best for the desk.

left to right: Bach Rescue Remedy, L'occitane Ultra Rich Lip Balm, Origins Peace of Mind On the Spot Relief, Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, Crabtree and Evelyn Rosewater Hand Therapy. 

Recently I've found myself sitting at my desk more and more (I'd honestly forgotten just how much time and effort goes into maintaining a blog), and all that time spent on my swivel chair got me to thinking. Now, it's probably fair to say that some people (naming absolutely no names - mother), might be of the opinion that there's no real place for products of the beauty persuasion on a desk. Amateurs. Whilst I'll admit that it's almost certainly not the place to unpack the entire contents of your make-up bag - although, the urge to fill your desk drawers with colour coded lip products will no doubt be there forever - I still feel that there's always room for a few 'essentials'. And the fact that my concept of 'essentials' has had to be heavily slimmed down for the purpose of this post, is neither here nor there...

I certainly can't be the only one who feels they're able to be so much more productive with make-up on their face. (Or perhaps I am. On rereading that statement it does seem overwhelmingly shallow...) Either way, however deluded it might be, I feel the better I look, the better I perform in tasks - which is why I made the questionable decision to painstakingly curl my eyelashes and apply mascara before beginning revision every morning during exam period... (It's ok, I got a 2:1 - everything worked out fine in the end.)

But spending my entire life essentially chained to my desk last year led me not only to gain a degree, but also to forming a small collection of 'desk friendly' products. Things that I now wouldn't want to be without if I was in for an entire day sat at my laptop. AKA most days in my life. Here's my rundown of the 'best for the desk':

the unstoppable trio.

To kick things off, you always need a bloody good lip balm, and L'occitane's Ultra Rich Lip Balm is exactly that. It's 10% shea butter, which makes it super moisturising, and it happens to have the same scent as their delicious, award winning, shea butter hand cream. It doesn't taste of much though, which gives it top points in terms of lasting power on the lips (i.e. I don't feel the need to lick it all off. Come on, we all do it.) 

The next two essentials are both stress/anxiety related items, two things that were genuinely a godsend during exam period. Bach's Rescue Remedy is essentially a little bottle filled with stress relieving goodness completed with a handy pipette. It's supposed to 'comfort and reassure'. This may well be a complete gimmick, but as I say, it's got me through some tough times, and for that reason alone it deserves a spot on my desk. In a similar vein is Origins Peace of Mind On the Spot Relief. This is a menthol scented cream product that I generally rub into the back of my hand and inhale. You can also put it on your temples, or the back of your neck. It's strangely calming, and if you happen to be a fairly anxious person, like I am, it's always a useful thing to have around. Particularly when there's a lot of deadlines floating around.      

'handy' goodness. i'm so witty.

Next up is hand cream, admittedly something I've been shamefully neglecting as of late, but once autumn truly arrives I'll step it up to at least once daily application. I find Crabtree and Evelyn hand creams to be particularly quick in terms of sinking in to the skin, a definite must for a desktop hand cream - everyone hates heavy hand products in the day, no-one wants sticky keys*...This one happens to be the Rosewater scent, but oddly, Avocado is a personal favourite. Finally, if you want to take things to a completely ridiculous level, you've got Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. That's right, I'm advocating rubbing a cuticle balm into your nails whilst you're working away on your computer. Truly ludicrous. So it's perhaps best I stop there. Besides, I don't want to get cuticle cream all over my laptop...

*A Microsoft joke there for all you technology buffs. But seriously though, who has actually ever employed the use of 'sticky keys'?