When it comes to skincare and makeup and all things girly, I have the same philosophy: if it’s for an event then I’ll go the whole nine yards, if it’s day-to-day I want it quick so I can be in bed longer. And this is how I’ve lived my life for as long as I can remember. I’m too lazy to dedicate serious time on the everyday, I want something that works and I want it instant.
Skincare is something I’ve struggled to find the balance with. I either go too much or too little, and since having acne my skin has been a minefield that I’ve struggled to manoeuvre. However, I think I’ve finally cracked what my skin responds to and widdled it down to 6 key products:
Isn’t micellar water just the greatest gift to come about in the past few years? Before this I used to take my makeup off with proper baby wipes, not even nice makeup removing ones. Full blown Huggies, no bloody wonder my acne started during this dark time.
The Pure Active range has been my go-to for years, and something my oily, sensitive and incredibly spot prone skin loves. And the micellar water is no exception.
It strips away makeup, excess oils and dirt so easily and gently – I use it in the morning first thing and to take my makeup off in the evening. However, I haven’t seen this micellar water on sale for ages, and I swear to God if it’s been discontinued heads will roll.
I never thought I’d be the type of person who would love a precleanse – an additional step to clean my face, but I gotta tell ya I really has made a difference to my skin. It gets off any makeup I may have missed, any excess oils and dirt deeper down in the pores. I feel like when I use this, it gives my actual cleanser an opportunity to work, rather than just scrubbing off the foundation I’ve left all over my nose creases.
Is it weird to swoon over a cleanser? Because hot damn I’m getting hot under the collar. The Dermologica Special Cleansing Gel is gentle, it gets so deep into my pores, it doesn’t leave my skin feeling tight and dehydrated after. It’s just a bloody dream. I use this after the precleanse, it may have something to do with it being in the same range but it has done wonders for my skin.
I won’t lie to you. I didn’t know what a retinol was when I picked this baby up on a whim. I’d just seen people with flawless complexions who actually know about skincare harp on about how marvellous it was. It’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. And lord it is damn good.
So for anyone else who doesn’t know what a retinol is; it promotes skin renewal and enhances collagen production (what keeps your skin looking young and healthy). So it targets fine lines and wrinkles, large pores and uneven skin tone. It’s mainly aimed at ladies in their 30s, but prevention is better than a cure right?
The pores around my nose have reduced, the fine lines I’ve started to notice have eased a little and my skin tone is more even. Let’s just say this is going to be in my skincare routine from now until the end of time.
Does what it says on the tin, makes my skin so incredibly smooth without making it feel like I’ve rubbed a pepperoni pizza over my face. It’s the perfect moisteriser for the colder months and it gets deep in the pores and forms a barrier against the elements. Not one of those ‘light’ moisterisers that essentially evaporates as soon as you go to massage it into your skin. I’m loving it, and swiftly running out – EMERGENCY, MUST ORDER MORE.
As someone with a complicated relationship with sleep, my eyes are paying the price for that. I have dark circles, bags and the starts of some lines – at 25, as you can imagine, I’m not buzzed about that. Enter my eyes saviour. Whilst I still don’t get enough sleep at least I can care for my eyes with this magical cream.
It brightens up my dark circles, de-puffs my bags and soothes and eases the depth of any lines that are starting to rear their ugly heads. Whilst I get age waits for no woman, at least I can slow it down a little and keep myself looking my age for a little longer.
I’m the same, I want a simple skincare routine to stick to and it’s taken me ages to actually get one. I haven’t tried the Pixi retinol one yet, my skin likes the glow tonic so I’ve sort of stuck to that, but I’m definitely going to look into it as so many people seem to love it. As my skin is acne prone and a bit difficult I tend to stick to what I know, but having changed it up a bit recently and seen what a difference it made I’m thinking of seeing if a change in my toner step would help too.
Great post!! would you recommend this toner by pixie for acne scars and spots? cause I am not sure what to use for acne scars, I am currently using the truth serum by Oleheriksen but I heard that retinol might be good for acne scars as well and not only vitamin C