Skin care has been a part of my morning and evening routine since I was
about thirteen. I remember reading an article in ELLE magazine with Heidi Klum,
who said her mum had instilled a regimented skin care routine in her from a
young age and that it played a part in her youthful appearance as she got
older. That was enough for me, off I went and invested in the Clinique Three
Step System, which turned out to be slightly paint stripper-ish on my baby face
skin. But still, I had dipped my toe into the skincare pool and I’ve never
looked back since.
As a Makeup Artist, your skin is my canvas to work on. That means it needs
to be as prepped and perfected as possible to ensure a beautiful end product,
and obviously to make your makeup last as long as possible. Since working in
the makeup industry, it has come to my attention how many girls and women don’t
have a skincare routine. The amount of times I’ve asked somebody “what
skincare routine do you follow?” and they’ve looked at me blankly and
replied, “oh nothing just baby wipes in the morning, then I put my
foundation on straight away” is alot more times than someone reeling off
all the skincare products they use.
I’m the first to admit I am a big spender when it comes to skincare. It’s
part of my job and I’ve never had an issue splurging on it. However, I know
plenty of my friends cringe when I tell them how much this was and how much
that was. Here’s the thing though – skincare doesn’t have to be expensive. With
the beauty industry now booming, more inexpensive brands are bringing out the
big guns in terms of skincare and you can pick up a variety of incredible
lotions and potions on the high street now.
The mantra of skincare is ‘Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise’ – now repeat that
back to me, and without further ado here are some of my favourites from each
category…
Cleanse.
Cleansing is the nice word for getting all the daily grime off of your face
in the evening and waking your sleepy self up in the morning. I’ll be honest, I
don’t find it as important in the morning, and alot of the time i’ll just give
my face a quick wipe over with a Micellar Cleanser such as Bioderma then go
onto moisturising, but in the evening it’s a biggie.
My ‘lazy girl’ remover will always be Simple face wipes. Great for bedside
“whoops I forgot to remove my makeup” nights when you’re too
shattered to be arsed. I keep them in my handbag for late train journeys home
from work. I try to find a quiet carriage to save any poor commuters from
seeing my mouth wide open mascara removal, but sometimes it can’t be helped.
My new make up remover favourite when I’m at home are oils. Alot of people
think oils can’t be used on combination or oily skin but they actually regulate
the oil in your skin. Oils are fantastic for all skin types and can remove all
your make up in a relatively luxurious way. A few pumps straight onto dry skin
– down your neck, all over your face and including your eyes then cotton wool
off and presto. My favourite high street version is the L’Oreal Skin Perfection
15 Second Miracle Cleansing Oil. I was a die hard Dermalogica Precleanse oil
fan until I bought this to keep at my boyfriend’s house and it really does the
same. Easy removal and leaves my skin feeling very comfortable at a great price
of £7.99, ready for my second cleanse. Another favourite is the MAC Cleanse Off
Oil. £8.50 for a travel size, so nice to try if you want something a little
more ‘designer’.
Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish – where oh where would my skin be without you?
If I had to write an Ode to any skincare item, it would be this. Best part is
you can buy it in loads of different sizes, all which come with the muslin
cloth to exfoliate it off with. I’m sure you girls and guys have had C&P
shoved down your throat enough to know the basics, but if you’re looking for a
new cleanser and haven’t tried this, do it. It’s very natural and extremely
kind to your skin, it exfoliates and can be used on the eye area as well. It’s
the most repurchased item in my skincare cabinet by a mile. Prices for Cleanse
and Polish start at £8.50 so try a small size before you splurge on a biggie,
but I bet you will.
Tone.
Toning is to close up your pores and I use it to remove any trace that’s
left after my double cleanse. Thankfully there’s never that much left, but I
find it refreshing after a hot bath or shower. I use Bioderma alot of the time
but I’ve recently found a fantastic high street dupe for it. So much so, I’ve
bought another bottle to put in my make up kit to use on clients. The product
I’m talking about is the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. Let’s face it,
Bioderma is like blinking gold dust to get hold of and at £4.99, I am more than
happy to substitute that for this. Sometimes I actually find Bioderma really
irritates my eyes and this never does. For the price you get 400ml which is a
huge amount that will last you ages.
My other favourite toner is Eau Roma Water from Lush. I actually got this
as a gift at Christmas and would never have picked it up myself, so it was a
nice discovery. It contains Rose Water to calm and reduce redness and Lavender
to soften and balance the skin. As you can imagine, this stuff smells amazing
and I really like the spray mechanism as you can spritz it straight onto your
damp skin after a shower. You can also use this to refresh your make up
throughout the day. 250g will set you back £7.50, which is slightly more than
the Garnier, but if you like a bit of extra luxury then plump for this one.
Let’s face it, it’s still cheaper than Bioderma.
Moisturise.
I’ll let you into a little secret. I have a rather expensive moisturising
routine. My two favourites are Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil which
comes in at £30 and Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream which comes in at an eye
watering £70. It’s the one part of my skincare routine I am more than happy to
spend a little extra on, as it does soak into your skin and stay there. I do
however have a couple of cheaper alternatives which I go back to when my
pennies are stretched.
Do not underestimate the power of a Sudocrem face mask. Keep it to a two
weekly treat for normal skin and a monthly treat for oily/combination as you
don’t want to clog your pores with it. But leave a thin layer on overnight and
cleanse off in the morning and your skin does feel wonderfully smooth.
A slightly thinner treatment for the skin that can be used more than once a
week, especially if you have dry skin, is e45 cream. During the winter my skin
really suffered due to the heating at work and blasting my face with hot air in
my car. It became rather ‘scaly’ and a not very pleasant base for makeup, so I
popped into Boots and picked this up. It does leave abit of a residue on the
skin so I would only use this for night use unless you’re incredibly dry but it
really helped clear up my dryness and now is a firm fixture in my drawer for
those just in case moments.
A slightly cheaper alternative to Magic Cream is my last skincare product
on the list, and it’s Steam Cream. It’s an unsung hero of the beauty world,
plus it comes in the cutest tins ever. But that’s not the hallmark of a good
moisturiser, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. A creamy, lightweight
emulsion which is created with a steaming process that melts into the skin and
adds gorgeous luminousity. You can purchase it in Selfridges, online and
strangely enough, on lots of duty free trolleys on flights. It’s around the £12
mark and it’s a really high quality product which doesn’t get enough praise.
Super oily skin might find this too rich but for anyone else I think you’ll be
pleasantly surprised.
So that’s that then. I hope this was ‘budget’ enough, as I’m a little bit
of a high end skincare lover. But there really is nothing nicer than finding a
fantastic product at a fraction of the price of the product you’re currently
using.
Hopefully you found this post helpful if you’re stuck in a slight skincare
rut, or are looking to set up your routine for the first time! Thanks so much
to Corrie for allowing me to be a guest blogger on here too, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
it. I have a blog which is incredibly neglected but this has motivated me to
start up again, so pop over and say hello www.katelambiemua.blogspot.com
– I’m a lot more vocal on twitter so any questions you may have please feel
free to give me a tweet – @katelambiemua
