London: Women will spend £25,776 in their lifetime pampering themselves, according to new research.

Each year the average woman will spend £379-a-year – or £32-a-month – on skincare, treatments and beauty products.

The beauty conscious spend the biggest chunk of that looking after their skin, with the average woman splashing out £11,424 on moisturisers and cleansers, in their lifetime, or £168-each-year.

Feel good treatments such as massages, facials and tanning take up another £8,066 during a woman’s lifetime while hair cuts, creams and cosmetics costs a total of £6,286.

A spokesman for skincare and make-up specialists Clarins, which carried out the research, said: ”It’s reassuring that women today have the confidence to know that ‘me-time’ spent in the beauty salon and at the beauty counter is money well spent.”

Women in London spend more than other women in the UK on looking after themselves, splashing out on £801.12-a-year – or £54,476 in their lifetime, more than twice the national average.

But at the other end of the scale Bristol girls aren’t quite as self-conscious, as they only spend £276 a year – or a total of £18,776 in their lifetime.

It’s not surprising women spend so much money trying to improve their appearance – the poll, of 2,000 women,l found that almost 60 per cent say looking their best is the most important thing to them.

A huge 93 per cent of women even think that the way they look has a massive affect on how they feel.

Lynda Tarpey (corr), owner of Pretty Woman, an award-winning beauty salon in Leeds, said: ”A facial or body treatment can work wonders in just one hour to help you de-stress and feel more confident.

”One of our most popular at present is a Radiance Ritual Facial from Clarins which revives tired looking skin that’s lost its sparkle.”

However, more than half aren’t happy with the way they look and eight out of 10 women reckon they are constantly judged on what they look like.

A desperate 43 per cent would even consider turning to cosmetic surgery, with teeth-straightening the most popular procedure followed by a tummy tuck and liposuction.

The poll also found that a lazy 32 per cent of women don’t bother to take their make-up off before they go to bed, with girls in Exeter the worst culprits.

In Cardiff only 20 per cent of women polled wake-up wearing make-up from the night before.

Raj Aggarwal (corr), who runs Cardiff’s Clarins salon, said: ”You can’t put a price on looking good.

”For most people, if they look great on the outside, they feel good on the inside and tend to be happier.”

The survey also found that a quarter of Wigan women reckon their partners would find them UGLY if they didn’t use moisturiser.

A third of Brits admit to wearing fake tan in order to look good with London women most likely to go under a sun bed.

However, one in 10 of those polled think people who spend so much time on themselves are vain and should get a life.

UK BEAUTY CAPITALS – MONEY SPENT ON LOOKING GOOD A MONTH

1. London 66.76

2. Southampton 63.5

3. Liverpool 46

4. Leeds 40.51

5. Birmingham 33.7

6. Derby 31.09

7. Wigan 30.79

8. Belfast 30.43

9. Coventry 29.34

10. Cardiff 28.82

11. Cambridge 27.86

12. Sheffield 27.84

13. Brighton 27.35

14. Newcastle 26.04

15. Bradford 25.74

16. Swansea 25.48

17. Norwich 25.35

18. Reading 24.17

19. Nottingham 24.02

20. Bristol 23.01

FIVE THINGS YOU COULD BUY FOR £26,000

*1 Lotus Elise S

*306 tickets to watch the Spice Girls

*34 weeks at the Four Seasons Resort, Whistler Mountain, Canada

*29 return flights to Sydney, Australia

*314 tickets to Disneyland Paris