My Evening Skincare Routine (+ My First Youtube Video!)

MY SKIN

As I’ve written before, I have oily skin and have been dealing with acne since I was 11 years old. It started with small little bumps on my forehead (which I used to cover with a ridiculous emo fringe, haha), then slowly made its way to my cheeks. My acne hit an all time low when I was 14- my entire cheeks where covered in red, painful sores and I was too afraid to leave the house without any makeup on my face, in case people started laughing at me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so insecure about anything in my life. When you’re 14, life isn’t exactly easy, and even though this might sound a little bit over the top, I had to deal with a lot of things. My self-esteem was practically non-existent and in the evenings I used to cry because I felt so ugly- I felt like I was my acne. I remember thinking ‘I would be the happiest girl if my acne just went away’ and hoping that when I woke up the next day, it would have just magically disappeared. It didn’t.

So after about a year of having to deal with angry, red lumps on my skin, I literally begged my mum to put me on birth control. My doctor told me that it would clear up my acne a lot, and it did. I was so happy. It wasn’t completely gone, but it had calmed down and I was so grateful for that.

My skin cleared up but I still had a few breakouts every now and then. I was pretty content with my skin, until about two years ago. I had just finished high school and was getting ready to go to uni, when my skin started freaking out again. I don’t know if it was stress, hormonal changes or just being in a different environment (I moved to uni), but I started getting horrible hormonal breakouts on my cheeks. It was at its worst in November 2012- I kept telling myself that it wasn’t so bad, that it would go away and that there were people who have much worse acne, but looking back at pictures I took of my skin around that time, it was really, really bad. So I did what I always wanted to do: I went on acne medication. I started medication in February 2013 and had to take it for three months straight. I also got a prescription acne cream which totally burned off my skin, but it helped. After about a week I already started seeing results, and after two weeks, my skin was completely clear! I couldn’t believe it, because I couldn’t remember the last time my skin was completely clear. So a few months went by, and then in September, it came back. I think it was a combination of hormonal changes and using the wrong products (NEVER use Origins products if you have sensitive skin and suffer from acne- the essential oils in them will make your acne even worse. I know, I bought a lot of Origins products last summer and even posted about them and said that they were incredible –which they were, initially- but after a few weeks my skin went CRAZY). So I went on the same medication. It went away, again. My skin cleared up for a few months. So now I don’t really have acne anymore, just the casual breakouts that I try to keep in control with a simple skincare routine, targeted at sensitive skin.

My skin is also pretty oily. I used to use products that would dry my skin out, but those resulted in my skin producing even more oil. So now I opt for a mattifying product in the mornings, and restore the hydration in my skin with a more nourishing product at night, to balance things out.     

CLEANSING

I always double cleanse to make sure all of the makeup and dirt is removed, before I continue my skincare routine. I first use a micellar water to take off my lip and eye makeup. At the moment, I’m using Bioderma Sensibio H20, which is a true blogger favourite. I think most other micellar waters are the same though, I’m not really picky when it comes down to them. I really want to try the Garnier micellar water next though, since it’s much cheaper than the Bioderma one and they basically do the same thing.

After that, I remove my face makeup. For this step, I use an oil or a balm. I really like the feeling of cleansing your face with an oil. Even though my skin is oily, I find that using an oil or balm cleanser balances my skin out more and doesn’t make my skin feel dehydrated. My skin feels really nourished and soft afterwards, not dry like you get with some other makeup removers. At the moment, I’m using the Body Shop’s Camomille Silky Cleansing Oil. It’s really amazing and I couldn’t recommend it enough. It doesn’t irritate the skin, doesn’t leave an oily residue but still leaves the skin really soft, supple and hydrated. It doesn’t have a strong scent and as far as I know, doesn’t really contain any irritating ingredients.

I always follow up with a milk or gel cleanser. At the moment I’m using a cleansing milk, and I always tend to opt for cleansers targeted at sensitive skin. My current favourite milk cleanser is the La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo Cleanser. It’s nothing really fancy- just a simple cleanser, which does the job really well and I love using it.

