Skincare Routine: November 2012

Behind the scenes

I've been meaning to do a post on my skincare routine for quite a while now (the photos were take on a sunny day in September!) I've been building my current skincare routine since early 2012. I have gradually introduced new products into the routine and continue using products that worked for me and gotten rid of those that don't. As a result, I now have a fairly solid skincare routine that I have been using since mid-summer. I am extremely happy with it and will continue using most of the products for quite a long time to come. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try anything new ever again but for my main items - cleansers, moisturisers and make-up removers - I am content not to be on the lookout for new alternatives. Items like scrubs and masks, I'm not quite as loyal to but still extremely happy with my current choices. 

Firstly a quick skin bio. I have had dry skin all my life. Just about a year and half ago I started to get more and more breakouts and about this time last year my skin was in a very bad state. My whole face was throbbing with the amount of active breakouts on the lower half of my face, I couldn't even sleep on my side it was so bad. This was certainly a shock to my system having gone through my entire teens with about two spots a year. I went to the doctor and got a prescription which was the main thing that helped to clear up my acne and get it out of my system. It took from November 2011 to February 2012 to clear up to any kind of normality but once the active stuff was over with, I was still left with a visual mess of angry, red, scarring and discoloration. That's when my skincare routine sprang into action.

All the products

It does seem like I use an insane amount of products but I have tried using barely anything to using even more than this as well as using extremely expensive products and extremely cheap products. What I have now is my happy medium and it has been working extremely well for me.  

Morning Routine

(1)Using a facial wash in the morning just dries out my skin so I just cleanse instead. I use the La Roche Posay Toleriane cleanser and I find it both gentle and effective.

(2)When I feel the need to, I follow that up with the Kiehls Cucumber Toner which is the gentlest toner I have ever used. 

(3)Most mornings, unless I have used the Kiehls toner, I will spritz my face with the Caudalie Beauty Elixir. I find it very refreshing although the smell does take a while to get used to. 

(4)While I wait for this to sink in I apply the Origins Gin Zing eye cream to the eye area. I've been using this for most of the year and I must say, the longer I use it the more I like it.

(5)Finally I apply my moisturiser, which is another La Roche Posay product, the Toleriane moisturiser. This is a fantastic moisturiser for dry skin, it's thick yet still sinks in quickly enough to make it suitable for a daytime moisturiser.

And that's it for the morning!

Night Routine

(1)The first thing I do is remove my make-up with Bioderma. Bioderma has been extremely hyped up in the beauty world this year and I have to say that it is definitely worth the hype. It removes all my make-up  and is suitable for both face and eyes. It does't sting my eyes which is something that usually happens me with make-up removers, so this is a real bonus for me obviously!

(2)After I've removed my make-up I cleanse with Purity by Philosophy cleanser and I use this in conjunction with my Clarisonic Mia. This is a  fantastic combination for deep cleaning your skin. It definitely had an effect on the overall apperance of my skin (acne scarring, pigmentation etc.)

(3)I then tone with the Kiehels cucumber toner.  

(4)Next if needed, I apply the Origins Super Spot Treatment to any spots or pre-spot areas. Sometimes I use tree tea oil, if the area is very sore or red. I mainly use the tea tree oil to clean any extra make - up from around my nose piercing. 

(5)About twice a week I use the Bio-oil on acne scarring to help it fade. I used to use it more, but the scarring is quite well faded at this stage. 

(6)Finally, the last two steps are the same as the morning routine - I apply Origins eye cream and La Roche Posay moisturiser.

Extras

The extras are items such as exfoliators and masks that I use once to twice a week.

My two favourite scrubs are Kiehls Pineapple and Papaya Facial Scrub and MAC's Volcanic Ash Exfoliator. The Kiehls one is very gentle on the skin so I use that more often as it is less abrasive. When my skin needs it I use the MAC exfoliator as it is slightly harsher. It leaves my skin feeling very clean and refreshed.

The La Roche Posay Eau Thermale spray is a refreshing spray that I spray liberally after using one of the exfoilaters. I also sometimes use it instead of the Caudalie Beauty Elixir. 

Finally I have 2 masks that I like to use. The Bosica Black Mask is a proper mask that you leave on for about 15 minutes before peeling off. It is a product that I have instantly seen glowing results with. 

The Origins Drink Up Intensive mask is an overnight mask. It is basically like a thick moisturiser. it smells beautiful and works extremely well in rehydrating my skin.

