Current skincare-am and pm routine!

Over the Christmas period (which seems a lifetime ago to be honest!) my skin was really suffering and bad skin always affects my self confidence.  I made a few tweaks to my skincare routine and touch wood, it has been the best behaving it has in a long time.

I am no skincare expert but here are my current am and pm routines.  For the record I have combination skin and my skin concerns are cystic acne spots every now and again, mainly around my chin and jawline (had none since the first week of January though touch wood again), enlarged pores and the odd small whitehead and blackhead.

I have learnt so much about skincare since I have been blogging and it is a real passion and interest for me now.

In the morning I start by massaging the MD Formulations Facial Cleanser into my dry skin.  Initially I was using this as my second cleanse in the evenings and it just wasn't fitting into my routine well so I switched it to my morning cleanse and now I love it.  It's a light, white lotion containing glycolic acid so it sometimes tingles when I apply it to my skin.  I feel like it's just a nice light cleanse for the morning and washes off easily without needing a flannel.  Despite the name it does not exfoliate manually i.e there are no grains in the lotion.  MD Formulations will soon be leaving the UK so stock up now if you're interested!

I then spritz my skin with Serozinc which is a Zinc Sulfate solution in an aerosol.  It provides a good antibacterial base for the rest of your skincare.  This is the second or third tin of Serozinc I have used and I have to say I am not enjoying it as much as I first did.  But it is good.  And it's cheap (I purchased mine from an online french pharmacy).  Am looking forward to trying a new hydrating toner when I use this up.

I then apply my eye cream and I am currently using the Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Tone Perfecting Eye Gel Creme.  I have to say I am not very impressed with this-the texture is very silicone based and it actually feels like you're putting vaseline under your eyes.

It does feel quite soothing and it dries quickly but I would not repurchase this.  It claims to brighten and depuff, improve tone and texture.  However I haven't felt like I have seen any benefit from using it.

I have then been using this Perricone MD duo.  They are hideously expensive and my experience with them hasn't been plain sailing.  In fact I stopped and then re-started using them three times before I worked out it wasn't them causing the breakouts I was having (It was, it seems the Kate Somerville Goat Milk cream).

Perricone MD Blue Plasma is a non acidic daily peel.  You put 3-4 drops from the pipette into your palms and then press it onto your skin.   It dries almost immediately and has a slightly tacky finish.  It claims to resurface the skin without causing redness or irritation.  It removes dead skin cells and adds moisture to the skin.  The end result is soft and smooth skin, reduced pore size and diminished wrinkles.  My experience is that it does indeed leave your skin very soft and does not irritate the skin.  I have been using it for about 10 weeks now but I haven't seen a noticeable reduction in pore size (a big concern for me).

Cold Plasma is complimentary to Blue Plasma and is applied after applying the Blue Plasma.  It's a light gel/serum that absorbs easily and quickly and claims to tackle the 10 most visible signs of aging.  I found the more I used, the more my skin liked it.  A more is more approach.  I would love to buy this for my mum and get her into a proper skincare routine and see if she likes it.  I have felt my skin has been more radiant since using the cold plasma but not enough to make me want to repurchase it right now.  I am 33 and so aging is becoming a concern but not enough to justify the price of this, as after 10 weeks I am now on the last dregs of the jar.

Finally, before I apply my make up I apply a thin layer of this light moisturiser.  My skin does not like heavy moisturisers at all, hence why I don't use one in the evening.  It really does like this light fluid from Caudalie and I would definitely repurchase this moisturiser.  It doesn't give a very matte base but it absorbs instantly meaning you can get to work on your make up.
 

In the evening I take a little more time over my routine, although in total it doesn't take me more than 5 minutes.  I remove my eye make up first, usually with the Garnier Soothing 2 in 1 make up remover-it's cheap and effective and I get my mum to bring it for me from the UK or bulk buy when I come home.

I then use the Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel to remove my make up.  I wear make up every day (unless I am literally dying with illness) and so I want to ensure I really thoroughly remove it at the end of the day.  I have been using a lot of balm cleansers in the past six months-like Emma Hardie, Elemis, Clinique Take The Day Off etc so this was a bit of a departure for me.  But it is amazing.  It's a peachy scented gel that you apply to dry skin and then emulsify with water.  It's really easy to spread over your face and doesn't have that 'I'm spreading thick honey all over my face' feeling you get when you apply something like Emma Hardie.  I rinse my face and then finally remove any excess with a damp flannel.  This is important otherwise I can feel like I have a film on my face.  It feels very gentle and can be used around the eyes and leaves skin feeling clean and soft.  I have already purchased another one.

As my second cleanse I am using the Zelens Radiance Luminous Facial Cleanser.  To be honest I am just using this up and haven't been terribly impressed with it.  There is nothing offensive about it, it just hasn't blown my socks off considering it costs about the same as gold!!