TONING

I always tone after cleansing, to restore the pH balance of my skin and to prepare it for any following treatments. I tend to avoid toners that really dry out the skin, and tend to look for toners that have a few extra properties, like a little bit of exfoliation or toners that give that extra boost of hydration. The current toner I’m using is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Astringent Lotion with Micro-Exfoliating properties. This contains citric acid and salicylic acid, which exfoliate the skin and gets rid of dead skin cells. I’m not quite sure about this toner; it contains a lot of alcohol, which isn’t really good for the skin. It doesn’t dry out my skin, but I’m still looking for another toner.

TREATMENTS + MOISTURISER

I always make sure to use an eye cream. I’m only 19 years old, but I’m terrified of getting little wrinkles underneath my eyes, so I always make sure to moisturize the under-eye area. I don’t use an anti aging treatment, just a cooling eye cream to reduce puffiness and give a little bit of hydration to the skin. I’m currently using the Lierac Dioptigel, which is really gentle and feels amazing.

My treatment/moisturizer is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo. I really, really love this. It’s targeted at acne-prone skin and aims to declog the pores and purify the skin. At first I thought this was breaking me out even more, but now I’ve been using it for a few weeks I definitely see a difference in my skin. It really helps to keep my acne under control. Sometimes it does feel like it’s burning my skin a little though, but because I apply a soothing moisturizer afterwards it’s not too bad.

The moisturizer I use after that is the La Roche-Posay Toleriane moisturiser. It’s just a really simple moisturizer which doesn’t contain any fancy ingredients, but it’s super soothing and my skin feels really velvety and smooth after I’ve applied this. I just massage this into the skin. I really like this moisturizer, it helps to keep my skin in check and I will definitely repurchase it, like the most products in my skincare routine.

EXTRA’s

I thought I would include two little extra products I always use after completing my skincare routine. The first thing I use is a lip balm, and I always make sure to have a little pot of the Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm on hand. When I first started using this, I thought the texture was quite weird. It’s a really stiff lip balm, and you need to use the heat of your fingers to warm it up and make it melt. This might be a little bit weird at first, but after you’ve gotten used to that, it is literally amazing.  It is the best lip balm I’ve ever tried; I love the texture, the scent, the packaging, just everything about this product. My lips feel super hydrated in the morning and I will always, always repurchase this.

I also use a hand cream. I own a ton of hand creams, because my hands tend to get really dry at times. At the moment I’m loving the Body Shop Wild Rose hand cream. It’s actually aimed at mature skin, to help with wrinkles and sunspots on your hands. It contains SPF 15, which is really nice because we often forget to apply sunprotection to our hands, which can result in premature aging of the skin on our hands. I love rose scented products, and this hand cream sinks into the skin immediately. I hate having sticky hands after applying a hand cream, so that definitely makes this a winner.

I only filmed my evening skincare routine because in the morning, I use the same products- I just cleanse with the Bioderma micellar water, tone with the Effaclar toner, use the Lierac eye cream and moisturize with the Effaclar Duo treatment. I don’t use an extra moisturizer in the morning, because my skin can get really oily during the day. A lot of French pharmacy products, especially La Roche-Posay ones, but I just really like them. They're simple, targeted at sensitive skin and effective; what more could I possibly ask for?!

Thank you so much for watching my video and reading this enormous blog post. Please leave a comment with what you think of it so I can improve myself! What’s your skincare routine?

Origins Clear Improvement mask

Excuse the poor iPhone quality of this picture, I'm currently at uni and forgot/lost my SD card at home (dohh!)  so now I'm bound to my trusty old iPhone camera.

I have been loving Origins products recently. Not only the fact that they contain only natural products, thus don't have any nasties like parabens and mineral oil in them, but also the lovely smells, the really simple but gorgeous packaging of them and the fact that my skin really does seem to get on with them made me kind of obsessed with them lately. I find myself walking to their counter more and more, sniffing and tyring out their products, and I swear I won't rest until I've got a whole Origins skincare collecton! I'm making great products owning a cleanser, a toner, a moisturiser and their Super Spot Remover (post here!), but since my previous face mask ran out (the Body Shop's green tea mask) I was looking for a new clarifying clay mask. I've heard lots and lots of people praise this, so naturally couldn't wait to try it out!

So what does Origins claim about this product?

"Active charcoal acts like a magnet to draw out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers. White China Clay absorbs environmental toxins. Lecithin dissolves impurities. Without all that "stuff" down there, skin "breathes a sigh of relief. Use once a week or as often as needed. Open pores with warm, moist towel and layer on. Allow to dry. Rinse well."

