Inside the Skincare Drawer

I'm always intrigued to know what other people use in their skincare routines, and mine is something that I don't think I've ever shared on my blog! I do admit, that some products do get changed around and I'm still trying to use everything I feel is necessary but I'm still not 100% with my routine, is anyone? I thought I would share it with you all anyway and maybe some of you lovely people could give me product suggestions, but skincare is something that I really want to completely happy with, you only get one face after all!
So my skin type is oily/combination, sensitive and acne prone, could the combo get any worse? I don't think so! So obviously my main concerns are keeping oil at bay while making sure that acne and redness is reduced as much as possible! I do also suffer from small dry patches which can be a right pain and so I use a mixture of products to target different things! My AM routine starts with the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish which I have been using for as long as I can remember, and I think I'm now on something like my fourth or bottle and that's when you know you love it well! I just find that my skin feels super clean whenever I use this and it's so gentle on my skin -  I do think I use the light version though! But this is a great cleanser for anyone who is starting out in their skincare routine because it's almost a one size fits all! I don't have one toner that I necessarily stick to, but at the moment I have been reaching for my Lush Tea Tree Toner Water because my acne has been playing up and it soothes my skin, while helping to dry out the blemishes! I also have the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic, which brightens up my complexion whenever I use it and this is also great for people with sensitive skin because it contains no alcohol!

I have two serums that I like to use, one of them is The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Serum and I find that this one is great because it hydrates the dry patches on my skin, therefore making the application of any makeup on top a lot easier however I am now on my second bottle of the L'Oreal Skin Perfection Serum which I found really helped the way my skin looked and felt, which is does claim to do! For a drugstore serum it can be seen as a little pricey, but honestly for the price it is worth it! My skin looked healthier and fresher all the time, I do need to pick up a new bottle thinking about it! When I do remember to wear an eye cream, the one I reach for is The Body Shop Vitamin C Eye Reviver Duo which holds a cream in one side and a liquid the other, and what I love about this is that the side with the liquid also has a metal roller ball, so when you put it on it really soothes and cools the eye area! As far moisturiser goes, there is only one that I've been reaching for just recently, and that is The Body Shop Vitamin C Moisturiser which makes me skin look so healthy and glowing while giving it enough moisture to tackle my dry patches but not take my oily areas over board! This also smells so fruity which I love, the only thing I wish this did have was some kind of SPF, but it's great for everything else so I can't complain!
Now moving onto my PM routine, this contains fewer products and because I mostly finish work at 1am, it does mean that I tend to skip steps which I know I shouldn't do! Anyway, to remove the mess on my face, I use The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil that everyone has raved about because it really is that good! It does remove almost all my makeup, aside from waterproof mascara (which we all know is a pain) and I just massage it into the skin before taking it off with a wet muslin cloth, it's as easy as that! I do sometimes use the Garnier Micellar Water after my first cleanse to make sure that everything is gone, especially when I've been wearing foundations like Estee Lauder Double Wear, which really clings to the skin! This micellar could be used as a cleanser on it's own but for me I don't feel like this cleans my skin thoroughly enough! 
Something that has become an absolute holy grail since entering my routine is the Dermalogica Clear Start Overnight Treatment which has really helped with most of my acne, but I will admit that for me this wasn't an overnight transformation with my skin, and I know if I have forgotten to use it because my skin will hate me! Along with this, I will sometimes use the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo and these two together just tackle blemishes to the best of their ability! I do need to find something to help fade my scars now though, oh how I love my skin! The final step in my nightly routine is to use The Body Shop Bouncy Sleeping Mask which I love! This product is something that I feel I will repurchase again and again because I've found that it has really helped how my skin looks in the morning, because it's a mask that sinks in overnight to really plump and brighten the skin! This could be seen as pretty pricey for the brand but I would honestly recommend this to everyone and their dogs!

I also have a few other products that I use in my skincare, just not so regularly and the first of these is the Lush Catastrophe Cosmetic Mask which I could sing and dance about for days because it's that good! I slap a good layer of this on, and it's so cooling and soothing on the skin, that I never want to take it off! But seriously, this has ingredients in that are really good for the skin, and I find that once I've washed this off, my skin looked less red and acne prone which for me is incredible! I also like to exfoliate every two to three days to keep my pores clear and take away any dead skin (tmi?) and for this I tend to use the Garnier Pure Active Exfoliating Scrub which is designed for people with oily and acne prone skin and so I'll keep using this until I find something better! Some of you may have noticed no face wipes yet and I technically don't own any for the face, but I do have a packet of the Simple Kind to Eyes Wipes and the only time I really use these are when I've been wearing an excessive amount of eye makeup that I want to remove before going in with my oil cleanser, as it just makes it a lot easier! And I find that these ones don't aggravate my eye area too much which is always a bonus!
I hope you all enjoyed a little look into my skincare! Do any of you have any suggestions to what to add in or replace, I'm always looking to try new products! Or do any of you use some of the products that I do? I'd love to know!

