104. Beauty // My Top Moisturising Products

We all have our favourite moisturising products that we swear by, whether it's for our face, body, hair, or anywhere else, and today I'm going to share mine. Admittedly there are only two but, seriously, they are miracle workers.

About a month ago, I started to get really sore, cracked skin on my elbow (gross, I know, but oh-so-common) which - I figured - was a result of sitting at a desk all day, with my elbows rubbing against my clothes as they pressed against the desk. It got really painful so I went in search of something to help. In Superdrug I stumbled across a product by a brand that I really love, making all the claims that I needed to hear, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Palmers Shea Butter Formula with Vitamin E Concentrated Cream for extra dry skin well and truly came to my rescue. It's a very thick, creamy texture which takes a while to soak in and has a really bizarre smell (to me it smells of bananas, but maybe I'm just imagining that?!) but it seriously works wonders. I noticed a difference in the space of a few days, and now my elbows are 100% dry-skin-and-pain-free. I keep a tube of it on my desk all the time, apply it once or twice a day, and would recommend it to anybody with very dry skin.

Available from Superdrug, RRP £2.09/60g

As tights and boots are a major factor in about 99.9% of my outfits, my feet are - all too often - cursed with dry, hard skin, particularly on my heels and the balls of my feet. Although this doesn't cause me any discomfort, it looks horrible and when the skin on my feet started to feel like sandpaper, I knew that I had to find a solution.

Welcome Soap and Glory's Heel Genius. Round of applause, please. This product is, literally, amazing. Every night - well, almost - I apply the creamy, fresh-smelling lotion to my feet, massage it in and slip on a pair of cotton socks before bed and during the night, the magic happens (oo-er). After only a few uses, my feet were 10x softer and smoother and now, as long as I remember to use it at least every other day, they stay that way. 

I bagged this product super cheap at a car boot sale but it's something that I'll definitely be repurchasing time and time again.

Available from Boots, RRP £5.50/125ml

Have you tried any of these products?

91. Beauty // Love Your Drain Campaign* & Skincare Routine

I was recently contacted by Northumbrian Water about their new Love Your Drain campaign. The Love Your Drain campaign aims to promote awareness of the negative effects of flushing beauty products down the toilet.

In an age where we are all too aware of how eco-friendly we should be, and when we have no excuses of "not knowing" how we are damaging the environment around us, and - myself - living in an incredibly beautiful rural area, which I'd hate to see suffer as a result of ignorance and laziness, this campaign really caught my eye.

As a beauty addict, I use cotton buds and face wipes (sorry guys! I know this is the cardinal beauty blogger sin) on a daily basis to remove make-up at the end of a long day, when I'm too tired to go through my more thorough skincare routine.

When I'm in a rush, I tend to remove my make-up with either a Simple or St. Ive's face wipe - which I personally find very refreshing to my skin - and then use Nivea's cleanser and toner, applying it with cotton pads . Depending on whether I'm removing my make-up in the bathroom or the bedroom, I'll either flush the remaining buds and wipes down the loo, or chuck them in the bin.

Little did I know - and this may surprise a lot of you ladies too! - that the damage flushing face wipes, cotton buds, pads, etc, down the toilet is huge. Below is a really interesting infographic that details some facts and tips about why you should - as Dwayne the Drain says - "make the bin part of your routine."

If you can't see this infographic clearly, please let me know and I will send you a copy!

Before this campaign, I had no idea how damaging wipes and cotton buds could be to our drainage systems. From now on I really will make the bin a part of my routine and refrain from flushing anything other than - sorry about the crudity - pee or poo, down the loo!

If you'd like to find out more about the Love Your Drain campaign you can use the #loveyourdrain hashtag on twitter, or follow @loveyourdrain. 

65. Beauty // My Skincare Routine Pt. 2

Now, I'm no beauty blogger or skincare buff (and you're all going to find this out in a few lines time...) but even I am a teensy little bit ashamed of the skincare routine I've picked up when staying at my boyfriends. Although there are a couple of good products, it's just not. very. good. 

The main problem is that when I stay with Shane, I can't be bothered arsing about spending a good half an hour cleansing, toning, moisturising, exfoliating, etc, etc, etc... *Yawn* It's just not realistic after a long day at work when all you want to do is get into bed, snuggle up and sleep.

So here it is. My no-holds-barred skincare routine: part two.

Look at the wipes! So many wipes! Apparently this is the ultimate skin-sin, although I'm not really sure why? *I love face wipes* As mentioned in the my skincare routine part one, I'm not prone to massive outbreaks of spots or a super-shiny face. I have slightly oily skin, around my nose and forehead in particular, and one or two spots on my chin, as well as very red cheeks. I've used face wipes for years as they're so handy, cheap, easy and effective and they've never really affected my skin negatively, honestly, so I don't really understand why everyone hates them so much? I feel sorry for skin wipes; beauty bloggers are using them as a scapegoat.