Well done if you've made it to the end of the post! 

What's your ultimate skincare item?

Clarisonic Mia Review

I’ve had the Clarisonic Mia since early January this year so I feel now I can give my  true review of it.

So how did the ‘big, electric toothbrush for your face’ work for me? Amazingly well.

What was my skin like prior to using the Clarisonic? Last November my skin was in the throes of acne breakout. I started taking medication for it and by Feburary it had improved but I still had patches of active spots as well as deep, red angry marks from now dead spots. In short, I was very displeased with my skin.

How did I use it? For the first month or so I used it twice a day, morning and night. The cleanser I used in the beginning was a No7 one that I already had. It was okay but not fantastic so after that first month I changed to the Purity cleanser by Philosophy and that's when I felt the real benefits of the Clarisonic. The red acne scarring began to fade, my lovely 'ruddy-toned' Irish cheeks became less noticeable,  new breakouts were rare, my overall skintone evened out and my complexion looked brighter.

My thoughts now. I really feel that the Clarisonic played a huge role  in reverting my skin back to the way it was prior to my sudden onset of acne.  My skin is in the best condition it ever has been. It is soft, supple and hydrated. I now use the Clarisonic only at night, after removing my make-up and I feel that is sufficient use of it for me currently. I use it every day that I've worn make-up (generally 6 out of 7 days) but if it has been a make-up free day, I forgo using the Clarisonic and just use my morning cleanser at night. 

Final Words. If your skin is already in great condition, I don't think you need to shell out the €150 odd euro for it. However, if you have problematic skin and have tried numerous different treatments/products and think the Clarisonic will work for you, it is definitely worth the money. It's not going to perform magic overnight but you should see positive progress within a month. Remember though, skin takes time to heal so try to be patient with it and avoid been overly harsh.

I will have a full skincare post up shortly, so watch out for that!

Collective Haul: January 2012

We're finally at the end of January. I have to say this felt like the longest month ever. It's not that I hate January like some people but it just really feels much longer than a month since Christmas and New Years!

This month turned out to be pricer than usual due to the splurge on a Clarisonic. I've been using it for just over 2 weeks, and whilst that is definitely no proper timespan for a review, I do feel that it is making a difference:) 

Check out this post and to see more pictures of the skincare items and this one for the hair products.

Face Stuff

Vichy Aera Teint Foundation, Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation.

Mac eyeshadows in Black Tied and Contrast, Bare Minerals Well Dressed, Benefit Hoola.

Mac 109 Brush

Lip Stuff

Mac Lipstick in Creme Cup and Impassioned.

Revlon Colourburst Lipgloss in Gold Dust and Hot Pink.

Nail Varnish

No 7 Milani, Totally Teal, Tangy, Highland Mist (All bought with No7 Vouchers!:)) Chanel June, China Glaze Atlantis, For Audrey and OPI Glove You So Much.

I have a feeling that next month is going to be a bad one as well due to new MAC collections and new OPI and China Glaze collections:/ March will have to be a quiet month I think!!

New Skincare Stuff - Clarisonic and Origins

 So my skin and I have being having a few disagreements as of late. Some minor but mostly major disagreements including a housing estate worth of spots that have taken permanent residency on my jawline and chin (without prior planning permission I might add). My favourite has to be the most recent one, though, where my skin went and completely overreacted to some product and decided to flake away a few layers of skin, leaving raw, sore and exposed skin on my cheeks. It didn't care what I thought, it just went ahead and did it. 

I decided that enough is enough. As a permanent separation from my skin is not an option, I decided to bring in a meditator to help bring a balance and happiness between my skin and I. The mediator comes in the form of the Clarisonic Mia. 

I'm sure most of you have heard of this device, which the Americans have been buzzing about for the past few years, but if you haven't, the Clarisonic is essentially a giant electric toothbrush for your face which offers deep cleansing and should assist in acne reduction and discolouration of the skin.

I have read so many promising reviews of it, so I really hope it makes a difference to my skin. Not that it is important but once I decided to get one, one of the longest decisions I took to make was which colour to get lol! I was torn between the lavender, green and yellow. Green is my favourite colour so I almost went for that but then decided to go for the primrose yellow as it will be like a little ray of sunshine to use every morning:)

Whilst I was on a new skincare binge I decided to go all out and get 2 more cult favourites, both from Origins. The VitaZing moisturiser and the GinZing eye cream.

