Skincare Routine | Night

So, if you haven't already seen my day/morning skincare routine you can see it here. It's a bit of a long post but it tells about all the pesky skin problems that I'm trying to combat with my routine. I have a slightly different routine at night than I do during the day so I thought I would share that with you today! 

Biore Warming Anti-Blackhead Cleanser link, Clean and Clear Refreshing Facial Scrub link, Tea Tree Cleanser and Toner link, Good Things Stop That Spot Treatment Gel link, Purity Overnight Regenerating Moisturizer* link, Lancome Bi-Facil link, Clinique All About Eyes link & Blistex Relief Cream

A few of these products are interchangeable with other products, but the idea is all the same. 

The first thing that I do is take of my eye makeup, and any other stubborn makeup I may have on my face like lip stains of anything like that. I find that an oil based makeup remover works better for this and at the moment I'm using up a small Lancome Bi-Facil that I got free when I brought a mascara. It's a really good makeup remover and you only need a small amount, once you've shaken it up, to remove both eyes. I just put a little on a cotton pad, rest it over my eyes for a few seconds and the wipe away. 

After I have got that off, I will was my face with one of my scurbs. I find using these at night works best for me so I alternate between two scrubs. The Biore Warming Cleanseris a brilliant scrub but I find it to abrasive to use every day so I use this twice a week, and all the the other times I will use the Clean and Clear Refreshing Facial Scrub. 

The Biore Warming Cleanser is meant to warm on contact with the skin, which is does, and help clear away those pesky blackheads and clean out your pores. I think it's a brilliant scrub and really helps keep my problem blackheads at bay. 

The Clean and Clear Refreshing Facial Scrub is a great every day scrub. It is just abrasive enough that I feel it's doing something but not to abrasive that I can't use it everyday. It gives my skin a good clean and gets all that gross dirt and grit out of it. 

 After washing off the scrub, I'll put some of the Tea Tree Cleanser and Toner on a cotton pad, and run it all over my face. This gets off any dirt that might be left and also tones my skin. I don't really love this cleanser/toner, but it's working for the moment and I will use it up. It's great for an affordable option, but the peppermint smell isn't something I'm a fan of putting of my face and it tends to make my eyes start watering if I get anywhere even close to them. 

After my face is totally clean, I will put on my night time moisturizer which is the Purity Overnight Regenerating Moisturizer. This this is amazing. It's super thick so it's quite intense, but it doesn't make any oily patches worse, and it helps out those gross dry areas. It's all natural which is great, and the stuff seems to be lasting for forever. You don't need too much considering it's so thick and it's cheap too which is a huge bonus. 

Next, I put on my eye cream which is exactly the same as my day/morning one. I layer it on a little thicker now just to give more moisture but as I said before I'm not sure it's a miracle worker and I just use it because I have it. 

After than I put on a nice thick later of the Blistex Relief Cream. This really gives my lips a boost, and helps them for being all dry and gross. If I have a lip scrub at the time I will give them a scrub before putting this on to get away that dead skin. 

If I have any spots, I'll put on a bad of the Good Things Stop That Spot gel, but if not the lip cream is the last thing and I head off the bed.   
  
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Skincare Routine | Day/Morning

I put off doing this post for quite a while because I've never had a set routine. I mixed things up quite a lot and never really stuck to something but this year I want to clean up my skin! I'm fed up with looking at my giant pores, having them get clogged constantly and having breakouts all over my chin. Since getting into a routine, and ditching the dreaded makeup wipes my skin is better.

 I have a tricky skin type in my opinion. It's very dry, and if I don't have a quite intense moisturizer then I get flaky patches. I also have breakouts around my chine area and on my nose. My pores are huge and get clogs easily too. That's quite a tall order for a skincare product to try and help. Most products for dry skin will not stop/help spots and pores, while products that help clear spots and minimize pores dry out the skin. 

So, I've tried out a few too many products, and have settled into this routine at the moment. The products are working for me, so I thought I would share them with you! I'm going to start with the morning routine that I have going. I tend to use differing products at night because I can use something slightly more intense but for the day time the products aren't too abrasive or intense. It makes it easier for makeup to sit nicely, and it doesn't agitate my skin and make it gross and all red. 

You can see my night time routine, and some random additions in the next few days. I was going to put them all in one post, but this is already to long! Check back soon if you want to know a night routine! 

Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse, LUSH Tea Tree Water link, No7 Beautiful Skin Blemish Defense Serum link, Good Things Stop That Spot link, Garnier Moisture Match for Dull Skin link, Clinique All About Eyes link & Blistex Relief Cream.

So, the first thing that I do is wash my face. I try to use pore minimizing wash and at the moment I'm working my way through the Botanics Pore Perfecting Mousse face wash. It's not my favourite, but I need to use it up and it smells amazing! I would recommend the Clean and Clear Pore & Shine wash over this, but I want to use this up.  

Next up I spritz some of the Tea Tree Water all over my face, and then take a cotton pad a wipe of the excess. It just helps minimize the pore a little more, and it helps treat any spots as well. It doesn't smell the best, but the scent doesn't stick around for long. 

Next I add my serum which is an optional step for me. If I feel I need an extra boost I'll apply a thin layer of the no7 Blemish Defense Serum. I'm not sure if this does anything, but it does fell nice of my skin.

