Current Skincare Routine

Well, it's two routines really, one for morning and one for evening!  Winter, even a mild winter such as the one we've just had can be hard on my temperamental combination oil-dehydrated skin, so the main thing I add to my routines (AM and PM) is to add an oil.

So, in the evenings, I'll do a deep cleanse with Nude Cleansing Oil, lots of massage, and removal with a muslin cloth and hot water, then I'll tone with Darphin Intral Toner, two - maybe three, depending - drops of Neals Yard Frankincense Facial Oil, then I'll follow this with Neals Yard Frankincense Hydrating Cream.  I'll be honest, I mainly use the Frankincense products for the wonderful heady and intense fragrance, but I've found that they do wonderful things for your skin too.  These are all old favourites and they're the products I come back to every winter without fail.

In the morning my routine is the same, but, different:

  
Because I do a thorough cleanse in the evenings with my nude oil, I just need a tiny wipe over with a touch of Bioderma Crealine in the morning, followed, again, by Darphin Intral Toner (both of which I'm going to have to replace soon, VERY soon), then an oil, and in the mornings I'm using Clarins Santal Facial Oil, which is one of the most beautifully scented facial products on the planet.  Redolent of sandalwood and cardamom, it's a perfect pick me up in the morning, and does a great job of both rehydrating and protecting your skin during the day. Then I'll use a good old dollop of Kate Somerville Goat Milk cream, which I've been using all winter and still love.

My skin survived the winter surprisingly well - in spite of the lack of actives in my skin care - how did you do? 

The Fine Print - mixture of purchases and PR samples,  many of these, however are repurchases.
 
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Christmas Countdown - Gift sets

This week, I'm mainly going to be showing you a mixture of stuff I'm getting for people for Christmas, and the odd piece of random stuff that I want for Christmas myself ...

For Him:

Neals Yard Smooth gift set:

Yes, I'm starting of with a present for a male, I thought why not?  Costing £27, this set includes face wash, moisturiser, body wash and shaving cream, and is an ideal way to introduce organic and natural products to the men in your life.  The smell isn't too overwhelmingly "aromatherapy", they're rather neutral, in fact, but this remains a good value set filled with award winning products from Neal's Yard, I swear by their Frankincense Hydrator at this time of year, and this little box is definitely ending up under my tree for someone this Christmas!

For Her:

Sanctuary Spa Kyphi and Mande Luxury Body Treat Set.

Costing just £20 this is an ideal set for someone who can't make it to The Sanctuary themselves, filled as it is with a selection of The Sanctuary's signature spa treats.  The set contains:  Sensuous Body Souffle, Sensuous Bath Creme,  Sensuous Body Scrub all  in the Mande Lular scent, alongside Kyphi Honey & Lotus Nourishing Bath Creme, with some Kyphi Shea and Almond Body Lotion.  They kindly add in a "Spa Skin Body Polisher", which is a shower puff to you and me.  Personally, I love the good-sized red vanity case you get with this, just hoping the recipient this one is going to this year.


 For Me:

Tom Ford Black Orchid gift set:

Yes, I've mentioned this one before.  But I still want it.  A lipstick, a nail varnish and perfume, all named Black Orchid, this is a gift set to treasure.  And, I promise, I will...

The Fine Print: No samples harmed in the writing of this guide - all links provided for imformation purposes only, and are not affiliate links.

Organic Wednesday - Neal's Yard Wild Rose Elixir

I've mentioned Neal's Yard a few times before, I'm a big fan of their distinctively packaged, gloriously scented and usually highly natural products.  When the chance came up to take a look at their new Beauty Elixir, which is part of their Wild Rose range - I already own the balm, and the facial oil in this range too! - I jumped at it. 

Here's what Neal's Yard say about the product

A nourishing radiance boost for ALL SKIN TYPES

Luxurious new Wild Rose Beauty Elixir is enriched with wild rosehip oil, one of nature’s richest sources of antioxidant vitamin C, proven to help repair, firm and smooth the skin, ultra-moisturising hyaluronic acid, brightening turmeric, an anti-ageing peptide and the pure essential oils of frankincense and geranium. Use morning and evening after cleansing for radiantly glowing skin.

Then, once it arrived, I kicked myself quite thoroughly, as I realised I was already committed to trying out 42, 135,438,431,518 squillion other facial products so I did the decent thing and handed over the £42.50 bottle over to my friend Sarah.  Here's what she had to say about it:

"I'm not really one for make-up routines. My skin's lucky enough to have the makeup washed off it at the end of the day. So when Lippie asked me to test this Neal's Yard Beauty Elixir, I went a bit blank.

Me: "OK, I like Neals Yard. The bottles are pretty. What do I do with it then?"

Lippie: "It's a serum"

Me: "Uh..."

Lippie: "Just put it on before you apply moisturiser"

Me: "That's the greasy stuff in the jar that you made me buy, isn't it?" <-- well, I would have said that, except Lippie had THAT look on her face, so I nodded wisely instead.

Lippie: "Take a picture of your face before you start, then one about a week later, and tell me how you get on. Simple! Now pour me another glass of wine if you know what's good for you..."

I do know what's good for me, and arguing with Lippie isn't. 


I'm 43, with unevenly pigmented, ageing combination skin. It used be a zit factory; now it's just slightly dry.

The serum comes in a pretty, blue, typical Neals Yard bottle. I couldn't see an ingredients list, but the ads seem to imply that it has some kind of rose hip extraction. I suppose that means that it's Good For You. A bit of explanation about what the rose hips actually did for my skin that other plant extracts don't (apart from making it smell purty) would have been nice. I mean, does it calm the skin? plump it up? eliminate blotchiness and at least three of the Six Signs of Ageing?? (It's 10 Signs of Ageing now, do keep up - Ed)

Eventually I found some instructions in a corner of the label, which said, "Apply with fingertips in a circular massage motion".

There was no indication as to how much, so I experimented with two drops.The serum was cool and velvety on my skin, and absorbed after a few rubs. On the hand it felt quite rich, and smelled faintly of roses. My face looked considerably pinker after application, but calmed down after a few minutes. On went the usual winter face, and off I went to work.

Looking in the mirror after two weeks of daily treatment, I'd say that my skin is still unevenly pigmented, but ever-so-slightly pinker, clearer and smoother to touch. Clear smoothness: good. Extra pinkness: not so good. The pre-menstrual breakouts were fairly minimal too, though whether this was down to the serum or actually following a proper moisturising regime, I couldn't say.

As for the price tag; £42.50 is more than I would pay for any kind of moisturiser, especially one that may or may not work. It smells pretty and didn't burn my face off, so I'll probably continue using it until the weather brightens up a bit and I only need a bit of tinted moisturiser to loosen up my face. But I don't think I'll be rushing to replace it when/if it finally runs out."

Okay, whilst this possibly isn't the most glowing review ever (and, I remember the conversation somewhat differently, iirc the wine reference came a LOT earlier!), but, I will say this, I had dinner with Sarah last night, and she was glowing.  I could see the difference in her skin, even if she couldn't! If I could guarantee my skin would look as good after a couple of weeks use, I'd have snatched the bottle back there and then!

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.