If My Skincare Stash Disappeared...

When it comes to skincare, I think we can all agree, I'm somewhat obsessed. I have a bathroom cabinet that's practically overflowing with cleansers, a whole drawer dedicated to masks and enough serums, oils and moisturisers to last me a few years at least. I'm starting to cut back a bit on my obssesive collecting and it got me thinking - if I got rid of everything and had to start again, what would be on my shopping list?

Cleansers

In my cutting down I managed to get this down to three. As much as I absolutely love a lot of cleansers - seriously, I may have t dedicate a whole post to my favourites. The absolute have-to-have-it list is just these: the Una Brennan Vitamin C Brighten Cleansing Oil (shock horror), the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel (surprise surprise) and a more recent love in the Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser.

I wanted each of the products in this list to serve a specific purpose and I feel like these 3 work different enough to earn a spot in my hall of fame. The Una Brennan is a liquid consistency and is the product I reach for to remove makeup more often than not. I love the Oskia gel for a morning cleanse or a second cleanse post-makeup-removal in the PM. While the Tata Harper is a more recent purchase, I've nearly used up my travel mini and have a backup ready for when it's finished (and when you have as many cleansers as I do, that's a big deal). I'd been shying away from manual exfoliators for such a long time but this is nice and gentle but leaves the skin so soft and smooth, and the scent is so lovely.

Toners

I've pin-pointed two toner-step products that are must haves for me and, again, I don't think they'll be much of a surprise: For an exfoliating toner my pick is the Pixi Glow Tonic, it's effective and affordable. Enough said. I also love the La Roche Posay Serozinc since it's got anti-bacterial properties but also doubles up as a refreshing spritz since the mist is so fine. I think that both of these work equally well in the AM or the PM and they can be used together or separately. I have used lots of more expensive toners but I genuinely think these two are the ones I reach for the most and that they're the ones I'd be repurchasing once I've worked my way through my current beauty stock room.

Serums/Moisturisers/Oils

I've let myself have a few options here since I like to switch things up a bit. For AM, I love the Indeed Labs Hydralyron serum, the Clarins Lotus Facial Oil and the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream. I've spoken about Hydralyron on this blog so many times now but it's still a firm favourite for an affordable hydrating serum. My Clarin's Oil has been another one I've been quite consistent with, it's a good quality oil and it doesn't break the bank as hard as others that I enjoy and the scent is so refreshing in the morning. Then the Charlotte Tilbury cream is just lovely under makeup, I couldn't use it everyday since it's quite a rich cream and my skin isn't dry enough to warrant using this constantly but it's great when I do reach for it.

In the evening, I just love using the Esteé Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum, another product that I've chirped on about before. It's a thin jelly-ish texture and it just fixes your skin, that's all I can say about it. Although the Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil is a very recent addition to my skincare stash, it's such an SOS saviour of a product that I know I'll be going back for more once I'm out. Finally, while the Indeed Labs Fillume moisturiser isn't something I talk about much on the blog, I've been using it for a while now and it's such a good night cream, it's really plumping on the skin and makes you wakeup looking fresh.

No Money March: The Budget AM Skincare Routine

We're trying something new today. Videos.

Now I must admit, I'm not going to be able to get a video up every week, but I've decided that every now and then I'll drop on into a regularly scheduled post slot. I'm finding that I have a lot of ideas for content that make for lengthy posts and I figured some people might want to see them in video format. :)

July Favourites

So it's that time of month again, where I relay info on my favourite beauty products of the last month and July has been a pretty non-eventful month for me this year. Lots of time at work and nights in spent marathoning Daredevil with the boyfriend and it's been a month of no beauty buying for me so this one is more of a rediscovered favourites post. But without further a-due.

It's been a month of easy goes-with-everything makeup and so I've been gravitating to No7's Stay Perfect Lip Crayon in the shade "Delicate Pink". I've been loving the your-lips-but-better pinks this month and this one is just so comfortable and I don't need a mirror to reapply.

My go-to blush for the month has been Benefit SugarBomb which is one of their boxed blushes, this is a pink, coral and purple that you swirl your brush in and sweep onto the cheeks. Mine shattered a while back but I've been trying to get some use out of it anyway because it's so pretty. I'm currently on the look out for a similar shade since this is the second of these Ive had that broken on me.

My final pink make-up must-have for the month has been the Bourjois ColorBand Eyeshadow Stick in the shade "05 Mauve Baroque". I originally picked it up hoping it might be a dupe for the By Terry Ombre Blackstar in "Misty Rock" and while, sadly, it's nothing like the By Terry shade, the colour is still nice and the formula is lovely.

For the odd night that I've stayed away from home I've been loving the Skyn Iceland Glacial Facial Cleansing Cloths. While I wouldn't use these every night, they're fine for the odd night here and there and these are brilliant. Very refreshing on the skin and they don't seem to dry out at all. At £13 for 30 they aren't the cheapest in the world, but I've found them to be the nicest one I've used.