2013 Favourites

We have landed in the year 2014, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog after feeling a little uninspired towards the end of last year. First thing I wanted to say was that I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year, no matter where you were, or what you were doing!

Second thing is that I decided before the new year started that I wasn’t going to have a resolution because I knew that I wouldn’t stick it, but it wasn’t till I was having a conversation with a friend a couple of days ago that I realised what I needed my resolution for this year to be. And so, I have decided that my resolution is to be happier in myself by the end of the year, because right now I feel as though I could do a lot more to improve my self-confidence and to just feel happy as I am. But I suppose another one of my resolutions should be to update my blog more regularly because I have found that I am awful at updating, apologies for being such a procrastinator.

Thirdly, I have decided that this year, I want to do a jar full of memories, much like a lot of people did in 2013. I have seen the idea on Tumblr a few times and thought I’d jump on the bandwagon this year. And here’s to good year because I already have a few good things to put into it!

I wanted to make a mini favourites from 2013 including a few beauty products that I fell in love with during the past year and I will also include some random favourites, because you can never get enough of those. To start with beauty products, 2013 was a year that saw me trying a lot of new products whether it be skin care or make up, and this was a scary thing for me because I was always one of these people that didn’t like step outside the comfort zone of certain products and brands. But alas, I divulged in new products and found some that have become holy grails and I’m wondering how I coped without them before.

As far as my skincare regime goes, I tried a couple of new things last year and I have used nothing but them throughout the year and these were the TAAJ Himalaya Micellar water which is incredible for removing make up and it just makes my skin feel so refreshed before cleansing or moisturising. The only other product that I have used religiously is the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish hot cloth cleanser which I use after the micellar water and this product just makes the skin feels so fresh and clean (as silly as that sounds) but it is a staple product in my regime and without using it, I don’t feel fully ready.

I wanted to narrow down my makeup favourites because this is literally my weakness and I could just buy a lot of make up and say they're all my favourites. However, I have managed to do it and decided that as far as foundation goes my favourites were Rimmel Wake Me Upfoundation but I will say that this foundation is one that should be mainly used in the summer because while it does do what it says and makes you look more "awake" it can make you look too shimmery and shiny for the colder months. This meant that I had to find another foundation to use in the winter and one that I consistently went back to was Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions which is an incredible foundation, especially when my skin is prone to break out and has a lot of uneven skin tone and redness which this foundation just manages to cover amazingly. So well done Clinique, I don't know how you manage to do it, but please continue. Something that I find myself using a lot of is concealer - damn those blemishes - and so I do like to try out a few different ones to find out which covers my blemishes for me in the most effective way. I wouldn't say that I have a favourite one because I find that the ones I've tried, don't always cover what I'm trying to hide particularly well but the one I have found most effective is Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer - but I do believe the version I have has now been discontinued. This concealer just has a great consistency, with it being thick it does manage to cover a lot but I do find that I have to top it up because it does seem to disappear during the day but that might just be my skin!

There's only been one powder I have used this year and it has been Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in the shade transparent and oh my, it's my holy grail! If you don't want to look shiny, go get it. If you want to set your foundation, go get it. Just go get it! I didn’t really have a staple blusher that I used all year round but I did use the Bourjois Delice De Poudre, not only is the pigmentation in this great for all the seasons but it also smells like chocolate, so that made it a must have!

The mascara that was my favourite for 2013 has been my favourite for a few years now and that is the Maybelline Colossal Volume which I do believe makes me lashes fuller and longer than they truly are, so I will continue to use this mascara in the hopes it doesn’t get discontinued. However, I was introduced to the Benefit They’re Real! mascara last year and this is also an amazing mascara but the only thing I find is that it is difficult to take off and so I tend not to use it as often as my other mascara. It was really hard for me to pick a favourite eyeshadow and so I decided on a few that I used all the time and these were MAC Satin Taupe, MAC Naked Lunch and also MAC Sable. There is just something about MAC’s eyeshadows that I love and I think part of it is the incredible pigmentation in them and they do last all day which is something to look for in an eyeshadow! I have also found the MAC Pigment in Vanilla which I use for the inner corner of my eye and it just brightens the eye and gives it that finishing touch which I like.

As far as random favourites go, this year a new band have entered my life and become an obsession of mine, I first saw 5 Seconds of Summer as One Direction’s support act and I thought they were incredible! Since then I have seen them perform five times and I will continue to tweet them until they know of my existence. Another random favourite of mine is One Direction’s Midnight Memories CD which I know only came out towards the end of the year, but I still fell in love with it before the year was up and so it deserved a mention in my favourites. I think the songs on the new album are a lot mature than the previous albums and I love love love the rocky sound they are going for at the minute, but to be fair, that band could do anything and I think I would still adore them..! The last favourite of the previous year is The Fault in Our Stars and I know that 2013 was the year for this book but I can see why, it’s so heart wrenching you can’t not fall in love with it, I read it too many times and I can’t wait for the movie to come out this year so I can fall in love with the story all over again.