Skincare Faves

Apologies for the small break in posting. I seem to have lost my blogging mojo somewhere between getting up at lunch time and lying on the sofa all day. I'm hoping that motivation will raise it's ugly head again now that we have our very own office, aka my old bedroom with a DIY desk and TV. I always feel so much better being able to sit at a desk and write as opposed to perching on the sofa.


The job hunt is not going well. Yesterday I went into town and handed out lots of CVs and filled out lots of application forms. I absolutely detest filling out application forms and documenting past employment history and answering silly questions, I must have written the same thing about 5 times over. I'm doing really well on not spending any money at the moment. I have £29 in my bank account so going into town yesterday was particularly difficult, but I managed to maintain my bank balance! Writing for the sites above should give me a little extra to play with and seeing as I have a lot of time on my hands, I'm hoping to revive AmpedReviews.net as well.

In the mean time, my blog is keeping me going and I thought for today's post, I would enlighten you all on my favourite skin care products!

I could have sworn I did this post before but I must have started it and then deleted it for some reason. I thought it might be an interesting insight into the blogger behind the blog as you get to see what I slap on my face every morning! How exciting for you...

My skin is a complete nightmare. It's sensitive beyond belief and I am prone to redness. My break outs seem to be hormone related as well as just general break outs which is quite annoying. I can't use your typical skincare like Garnier, Simple, Clean & Clear etc as they're just too strong. One time a doctor prescribed an acne cream for me that was so strong, I looked like I had sunburn on my face for about a week!

After about a year of trying different products I seem to have finally found 3 good ranges that have worked wonders for me so I thought I'd let you in on my secrets!

First up is a range that was recommended to me by a fellow blogger. I was complaining about my skin over on Twitter and they recommended this range for the redness that I suffer and reoccurring blotches I was getting in the same place on my cheek.

Although a little pricey, I have found the Avene Skincare range to be brilliant for my skin! They have lots of redness tackling products and a lovely gentle cleanser that has worked wonders for me.

The range is pretty big but I use three products in particular. I start with the Eau Thermale Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser which is only £8. I love this because it's a milky cleanser that is really gentle on the skin. It doesn't leave a tingling sensation and I can see that it really does clean the skin.

Next up is the Eau Thermal Avene Anti-Redness Rich Moisturising Cream which is a bit more expensive at £13, but it's really worth the money. I use this after the cleanser and it has a green tint which helps with the redness! I love smothering this stuff on my face as it leaves my skin lovely and soft and although it can leave a bit of a shine, after about half an hour, my skin's redness does settle down a lot!

And lastly, another anti-redness product I use is the Eau Thermal Avene Diroseal Treatment Cream for Localised Redness which is yet more expensive at £22. It pained me to part with £22 for this but I'm glad I did because it works, it works, it works!

While I do like to rotate my skincare products, this was the first one that really tackled the problems in my skin and I'm currently using it again now and am seeing more results so am pretty happy! I'd definitely recommend this!


Another skincare range that I've used and loved is the Benefit B.right Radiant Skincare range. I originally purchased a trial box which included the Foamingly Clean Facial Wash, Triple Performing Facial Emulsion and the It's Potent Eye Cream.

Although I've seen many people don't recommend foaming face washes for sensitive skin, I've actually found it to be quite good for me. There's teeny tiny beads within the wash which aren't too harsh for my skin and they exfoliate it very gently! It claims to remove skin impurities and again, I felt like it did it's job.

After using the wash, I use the moisturiser which really gives my skin some moisture and leaves it feeling lovely and soft as well. It includes SPF 15 PA++ which helps to protect the skin and has an oil-free formula meaning it sunk it quickly and didn't leave a sheen.

The eye cream claims to restore elasticity and boost collagen but personally I can barely ever see results from using different eye products so I can't be 100% sure that it works but I feel more refreshed and awake after using it. Altogether these three products are a big hit and once I run out of them, I think I would certainly purchase the full size products.


Last but not least is two products from Eucerin. My mum has similar skin to mine and she recommended this to me.

With just these two products I have certainly seen a difference in my skin. I use the Eucerin Purifyer Cleanser which is priced at £9.18. It's soap free and really gets into your skin, giving it a good clean and leaving it feeling refreshed!

The Eucerin Dermo Purifyer Cream Gel has a follicle targeting action which is something I really needed. I'm pretty sure the reoccurring redness was in fact because my follicles had become 'blocked' and I needed something that would get in there and get it all out. I felt like these two products tackled this problem extremely well and now I'm redness free!


I recently ordered a free sample of the new Elemis Fresk Skin range. The range is targeted at teenage skin and I thought because of this, it might be helpful for my own which is probably just as bad as teenage skin.

I have used up all of the Fresh Skin Face Mask in the two packets of samples I received as I loved it so so much!

It was a lovely mud/clay face mask with goji berry extract and frankincense oil to help draw out impurities. It went on extremely easily and dried quickly too. It was really easy to wash off and left my skin feeling really soft and smooth. I'm desperate to get my hands on some more of it but it's around £15 for 6 of the sample packs which is a big no no at the moment!

As an alternative I purchased the Mask of Magnaminty from Lush at £8.25. Although it doesn't look too lovely with it being green, it smells of gorgeous mint and claims to pull the dirt from your pores and exfoliate skin cells.

Like the Elemis mask, it was easy to put on but I didn't enjoy the bits that were in it as they looked a bit like brocolli. It dried well but was a bit more difficult to get off and required a little scrubbing, which I think defeats the object of the mask a little bit as they're meant to sooth the skin, and scrubbing them off can only cause irritation.

Can you believe I used to be a bit scared of face masks. Now I wish I had tried them earlier as I feel that they really give my skin a little boost. I'm thinking of doing a more in-depth review of the face mask soon and going into the ingredients etc so keep an eye out for that.

I would highly recommend all of these products to those with sensitive or dry skin! It's been a long time of rotating different ranges and seeing which ones work and which don't but I've finally found my core ranges that I'll always go back to!