Again I massage it into dry skin and then rinse and flannel off.

For my second cleanse in the evening I normally look for a cleanser with skincare benefits (usually for me with an AHA) but I would say this Zelens cleanser is a basic cleanser at best and I wouldn't repurchase.

Double cleansing is something I have been doing for about a year now after reading a lot of posts on Caroline Hirons blog and I have noticed a real difference in the clarity of my skin.  Using a flannel has also been an absolute game changer for me in my skincare routine-so cheap, so simple and so effective.  I literally own like a million now!

I then apply my eye cream-I am currently using the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye.  This is an excellent eye cream, it's nourishing whilst being very lightweight, I have seen a visible difference in fine lines and dark circles and I would definitely repurchase.  It absorbs really quickly as well.

 

I then move on to my double tone regime.  I am currently using the Biologique Recherche P50W toner as my exfoliating toner which I apply first, sweeping it over my skin with a cotton pad.  P50W is the mildest of the P50 formulas and something I wouldn't buy again.  I like the tingle of an exfoliating toner-the AHA's bursting into action on your skin.  Again this is crazy expensive and I do not think it any better than the much cheaper La Roche Posay exfoliating toner or the Michael Todd AHA Lemon toner.  But I do love a good exfoliating toner-they exfoliate your skin by removing the top layers to reveal new shiny skin underneath.  They add radiance.  They fade old scars.  They give you baby soft skin.  They kick start your skin into renewing itself.

I then spray with Serozinc as my hydrating toner step.  As I mentioned above I am not enjoying this toner as much as I have previously and am looking forward to trying something new when this runs out.  But my skin does seem to like this combination and has been largely blemish free since the start of 2014.

You can read about the benefits of double toning from my post here.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not use a night cream in the evening but I do use a serum or an oil.  Currently I am using the La Roche Posay Effaclar Serum and the Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil on alternate evenings.

With both of these products I apply 3-4 drops from the pipette into my fingertips and then press the product into my skin before lightly massaging.

The La Roche Posay Effaclar serum is a fairly viscous but non oily serum that smells slightly clinical.  Again this contains 2 AHA's-a glycolic compound and LHA and states it refines pores, smooths wrinkles and boosts radiance.

I've found that this serum in particular seems to stop upcoming spots in their tracks and has been good for fading acne scars.  My skin also feels so soft after using it.

The Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil is an incredible recent discovery and I recently wrote a full review on it here.  It is slightly heavier than the oil I was using before this one (the Kiehls Midnight Recovery) and I was worried when I first started using it I was heading for breakout city.  But my skin was so bad I was desperate and this seemed to get rave reviews.  And from the very first usage it was love.  I don't know how it does it but this oil absorbs oil.  Seriously it actually regulates and controls oil.  When I wake up the next morning my skin is less oily and less shiny.  I don't get it but I like it!  It smells heavenly as most Clarins products do.  I use 4 drops pressed into my skin and then leave it to do its thing.  This oil is specifically for oily and combination skin and contains rosewood, geranium and lotus extract.

The only problem I have at the moment is that some of these products are now on their last dregs-the Clarins and MD Forumlations cleanser, Serozinc, the Cold Plasma and the Caudalie moisturiser will all be in my Feb empties.  Thing is, I love trying new things so my routine will still be shaken up again!

Oh and one thing I did forget to mention, and it literally is a holy grail product for me is Alpha H Liquid Gold-which I reviewed here and is one of my all time most viewed posts.  I always have a bottle of Liquid Gold in my bathroom and use it whenever my skin feels like it's going to break out.  It's a little miracle worker and I strongly recommend it for anyone with problem skin.   You can see my before and after pictures in the post I have linked in.

Do you use any of these products in your routine? 

The New Additions

Hello lovelies!!  It was my first day back in the office today-it was a bit of a shock to the system when the alarm went off at 6.45am! I had a bit of a comedy gold moment this morning, I was all dressed up in a new dress and new shoes for my first day back and as I was in the kitchen packing up my lunch I turned to leave and managed to somehow kick the cats bowl up in the air which I had freshly filled with tuna flavoured Sheba and their food went everywhere!!!  It was all down the fridge door and down the cupboard doors and all over the floor-and on my new shoes!!!  Had to laugh at it.....

Back to beauty-here's the current new additions to my regime.

Zelens Radiance Luminous Facial Cleanser-bought from Space NK £40, 125ml

I bought this after seeing Anna from VDM rave about it in one of her vlogs but after using if for 3 weeks I am just not sure about it at all and I know I wouldn't repurchase.  I have been using this cleanser as my morning cleanser-applying it to dry skin and then (trying) to wash off in the shower.  The texture is really strange, it's a gel cream that quite frankly looks like erm sperm (I did ask on twitter if it was acceptable to describe it as sperm-like, no one said no!).