I'm going to be using these from now on and hopefully in a few months when I do a review it will be of me gushing about how much I love them and how they have given me the most wonderful clear skin!

A word of warning: if you are ordering the Clarisonic online you may be caught by customs. Although I ordered off a UK website (Feel Unique) I was still stung with a €44 customs charge. I was certain that you couldn't be charged customs within Europe, but obviously I was wrong:/ 

Products I am looking forward to 2012 edition

Happy 2012! I decided to do a fun little post about what new beauty products I'm looking forward to trying this year.

Most of the items are from new collections that are coming out very soon. I'll start with nail ones!

OPI

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The Nicki Minaj collection. This is a 6 piece collection and I suppose it is on a similar vein to the Katy Perry collection which was released at the same time last year. Black shatter was introduced to us with that collection and there is a plum coloured shatter included in this collection. I've heard that this is probably going to be the last shatter going to be released by OPI. I can't say that I'll be picking it up myself, I bought the original shatter and while I really like that I just was never that enamoured with all the coloured shatters that started doing the rounds. As for the colours from the collection I like all of them, there are three cremes and two glitters, including a bar glitter! I don't have any bar glitters! More than likely I will pick up all of these, the only possible exception being the grey black glitter one as it looks very similar to the recently realeased Tinsel Town from the China Glaze Let it Snow Holiday collection. I'll decide once I see some swatches and comparisons!

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The other OPI collection that I'm excited for is the main Spring/Summer 2021 collection which is called the Holland collection. No joke I think I'm going to have to get this entire collection. From what I've seen so far, it is a superb collection and definitely the best main OPI collection that I've been aware of, since I became interested in their newly released collections. And that's me still in my newbie state! 6 of the colours are beautiful cremes and the other 6 have gorgeous flecks of glitter going through them! I don't think the collection is out until February but I can't wait to get my paws on them!

China Glaze

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The Prism Collection is being released for Spring 2012 and it is a 6 piece collection.The stock pictures seem to show that they are holographic glitters - should be fun!

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Another China Glaze collection that I'm looking forward to is The Hunger Games - Colours from the Capitol collection. I've read the book series and can't wait for the film, so I think it's only natural that I'm looking forward to the nail varnish collection! I think this collection has a great range of shades but the ones that I'm looking forward to most are Smoke and Ashes, Electrify and Luxe and Lush.

Essie

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Essie's Spring 2012 collection looks very promising as well. It contains 3 brights and 3 lights and one of the shades called Navigate Her looks to be the most amazing pistachio green!

Chanel 

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Oh how I blame Sarah from Saloule for my interest in Chanel's nail varnish! I  avoided them for as long as I could but once Péridot came under my radar, I succumbed. There are 3 fabulously bright nail varnishes out for Spring 2012 named April, May and June and the colours are gloriously happy. I want them all but I don't know yet if I can warrant getting the lot so if I had to pick a favourite it would be June.

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Another Chanel release that I'm looking forward to is their new foundation, the Perfection Lumiére which is supposed to be the replacement for Pro Lumiére. I've tried Vitalumiére Aqua before and I really liked it but I think I'm going to try this new one as I've heard such great things about it. That it's suitable for different skin types and leaves a lovely finish. It's released in Ireland on January 13th I believe, so not too much longer to wait now!

MAC
There's no way I couldn't be excited about some of the gazillion upcoming MAC collections! Some of the ones that I'm looking forward to the most is the Naturally collection, Iris Apfel collection, Shop Shop Shop/ Cook Cook Cook collection and the Mac for Chen Man collection.

Out of all those, I'm really excited for the return of the Tendertones in the Shop Shop Shop/ Cook Cook Cook collection as there seems to be a lot of love for that product and I'm excited to try it out for myself!

Revlon
Lip Butters! I'm sure you have all read about them on American blogs or YouTube videos. They're basically a tinted lip balm and I want to try some so bad! I believe they're being released here in March so I'm glad that we're actually going to be getting them!

Urban Decay
The Naked 2 is being released! Yay! Do I need it if I have the original Naked? Probably not, but i'm still excited

Clarisonic
Now this is certainly not a new product but I hope to get one at some stage this year so I'm looking forward to trying it out and hopefully it will work as well as people say it does!

What new products or collections are you looking forward to this year?