Anyway, so once I've used my Witch cleansing & toning wipes to remove the majority of my foundation, I then use Simple's Kind to Eyes make-up remover pads which - to be honest - I'm not a massive fan of. Compared to the eye make-up remover that I use when I'm at home, they're pretty naff. You have to rub quite hard to get mascara off and, occasionally, I even lose one or two eye lashes in the process which is never good.

I then use Amie's Radiant Dawn Exfoliating Daily Wash is actually brilliant; it's soap and oil free and has a really lovely texture, including vitamin E bursting beads. I've had this product for months and it's still going strong. The only downside is that the smell isn't particularly pleasant ~ I can't quite put my finger on it, but considering it contains green apple, lemon and blueberry extracts you'd expect it to smell a bit better. 

The second Witch product that features in this skincare routine is a total wonder product. I've been a fan of Witch's blemish stick for years now, having discovered it when I was about 14-years-old. Again, it's an oil free product which is ideal for me and it's so handy; you can carry it around with you wherever you go, it's discrete and it lasts for ages. Although I'm not really sure how hygienic it is, as I always use my finger to apply it, maybe I should use a brush instead? If anybody knows, let me know.

So, the my skincare routine part two, takes no longer than ten minutes from start to end and leaves my skin feeling fresh, clean and - as I haven't spent a ruddy fortune on products to achieve it - bloody happy too! However, my skin does still suffer from the odd spot or two and patches of oily skin, so I know my routine could do with some improvement... Feel free to share your skincare tips below.

(PS. I was just kidding about the face-wipes, before I get a barrage of abuse!! I do appreciate that they aren't very good for your skin but c'mon, you've got to be lazy sometimes!)

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

61. Beauty // My Skincare Routine Pt. 1

I've seen a lot of these posts around lately and I find them so interesting that I decided to do my own. The reason I've split it into two is that I have two different skincare regimes: one when I'm at home, one when I'm at my boyfriends. Today I'm going to write about my 'at home' routine which includes a lot more products!

Let's start by saying that my skincare routine, and therefore my actual skin, is by no means perfect. I'm 20 years old and I still get spots, blackheads, rosacea, open pores, you name it - I get it! I was plagued (well, that's how I felt at the time!) with quite severe spots whilst going through puberty. I was the first of my friends to get spots on their chin, forehead, nose (so painful!) and occasionally on my chest and shoulders too. I felt disgusting.

Spots really do knock your self-confidence, in my opinion and I even ended up going to the doctors and being prescribed some strange gel (which, consequently, both my sisters have gone on to use) which actually worked wonders.

What is my skin like?

I would say that I have mainly oily skin as I never get any dry patches on my face but constantly have a shiny nose, forehead, cheeks and chin. I also have quite red skin, particularly on my cheeks, but I am able to cover this up with foundation and powder. Spots aren't a very common problem with me; I always have at least one on my face at any given time (fact) but they aren't big, yellow spots oozing out puss - they tend to just be little red ones that are gone within a few days, thankfully.

What products do I use?

The first part of my nightly skincare routine is always to remove my make-up; I start off by removing my eye make-up using Simple's brilliant eye make-up remover which is excellent for sensitive skin. It feels just like water and is actually quite refreshing and has little to no odour either which is a bonus.

Next I remove my skin make-up - and I'm waiting for lots of boos and shouting from the beauty bloggers - with lukewarm water and a bit of soap. When I'm at my boyfriends' I use make-up wipes (even worse?!) but at home, I just stick to the old-fashioned way.

Once I'm happy that the majority of my make-up has been removed - apart from the bits you find in all those nooks and crannies (mainly around my nose) - I use Garnier's anti-blackhead deep pore wash which I've been using for years. It's a really nice, thick serum-like product, which lathers up nicely on your skin and is easy to wash off too. I find that my skin feels really smooth after using it, plus it is specifically for oily or combination skin, and it's cheap - win, win!

After patting my face dry, I then use Nivea's daily essentials 2-in-1 cleanser and toner, which is another product that I love. The smell reminds me of sun-cream and it's a lovely, light liquid which feels great on my skin. I rub it into my face and neck, using my finger-tips, and then a minute or so later I gently wipe it off using a cotton pad. Even after washing my face with water, and using Garnier's face wash, this stuff manages to remove even more of my make-up and there's always evidence of it on the cotton pad.

Before bed, I've recently been using Boots mattifying gel cream from their Botanics range. I found this little pot in the reduced section in store, for only £1.75! Bargain. It's designed to 'balance moisture' and 'control shine' and is specifically for oily/combination skin again. I was over the moon when I found it. I've only been using it for a week or so, so I can't really give a truthful verdict on it, but so far so good.

Finally, I use my Origins 'Brighter by Nature' skin tone correcting serum, to tackle my skin's redness. I was lucky enough to win this, as part of a set, at a raffle a couple of years ago but I've only started using it over the last couple of months. I don't really know whether it's had much of an effect but it smells delicious and it's a nice little treat to have on my bedside table.

So, that's my skincare routine. I've still got a long way to go but it seems to be working okay for me *touch wood*. If you have any suggestions of products that you think would suit my skin then please let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter!

Have you tried any of these products? 

Which is your favourite skincare product to use?

Lots of Love,

Becci xo