My Skincare Routine

Hello my lovelies, today I thought I’d update you all with my current skincare routine. I like to keep it simple but effective and the three products I’ll be sharing with you today allow me to do this.

I wouldn’t want to talk about a skincare routine until I had tried and tested it myself to see how well it really does work. I’ve been using these products for about 6 weeks now and have really been enjoying the results. I personally have oily, fairly sensitive skin and am very prone to breakouts. For pretty much all of my teenage years I suffered with acne and still get a few hideous blemishes far more often than I’d like. Whilst using these products I have definitely seen a massive improvement in this.

First up I use La Roche-Posay’s Effaclar Micellar Water to remove my make up. The only problem I have with this is to take off my whole face of make up I have to use quite a large amount of product. However, after 6 weeks use I’ve still got way over half a 200ml bottle left. It dissolves the make up really well and although I wouldn’t say it removes every single particle it certainly does a great job. I’ve definitely seen some great results since I started using this product to take off my make up and my breakouts are far less common.

How La Roche-Posay describe the product:

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Micellar Water is for people with oily, imperfection and blemish-prone skin. Suitable for sensitive skin.

Gently cleanses the skin by eliminating impurities and excess sebum while leaving the skin feeling clean and fresh.

The micellar water is £12 for a 200ml bottle from feelunique which is fairly pricey considering the Garnier one is £4.99 from Boots, for double the product, so considering the massive price difference I may try this one before repurchasing.

Step two is where I bring in my Toleraine Dermo-Cleanser (also by La Roche-Posay) to remove any product that the micellar water has left behind. What I love about this product is that you don’t even have to rinse it off, that part is entirely optional. The bottle states that rinsing is optional but to make sure you pat (not rub) your face dry after use. This makes it the ultimate cleanser for a lazy girl.

How La Roche-Posay describe the product:

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser is ideal for daily cleansing of dry, sensitive or intolerant skin, gently removing make-up without leaving skin feeling uncomfortable. Contains glycerine and La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water. Strict formula charter to help minimise the risk of intolerance.

Gently cleanses to remove impurities and make-up, whilst hydrating the skin. Soothes, repairs and softens skin without causing discomfort. With limited ingredients, the Toleriane range is ideal for intolerant skin.

The formula is of the same consistency of a milk and always leaves my skin feeling incredibly soft. In the 6 weeks I’ve been using this product I’ve noticed that my skin looks far less irritated which is always a bonus in my book! Just like the micellar water the bottle I have is 200ml – available for £12.50 from feelunique – which I can see lasting me a lifetime. One small bit goes a very long way with this product which is never something I’d complain about. With this in mind, I would say is to be careful with how much you do use otherwise it may make your skin feel rather greasy. I will definitely be repurchasing this when I do eventually run out.

My final step is L’Oreal Pure Zone Moisturiser (the anti-regreasing variety) which I bought on a complete whim because my moisturiser was running out and this was on sale in my local chemist. I’d done absolutely no research and just hoped for the best. I definitely got the best I could’ve hoped for. I picked this gem up for £1.50 down from about £4.50 I believe… The only issue with this moisturiser is that I haven’t actually to find it anywhere other than my local chemist apart from someone trying to rip people off on Amazon selling it for £24 a pop.

How L’Oreal describe the product:

Specically developed for combination and oily skin, it provides lasting hydration and combines anti-regreasing effectiveness with an instant result of smoother and more even skin.

This product uses Pore Target technology: a concentration of active ingredients is transported more deeply, to act where they are needed most, at the heart of the proves. 

Anyway, this moisturiser is pretty much perfect for me. As I mentioned before, I have oily skin which is the skin type that this moisturiser is designed for, along with combination skin. The product definitely helps mattify my skin without causing my skin to dry out and tighten. Although I wouldn’t say there has been a massive difference in my pores since starting this moisturiser 2 months ago they definitely have minimised slightly. I can’t expect miracles. As L’Oreal said, my skin is definitely smoother and more even.

For me, the downfall of this product is it’s smell. It smells rather clinical and in my opinion has the slight scent of men’s shaving foam. It’s not ideal but I’m willing to sacrifice the smell of a product if it has some great benefits to it. If you have oily or combination skin and can get your hands on this beauty I would definitely recommend it.

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think? If not, what skincare product do you swear by?

Until next time I’m back off down the rabbit hole.

