Everybody has their own morning skin-care routine; my favourite one was a girl on Americas Next Top Model who said she just used different things every day. Honestly, if I tried that, my skin would probably fall off! She did however have gorgeous skin.
Anyway, this is the routine that works for me, and I have been trying to find the ideal skin-care regime for a while now. It has been a losing battle at times; but that's another story completely. I have used these products for nearly 6 months now and there are no signs (so far) of skin falling off or any other nasty allergies so this has been really healthy so far.
Here we go......
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a very naughty girl. I leave my make-up on overnight! *gasp!* I know, its the cardinal sin of womanhood to leave your make-up on, but I do. Therefore, my first step is to take off that make-up! I use the Body Shop Camomile Waterproof Eye Make up Remover. It is excellent, and smells gorgeous.
Next, I like to give my face a wash to make sure there are no bits of naughty make-up left on my face from the previous day. About once a week I exfoliate using a Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub. It's quite gentle on the skin and helps tackle spot development.
Exfoliating works by taking any dead skin cells away, leaving just healthy fresh skin behind. DO NOT over-exfoliate, as you may end up damaging the healthy skin and start to cause a few bits of patchy redness. This is why I only exfoliate once a week. I did go through a phase when I thought you had to exfoliate every day. Big mistake! Huge!
I probably do this the wrong way, but like I say, this works for me. My next part is to use the Aloe Calming Facial Cleanser all over my face. This product smells lovely and has a very calming smell so it does something to destress you (don't think that's it's main purpose, but each to their own) and it is very gentle on the skin.
This cleans your skin just that little bit more and refreshes you a lot. It's like my little wake-me-up in the morning prep for work.
Next I use the Toner in the same range as my cleanser. I apply this using a cotton wool ball and gently apply it all over my face where I will be using moisturiser.
The cleanser and toner do work really well together to prepare your skin for any moisturiser. I don't know how this works but my skin does feel more hydrated and soaks up my moisturiser perfectly so that I'm left with no sticky skin when I have applied my moisturiser, which in this case, I use the Hemp Face Protector which is one of my favourite moisturisers. I used to have really red cheeks (more so than now) and I do use this pretty much every day to hydrate my skin and keep that redness under control. On good skin days I do use the Aloe Calming creams, but I don't like them as much as they are a little bit more runny and sticky once applied.
I was told by a sales assistant that the hemp range is good for people with skin conditions like eczema. I don't know how true this is, so I won't say I know this as gospel. What I will say is that the Hemp range is excellent for really dry skin.
I've only just started using eye creams. I do occassionally have trouble sleeping so I do tend to have a some dark circles under my eyes on occasion. I am using the Aloe calming range one just to keep those products together. The other ones were working so I thought I'd give this a go too. So far it does help to reduce my dark circles. All I do to apply this is I use the tiniest dot of cream on my finger and rub it under my eyes, and just wipe a little over my lid. Why I do this? No idea! I'm a random girl, what I do doesn't have to make sense in my mind.
It's back! I finally bought another tube!!!!
I have missed this product so much! Lastly I use the Benefit Porefessional primer. This helps smooth out your skin and reduce the size of pores. I don't have huge pores anyway but I mainly use this as it makes my foundation last longer and I do feel like my skin looks a lot smoother with it on, and it does help reduce my dark circles even further.
I squeeze a small amount onto my finger and rub it in through circular motions all over my face. This way I know I have covered all areas .
I have known people who use this without foundation over the top, and that is great, but I'm not as skin-confident that I could pull that off. I need my second skin!
PS- sorry about that weird fish-face picture, but my face does look very clean and make-up ready! I promise, no more fishy faces.
Well that is the skin all prepped. Now it's just time to apply make-up. And that is a tutorial for another day.
Until next time,
Byeee!
xxx