Skincare of the Week 11.10.15

No blog posts last week because I was unwell last Sunday and I simply couldn't face writing in the slightest.  I still kept up with my skincare routines though, because I do (occasionally) have standards ...  The routine above was a night-time one mid-week, from when I had a congested chin - complete with zit!  I haven't had a zit in a couple of years now!  Stupid hormones - I'll be reviewing the Pixi Skintreats Glow Mud Cleanser in full tomorrow, but I found that a mixture of the Overnight Glow Serum (a gel formula with 15% glycolic acid) on the congested areas and the Nourishing Sleep Mask (which contains lavender and hyaluronic acid) on everywhere else really, really helped.  The zit was only in place for a day or two, which was nice...

Another night-time routine later in the week had me trying these Elizabeth Arden Skin Illuminating Advanced Brightening Night Capsules, and I'm looking forward to using these a couple more times, as the texture of the formula is fabulous, and I was left with lovely velvety smooth skin in the morning.  Hopefully they'll be like that every time!

For more daytime routines, please join me after the jump.

What's on my face this week? 27.09.15

I'm coming to the end of my "testing phase" with a few products right now, and to celebrate I'm going to be having a bit of a skincare week on the blog from tomorrow, so look out for some in-depth reviews from then.  In the meantime, here's some pictures of the routines I've been using.  Above is Monday's faceful, I'd dug out some old Aesop faithfuls from the stash, and you'll be seeing quite a bit more of these now we're heading into cooler weather.

Tuesday's face was mainly blue - I brought my Serozinc back out of semi-retirement - and this was a nice routine.

Wednesday brought back Bioderma, no one does these soothing and healing sprays (especially good for skins prone to redness as mine is) like the French skincare brands.

More after the jump.

Skincare of the Week 20.09.15

Or, welcome to another week of what I plaster onto my ugly mug ;)  I'm still trialling Omorovicza Blue Diamond Eye Cream, and Zelens Intense Defence Antioxidant Serum, though I was thwarted a bit in testing this week through circumstances, as we'll see.  This was Monday's face, and I forgot to photograph the moisturiser ... :sigh: I wasn't made for Mondays.

Tuesday arrived, and I thought I'd try my L'Occitane Immortelle Precious Mist in place of my Bioderma Crealine/Serozinc sprays, and I'll be using this  a couple more times before I form a real opinion.  Aside from that, this was a pretty standard routine for me.  Oil cleanse, acid tone, moisture tone, serum, eye cream and moisturise.

On Wednesday, I "shopped my stash",  and brought out some autumn favourites, the Aesop Parsley Seed Facial Cleansing Oil, and  B & Tea Balancing Toner,  I do like to change my skincare around with the seasons, and as I have combination-oily skin with sensitivity issues, this is a good combo for my skin with my usual favourites around them.

Then on Wednesday evening a MUA in Harvey Nichols burnt my face with a cleansing foam, and I had to go back into crisis-mode ...

Skincare of the Week 13.09.15

Last Sunday was a very stressful day, so I ended up giving myself a mini-facial in the middle of the day.  Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel was soothing with its rosy softness, then I slathered myself in Aveda Intensive Hydrating Mask for the rest of the day.  I love this stuff, oil-free, it is instantly cooling and soothing (I keep mine in the fridge.  That reminds me, I need a bigger fridge), and leaves you plumped up and less red and angry-looking.  As I'm approximately 2/3rds sheer grumpiness, this is a minor miracle, I'm sure you'll agree.

After a stressful Sunday, I needed a treat come Monday morning, and when that happens, I reach for the Zelens:

I've been trialling the Intense Defence serum for a few weeks now, there's a full review of it upcoming, but I like this.  I like this a lot.  If you have tendencies towards sensitivity and redness (as I do), you'll probably like it too.  I paired it with the Z Recovery Intensive Repair Balm, as that is probably my second-favourite Zelens product of all time.  A non-greasy balm (actually more of a rich gel-texture) this nourishes and just makes skin look fab after using.  Any time my skin is a bit stressed, or dried out, or over-stimulated with active products, I reach for this, and my skin is usually much the better for it after one application.

