I usually start my morning by swiping Bioderma over my face and neck, just to wake me up a bit and get rid of any dirt or left over night cream. This product is very effective, but very gentle; it doesn't irritate my skin at all and leaves it feeling fresh and clean.
I then use an aloe serum from the Body Shop, to protect my skin from the outside elements that could temper with it. It also helps to make my moisturizer do a better job. I then finish it off with the Body Shop's Aloe soothing moisture lotion with SPF 15. I know it's still winter, but the sun is damaging even if it's cold outside!
I feel like the combination of these three steps helps my skin stay moisturized throughout the day, and I haven't had any dry patch problems for quite a while now. Also, my make up sits on this skincare cocktail very well and does not look cakey at all.
Moving on to night time; I am faced with a much heftier challenge than in the morning, since I've now got a full face of make up to scrape off of my skin. No worries, let's go one step at a time.
First, I whip out my trusty Bioderma again, because it is the most amazing thing to take off make up. It's not oily or greasy, but still takes away a lot of make up and grime in just a few swipes, and I personally use it to remove my eye make up and my lipstick, then wipe the rest of my face to take off the most of my foundation. Now that I am left with a semi-clean face, I hop in the shower, and use my Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. This thing is GENIUS. It smell nice and clean, it removes make up like nothing else, and it's gentle enough not to burn or irritate my skin, although I do feel a slight tingle from it sometimes. When I am truly make up free, I go on and use my St-Ives Apricot Scrub for blemish prone skin, and rub my skin gently with it (still in the shower), to get rid of any roughness or dead skin cells. I do use this almost everyday, even if you're not supposed to, but I've come to realize that my skin needs to be exfoliated often, or else I get very rough patches of dried and flaked skin, which clogs up my pores and makes me break out.
Once I'm out of the shower, I sometimes use a face mask. My current favourite one is another product from the Body Shop: the Tea Tree face mask. It smells very very strong, but not bad, and it feels cool and tingly on the skin, like you can actually feel it working its magic. It doesn't dry hard, which makes it a lot easier to rinse off, and I find it to leave my face extra clean, but not stripped.
With my face free of the mask, I then put on a combination of three products:
First, I use three or four drops of the Body Shop's vitamin e serum-in-oil and massage my face and neck, going upwards and trying not to pull or tug on my skin. Then, I mix in two or three drops of tea tree oil with a little bit of the Nuxe Crème Prodigieuse night cream. This cream is excellent for dull skin; it moisturizes so well, without feeling heavy or greasy, and I wake up to a less tired looking face, like my skin looks more plump from it. Plus, it smells of floral heavenly goodness.
Again, I massage it into my skin gently, and take this time to relax and breathe in the amazing smell.
There you have it, my complete skincare routine, from morning to night. I try to take this time, especially at night, to relax and destress, to pamper myself and give my body and mind a little break. Life can be really hectic sometimes, and taking care of yourself and having a bit of you-time, be it 10 minutes each day, really helps putting it all in perspective.
Thank you for reading :)
Links to all the products mentioned:
1. Aloe Soothing Sreum
2. Tea Tree Oil
3. Vitamin e Serum-in-Oil
4. Aloe Moisture Lotion with SPF 15
5. Nuxe Night Cream
6. Fresh Soy Face Cleanser
7. St-Ives Apricot Scrub
