My Current Skin Care Routine

I have suffered for so long with bad skin, from everything from constant breakouts, allergic reactions, and severe eczema all around my eyes, ouch. I had tried EVERYTHING. I recently changed the whole of my skin care routine and I'm slowly seeing a change in my breakouts and dull complexion, the first positive, all round, improvement to my skin, so I thought I'd share what I've been doing.

Firstly, I'm going to state some worn out, obvious, and over used advice for clearing up your skin. WATER IS EVERYTHING. I honestly cannot stress this enough, after being told by countless beauty bloggers, make up artist, and just smart cookies, I thought it was wishful thinking. Obviously I knew if I started drinking more water I'd feel better, and maybe it would clear a couple of spots, but my god, did I underestimate the results I received. I bought myself a water bottle which was roughly a pints worth, and it seriously helped me get more water into me. Having it always filled and right next me kept reminding me to keep drinking, as I'm so forgetful I knew those water tracker apps weren't going to cut it. I aim to drink 3 litres of water a day, sounds like a lot but it's only about 4 of those water bottles, so if you can fill it up 4 times a day you're golden, real simple.

Now again like the water, your diet is going to have a massive impact. I am not a dietitian, a health guru, and to be honest I'm hugely lazy when it comes to nutrition. But if you're so fed up of your skin being bad, it's something you're going to want to think about. I went through a period of having a smoothie every morning for breakfast, made with my Nutribullet, and my skin had never been happier. I had a huge smoothie to keep me going, sometimes I would add oats to them to keep me even more filled, and of course, add a big handful of spinach! Trust me, you don't even taste, it's so good for you and that's the best thing about smoothies, you can hide all those good veggies and greens into smoothies and you won't even know they're there!

Right, we're nearly at the good stuff! After developing severe eczema around both of my eyes, I spoke to a pharmacist after trying everything and she suggested I used E45 wash cream, and just normal E45 cream avoiding my eyes. It's a soap substitute, so absolutely no soap whatsoever, isn't drying and non foaming. It cleared up my eczema within a week or so, and did also clear up some breakouts so I was happy at the time. I wanted to post some pictures of my eczema I had just to show how severe it really was, but ain't nobody gunna wunna see that! After using this stuff for a few months, I was growing tired of how messy it was, and I was generally just bored of this skin care routine, so after seeing a make up artist's instagram post of how she ditched her expensive skin care routine to all Lush products, I decided it was finally time to stop just buying bath bombs from them and go for full hog.

Ah Lush, I don't know where I would be without you now! The middle of this year I'd already decided to go Cruelty Free, so Lush made that transition sooo easy. I use most of their bath products, shampoos, shower gel, and of course bath bombs, and the sale girls know me on first name basis, so I knew they'd give me the best advice on skin care products, especially as I have to be on high alert for any bad reactions. After speaking to one of the girls about my skin problems and concerns, she knew exactly which products to recommend, and she very kindly gave me samples of them to make sure I didn't waste money on products that might not be right for me.

So after that long back story (sorry!), this is what I'm currently using to keep my skin as happy as I can:

• Lush Ultrabland cleanser
• Spin Brush
• Lush Vanishing Cream moisturiser
• Virgin Coconut oil on dryer patches/eyebrows/nose creases

Lush Ultrabland:

So first of all, if I'm wearing make up I will remove it with a make up remover wipe. You can just put the Ultrabland straight on top of make up and use it as a remover as well as a cleanser but I prefer to take it off prior to applying the cleanser because I feel like I get a deeper clean. I apply a healthy amount of Ultrabland all over my dry face, avoiding the eye area.

Spin Brush:

Then I get my Spin For Perfect Skin brush, add the softest face brush, wet the head, and get spinning! I drag the brush very lightly over my face in little circular movements. I will link a Youtube tutorial below so you can learn more about this particular brush and how to use it! I'm so cuffed with this product and can't believe I didn't purchase it sooner. My favourite part is that it comes with two face brush heads, one for everyday use and one for exfoliating. Most spin brushes will only have one face brush and it will be too harsh for everyday use, something I'd want to strictly avoid with such sensitive and eczema prone skin.

Washing:

After feeling like I have given my skin the deepest clean possible, I put the brush to one side, and reach for some flat cotton pads. I run the cotton pads under very warm water (almost to hot to stand but to make sure I can still stand the temperature on my skin) and I remove the remaining cleanser off my face. If you use this brush just after taking make up off with a wipe, or the first time you use it, you'll be amazed at how much dirt make up wipes just don't pick up, it's a little disgusting but you feel SOO clean afterwards! Then I will splash my face with cold water to re-tighten my pores before adding moisturiser.

Lush Vanishing Cream:

After cleansing my face I will apply the moisturiser, now this moisturiser is a little pricey for Lush but you need the tiniest amount. It's so good for oily skin and keeping pores tight, it's super light and my skin just loves it. I usually just dip my ring finger on the excess product on the lid because you need so little, and apply to my face, again, using circular movements, pushing the product upwards. I think it tells you how to use it on the tub if I haven't explained that very well!

Coconut Oil:

My gosh, coconut oil, I literally can't live without you. There are so many things you can do with coconut oil, I'll link an article that explains all the different things you can do, my favourite ways are using it on your skin, and to use it as a frying oil! It gives an amazing nutty taste to food, it's gorgeous! Anyway I digress, I apply a little amount onto the dry patches that remain on my eyebrows, a tiny dry patch on my nose and then around the creases of my nose. Done!

After finishing my skin care routine, I take the head I just used off the brush, run it under warm water, apply a pump of hand wash onto it and give it a good scrub until the product lifts, rinse it off, and then leave to air dry.

And that's it! My current skin care routine. I strive to be very honest when I talk about products I use, my breakouts still remain, however they've improved immensely since switching to these new products. The Spin Brush is an amazing products and has helped my skin a lot, and I'm hoping after getting my diet a bit healthier my skin will improve even more. If anyone wants to know more about these products or anything else mentioned in this post, leave a comment below and I'll happily answer them!

Here is the best Spin Brush tutorial and detail explanation for the product as a whole, and here is 160 ways to use coconut oil! Crazy.