I can now honestly say that it does what it says on the packaging. I use it about once or twice a week, during my weekly/biweekly (is that even a word?! Haha!) pamper night after cleansing and exfoliating. I then do what it says on the bottle and put a moist flannel on my face (hot water of course!). Then I pat my face dry with a little towel  (I don't like to cleanse/apply masks etc. on a wet face, I just fel like the product does just 'glide' of the face and isn't nearly as effective!). I lather quite a thick layer of it on, and it immediately feels very refreshing. After leaving it on for 10-20 minutes, a little period of time in which it tends to get quite hard and feels kind of funny to talk/laugh, I rinse it off with, again, hot water and my feels feels so refreshed and just so, so very much cleaner. It really does feel like all of my impurities are gone and some spots look significantly smaller and are much less painful! Since I can get quite spotty, I tend to buy more clay masks, althoughI'm really tempted to try out their Drink Up Intensive mask too! After that, I tone, put on my nighttime serum and quite a rich daycream, as I don't really tend to get along with mattifying moisturisers as they make my skin feel so much drier and thight!

This is such a great product, and when you use the Super Spot Remover afterwards, your skin will look clearer than ever. Sorry for the long review, but I do really think that it's such a great product and that it really does live up to its expectations. I loooove Origins skincare so much and I just couldn't recommend them more. The next things on my wishlist are most definitely the Skin Rejuvenating Treatment and their High Potency Night-A-Mins Nightcream. Is it weird that I find that such a clever and nice name?! Haha me so silly.

Have you ever tried this face mask? What do you think about it and just about Origins products in general?

the importance of double cleansing

Okay, I'll admit it; I have become obsessed with skincare over the past few months. I used to be a girl that would take off their make up at night and cleanse and moisturise in the morning, just because I 'had to'. I sometimes even wouldn't take my make up off before I went to bed, which showed of course in my skin- it looked horrible. I have talked about my acne in the past on this blog, and those bad habits certainly didn't improve it! However, since I discovered more and more beauty blogs I became more interested in skincare and I do now have a proper cleanse, tone and moisturise routine. I also scrub my face twice a week and put on face masks, and god, I'm enjoying it! My skin has been looking better than ever, so I thought it was about time I would share something I recently discovered with you and which has, without a doubt, definitely made my skin feel and look a lot better, more cleared up, brighter and just generally great; double cleansing.

It has been common in certain Asian countries for women to double cleanse in the evening, and I even read that some women use 17 (!) products every night, just to cleanse their face! Now, seventeen products might be a little bit too much, but it's still really important to cleanse your face well, and since it has improved the condition of my skin so much, I'm going to share the reasons you should double cleanse and 'how' you have to do it with you! I also want to stress that I'm not a dermatologist; everything I'm sharing with you I've learned purely because of reading blogs/doing my own research.

Why should I do it? I once read somewhere online that 'You wouldn’t take a shower with your clothes on would you? No, you have to remove your clothes first before you can wash your body', and honestly, that's the best quote I've ever read regarding the importance of double cleansing. First removing your make up with an oil based cleanser or a micellar solution (NOT make up wipes!) and then thoroughly cleansing it with a facial wash, a balm or a milky cleanser will make your face cleaner than ever and thus results in more beautiful skin. It's not that hard; with only removing the make up, dirt, sebum and other not so nice things on the surface of the skin, there will always remain some nasty things on your skin. You can't get all of it off with just one cleanse! The second cleanse will not only remove the nasty things on the top layer of your skin, but will also remove dirt out of your pores so you're all things nasty will certainly be gone.
I know what some of you are thinking right now; if I just remove my make up and then use a toner, will it also remove the excess make up? The answer is NO, it will not. A toner doesn't cleanse your pores, it only cleanses- again!- the surface of your skin!