And finally, the REN Clarimatte Clarifying Toner has made it's way back into my skincare routine. A few hard days at work have resulted in a few breakouts around my chin and cheeks and so I've been applying this with a cotton bud morning and night to try to keep my skin relatively clear and it always seems to bring my skin back to normality when it's had a bit of a moment.

A Therapie Skincare Duo

I've been dying to get my hands on some Therapie products ever since I first heard about their Himalayan Bath Salts, they're hailed at giving you the best nights sleep ever and while I definitely don't have any trouble in that category, a girl loves her sleep. I did actually think that they were a bath/body brand until I heard about a serum that she'd made for LilyPebbles' mum, and as soon as I found out about their skincare range I was all over that.

So today wont feature the bath salts (but good things come to those who wait) and we'll be focussing instead on a couple of their skincare bits that I picked up recently.

Something I've really been loving trying out lately is serums, and Therapies Cherish Skin Repair Serum is a bloody good one. It's got that almost oily texture that I love and we wont even go into the smell because I could possibly right a novel in ode to the scent of this product, let's just leave it at lush. For me this product does sit on the skin for a while before it sinks in so I'd call this a PM serum, while the sits-on-your-skin feeling isn't for me in the morning, I love a product that I can really work in for overnight.

This serum is really hydrating on my skin to the extent that I could go moisturiser free in the morning if I fancied (not that I do) and leaves my skin feeling refreshed and plumped by morning. It also works equally well used as an overnight oil on it's own as it does as a serum under your regular night cream. My only complaint is that I think the essential oil content may have cause a break-out on my chin upon first use, but I'll have to keep using it to make sure that this product is the one to blame (I've been testing so many things lately that it could be one of a few).

A nice one for the AM is their Restore Aura Spray, it's a spray mist that's super refreshing for the morning and again I love the scent, it's super zingy and will definitely wake you up. I will say if you only have a budget to pick up one of these products, I'd go for the serum as the mist is a princess product if I've ever heard of one. The mist is so fine that you end up having to spray quite a lot before you feel a difference on the skin. Can't say wether or not I'll repurchase this yet but I will say it's comparable to the Caudalie Beauty Elixir but it's actually a teensy bit more affordable.

High Street Heros - Skincare

Part two of the High Street Heros series is going to be focusing on skincare. There's a range of products in here from the products that I'm considering buying back-ups for to the ones that I don't use often but they do what they should.

So I'll get this one out of the way, because we all know it's coming: the Superfacialist by Una Brennan Vitamin C Brighten Cleansing Oil is my absolute favourite high-street cleanser and it's the product that I use to take of my make-up pretty much every night unless I'm trialling something or trying to use up other products. Love.

Another product I've mentioned a few times on the blog that's become a staple in my skincare rotation is Serozinc by La Roche Posay. It's a spray-mist zinc-sulphate solution that I use in the "toner" stage of my skincare routine and it's great for clearing up the skin if you have any break-outs or blemishes.

One that I absolutely love but I don't mention so much on here is the L'Oreal Revitalift Filler Renew Serum. This is the one that comes in the bottle that looks a little like a needle, but don't be put off by the packaging, it's lush. It's a hyluronic acid serum similar to the Sarah Chapman Skinesis Hydrating Booster and Hydralyron by Indeed Labs and while I must admit that Hydraluron is my favourite of the 3, the L'Oreal is a good pick for those with a slightly tighter budget as it's under £15.

My budget facial oil pick is the B Replenished Facial Oil. Facial oils are one of those products where you get what you pay for and obviously, this oil isn't going to do what more expensive oils do for your skin but it's a nice pick and I do use this on quite a regular basis. If you have a bigger budget a few more pricy picks I like are the Clarins Lotus Facial Treatment Oil, Sarah Chapman Morning Facial and MV Organics Rose Plus Booster.

My go-to evening eye cream is the No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm, it's a lovely hydrating eye gel that does the job. I use it overnight because I think it could be a little too thick for under make-up although I must admit I haven't tried it under make-up yet.

A good does-the-job product is the First Aid Beauty Foaming Cleanser, in texture, this is very comparable to the Omoravicza Cleansing Foam and the only reason I'd repurchase the Omoravicza is because for me, smell is a big part of my skincare ritual and that's the one thing the First Aid Beauty version is missing. Other than that, it's lovely.

Speaking of First Aid Beauty, their Ultra Repair Cream, is available in a generously sized tube for under £15 and it's my miracle cream. Whenever my skin is sore or irritated or generally unhappy, I reach for this and it brings my skin back to normality. Can't be without the stuff and have recommended it to lots of people. Love.