A tiny catastrophe on Tuesday when I couldn't find either my Bioderma Crealine spray OR my beloved La Roche Posay Serozinc, so I had to dig out my Caudalie Grape Water.  I actually like the grape water, but the other two are much better for my rosy-redness, so it wasn't really the end of the world.  I added in the Ren Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Water, as, for some reason, I woke up with mascara smudges.  My waterproof eyemakeup remover has gone walkabout, and I paid the price on Tuesday.

More about this routine (and why it was so special) after the break ...

Wedding Preparation - My Current Skincare Regime

Spending a lot of time worrying about a) my skin, b) breaking my nails, and c) my wedding perfume at the moment.  The wedding is eleven days away now (seriously, where the hell has the year since we got engaged gone?), and I thought I'd share some of my routines with you. Nails and perfume will come later, but for today, I'm focusing on skincare.

All I want on the day is clear, soft, glowing skin, no spots, no irritated reddened patches, and no rashes.  So, alongside some cast-iron tried and trusted favourites that can't be beaten, and that I know give results without irritation, I've taken a few actives out of my routine, and swapped them for gentler formulations.  Above you can see my AM and PM routine, which I'll take you through product by product:

Aromatherapy Associates Soothing Cleansing Balm:  My skin can get a little irritated when there are too many essential oils in  my routine, but this is an absolute delight to use, not too scented, it has excellent slip, and I do indeed find it very soothing.  I use this as my PM cleanser, as a tiny pea-sized dollop from the tube (and how much do I love that it has a tube dispenser?  A LOT, is the answer) allows me to both get rid of even the most heavy-duty makeup, and give myself a good facial massage at the same time.  My skin is left calm and glowing after I use this, with no redness.  Result!

Elemental Herbology Delicate Cleanse: I use this gently rose-scented cleansing milk in the mornings, alongside one of my beloved Washi Cloths. It's gentle, and not too bracing, which is just what you want in the mornings.  Unlike many cream-cleansers,  I don't find this drying in the least, and when I want a less-oily cleanse these days, this is the cleanser I increasingly reach for.

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator: I am of the age where I do need some actives in my routine, but at the moment, I am a bit scared of over-stimulating my skin, which can lead to increased redness, and scaly patches when I've overdone something in my routine.  The Clarins Gentle Exfoliator contains glycolic acid, an ingredient I love, but find extremely easy to overdose on, particularly when using it in products containing a higher amount of the acid.  Lactic, and malic acids actually suit my skin better, but this watery fluid has "buffered" the glycolic with other ingredients such as glycerin, which means you still get a light exfoliation effect, but without any drying. I find it suits my crazy-sensitive skin very well, and is non-irritating. I use this every morning, and then immediately follow it with a spray of

Balance Me Skin Bright Hydrating Face Mist: Chock-full of hyaluronic acid, this gently-scented spray soothes away any tingles left behind by the exfoliating toner, and gives my skin an immediate hydration boost.  It's nice to use during the day too, and makes an excellent setting spray for makeup, owing to the, quite frankly, excellent spray nozzle which sprays s l o w l y over a wide area, meaning it's not a rude awakening to spray yourself in the face!  I use this both AM and PM.

Darphin Camomile Oil: I'm very rarely without a bottle of this. For my reddened and easily sensitised skin, it is a super-healing miracle in a bottle.  I use it as a serum both night and day, no matter what other products I'm wearing, and I find it healing, soothing, and also moisturising.  This is a great choice of oil for anyone with troubled skin, and I recommend it to people left, right and centre. This is my third bottle, and I find a bottle lasts for at least a year (I tend to only use it once a day in summer), so, whilst initially spendy, on a cost per wear basis, it's cheap as chips.  I have a backup too, from Decleor, as I tend to flip-flop between the two brands for my essential oil requirements.

Kate Somerville Goat Milk Cream: This turns up  in every skincare routine I do.  Why? It works.  This is my fourth jar, and I am madder than a wet hen that Kate Somerville has been withdrawn from the UK.  Once this jar goes though, I've sworn to try something else, any suggestions?  I have my eye on the "Gentle" range from Clarins at the moment, but I'm open to ideas!

And because wedding preparation isn't limited to merely the bride, here's some products I've forced suggested MrLippie starts to use too:

 
Here we have Facial Radiance Pads from First Aid Beauty, which are great acidic pads (mixture of gycolic and lactic, with lemon and licorice too) perfect for his slightly troubled yet less sensitive skin than mine, which is helping to both even out his skintone and deal with his (occasional) breakouts gently, and Melvita Argan Oil, as his moisturiser after peeling, which again is perfect for his less sensitive skin, and also comes in a nice big bottle which favours his rather heavy-handed application style! 

Hopefully we'll both be glowing on the big day!
        
The Fine Print: Mixture of purchases and samples.

This post:Wedding Preparation - My Current Skincare Regime originated at: Get Lippie on 6th February 2013 at 6am GMT.  All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

My current skincare regime

Don't worry, I'm not going to subject you to pics of my skin with no makeup on - well, maybe just the odd one ...

What I'm using at the moment:

Daily:

Nude Facial Cleansing Oil - I wasn't too sure about this at first, I'd heard so many raves about it, people seemed to really like the smell, and I found it more than a little overpowering, to be honest.  It smells, to me, like hippies, sort of musky, and patchouli-esque.  It's not unpleasant, but compared to the light, fresh and minty smell of the Origins Liquid Crystal I've been using for the best part of the last five years, it's very heavy, and took some getting used to.  But, that aside, I love this stuff, it's a rich, thick oil that melts anything you have on your face, and then rinses away to leave you with soft clean and velvety skin.  And if you don't want to use a muslin cloth with it, you don't have to as it rinses away perfectly well with just a splash or two of warm water.


Next, I sploosh about four or five drops of Elemental Herbology Cell Food Serum onto my face and neck:

It's hard to describe what effect this has on your face - normally I don't bother with serums at all, finding them too heavy and greasy for my face, which tends to lead to breakouts, but this is very light, and seems to just soothe my skin whilst protecting it from the horrific weather we're having at the moment. I just find my skin loves this, lines seem to be smoother, and my skin is altogether more well-behaved when I'm using it. I think it's a product that's very quickly become one of my all-time favourites.

Then, as I described last week, I moisturise with this:

Which is a lovely rich, and matte moisturiser, perfect for cold, wet, wintry days.

Then, on a bi-weekly basis, I've been using this:

Which is the Elemental Herbology Facial Kit, which I wrote about here, I shan't bore you with re-hashing that post all over again, but I will leave you with a shot of it in action:

I think my skin is in better condition than it's been for a long time, and I'm really happy with it. What are your winter skin care essentials?

Organic Wednesday - Neal's Yard

Just a very, very, very quick post today, I'm rushed for time, and I need to gather my thoughts for my Selfridges/Wholefoods saga post tomorrow!

Winter's really set in this week, and it's now officially running up to Christmas, so I thought I'd feature something at least a little bit topical this week: Neal's Yard Frankincense Cream.  I love this stuff, with the change in the weather I find you sometimes need something very soothing and cushion-y to protect your skin, and this moisturiser works a treat.  It's rich enough to protect even my dry and sensitive skin from the weather, but it applies matte, so if your skin is more on the oily side, then you won't find it turning you into a greasy mess after a couple of hours either.

And it smells divine!  Kind of deep, and incense-ish. The scent doesn't linger, but it's a nice smell whilst it's around.  I noticed earlier today that Neal's Yard are doing limited edition tubes of this for £10.50 at the moment, which is an ideal way to try the cream, it normally retails for £20 per 50g jar (pshaw!  I hate moisturisers in jars, so unhygenic!) so if you're needing something a little richer, and not too on the pricey side, this is great.  I got a tube this size free with a magazine a while ago, and it lasted for a couple of months of daily use - a little goes a long way.  That said, I bought stocked up and bought two more tubes at lunchtime! I've been using it for a while alongside Nude Facial Cleansing Oil and Elemental Herbology Cell Food serum, and I can honestly say I love the way my skin looks at the moment - not something I say very often at all. More about the other two products in my daily routine later ...

