Having written about beauty for years, I’m well aware of all the cardinal sins. Don’t set foot in the sun without a sunscreen, don’t waste money on anti-agers that come in jars as opposed to air-safe pump bottles, blah blah blah… One of the biggest beauty rules, however, is to take your make-up off before bed. Like always.

Still, despite knowing what I know, I routinely come home bedonered on free ‘launch booze’ and faceplant into my pillow. When I wake up, I look like a zombie raccoon and my bed linen is streaked to hellin’ gone with mascara.

The worst bit, however, is having to deal with my ‘domestic goddess’ boyfriend who’s reduced to hysterics as a result. Think ‘LEIGH! Do you KNOW how many pillow cases you’ve fucked up this month?! Preen is NOT going to get rid of this! How the FUCK are we going to find a case to match this exact shade of Wheat? Are you TRYING to make my life a living hell?!’…

So. As a result of all the above, I decided to invest in a satin pillow slip that I found on eBay. It wasn’t cheap but I couldn’t find them in local stores or on websites that didn’t require the buyer to jump through several hoops. When it arrived, I wasn’t particularly impressed; it looked like the kind of thing that had been hurriedly run up by a super-bored stay at home mom looking to make a little cash on the side. But hey, it did the job. My intention was to slip it over my boyf’s precious linen and proceed to smother it in mascara until it needed a seriyas wash and then begin the cycle all over again, not caring if it ended up getting stained or didn’t come completely clean after a wash. At the point that it got too nasty, I’d just toss it out and get another one.

Then, typically, once I’d shelled out for the slip, darling Chelle from Dear Deer Decor offered to send me one for free. Vok.

I now really wish I’d known about Deer Dear to begin with as their little slippetijie is sooo much nicer than its eBay predecessor.

I’m now almost tempted to take my bloody make-up off, if only to preserve its fabulosity. But ja… laziness, aside, there are other reasons to sleep on a slip, specifically one made of satin. For one, it doesn’t ‘tug’ on your skin like other fabrics making it kinder on your face. (If you think about how you literally spend half your life asleep, it makes sense to want to lay face on something that isn’t going to contribute to le wrinklies…) Also, if you brush your hair before bed, you’re less likely to wake up a tangled wreck with dreadlocks the size of a baby meerkat. Another bonus? They say satin won’t suck all the moisture out of your skin like cotton can and, according to Chelle, it’ll help to ‘make you look thinner’.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a fab satin pillow slip, I can totally recommend Dear Deer. They come in three colours; champagne (cream), white and black and are only R120 a pop. Stockist-wise, you’ll find them at Scar in Kloof street; SuzyQ in Gateway and can order them via the mail by getting in touch with hellodeardeer@gmail.com. Delivery to any post office in SA is free.

Love, love

Leigh