chamomile and calendula petals (because they're just so damn PRETTY!)
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3. Exfoliate. After the foot soak, your skin is softer and ready for exfoliating. Tough skin can build up over the winter Remove dry, calloused skin from heels and foot bottoms with a foot file or pumice stone. Follow with a or sugar or salt scrub to remove the layer of dead skin from your legs and feet.

From our shelves: Free Lion Body Scrubs.
Namika is a salt scrub and polish, made with mineral salts, ground azuki beans, sunflower oil, shea butter, kaolin clay, nori flakes and Vitamin E. Perfect for tough skinned feet.
Lavender is a salt scrub made with mineral salts, ground apricot kernel seed shell, sunflower oil, shea butter, kaolin clay and Vitamin E. A lighter salt exfoliant that works wonderfully for most feet.
Espresso is a sugar scrub made with organic cane sugar, ground coffee beans, sunflower oil, shea butter, kaolin clay and Vitamin E. A gentler exfoliant with the added kick of coffee to perk up the skin.
Rose Garden is a sugar scrub made with organic cane sugar, oat flour, ground brown rice, chick pea flour, sunflower oil, shea butter, kaolin clay and Vitamin E. An even gentler exfoliant designed for sensitive skin.

4. Moisturize. Keep that dry skin nourished. Follow exfoliation with a lotion, cream or body butter. Ideally, you want to do this when you are not using your feet. Apply moisturizer to your feet, put on a pair of cotton socks and put your feet up. Its Netflix time!

From Our Shelves: Free Lion Foot Salve
We make it with a highly moisturizing blend of shea butter, coconut, sunflower, sweet almond and castor oils to soften your skin and cuticles. Then we add neem oil to help repair cracked skin; tea tree, lavender and rosemary essential oils for their anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties and peppermint essential oil to stimulate circulation and bring some healing oxygen to your feet.   
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5. Cut and File. Now that your skin has been refreshed, time for those toenails. Trim your nails into a square shape and not too close. No, that’s not just a fashion thing. Having a square at either edge of your toenails helps keep ingrown toenails and the pesky bacteria that can make them hurt in check. Use a nail file to gently smooth nail edges and any rough spots. Or get a professional to do this part. 

6. Care for Cuticles. Gently push your cuticles back to make room for some bold, bright polish. You can use the end of your nail file, a special cuticle tool or, if you're a minimalist like me, your fingernails. 

7. Get out your paint box. This is the fun part. Choose a colour that makes you feel happy and bright because you’ll be the one that gets to enjoy your toe colour all the time--in fact, everytime you look down at your feet. Start with a nourishing base coat, followed by a 2-3 layers of your colours. Get creative. Paint each toe a different colour; add stickers; paint on a pattern; add sparkles. Just have fun with it. Finish with a protective top coat. You can DIY it or have a professional make that magic happen for you. 

There! You're done. Now it's time to take your toes out for a night on the town or to the beach or any place that says, "Play time!" to you. Choose a pair of sandals that make you feel comfortable, relaxed, happy in your own skin. Look down at your feet periodically and enjoy the walking work of art that is YOU!
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Sherazad Jamal, Free Lion Team

What are your favourite ways to pamper your feet? Leave us a comment below.