Morning Skincare Routine

For the past year or so my skin reached the worst state it has ever been. Nothing I did seemed to work. Today I think I can finally say that I've got a skincare routine in place that actually works. I follow it, I see results and that's all you really want. Now, we can all agree that mornings are hard on everyone. Even though I consider myself to be a morning person, it doesn't mean that the process of having to get out of bed and getting ready is any easier. The way I see things, if I'm awake, I want my skin to look awake too, and the following is what I find that works best for me.


As for cleanser I am loving my Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser. I was using The Body Shop Vitamin E Gentle Face Wash for quite a long time but it just didn't work. I've used many products from The Body Shop, including skincare items and they're all fantastic but this one just doesn't seem to make the cut. I simply didn't feel like it was doing anything for me; after using it I didn't feel any difference on my skin. Therefore, about a week ago I went back to the Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser and the results were immediate. My skin felt purified, looked brighter and my blemishes or any other concerns were being reduced. There's a full review for this here. 

To target any imperfections and blemishes I use the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo; I now reach for this on a daily basis; it really helps with scarring and dark spots and your skin tone becomes more even. This product doesn't need any presentations but anyhow, there's a more detail review here. 


Next logical step, moisturise. Due to my tendency for oily skin, I feel that a very light moisturiser is more than enough for me. I used one from The Body Shop Aloe range and now I'm using the Vitamin E Moisture Cream. You can easily tell by the texture that this is a really light moisturiser. Sinks well on the skin, it's not greasy at all so it doesn't affect my make up application. 








What products make up your morning skincare routine?

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Bad Beauty Habits That Are Hard To Break

The beauty world isn't confined to make up alone. There's so much that you can do for your skin, hair, nails and everything in your body really. It's hard to make the time and hard to get into certain habits. Here is a list of good habits I should get into and other I definitely need to find a way to break. 

1. Take my make up off as soon as I get home

Sometimes I get so lazy that even after being at home for hours and hours, I still end up going to bed with make up. It's improving though. 

2. Skincare routine even on pyjama days 

We all have those days that we simply do not leave the house, right? The weather is not great and there are so many things to do, why bother? I tend to forget that I still should cleanse and moisturise my face as normally. Bad, bad me. 

3. Moisturise more 

Apart from my hands, face and neck I am pretty lazy when it comes to body moisturising. Luckily my skin is not dry and I can get away with not doing it during most of the year.

4. Do more face masks 

Definitely don't do them enough. Currently sitting at one face mask a month. Embarrassing. 

5. Have haircuts more often 

I am afraid of the hairdresser. Always end up shorter than what I asked for. 

6. Stop peeling nail polish 

As soon as it chips I start peeling it off as much as I can. 

7. Stop letting it be so long between brush cleaning

The target of cleaning my brushes on a weekly basis is a fail for me. 

8. Deep conditioning my hair more often

Do not remember the last time I did a hair mask. That says it all. 

9. Sleep with my hair tied up or in a bad

When I take it down in the morning, I often have half of my hair on my hand. It can be good. 

10. Switching up products in my skincare routine far too frequently 

Sometimes your skin won't be as good as there are a number of factors behind it. Not necessarily the product you are using. Well, as much as I know this, every now and again I am still guilty of not being consistent with a skincare routine. Although this has improved a lot. 

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Two Steps For Blemish Free Skin

Today I decided to share with you my go to combination to help target those blemishes that have made an appearance on my face the past few days. Often, you are either stressed, lacking of a balanced diet and eating all the junk food you can find (yes, this is me) or is that time of the month, again. It really doesn't matter the reason behind those spots that you can now see on your chin or forehead but, they're here to stay. Safe to say that we all want them gone in the blink of an eye although we all know it doesn't work that way. 

As any normal girl, I am no exception and lately I've been fighting a battle and even did a little trip to Space NK in the search of a more efficient cleanser. However, when it comes to blemishes I find myself always reaching for these two products and including them in my skincare routine. 