The First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads would have also had a place in this lineup, but unfortunately, they were slightly outside of my £15 budget for this post, but a very comparable product that's even more affordable is the Nip & Fab Glycolic Exfoliating Pads. These are so similar to the First Aid Beauty version but come in under the budget for a good amount of product, they're a pre-soaked acid toning pad that exfoliate the skin gently.

Another pre-soaked-pad product from Nip & Fab that I've been enjoying lately is their Dragons Blood Hydrating Pads. Now I'll admit, being a Targaryen fan girl (sorry for all non-Game-of-Thrones fans for that reference) I may have seen the Dragons Blood reference and been intrigued on the name alone, but I did notice that these also contain hyluronic acid, which we've already established is an ingredient that my skin particularly enjoys. For me these are a hydration layer that I'd use if my skin was more in need of moisture than exfoliation, I wouldn't use them in conjunction with an exfoliating toner.

I've been enjoying the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask for a while now and was keen to find a dupe and with me being a big fan of Una Brennans Superfacialist products already, I picked up their Rose Hydrate Mask to see if it was comparable. While it's not strictly an overnight mask if you apply it thinly it soaks into the skin and wont need removing but I just use it as a 5-minute-fix and it works well. Not quite a dupe but it's still a nice pick.

And then the rest of these are products that I don't necessarily use in my rotation all the time, but if you fancied a new budget item these are pretty good. I've actually gone through 2 bottles of the Good Things Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser before developing a love for facial oils that has left most of my once-loved moisturisers feeling a little unloved. This is specifically for an oily skin and it was great at keeping you hydrated whilst also providing some oil control.

While I really love the Omoravicza Deep Cleansing Mask, it's eye-wateringly expensive and I'm currently trying out a lot of clay masks at the moment but a budget option that works well is the Aroma Actives Skincare Deep Cleansing & Purifying Clay Mask. It's an almost skin-coloured clay mask that feels cooling and slightly tingly on the skin and dries down quickly. It doesn't leave my skin as dry or tight feeling as other that I've tried but it does leave me wanting to apply some kind of moisturising product afterward but it's a nice pick for around an 8th of the price of the Omoravicza.

When I'm feeling lazy and a proper cleanse isn't on the cards I have 2 products that I whip out. The Garnier Micellar Warer is great for those mornings or evenings where you just can't be bothered, it's gentle on the skin and not stripping at all but it removes make-up and general grime from the skin quickly. I do have a confession to make here. While I don't agree with using face wipes to cleanse all the time, sometimes, a good old face wipe is just what you need. Maybe your on the road or maybe it's just been a late one and you just want to get straight to bed, but when I'm reaching for a face wipe, I'm reaching for the Soap & Glory Off Your Face 3-in-1 Daily Purifying Cloths. Remove makeup nicely, gentle on the skin but still have a slight bit of an exfoliation to them. A good one to have on hand for emergencies.

And finally, while I normally use a moisturiser/facial oil and then a separate SPF, for days when I'm in a rush I like the Sainsburys SPF 15 Day Cream. It's a light moisturiser that plays nice with makeup and has a decent amount of SPF in for the weather we usually get here in England, and it's super affordable at around £2 a tube.

Exfoliation For Face

So part 2 is finally here! This time it's all about the face. Again I've got 3 types of formulas to show you, so let's get cracking.

The Manual Exfoliator

So this is the formula I'm least likely to use of the 3. The manual exfolitor is the most abrasive option for the face and I'd only use a manual exfoliator once a week. That being said, they're good for deep exfolation if you have very dry skin and are a good option for people who can't/don't want to use acid-based facial exfoliators. One manual exfoliator formula that I love is the Clarins Gentle Refiner Exfoliating Cream with Microbeads. The smell is pleasant and the scrubby particles aren't too abrasive but still leave your skin feeling properly exfoliated.

The Acid Toner

So the only type of exfoliator I'd use daily (twice daily if needed) is the acid toner. These are liquid toners that are made up using acids that gently exfoliate the skin. Usually these toners will be made up of fruit acids or glycolic but a range of acids are used in different formulas. My favourite is another Clarins option, their Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner. I like this formula because, like the Soap & Glory sugar scrub from last week's post, the formula contains glycerin so it's hydrating as well as exfoliating.

The Radiance-Boosting Mask

So I have 2 options for this one, depending on your taste. The radiance mask is essentially a combination of the above, an acid-based formula that can be used as little as once a week to work. If you want a quick hit of both manual and acid exfoliation, the REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial is your mask. You put it onto dry skin and it feels slightly grainy on the skin, then add water and it smoothes out, leave for a minute and rinse. So easy. My other favourite is Oskia's Renaissance Mask which is good for when I want the exfoliating mask without the manual exfoliation element. I use them interchangeably depending on how my skin is and what my time constraint are.