If I apply 2 pumps (which is a pretty standard amount of cleanser) it completely sinks into my skin-I can't see anything at all to wash off which feels really strange (I have combination/oily skin btw) and if I use 3 pumps which seems excessive given the price of this cleanser in the first place, it does sit on my skin but disappears as I massage it in.  I have never used a cleanser which does that.  And that makes me fearful to use it to remove make up.  If it sinks into my skin and completely disappears how will it remove the make up off my skin??  My skin doesn't feel particularly cleansed after using it and I just don't feel like it's worth the money.  It's cool on the skin when you apply it and comfortable to use but that's the only positives I can say really.   Key ingredients are Aloe Vera (which is cheap as chips) and Camellia Oil.  I will use it as I am not having any adverse reaction to it but I wouldn't repurchase.

MD Formulations facial cleanser-bought from Look Fantastic on offer at 25% off making it £18.75 for 250ml

Now this is a cleanser I would (and already have) repurchase.  Highly recommend by Rebecca at Be Beautiful I had to try it as I have loved almost everything she has recommended.  If you like skincare, Rebecca has the best recommendations.

This cleanser comes in a massive 250ml size which will last ages-I have already been using this about 4 weeks (I know this is a 'new additions post' but I prefer to test skincare out if possible before giving an opinion) and I use it as my second evening cleanse after my 'make up removing' first cleanse.  This is another gel cream that I apply to dry skin and massage in until it turns white before rinsing and then going over my face with a flannel to ensure there is no product left on my skin.  This cleanser is good at removing make up as well, my skin feels properly clean after using it.

The reason I like this cleanser is it contains a glycolic compound to chemically exfoliate the skin (there are no grains in this cleanser) and reveal smoother, brighter, clearer skin.  Glycolic acid is an AHA and I have spoken about them on my blog before but glycolic acid is a fruit acid which has proven to be the most effective AHA at penetrating the skin to help remove wrinkles and deliver clear, glowing and healthy looking skin.  I use this cleanser daily and sometimes feel a slight stinging when I use it-that's the AHA working.  It's still on offer at Look Fantastic at the price I paid above.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Serum-bought from the US (NYC pharmacy) for about $42

A really strange product that I should hate but I love!

You can't buy this in the UK, I bought mine when I was in the US in March after reading a glowing review from Tiffany at Will Work For Makeup.  Tiffany's was one of the first beauty blogs I ever read and I have been hooked ever since!

I pretty much echo what Tiffany says about the product; it's a very light, non oily serum that absorbs quickly into the skin without leaving any stickiness behind.  I have been using mine every other night after my double tone, pressing about 3 drops from the enclosed pipette over my skin before gently massaging it in.

Again this contains 2 AHA's-a glycolic compound and LHA and states it refines pores, smooths wrinkles and boosts radiance.

I've found that this serum in particular seems to stop upcoming spots in their tracks and has been good for fading acne scars.  My skin also feels so soft after using it.  All good huh?

But (and sadly it's a big but) the second largest ingredient in this serum is alcohol which just doesn't seem right in a serum or from a brand with years of scientific research behind it like LRP.  But the reviews I have seen online have been mainly positive (including people saying it does wonders on whiteheads) but the Paula's Choice website hates this product and really slate it because of the alcohol content.  I can understand why but I have seen then the benefit of using this product.  Would you try it?

Clinique Bottom Lash mascara-bought from Nordstrom for $10-but available worldwide

How how how have I lived without this??  I resisted buying it for the longest time, thinking it was a gimmick and a waste of money.  Before buying this I rarely actually put mascara on my bottom lashes because I was so rubbish at applying it without it smudging everywhere.

This has literally converted me-I absolutely love it.  It has the tiniest brush that gets to all the little lashes.  The brush has just the right amount of product to coat the lashes without clumping and it does not smudge or flake at all, all day.  I have found it seems to just frame my eyes and make them look more awake.  I can't rave about it enough.  Buy, buy, buy!!

Marc Jacobs Face II brush-bought from Sephora in Dubai for approx £30

This is a large, angled foundation brush which is densely packed but super soft and applies liquid foundation brilliantly.  But not only that, you can use it for blusher, powder, contouring, bronzer etc- it's a real multi-tasker.  It's synthetic bristles wash really well and I haven't had one hair shed from it.  Only available in the US and Dubai, if you visit either I recommend checking it out.  I love this one so much I went back and purchased another brush from the range to try.

Pretty much four hits and one miss in my recent new additions.  Have you tried any of these products?  I would love to hear your thoughts.