Skincare Haul

I can't remember if I've said this in a post before round these parts, but for a while now I've been thinking about building up my Skincare stash. Up until now, I've kept things rather simplistic, but I've wanted to start adding more to my collection and actually begin to curate more of a proper 'routine' for some time - so over the past couple of weeks, I've done exactly that.

Of course, I inevitably popped into Boots (when doesn't that happen, eh?) and picked up the majority of what I was looking for. Cleanser-wise, I currently use (and love) the Garnier Micellar Water and while I still wish to carry on using it to remove my makeup, I want to add a 'proper' cleanser into my routine to use as the second step to clean my actual skin. I plumped for the Una Brennan Superfacialist Vitamin C+ Skin Renew Cleansing Oil. I've heard really good things about the Vitamin C+ range from Una Brennan in general and with the whole collection on offer in Boots at the time - it just had to happen. Having drier skin, I wanted to go for products which are targeted at moisturising and giving the skin a really glowy appearance and this supposedly does just that. Simply apply to the skin, add some water, rinse off and you're done. You can use this to remove makeup but as I said, I got this purely to use as a second cleansing step and fingers crossed, it'll work like a dream.

For toning, I was super eager to finally get behind the whole 'acid toner' thang. Having sensitive skin, at first the whole concept seemed a little scary, but there's actually a lot of options out there which are deemed as perfectly fine for those of us that fall under that skin type to use. One which stood out to me the most (and was the one which I plumped for in the end) were the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads. These appear to be the most gentle of them all and that is perfect for me. Not only does this *hopefully* mean they should get along with my sensitive skin, but also being someone who is completely new to toning pads, it makes sense to ease myself in slowly in order to let my skin get used to it and also determine whether the strength of these is just right for my skin, or if I can maybe step things up a gear. There's only one way to find out...

I also wanted to dip my toe into the water that is - serums. I was a little hesitant to try one out as I wasn't exactly sure of what their purpose was but after doing some through researching, I decided to give one a go, see how it works on my skin and then go from there. As I said, the Una Brennan Superfacialist Vitamin C+ range gets really good reviews here, there and everywhere so I figured I'd try another product from the collection for this step too. I opted for the Glow Boost Skin Serum which, just like the cleansing oil, promises to give your skin a healthier, more youthful appearance. From what I can gather, you apply a small amount of this to your skin after tonight and before moisturising so I'll give it a go and keep you lovely lot in the loop as to what I think. In terms of actual moisturising, I was in need of a new duo so I picked up the Nivea Sensitive Day Cream and Night Cream. If you've been reading round these parts for some time now, you might remember me raving about these two before, as back in the day (OK, so more like a year or so ago) there were my favourite. I haven't used them in a while, but I thought I'd pick them up again as I really enjoyed using them.

Last, but certainly by no means least, I picked up a face mask. Now, another thing you probably know if you're a regular round here is that I am a big fan of the single ones from Montange Jeunesse. They're basically all I've used in the face mask department, ever. They're cheap, cheerful, do the job and have a variety of different types which you can easily try out, given the fact they're individual. I've not really been interested in branching out into one which is more 'multi-use' - until now. The new L'Oréal Pure Clay Masks really intrigued me when I first saw them being launched a month or so ago and I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that the 'Glow' variety was the one which took my fancy the most. This claims to, once again, give your skin that radiant look - with a formula which brightens and exfoliates. This sounds right up my street and with this currently on offer for only £5, with around 10 uses promised - it works out at a pretty good deal money-wise too.