Monday 30 November 2009

I love the smell of face balm in the morning...

For years I thought I had the worst skin in the world, I dreaded facing the mirror each morning as I knew I'd be confronted by yet more spots, lumps and bumps. It created havoc with my self-esteem and confidence. I must have spent a fortune on expensive salon facials, high-end products and skin-improving supplements and all to no avail. No amount of water, healthy eating or careful cleansing made any difference. I've only ever worn lippy and eye make-up so I couldn't even blame pore-blocking foundation.
In the end I stopped worrying, cut my products down to a bare minimum and just got on with it. Guess what? My skin flourished with the lack of fuss. I still get the occasional spot but I can live with that.
My favourite range was Boots' Botanics until I discovered that Poundland did a line called "Pure" -identically packaged products with the same ingredients at a fraction of the price. 
Johnson's Baby Oil is an essential for removing make-up, hydrating the delicate eye area and as an all-over body moisturiser combined with a couple of drops of essential oil.

Essential oils are amazing. Lavender and tea tree can be applied directly to spots and acne. 
For a weekly facial sauna combine a couple of drops of essential oil in a bowl with half a litre of steaming water, cover your whole head with a towel and put it over the steaming bowl so the towel forms a tent to hold the steam. Stay inside for five minutes and finish by slashing your face with cold water. 
Good choices for facial oils are Patchouli (reduces puffiness), Lavender (normal skin), Chamomile (Dry skin, acne and sensitive skin if combined with 50% lavender) and Geranium (Combination and oily skin).

7 comments:

  1. Its great you've done a skincare/cosmetic post!, love those, could you consider doing more in the future as well as yr regular dress posts? Fab blogg =)

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  2. omg i have the same problem too! but your skin looks soo lovely! will deffo be trying botanics "boots/poundland" stuff soon. do you know where I can get cheap esential oils? I've seen so many over the net but don't know if I'm going to get ripped off or not!

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  3. Hello and thanks for the comments! I'll definately do more postings on beauty.

    There's nothing worse about having skin problems. You can disguise any body issues but your face is always on show. Wearing the collest dress in the world won't make you feel any better.

    If you stock up on essential oils I recommend you buy no more than six to start with. Oils won't go off but the quality will diminish over time.

    A good site to try is - www.justessentialoils.co.uk/
    ...and part of their proceeds go to the British Heart Foundation.

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  4. Fab post!

    The only thing that works for my skin is Kate Logan Beauty (all essential oils, organic, handmade). It's pricey, but she sent me a lifetime supply after I reviewed some samples for college...we ended up friends and she sent me one of everything for passing with distinction!

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  5. My skin was my most hated feature throughout my teenage years. I HATED it. I cursed it on a daily basis. I blamed it for everything, from break ups to bad grades!

    A mixture of medication, good makeup and a regular skincare routine finally cured me, and now I get compliments on my skin all the time. I use Botanics so the Poundshop tip is brilliant! Will check that out next time I'm in there.

    I'm so careful with my skin now, I take such good care of it! I'll definitely have a go with essential oils. You look so fresh faced and pretty here!

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  6. Hi ,

    I don't know if you know but the Pure products are actually Botanics products.
    Boots sell them to a huge company then they sell it on too poundland re-branded.

    I think that if you try to peel off the Pure label you will find the Boots Botanics label underneath!

    Fee @ www.makeupsavvy.co.uk

    xx

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Lots of love, Vix