Skin Routine

I thought I would do you a little post a bout my skin-care routine. I was talking about it on Twitter and wondered if anybody was interested, and a few people were... and here we are.

L-R:

Boots Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover

Shu Uemura Skin Purifier

The Body Shop Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash

Decleor Paris Tonifying Lotion

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub

One:

Make sure all your makeup is removed. I use a liquid eye makeup remover, and then a face-cleanser. I like this Shu Uemura one, but I'm probably not going to repurchase. Both this and the Boots Botanic are oil-based cleansers, and as a chick who likes a shit-ton of eyeliner and is a fan of bright, staining lipstick.. these are godsends, literally. Matte red lipstick stains like hell, and this gets it off. If you're feeling lazy and can't be bothered, cheat and use a makeup wipe and THEN use a cleanser like the Body Shop one (i'll get onto that in a second). Generally I don't use both the Shu Uemura and the Body Shop, as this dries my skin out. To remove eye makeup, dampen a cotton pad with your remover, hold on eye makeup for ten-twenty seconds, then sweep off, removing makeup and mascara.
Two:

Cleanse, cleanse, cleanse. This seaweed one from the Body Shop is inexpensive and great quality. Even if you think you've got rid of all your makeup - you probably haven't. It'll be lurking. If you want to use a deep-pore one, those are great, you can kind of tell when they're working well as you feel really clean and your skin is nice and smooth, but not dried out. This will get rid of any traces of dirt or oil, and everyday yuck like that. If you remove your makeup properly and cleanse every single day, you're much less likely to get spots or blemishes.
Three:

Exfoliation. Some people say this isn't necessary, but I think it's important to do it every so often. If you have sensitive skin, do it twice a week, or something. I find it just helps remove any dead or dry skin, and keeps my skin feeling fresh and smooth. My skin always looks brighter and healthier, and more glowy. Don't use a scrub that's too harsh, or you're scratch and hurt your skin. I've just upgraded from a veryyyyyy gentle one (with barely any exfoliator in it) to this Neutrogena, and I feel like it's on the border of being a bit too harsh, but I'll see how it goes.
Four:

Tonerr. This step definitely isn't completely necessary. Some think they're awesome, others claim that some are too harsh and can remove your nail-varnish (ahem, Clinique..). A good toner tightens your pores and gets rid of anything left on your skin. If you feel like your cleanser does this, leave it out. Genuinely, I have had this bottle for ages now, and only bust it out when my skin is in real need of rescue, but I do recommend Decleor for face-essentials. They're a pricey brand but they're a good name with good products, in my opinion. This is a very nice, gentle product that doesn't hurt or sting, and has a really lovely, fresh smell. Investigate and try out your toners, if possible, and read many opinions before settling on one for yourself. If it stings or feels too harsh, stop using it. To apply, just sweep all over your face with a cotton ball (these seem to work better than with pads, I'm not really sure why).
Five:

Moisture. I haven't included a picture, because I need to buy a new one, but my ultimate favourite is Clinique's Dramtically Different Moisturising Gel (such a mouthful). They do two, a lotion and a gel, the gel is infiniteeely better, imho. It sinks into your skin immediately, leaving wonderful, soft, soft, soft skin. This makes sure any moisture you've removed from your skin by cleansing and exfoliating and scrubbing is put back in, ensuring you don't get dry skin! Simple.

Was this helpful? Do you have any questions..? What is your skin routine..? Let me know! (:

Sincerest Apologies!

Hey guys, I am so sorry I haven't posted recently! I have been trying to do overtime at work so I can save up some pennies, and this involved me starting at 7.30 three times last week and only having one day off all week! To someone that normally works on average eight hours a week, it's been a bit of a shock. And I've generally just feeling a bit low and depressed all this week so I haven't really felt like blogging a great deal, if I'm honest!
Gonna take a minute here to be completely open with you guys. I mentioned in a previous post that I suffer from seasonal-depression, when really I just suffer from depression. I say 'just', it's a very consuming illness. And yes, it is an illness, and a disability.With me, it manifests itself as an intense sad feeling, where I can't get out of bed in the morning, I find it very hard to sleep during the night and find myself sleepy and lethargic all day and nap quite often. I cry a lot and don't want to leave the house. So as you can see, it's not really conducive to blogging.
If you're interested in awareness, here's a link to the Depression Alliance with more information.

Anyway, moving on from that and to something more suitable for this blog, I thought I'd show you something that I've enjoyed doing recently. I was watching an episode of the Graham Norton Show and Kelly Rowland was on it - and she had one of what I am calling ring-finger manicures. She had a bright yellow colour, just on her ring-fingers and I wanted to try out something similar.



On my nails I have China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise (A full picture and review of which you can find here) and China Glaze's Frostbite on my ring-finger, both of which cost £5.99 from Sally's.

I realllllly like this idea. I was worried it would look a bit childish, but I think as long as you use colours that work well together, like this, it looks really good. Turned Up Turquoise is actually a neon, and as such it is matte, but with a top-coat it works well next to Frostbite, which is a deep, frosty blue. Have you done this? Show me pictures! (: