Having sensitive skin whilst the seasons are changing can be awkward, certainly I find that I have to be extra careful with the active ingredients in skincare when the weather is at its least predictable. Still being ill with a cough really isn't helping, either. My skin has been on the verge of being really reactive this week (I can usually tell as tiny bumps start appearing on my temples), so I've swapped my routines around a bit, to be a bit kinder to my skin.
I have dropped the acids from my daytime routines and I'm now only using them a couple of times a week - at night. This gives my skin time to recover from using them whilst I sleep, and stops my skin getting irritated by the weather so much during the day. I'm going to avoid using glycolic all over for a while until my skin settles down again.
In other news, I've re-introduced one of my all-time favourite skincare brands back into my routine - namely Kate Somerville. I'm so happy to have Goat Cream (you can see it in my Thursday PM pic above) back in my routine. It's gentle and soothing, and thanks to the lactic acid, it's also ever so slightly exfoliating. I've been using the Pixi Skintreats Glow Peel Pads to exfoliate my chin separately, however, as I have a semi-permanent build up of sebum there, and I'm hoping the 20% glycolic on those pads will help deal with that.
Now, if only these things helped with cold sores ...
The Fine Print: PR Sample
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I've been ill for a fortnight now - why there weren't any posts on the blog last week, sorry! And this is the skincare I've been using to help myself look approximately normal again. It's not working, I still look like death warmed up, but at least my skin isn't blotchy and flaking. For now ...
Monday brought Biologique Recherche Lait, with PixiBeauty Glow Tonic, Murad Eye Cream, Medik8 Red Skin serum (something I'm starting to truly love and rely on), and SkinCeuticals moisturiser - of which there is a full review coming up, because it's a great product on my sensitive oily-combination skin. Oh, and Serozinc, which is an all-time favourite!
Tuesday was the same, only I swapped in Bioderma Crealine spray for the Serozinc (and in all honesty, I use them both interchangably - if you have one, you probably don't need the other), plus I added in Pestle & Mortar Pure Hyaluronic, for more hydration. Tuesday was a long day at the office, and I knew I'd need a boost of hydration to get through the day, but I needed a bit of exfoliation first to make it sink in well, so the morning also brought in my much-loved Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner.
Wednesday was one of those days where I woke up super exhausted, and it was showing on my face, so I wanted some lovely, buffering, comforting skincare, so I dug out my beloved (truly beloved) May Lindstrom Blue Cocoon Balm, which is an amazing skincare product for sensitised slightly reactive skin like mine. A rich balm that melts into an oil, and contains natural anti-histamines in the form of blue tansy oil, I use it as a night treatment mostly, but it's superb at protecting from the weather, on occasion.
Thursday - I'm experimenting with the Kiehls' Ultra Facial moisturiser at the moment, which I really liked in conjunction with the Blue Cocoon Balm, and, just because I could, I did a double-cleanse with PixiBeauty Nourishing Cleansing Balm, and Bioessense Miracle Cleansing Water Cleansing Jelly (about which more soon). I don't normally double-cleanse in the morning , but sometimes you just want to kick things up a bit.
Friday. KATE SOMERVILLE is back in my routine! I received a little package of the products a while ago, and I've been holding onto them (along with the KS products I've been keeping in my fridge for a good few months now too - thanks to kind friends and family who have been to the US this year, and dragged some back for me) till now. You're going to be seeing a lot of KS in the coming weeks, but it's always a joy to use them. I'm currently using the Kate Somerville Nourish Moisturiser, and the Age Arrest Eye Cream, but I'll be rotating a couple of other products in and out of my routine for a couple of weeks. I also have a couple of pots of Goat Cream, but I'm keeping those mainly as night creams right now.
Saturday - I wanted to do a routine composed entirely of favourite products, both old and new ones, and this was the result. Zelens Balm Cleanser, which I left on my face for a good five or ten minutes as a mask before removing (not deliberate, but it felt really nice, actually!) Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner, Serozinc, Zelens Antioxidant Serum, and three (count them!) Kate Somerville products, the aforementioned Nourish and Age Arrest eyecream, alongside Quench Hydrating Serum, which is one of my favourite products ever. I probably need the oil-free version for every day use, to be honest, but I do like to use this on days where I'm in no rush to apply my makeup afterwards.
How has your week in skincare been?
The Fine Print: PR Samples, purchases, and gifts which were until recently kept in the back of the fridge ...
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This was a week of two halves, pre-facial (Monday and Tuesday) and post-facial (Weds-Friday). Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal routines for me, I'd had a bit of an itchy face over the weekend, so broke out some bits and pieces from my "SOS" kit - and more about my sensitive skin routine in detail soon, btw - from Darphin and Clarins to soothe, but it was only a temporary itch once I'd discovered the culprit, which was a night cream I've been testing. Dropping that for a few days really helped cure the itchy cycle!
I've introduced a new eye product, which is the Murad Renewing Eye Cream, which is a slightly thick cream that promises to diminish wrinkles and deal with dark circles and bags. After a week of use, I can say it's good, but that I haven't seen any spectacular results so far! I'll keep you posted. Post-facial, I've introduced some Biologique Recherche products, specifically BR Lait U - a nut-milk based cleanser designed for oil-combination skins, and Sérum Extraits Tissulaires, which is designed to help strengthen and moisturise stressed skin. I can't recommend a Biologique Recherche facial highly enough at the moment, I had mine at EF Medispa in Kensington, and I loved it. So thorough, and with excellent - visible - results for several days afterwards. I was also recommended the cult product Lotion P50W, (which is the sensitive skin version) but sadly they were out of stock on the day. I can tell that I do still need some kind of daily exfoliating product, however, hence the re-appearance of Clarins Gentle Exfoliator on the Friday routine.
In other news, I'm trying to use cooler water to cleanse with - whilst steam is fabulous for skin, I am beginning to wonder if using hot water on my face so much is exacerbating my redness problems. I'll let you know how this experiment goes! The idea of cold water on my face on winter mornings doesn't fill me with joy, I have to admit ...
The Fine Print: PR Sample
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A bit of a mixed bag this week, skincare wise. Looking at the pictures all in one place kind of makes it clear that I have certain patterns in product usage - Pixi Glow Tonic, for example, I tend to use for two days then swap to Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner. The one product I've used consistently this week has been Medik8 Red Alert Serum, which I'm liking more and more the more often I use it. I find it gentle and soothing, and my redness, particularly in the mornings is much reduced. Doesn't make any difference to my redness when I drink booze though ... oops. I really like the Skinceuticals moisturiser too. It's quite a lightweight texture, but it is still plenty hydrating on my combination-oily skin, without leaving a greasy residue. I'll write more in detail about both these products soon, and there's a full review of the gorgeous Votary Cleansing Oil upcoming too.
I've picked up some more of the Pixi Skintreats range this week, as I've been incredibly impressed with what I've tried from the range so far and I was intrigued to try more - you can see the Milky Hydrating Mist and Glowtion Day Dew in Thursday's picture, but I also have the Glow Pads and a couple of other bits as well. And I'm trialling some new things from Dermalogica and Murad over the next two weeks, it's all go on the skincare front, but I'm looking forward to trying them out! Have a few more Christmas-themed posts coming up this week first though ...
The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases
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A (slightly) different format for Skincare of the Week this week ... Also, I've decided to introduce a little Product of the Week award too!
This week was busy and stressful, and coupled with a bout of insomnia, it wasn't really fun. I did have a good facial this week at the Askinology Facial Bar in Leadenhall Market, which is where I discovered Medik8 Red Alert Skin Serum. You can see it in every picture from Wednesday onwards.
As many readers of this blog know; I'm prone to redness, and sensitivity is one of the banes of my existence. I was a bit worried after my facial that a rather, ah ... enthusiastic scrubbing with a physical exfoliant (something I would never, ever do at home) was going to leave me red and sore for the rest of the week, but a few drops of the Medik8 before going to bed, and a few drops in my facial routine the following morning seemed to sort it right out. I've stuck to blander cleansers since though, just in case a flare-up was imminent, but a pinkness crisis seems to have been averted, so far. Just in case though, I've been at pains to avoid essential oils for a few days too - as, with a very few exceptions, they all irritate when my skin is inflamed. This is a shame, as I am loving the Votary range of oils at the moment and, especially, the cleanser, but they are essential oil-heavy, and delicious with it, but are something I need to wander away from when I think my skin is a bit irritable.
But, the real miracle product in my routine this week has been Pestle & Mortar Pure Hyaluronic Serum, and as such, it's my inaugural "Product of the Week"! I picked this up on a whim when I was in Liberty recently - my Hydraluron stocks are running low - and I kind of fell in love with it. A slight bout of insomnia this week (funny thing, I've been interviewing auditors all week, you'd think that would be a cure, not a cause, but I digress) means that I've been aware I've been looking tired - so very tired - when I wake up in the mornings and a quick swipe with two or three drops of this has had my skin plumped up and happy-looking even on the shortest of sleep-cycles. With one of the shortest ingredients lists I've ever seen* in a skincare product, Pure Hyaluronic Serum is vegan and free of things like phtalates, parabens and silicone. It costs £33 and is currently exclusive to Liberty in the UK. If you're a bit tired, snap some up. I'll write about it in a bit more detail soon, but it's great stuff.
*Ingredients list in full: Aqua, *Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, *Sodium Hyaluronate, *Cucumis
sativus fruit extract, Butylene Glycol, *Tocopheryl Acetate,
*Glycerin, *Xanthan Gum, Phenoxyethanol, *Caprylyl Glycol (all ingredients marked with a * are plant-derived)
The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and personal purchases.
This post: Skincare of the week: 31/10/2015 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
