All Things Skincare

Hello! Happy Wednesday!

As I am writing this, it is Tuesday night and I have stolen a moment away from procrastinating uni-work to write this post. I really want to eat Ben and Jerry's while watching A Dog's Purpose, but my boyfriend has told me that he needs to finish work first. *sigh.* In the meantime, I figured that I should probably do something productive, so I decided to write a blog post.

Recently, I have developed a bit of a skincare obsession- to the point where I can tell that I am being genuinely annoying. If you don't watch Skincare by Hyram, firstly hello, where have you been?? And secondly, I hope you are prepared to binge seven hours worth of content and feel more educated than you ever have done your entire life. I have always been semi-interested in skincare and looking after my skin. As somebody who has worn makeup since I was about twelve, I always knew that it was important to cleanse and moisturise. However, I didn't know much more than that. In fact, I thought peel-off face masks and sugar scrubs were a really good way to treat your skin...ouch!! In this post, I thought I would share with you my current, morning skincare routine and some of the products that I am really loving at the moment! 

As a student without lots of extra income to spend on nice things, one of the most important things I look for in skincare is a low price bracket. If I have learned one thing from Hyram, it is that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better quality, and there are lots of amazing products available at a low price point. Hyram is extremely ingredient-focused and suggests products that are fragrance-free and simple in their formulations. He also introduced me to the fact that we should be wearing sun screen every day- yes in the UK and in the winter- because of UVB rays causing skin damage. My skincare routine has seriously improved since the days of makeup wipes and Clean and Clear, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Firstly, I take my makeup off with cleaning water. The product I am currently using is the Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water, but I usually use the Garnier Micellar Water Facial Cleanser. They are both really great products in my opinion and work really well at removing makeup! I follow this with a cleanser. I am currently alternating the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser and the Cerave SA Smoothing Cleanser with Salicylic Acid. They are both very gentle and work really well for my combination skin. 

Next, I use The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid Serum and The Ordinary Niacinamide Serum, followed by The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream. If you don't know the benefits of these products (trust me, I had no idea a month ago!), Hyram does an amazing job of describing them on his YouTube channel- much more than I could do justice to! In a very basic nutshell, they treat and hydrate the skin ahead of moisturising. Finally, I use the Cetaphil Moisturising Lotion, followed by the Bioderma Photoderm Max sunscreen and whichever lipbalm I have closest to hand, currently the La Roche-Posay Nutritic Moisturising Lip Balm. I'm still searching for a sunscreen that I really love and am currently testing a Simple one. I have found that while this is the most important step, there isn't much variety of affordable sunscreens in the UK, but I am still committing to wearing one everyday!

I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspires you to both explore more skincare products and watch Hyram's videos. Also, let me know if you'd like to see an evening skincare routine!

What's your favourite skincare product? 

Marti