New Skincare Additions

The L'Oreal serum that I was using has started becoming less and less effective for my skin, so I finished up the bottle, and was thinking about what to use instead to help combat those pesky spots.

Ren Clarifying Toner - £13.00

I looked into exfoliating toners. The Ren seemed the easiest one for me to get hold of, as it's sold in M&S so along I popped to their beauty section and purchased it. I've only been using it for about a week, but so far so good. Am also considering purchasing the Clarins one in Duty Free when I go on holiday.

Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate -  £21.00

Now this I actually got for free when I purchased my Cleane, Tone and Polish set from Liz Earle as I needed some back-ups ready for when they all ran out. This is essentially a moisturiser and can be used before your normal moisturiser or alone. I haven't used this yet, am actually going to take it on holiday with me, and use it as part of my evening skincare routine before bed, in hope that it will help with putting the moisture back into my skin after the days sun exposure.

Bioderma Sebium AKN - £11.80

First of all Bioderma is now sole on FeelUnique, although I purchased mine from amazon before they started selling it. I bought this as an extra to use in the morning, before my moisturiser to help combat those spots, and make my skin more radiant. I have yet to try this as I'm finishing off something else first (I always have loads of things open for some reason).

My Christmas Presents 2014

As my last post was Ben's Christmas presents, I thought I would show you what I got, I always like looking at these types of posts or watching videos on youtube, to give me inspiration on what I might like.

Ottoman from my mum and dad 

Cake display plate from my Grandma and Grandad 

 Liz Earle set from the in-laws

Make-up bag, nail varnish and Soap and Glory body butter from my sister Julia

Soap and Glory gift set from Steve's brother and his girlfriend

Lush King of Skin body butter from Steve's other brother and his girlfriend

 Mini notebook and cross stitch kit from my mum and dad

 Burgundy Converse shoes from Steve

Pandora bracelet from my mum and dad

 Bag charm from mum and dad

Sweet Sister charm from my sister Louisa

 Yankee Candle set from my mum and dad

Thorntons Santa from Ben

Hotel Chocolat chocolate from my sister Julia's boyfriend

Mini Thorntons from Steve's other brother

Thorntons box of chocolates from a family member of Steves

Skincare Routine - Night

As I showed you my morning skincare routine last Monday, this week I chose to follow it up with my Evening routine,

I start by removing my make-up. For that I use L'Oreal's Micellar water. this is okay, but when I've run out I'm going to try the Garnier one next.

After that I then follow it up with the Liz Earle Cleanser, Toner and Moisturiser like I use in the morning. The Hot Cloth Cleanser gets off the remainder of make-up that I have and cleanses the skin better as well.

I use a different eye cream at night. Olay Total Effects 7 in one, I never used to use eye cream anytime, but figured it was better too and to help brighten up the area and protect it better and help with preventing those wrinkles.

Skincare Routine - Morning

I thought I would show you my skincare routine, I did do a review on the Liz Earle Cleanse, Tone and Polish routine that I use, but I also use other products as well. This is what I do in the morning.

I start off with the Liz Earle Cleanser, apply it to dry skin and then use a muslin cloth soaked in hand hot water to remove it along with any dirty etc. that's on my skin.

I then follow that up with the Liz Earle toner. I apply a few drops on to a cotton pad and wipe it over my face, just to remove any remaining cleanser, I find this really wakes up my skin as well.

Being a mummy I don't get as much sleep or time to relax as I'd like so I decided to add the Liz Earle EyeBright into my routine on recommendation from my mum. I find this really helps sooth and wake up my tired eyes in the morning.

I then follow that up with the Liz Earle Daily Eye repair, just apply a little bit and pat it in under and around my eyes.

A couple of years ago I was still quite oily and getting regular breakouts. This L'Oreal Skin Perfection Serum changed all that. My skin is now a lot more normal and I only get breakouts around that time of the month. When I ran out of this earlier in the year and didn't use it for a few days back came to breakouts! So this is an essential to my routine.