How should I double cleanse?
That's simple, but first you need to understand the difference between a make up remover and a facial cleanser. It's easy; you use a make up remover to remove all of the make up and dirt of that day- doh!-, and you use the cleanser afterwards, to cleanse your skin and pores. It mostly says on the bottle. Make up removers are mostly oil based or milky, or you can use my favourite type of make up remover- a micellar lotion! There are plenty of them, my favourite being the blogging-famous Bioderma Créaline/Sensibio H2O. It basically 'eats' away all of the make up, and you practically don't even need to use water, however I do recommend rinsing your face afterwards because I personally feel like the dirt is still on your face if I don't! Just soak a cotton with make up remover, whipe it all over your face and eyes and rinse. It's not that hard and only takes 30 seconds!
A cleanser can also be milky, but it can also be a balm, a facial wash etcetera. Don't use foaming cleansers though, as they are breeding ground for bacteria thus spots and break outs! You just use your hands (be sure they're clean though!) and massage the cleanser onto your face. Massaging it in will not only be more effective, it will also stimulate your circulation thus making your skin look brighter and clearer! Rinse it off and you're ready to tone and moisturise. The cleanser I'm currently using is Originas A Perfect World Antioxidant Cleanser, which is great as it doesn't make my skin feel too stripped, but also removes all things nasty perfectly.

And there you go, you have double cleansed your face! The routine should be taking 2-3 minutes, and then you're ready to hop into bed with freshly cleansed skin and have a well deserved beauty sleep! I also want to stress that you only need to double cleanse in the evening, when you're wearing make up or sunscreen on your face (however I personally do it even if I don't wear any make up, but that's not necessary, it's just something that I like to do!) and you can use the same cleanser to cleanse twice, like only a milky cleanser. That's perfectly fine, but I personally prefer using two separate cleansers! It's up to you in the end!

Sorry that this was such a rambly and long post, but I just thought I would share my personal findings and experiences with you. I hope you liked it!

Do you double cleanse? Is it something you haven't really adapted into your skincare regimen and did this post make you change your mind?

xoxo,
Charlotte

la roche-posay effaclar M

When I posted about the Effaclar K which I absolutely loved, someone commented that they’ve been using the Effclar M and that they love it! So, being the curious little girl I had, I, of course, had to investigate for a bit. I have quite oily skin which is mildly prone to acne and a little bit sensitive, so I figured this might help me a bit. I did some research beforehand (which I always do- I like to know a little bit more about all of the good/bad sides of the product I’m going to invest my pennies in!) and then finally decided to buy it.

It says on the packaging that it’s for oily skin which can get shiny at some times. This product also claims to slow the sebum production of the skin, which basically means that it will balance the natural oils our skin produces. It’ll make the skin more even, matte, but it will also hydrate the skin intensely. Pores will get smaller and acne will disappear, but the most important thing it claims to do is balancing out the skin without drying it out.

I apply this two times a day, before I go to sleep and in the morning after I cleansed my skin. I find that it does prevent my skin from getting shiny and oily throughout the day and it does minimize my pores, making it a great make up base (which it also claims it does), but I do find that in the evening, my skin can feel a little bit dehydrated. My skin used to get very oily but since I’m getting a little bit older (I’m getting 18 in October so I guess my puberty is kinda over ;) ) I also find that it does need a little bit more moisturizing.

Overall, this is a very good moisturizer. I kinda like the smell of it, even though it does remind me of how hospitals smell, haha, but it smells like a product that does the job (that doesn’t even make any sense, I know…). I feel like my acne is getting better because of it and I will continue buying it, but eventually I will use a little bit of my Clinique moisturizer on top of this before I go to sleep.

Have you tried this? Do you like La Roche-Posay products?

xoxo, Charlotte

la roche-posay effaclar k

Excuse the bad quality of this picture, but I was in a hurry :)

I've always been on the hunt for that one skincare product that's just perfect for me. A product which I can use daily, without making my skin look too oily or too dry, and I think that I've finally found it.
When I went to the pharmacy when I was ill, la Roche-Posay immediately caught my eye. I've heard about the brand a few times but never really got round trying it. So, with my acne being quite bad at the time, I caved in and bought this gem.
On the cover it says that it's a 'renovative solution for people with oily skin', so you can imagine how eager I was for trying it out, since my skin can get quite oily at times.
I only have one conclusion: it's perfect. It moisturises my skin and makes a great base for my make up, it refines my pores and makes my skin feel so soft without making it too dry. It's hard to find a product which combines all of these 'essentials', if I can say so myself! My acne significantly reduced until the point I only got a few tiny spots left, so I can honestly say that I love this product.

Have you tried anything of la Roche-Posay yet? Is there any other skin care item you swear by?

xoxo, Charlotte