Top Five: Skincare Items

I love skincare. I’ve always been one to look after my skin, even from a young age. My mum always told me to cleanse, tone and moisturize, even before I’d started wearing makeup. So off I’d trot to my school sleepovers with my little Simple skincare pack. I don’t know whether it’s due to that, but I had impeccable skin all the way through school (even through my extremely heavy makeup phase!).

Nowadays I seem to have got all my teenage spots all in one go! My skin is rarely without a breakout and the years of heavy makeup have taken their toll. As a result I’ve been left with extremely dry skin. I’ve tried so many skincare products since I got into beauty. Some raved about by bloggers and some that I’ve tested alone. I’ve realized not only is my skin dry, but it is very sensitive and things that may work for someone else definitely didn’t work for me. So bare that in mind!

Any who, here is a rundown of my favourite skincare bits and bobs that seem to keep my skin relative spot and dry patch free..

REN Clarimatte Clarifying Toner

Even though I used a toner for so many years I did wonder what the point of them was. I basically used it after my makeup remover to see how much gunk was still on my face! After hearing on blogs that the “new” way to exfoliate was with acid toners I searched for a budget friendly option and came across this one. It basically helps to exfoliate and unclog pores to remove dead skin allowing the skin to renew. It definitely helps my skin look more glowing and helps to calm down redness and those pesky under the skin spots. One that I will always repurchase.

Clinique Naturally Gentle Eye MakeupRemover

This is my absolute favourite skincare/makeup removal I’ve ever found – no lie. To my knowledge there isn’t anything out there similar and in my opinion - that even compares to this. It’s pricey for an eye makeup remover at £17, but its creamy milky formula removes eye makeup so well, without having that oily residue that most other eye makeup removers have. It also lasts me a good 6 months, maybe more. I’ve tried a cheap olay version, (trying to save myself some money!) but it just wasn’t as good. Leading me to have repurchased this at least 5 times. Spot on.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

Cleansing waters changed my life, they helped me stop using makeup wipes and I now know my makeup is 100% off before I move on to doing other things. It started with Bioderma the French pharmacy brand. Although hard to track down I ordered one from Ebay in my first year of university and was amazed. Before I knew it they were popping up left, right and centre in Boots and I thought I’d try a cheaper alternative, this being it. It’s just fantastic at removing makeup and doesn’t dry my skin out.

Kiehls Ultra Facial Cream

Moisturizers are one of those areas where I’ve had the least luck. As I’ve mentioned my skin is so very dry, which is always surprising as I don’t have anything like Eczema. Up until finding this the other year I’ve probably tried over 20 moisturisers, oil and serums and all have either felt too light and I’ve still been left with very dry skin or have broken my out. This is a godsend in winter especially and again, another product I’ve repurchased a handful of times.

E45

Here comes the big one. The cheapest product of the bunch is E45. Being specially designed for those with dry skin this is a big favourite for me. I tend to use this at night when my skin gets flakey (I know, pretty gross) and by morning it looks nice and moisturized again. It can be used all over the body so also makes a great hand cream during the winter months!

That was a lot to take in. I’m still eyeing up potential cleansers to make it into my favourites, none have quite fit the bill. Let me know if you have any favourites you think I should try.

Thanks for reading,

Libi xx

A Repurchase: Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

A repurchase in any persons life is quite a big deal. I mean, you've liked something enough to stick with it for the long haul. For me however, using the same thing day in day out is even more of a big deal. Anyone that knows me knows I can't even commit to eating the same cereal every day, it all gets a little too boring for my liking. So to find a foundation I wanted to purchase again, it was a bit of a shocker.

To start with I'll talk a little about my skin type. I have severe dry skin and I am prone to spots most of the time. I am quite pale and in most drugstore foundations I wear the lightest colour. I like a foundation that has a medium coverage but also sits on the dewy and glowing side of the spectrum.

I purchased Nars Sheer Glow for the first time in summer last year during an ASOS 20% student discount promotion. After reading lots of reviews I decided it was worth my money and bit the bullet, purchasing it in the shade Mont Blanc which is the second lightest shade! Since then I have used this non stop. This foundation gives create coverage (it is by no means sheer!), doesn't cling on to dry patches of skin and leaves the face with a radiant glow. The bottle looks tiny but ended up lasting me almost 10 months. Although this is taking into consideration that I sometimes mix it with Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation to give me a slightly lighter colour. I apply it with a damp Beauty Blender as using a brush tends to leave my skin dry looking. It has no spf, meaning it isn't great as a summer foundation, you would have to use sun screen or an spf moisturiser underneath but it is great for flash photography so is a good one for evening wear.

The only catch? It doesn't come with a pump. Unlike Nars' newest foundation this one requires you to purchase a pump separately. It doesn't cost alot, I think it was around £3 but it is an extra expense when you think you are spending £31 on a foundation. However now I've repurchased the foundation I can just re-use my old pump!

Overall, I think this is a great foundation for those with dry skin and for day to day wear with an impressive shade range. I can see myself continuing to repurchase it. Hope this helps anyone!

Libi xx