My products were obtained from Neal's Yard, Kensington Church Street.  No PR companies were harmed in the writing of this post.

Organic Wednesday - Elemental Herbology

A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to meet with, and have a facial from, the lovely Madhvi at Elemental Herbology, and I was delighted by the results at the time.  I was so delighted that I've been trying to replicate the results ever since with this little kit here.

About the company:

"Elemental Herbology was founded by Kristy Goodger, a spa consultant with over 10 years of practical, ‘hands-on’ experience in treating clients, developing spa treatments and operating and designing spas. Combining her outstanding knowledge of herbal medicine with Oriental physiology and pathology, Kristy worked with a leading cosmetic laboratory to develop Elemental Herbology."

In a nutshell, Elemental Herbology believe that as the seasons change, so should your skincare, and, to that end, they provide both a "cooling, calming" summer range of facial and body products, and a "repairing, hydrating" of winter products.  I do, very often find myself having to switch moisturisers once or twice throughout the year, and sometimes, I find the switching of brands irritates my stupidly sensitive skin, and it's nice to know there's a brand out there that's thought of this too.

About the kit:

The Facial Ritual kit contains three of the brands best selling skin masks:

Facial Glow: which is a radiance peel to remove dead skin, brighten the complexion, and improve skin texture,
Facial Detox: which is a purifying facial mask, based on Amazonian Clay to resolve congestion and blackheads.
Biodynamic Facial Soufflé: an intensive hydration and repair mask designed to provides instant hydration and repair the skin whilst nourishing it.

Alongside these three masks, you also get a muslin cloth and a full set of instructions.


How it works:

Once a week, you cleanse your face with your cleanser of choice, and then use the masks in the order as above,  Facial Glow for four minutes, Facial Detox for up to ten minutes, and you leave the Biodynamic Facial Soufflé on overnight.  In between each of these, you give yourself a little steam treatment with the muslin cloth.

The Verdict

This, whilst fairly time consuming, is a real pleasure to use.  Many times, I've given myself a home facial (and, to be honest, I've had some professional facials that have done this too) and been left a reddened, inflamed, and somewhat greasy-faced monster.  What I like about these products is that they actually do what they say they will, and yet aren't overly chemical-laden or irritating to the skin.

To take the products in order, the Facial Glow is a beautifully citrus-scented mask with some exfoliation beads in it, whilst it was on my skin it made it feel a little cooler, which was an odd sensation.  Once it was rinsed off though, my skin very definitely felt smoother, and it felt a lot more velvety than usual.

The Facial Detox is far more familiar to use, as it's a clay-based mask that Elemental Herbology recommend you use only on your "congested" areas.  I smeared a thick layer on my forehead, chin, and around my nose (classic T-zone application, really) and I found it definitely tingled a bit.  In fact it tingled so much that I rinsed mine off after only six minutes, but it didn't seem to harm the overall facial at all.

The Biodynamic Facial Soufflé applies like a light moisturiser, but it's very matte, and doesn't absorb very quickly, which is why I think you're supposed to leave it on overnight.  It was very refreshing not to have something greasy to apply after the other masks, and it smelt a little more flowery than the other two products.

Immediately afterwards my skin wasn't at all reddened, itchy or inflamed, it felt cool and velvety, and I liked the feeling very much.  When I woke up next day, it was even better, the soufflé had totally been absorbed into my skin, and my skin was SO soft, and SO much smoother than it's been in a long time, it was amazing!  The effects have lasted several days now too, and I'm very impressed.  Best thing: no breakouts!  I estimate with the tube size, you'd get at least four - possibly more - full treatments out of this kit.  It says it's to be used weekly, but I think I'll be saving it as a monthly treat for my face.

I'm definitely going to try other products from this brand, the cell food moisturiser and the cleanser are most likely the things I'll purchase next.  I got my kit from Space NK and it cost £40.