Last of all I use my Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser in Normal/Combination.

Holiday Series: Beauty Products

This is our overnight toiletry bag for when we're staying in the hotel.

I have my face products, I like to take face wipes on holiday with me, I use them to try and get off that top layer of make-up, I then have the L'oreal Micellar water and the Simple gel cleanser as 2nd and 3rd cleanses. I have a mini Liz Earle toner, and my Liz Earle moisturiser, along with my eye creams and serum. I have also included a thicker mini Nivea moisturiser that can be used anywhere on the body. Dry shampoo, as greasy hair is never a good look. And the daily essentials of shower gel, deodorant, shower puff, toothpaste & toothbrush, razor, tweezers and cotton wool rounds.

This is basically all of our suncream! I'm hoping to use atleast 2 bottles of it up whilst we're gone. I always go for the Boots Soltan brand, were are taking factor 50 for Ben. factor 30 for our faces, factor 15 for everyday use, with factor 30 for if we feel like we need it.

Next up I have hair products, the shampoo, conditioner and hairspray came in a little set together from Boots, I then have full size products of Mark Hill Beach Babe sea salt spray and L'Oreal #TXT which is a fake back coming spray to add volume to my hair. I then have a few heat protectants.

For Ben we have Johnson's Baby Bath and Johnson's Baby Soothing Naturals Moisturiser.

Some added face products, a couple of masks and the Chamomile Cleansing oil, and the Avene Spring Water to cool Ben and myself down.

Some body essentials of a full size shower gel, and smaller containers of an exfoliater and moisturiser.

The only essential for Steve that I have covered is his de-oderant, which is packed separately in the overnight bag.

I'm planning on doing more in depth posts on most of the products I'm taking with me when I get back, so look out for them.

Review - Liz Earle Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise

I've been using the Liz Earle cleansing routine for nearly 10 years now. My mum got me a set for a Christmas present one year, as she was using the products herself. It was my first proper skincare routine that I actually stuck to, although I only ever used it in the morning (lack of knowledge I put that down to).

The cleanser you use on dry skin, work it in all over, even the eye area, which I spend more time on to help with removal of mascara. Then you wet a muslin cloth in hand hot water and wipe off the cleanser along with any make-up, dirt and dead skin cells. I love the fact that the muslin works as a exfoliator as well. Then splash your face with cold water. Most cleanses just tell you to rinse them off with water - I always find this annoying as the water gets every where and your clothes get all wet! Where as you don't get that with this product. The cleanser comes in 2 formats, you can either have a squeezy tube like I have, or there's a pump version, when one pump will dispense enough for your whole face.

Next you use the toner, put a little on a cotton pad and sweep it all over. Or there's a spray bottle version that you can just spray straight on to your face. I find this totally refreshes my face and helps removes any traces of cleanser, make-up or dirt that you may have missed

They have one cleanser and one toner suitable for all skin types.

There's 3 different types of moisturiser. I used to use the Light version, which is aimed and more acne prone, oily skin as it's not very thick. I have had to move on to the normal/combination version, as I was getting a lot of dry patches on my skin, I needed something thicker, but I was still getting the odd break out as well (mostly hormone related). I think my skin changed after I gave birth to my son, I don't know whether that's normal or not? There's also a dry/sensitive version of moisturiser too. So it works great, just make sure you're using the correct one for your skin type. The moisturiser also comes in a variety of containers, there's a pump version or a pot version. My squeezy tube version came as part of a set on QVC.

The first thing I noticed when I started using this was I had less acne. When I was a teenager I used to have at least one spot at all times. Once I started using this cleansing routine I noticed a huge improvement in my skin as I was only getting the odd few spots, a gain mainly around that hormonal time of the month. I also noticed how my face felt smoother.

I think the fact that it's nearly 10 years later and I'm still using the same cleansing routine just shows how great I think it is. I also like that all the ingredients are natural.

You can purchase Liz Earle products from the Liz Earle website (there's also a couple of shops), QVC, John Lewis and some Boots stores.