To my ex best friend

This is the last one in my open letter series and I wanted to write about/to one of the most important people I’ve ever had in my life. It wouldn’t be right to not refer to him as ‘Bae’ (cringe I know).

  
This man was everything to me for 2 and a half years, he came before everyone else except my immediate family and I was the same for him. Whenever the other one needed something we would drop whatever it was we were meant to be doing and do it. We jokingly called each other ‘Bae’ and it stuck because to be honest it was true, we were ‘before anything else’. We spent 99% of our time together both at work and outside of it and we were constantly under scrutiny because ‘surely we must feel something for each other’. Not a single person understood our friendship and we practically talked a different language to everyone else. 
Everyone we ever met insisted we were in love with each other no matter how long they’d known us. I was once sat on his lap in a pub because there were no seats and a guy we’d known for 5 minutes told us we ‘had to go after the real love that we had together’. We refused to believe it and lived our lives in blissful denial. There was always some truth in what they were saying though because it’s turns out he was actually as in love with me as I had been with him at one point and that’s where it all went wrong. I will forever wish we had never drunkenly kissed or declared feelings. It changed who we were around each other and it turned out conversations into nothing more than awkward sentences.   

I no longer have a friend to call on at 3am anymore, someone to hold my hair back as I’m sick or bring me my favourite food into work because I’d text them saying I was hungry, I don’t wake up to 15 hilarious texts and snapchats or pull stupid poses in club photos with. I don’t have the Joey to my Chandler or my Chrisrina to my Meredith . I felt at a complete loss when our friendship fell apart and sometimes I still do, sometimes I miss him so much it hurts.

I never saw this man the way everyone else sees him (which is frankly a bit of an asshole) because how could I when he was so precious to me? How can I think of someone as heartless when i’d cuddled them to sleep as they cried? How can I think of him as someone who cares about no one but himself when he’d actively put me before everything and who’d lost important people based on the fact that our friendship was more important to him? I couldn’t. I knew him on a level that no one else did. I knew what kept him up at night, what made him laugh until his stomach hurt, what to order him off the menu, when to probe him to talk and when to leave him be. Now I barely know him at all. I don’t know what he ate for breakfast, where he spends his weekends, how his search for a new job is going or whether he can sleep a whole night through now and it kills me. 
So I just wanted to say that I hope he’s found some form of happiness, I hope he misses me too and I’m sorry for allowing the dynamic to change between us. 
Love always, bae x 
Do you have a friend you drifted from and miss? Tell me about your friendship heartbreak in the comments.

Until next time, I’m back off down the rabbit hole. 

  

My Holy Grail Palette

Hello my lovelies, I know it’s been a long time since I last posted so I’m very sorry for that. Please forgive me *puppy dog eyes*.

Today I wanted to talk about my favourite eyeshadow palette: Morphe Brushes 35N Palette.     

I absolutely adore this palette. I’ve had it for about 6 months now but I’m not even slightly bored of it yet. Normally I discover a new palette and the love affair lasts a few weeks and then I’m searching for my next one but I’ve stuck with this one so far! Obviously I do use other palettes as well but this beauty is definitely my most used.

The only issue with this palette is that all 35 shades are matte, so if you love a bit of shimmer that might be a downside. Morphe have quite a selection of palettes though and others do have shimmers but I felt I had enough of those eyeshadows and needed to stock up on the mattes. For my everyday look I tend to go all matte anyway so whenever I want a quick, fail safe look (which is most days because I’m lazy) I reach for this beauty.

The shadows themselves are super high quality, the pigment is really strong and blendability (is that a word?) is definitely not an issue with these shadows.

The look above is what I wear when I’m feeling like there’s 100 things I’d rather be doing that being up at stupid o’clock and doing my make up because it takes me literally 2 minutes. As you can tell it’s pretty much a ‘barely there’ look which I really enjoy for my basic everyday look.

The palette is great for neutral looks but you can also create smoky, deeper looks which the various dark shades that are included in the palette. I particularly love blending out one of the dark brown shades with the orange shadow for a smokier look.

Of course, like every product it does have it’s downsides… The palette is really quite large and doesn’t have a mirror included so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking it with you on your travels if you’re trying to pack light and save space!

This palette retails and £15.95 from Beauty Bay which is amazing considering you get 35 high quality shades (that works out at 45p a shade, madness).

Have you tried any of Morphe’s products? What’s your favourite?

Until next time I’m back off down the rabbit hole.