After I let this sink in, I add my moisturizer and eye cream. I'm in love with my moisturizer, which is currently the Garnier Moisture Match for Dull Skin. It's a gel formula that is meant to wake the skin up as well as moisture it. In my opinion. it's a dupe for the Clinique Moisture Surge. It's got a similar formula and it leaves the skin feeling pretty similar after. I will think twice before getting the Clinique version now I know about this.  

My eye cream is not something I fussy about. I don't need any of that anti aging stuff because I'm only 19, and I just want something that is going to decrease my puffiness. The Clinique All About Eyes is meant to do that but I can't tell a huge difference. It adds some nice moisture to the eye area which is a bonus but I don't see a decrease in the puffiness.

 After letting the moisturizers settle into my skin for a while, I'll add the Good Things Stop That Spot treatment to any problem areas if I need too. I can't say I've noticed an huge difference with this, but we can live in hope that something will help my spots. It doesn't leave anything dry of flaky so it works great for a day time treatment. 

The last thing in this routine is the lip cream. I have the worse dry lips, and I actually have severe redness below and above my lips lines. I have tried everything to try and sort it out and nothing has but I find that using this relief cream keeps is moisturized enough through out the day so that it doesn't get gross, dry and flaky. I think this is meant to be for cold sores but it keeps lips really nice, and the cooling feeling you get when you put it on makes me think it's doing something. 

So, that's my day/morning routine and be sure to check back in the next few days for the night and random parts of this!   

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Disappointing Products #1

Disappointing Products #1: Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse, Maybelline Fit Me Foundation 125, Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10, Kerastase Soleil, Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover, Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser, Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque, Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel, MUA Cream Blush in Blossom & Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette.

I have been wanting to one of these posts for a while. I'm not one to shy away from giving something an honest (and if it's bad) and bad review. I think it's important to share a certain balance of good and bad things when you have even the littlest influence on someone spending their money on something. I love reading/watching things like this because I know what to avoid, alongside things that I think I'm going to love. 

With that said, bare in mind that these products don't work for me personally and may well work for you. I have dry, dyed and curly hair along side normal/dry skin with occasional breakouts and huge pores. If you have another hair/skin type these products might work for you. 

Kerastase Soleil Brume Nuit & Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque

Kerastase Soleil Brume Nuit Link

I picked this up from a little salon shop ages ago for something stupid like £2. I thought I would give it a go because I've heard amazing things about the brand. It wasn't even worth the £2 to be honest because it does nothing for my hair. It doesn't make it worse, so that's a good thing but it doesn't make it any better. 

 

Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque Link

This isn't nessesarily bad, but it's very strange. It's not so much the outcome of this that is disappointing or something I don't like. It's a reasonable hair mask, not the best from Tresemme, but it gives some nourishment. It's the texture that freaks me out a little bit! Its got the texture and consistancy of PVA glue. Weird, right? 

 

Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse, Clinique Take The Day Off Make Up Remover, Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser & Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel

Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse (Discon)
I picked this up in hopes that I can sort out the crater in my face that most people call pores! They are getting out of control and I need something to help them. I am trying something at the moment that seems to be helping them out but this did nothing for my skin. Sure it's a nice enough face wash, but it does nothing for my pores. Not really what I wanted, so it's a bit of a disappointment. 
 
Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover Link
For the price, this was rubbish. I managed to pick up a makeup remover from Garnier that was about £2, that was 100 times better than this. This is was a whopping £16 and it works well enough but not good enough for that price. I used it because I didn't want it to go to waste but there are better things out there.  
 
Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser Link
I don't get this. I hear people rave about it all the time so I picked it up but I just don't like it or really get it. It doesn't feel like it really cleanses my face and mixing it up intoa paste is messy and just not nice. If anyone wants this, let me know because it's yours if you pay the postage! 
 
Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel Link
I don't like this which is a shame because I love the Aqua Hydrating range from Superdrug. This just doesn't do anything and it's really tacky when you put it on. It doesn't hydrate my eyes and I can only really use this at night because of the texture it leaves on my skin. It's cooling I suppose which can be quite nice on the eyes, but it just didn't live up to expectations.
 

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 125, Maybelline Fit Me Conceler in 10, MUA Cream Blush in Blossom & Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette.

MUA Cream Blush in Blossom Link

I brought this with high hopes. MUA is a brand that almost never fails to impress me, but unfortuantly, this blush did. It had almost no colour pay off, and I couldn't find a good way to apply it. I usually apply cream blushes with a stippling brush, but they didn't work. I hate applying things with my fingers but I gave that a go and while I did see some colour on the cheeks it was really patchy. To top it off, I've had this about a month and it's totally dried up already. Not a fan, sorry MUA. 
 

Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette (LE)
As you can expect, I thought these eyeshadows would be good quality. The palette is about £40 and while is had gorgeous Dior packaging the shadows are not up to par in my opinion. They don't have a good colour pay off and they just aren't as good as some cheaper brands. I didn't buy this from Dior, but off a blog sale but I still regret the money I spent on it and would have been really disappointed if I had paid full price for it. 
 
Maybelline Fit Me Foundation 125 Link
Amazing foundation! Crap colour range. This was the lightest shade they had in my local superdrug, and it's soooo orange it's unreal. I love the finish and how easy it is to apply but I cannot deal with the colour. I saw there was an ivory shade but I saw a swatch and that was super orange too. 
 

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Link
This is a shade thing as well. This concealer is amazing, if the colour matches you. This is the lightest shade that they do, and it doesn't match me. I thought it would because Maybelline light shades usually do but this is too dark and I can't get a away with it. I wish I could because it covers like a dream
. 

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