The La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I. is a breakout corrector and it does wonders for those under skin spots. It's easy to detect these as they are painful to touch and you'll know something is about to surface in a few days. Gross, I know ... But this corrector will do its magic by diminishing the appearance of the blemish. Even with under skin acne you'll be able to feel that the spot will become less painful and won't even make a proper appearance to your face. I tend to apply this at night before bed or even under make up if I really want to prevent that blemish to show. You'll only need a tiny bit of product as it should be applied to the spots. As it contains certain exfoliating ingredients, it can become quiet drying if applied to the whole face.

On the other hand, the very hyped La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo is the other half of a great combo. I apply this all over my face in order to target any other imperfections. It's a great product to accelerate scaring and keep everything in place. I always find that my skin clears up a fairly bit when frequently using this. The cherry on top of the cake for me would be the fact that this is definitely not drying at all for me but I would still keep using my moisturiser anyway. 

I definitely couldn't recommend these two products enough for blemish prone-skin, specially when you can see results from the Effaclar A.I. overnight! 

What products work for you when it comes to acne?

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Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser - A Skin Saviour

As I mentioned before in this post, I have a normal to oily skin and for most of my life my complexion has been very clear until I changed to a contraceptive injection - I went through this here. Long story short, my skin had hit rock bottom and this product from Origins was the only thing that saved it. I first reached out for this at a time that only god knows why but my skin was SO dry it felt like scrapping paper. The very helpful assistant at the Origins counter at John Lewis suggested this daily scrub as well as the High Potency Night-A-Mins for night time moisture. The combination worked wonders and my skin went back to normal. 

But now my concern was different. I started to have numerous tiny spots all over my skin. They were very visible but they were there and you could definitely feel them. Just as if my face was covered with sand which wouldn't come off. 

After trying every cleanser, moisturiser and acne treatments, I decided to repurchase the Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser as I could at least remember how clear and bright my complexion was when I was using it. And it lived up to the hype. I know it may seem a little exaggerate but in all truthfulness, after the very first use, I could feel my forehead much less bumpy and the tiny spots had definitely been reduced and my complexion was overall smother and brighter. 

All in all this is a beautiful gentle scrub which can be used every day, twice a day without drying out your skin. The properties of the panax ginseng (promoting skin cell regeneration) and the coffee beans (bright up dull complexion) are in my opinion very visible as your skin looks immediately luminous and energized. 

Have you tried this? What is your favourite range from origins?

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Skin Types

When I first started purchasing skincare products I didn't even know about the existence of different skin types. Back then, I was just a teenager wearing some concealer and a black Kohl pencil under my waterline and wanted something to wash my face. These were exactly my thoughts. Scary right? Brands such as Clearasil and Clean and Clear were great at that age. When that stopped working I moved on to Garnier face washes. This was all alright at the time as I've always been lucky with my complexion and my skin has been very clear with the occasional breakout. Maybe it was because I wasn't really wearing that much make-up so when that changed, so did my skin. Fast forwarding to now, my skincare choices changed a whole lot. I surely don't just pick some random face wash and I actually try to maintain a skincare routine.

I find important to talk about skin types as this has major influence on the products we should be buying. Nowadays, the blogs we read, the videos we watch on YouTube and all the reviews which are now available at the distance of a simple click will impact the choices we make. Surely having the opinion of someone who has tried the product is rather helpful but in my case, before I go by someone else's opinion, I always make sure to know their skin type too and if that particular product could suit me too. I find that this goes not only for skincare but some make-up as well.

Therefore, for future reference in this blog, I would consider myself to have a normal to oily skin. In a warm environment I can be sure to expect my make-up to melt away and a lot of shine. Heat is obviously something that completely brings up the oily side of my skin and then breakouts happen. Good thing I live in Scotland and warm weather is something we haven't been blessed with. However, the fact that my part-time job includes many hours of me running about ... doesn't help. So there are a few steps that I always try to do to prevent things from going the wrong way and keep my skin at its best. These include having a steady skincare routine and choosing the right products. I'm sure we all can agree that in order to even being able to do this and to know what it's best for our skin, we must be able to identify our skin type.

What about you guys, how long did it take for you to find out your actually skin type? What's your must-do to keep your skin happy?

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