My Skincare Routine

I love great make up, but my real passion is skincare. I love that a great foundation can make my skin look flawless and glowing, but what I really want is the flawless and glowing skin without the product! Make up is there to enhance what we have, but when I've missed out on a few essential hours of sleep, I start to think of make up as the only thing that I have! Despite being a self-confessed make up junkie, I secretly dream of the day I can get away with a slick of lipgloss and mascara without feeling like I'll scare any passing children!

A quest for perfect skin requires a considerable beauty arsenal and here is mine: twice a day, every day! The numbers is brackets below indicate the products I use in the morning and the order in which the products are used:

From left to right:

Dermalogica Overnight Clearing Gel
The Sanctuary Rich Rejuvenating Day Cream SPF 15 (6)
Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Cleanser (1)
Liz Earle Smoothing Line Serum (4 - used around the eyes)
Liz Earle Daily Eye Repair (5)
Boots Traditional Skin Care Glycerin and Rosewater Toner (2)
The Sanctuary Pro-Collagen Night Concentrate
Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect Intense serum (3)

Although I'm not quite there on the perfect skin front, I think this range of products is pretty close to a perfect routine for me. I'd been using the above routine without the toner for four weeks, and since reading Caroline's toner advice on Beauty Mouth last week, I have incorporated that with great results over the past seven days. If you're cleansing and not toning, I can't tell you how quickly you need to change that! Toner seems to be one of the most misunderstood products on the beauty market, and although I've always had a bottle of it lurking in the depths of my bathroom cabinet, I think I've always used it with an ineffective cleanser. Since using Cleanse & Polish, my skin has become clearer and brighter, but also more prone to a few scary looking spots. Since reintroducing the toner, these breakouts are disappearing, and I feel like my skin is finally more balanced. As with most things in life, balance is the key: if your cleanser is too harsh, your skin will compensate by producing more oil and subsequently, more spots, something which is prevented when a toner is used as it brings things back to normal.

The Sanctuary day and night creams are products that I've used on and off for years, and always seem to go back to. I like to alternate the products I use so that my skin doesn't get used to anything, but I have never found any creams that I consistently alternate The Sanctuary ones with. Following very impressive results with the Liz Earle range, I will be trying their toner and moisturisers when my current batch run out, but The Sanctuary's crown currently stands untested.
Protect & Perfect and Dermalogica Overnight Clearing Gel are my other hero products. The Clearing Gel works mini-miracles and magically manages to prevent breakouts (although I've stayed away from it for the past few weeks so I can get a real sense of whether C&P is working for my skin). If I'm tired, stressed, or approaching that time of the month, I slather this on and am always amazed at how clear it keeps my skin. Protect & Perfect is something I've already talked about at length, but if you don't own it already, it's my top recommendation. Boots have a £5 off No. 7 voucher at the moment so there really is no excuse!

The two Liz Earle products I'm using are sample sizes from the Eye Try-Me kit I received in July, and I will definitely buy the Daily Eye Repair when this one runs out. The serum is meant for older skin and I'm not sure how much of an effect it's had on my under eye skin, but I guess we'll see the difference if I decide not to invest in that one as well!

So, that's my routine: what about yours? I'd love to know what your daily routine is and whether there are any skincare products you can't live without.

Birthday giveaway prizes!

You'll be pleased to know that I braved Oxford Street in the rain to secure the birthday giveaway prize today: you should count yourselves very lucky! I selected a few of my favourite products at the moment and have gone for some light, summery colours, despite the hideous weather we're having here in London. The winner will receive:

1 x Maybelline The Falsies mascara in Black

1 x No 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Flirtini, a gorgeous sheer pink that kind of looks like you've been eating a few too many cherries!

1 x Barry M limited edition nail paint in 30, a beautiful and intense lilac (a little darker and warmer than standard lilac and really pretty!)

1 x Aussie 3 Minute Miracle sachet

1 x Dermalogica Ultra Calming Cleanser sacher

1 x Armani Silk lipstick tester blister pack including Satin Silk (a rich, caramel nude), Pure Silk (a vamp-it-up Russian red) and Sparkling Silk (a slightly shimmery gloss)

1 x 7ml sample of Aveda Tourmaline Charged Hydrating Creme moisturiser

1 x 5ml sample of Aveda Tourmaline Charged Eye Creme

This competition will be open to the first 50 followers of this blog only, and for your chance to win, simply become a follower and tell me what your favourite, can't-live-without product is in the comments section below. The winner will be selected at random from the first 50 followers who have posted a comment. There are no restrictions on postage so you can enter this competition no matter where in the world you live! So what are you waiting for?

Project Samples

Over my many years of beauty product-loving, I have accumulated and inherited (thanks, Patsy!) a large collection of product samples that all find their home in a container in the bathroom, but never, ever do I use them. Everytime I decide to have a long soak in the bath, I rummage through the samples, select a few to use, and for some reason, just don't. I seem to have some weird attachment to this enormously well-stocked selection of sachets, tubes, blister packs and bottles. Perhaps they're like the Rooks at the Tower of London: if the samples disappear, my kingdom will fall. Probably not, though.

So, today sees me cracking open this little lot...


The first round of products for trial are by Dermalogica. I am a huge fan of Dermalogica and they're always my first port of call for a facial, yet I have a huge stack of untested products from them: am I mad!?

So, I've just blasted through their Skin Renewal Booster, Skin Hydrating Masque, Multivitamin Power Firm for eye and lip, and finished with Sheer Moisture SPF 15. I love an at-home facial! This week's first use of Bliss Steep Clean has inevitably brought out a few spots, and a lack of sleep, combined with the tropical temperatures we're experiencing in London, my skin has become a little rough. After these treats, I am smooth-skinned and glowy once more!

The stand-out product for me in this bunch was the Skin Renewal Booster. As soon as I applied it, the rough texture vanished to be replaced by baby-soft skin. The Hydrating Masque can be applied around the eyes and provided a really welcome boost to my sleepy peepers, and I have just applied my third coat of Sheer Moisture - a cream that's so rich, yet-oil free: the perfect solution for a hot summer day.

Stay tuned for more reviews. I hope to see the bottom of the container by the end of the month!