CHEMICAL VS PHYSICAL EXFOLIATION

Skincare is so important. The first key to beautiful makeup for me is beautiful skin and looking after it can make all the difference to how your skin both looks and feels. A key step in my skincare routine that I find helps to particularly make a difference for me is exfoliation.
For a long time, I was only really aware of physical exfoliation but in recent years I have discovered the wonders of chemical exfoliation and what it can do for the skin. In this post I'm going to discuss chemical vs physical exfoliation and tell you the benefits of each - enjoy!

UPDATED: Facial Cleansing Routine (Sensitive / Dry & Eczema Prone Skin)

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well and that you're having a good week so far! Today I thought I'd share with you all a little bit of a skin routine update and in this post, I'm going to begin with cleansing. 

As you guys may or may not know, I have pretty sensitive yet dry / eczema prone skin. This sucks. It means I have to be very careful that what I put on my face won't cause a horrible reaction and make me feel like I'm on fire and it also means that I have a hard time trying to find products that keep my skin feeling hydrated AND soothed at the same time.  But I suppose the one positive side of having such an annoying skin type is that it's a great excuse to shop around and look for different products which is what I'm always doing. 

In this post, I'm going to show you what has been working for me for the last 2-3 months in terms of cleansing my skin. I'll show you my cleansers, what tools I use and what I use to tone my face as well!
The Body Shop Aloe Vera Calming Toner - £8.50:
I used to wash my face with water twice a day until I eventually realised that it may have been an element into the issue of my skin always feeling rather dry and irritated. I found that washing my face with a cleanser and water was far too much for my skin twice a day and so I reverted to only using water at night. 

That's where toner comes in - in the morning I use The Body Shop's Aloe Vera toner in place of a water activated cleanser and this works great to refresh and cleanse my skin gently in the morning when my skin feels it's driest. Because it's a toner and it's a step I will usually do after cleaning my face anyway, it works like two steps in one without me having to use any water at all.  What I love about this toner is that it is gentle and gives my face a "warming" sensation that I find helps to soothe it and calm it down. My face can get pretty red sometimes especially when it's irritated and this toner is great for calming that down. Aloe Vera is noted for it's antibacterial properties and so it makes a great cleanser that is still gentle enough for sensitive skin.  Simple Moisturising Facial Wash - £3.48  & The Foreo Luna Mini - £99.00 When I'm not wearing makeup, I will usually go straight into cleansing my skin in the evening with a moisturising gel based formula from Simple. As with all Simple products, the formula is gentle and contains no harsh chemicals or perfumes which is why I enjoy using the brand so much.  As it is such a thick gel, I don't find this to be particularly drying and because of it's formula, it foams up really nicely making it great to use alongside my Foreo Luna Mini. 

The Foreo Luna Mini is (as the name suggests) a mini face cleansing tool made of silicone as opposed to other cleansing tools such as the Clarisonic that have bristles. Because the Luna is made of silicone, I find it be very gentle on my skin whilst still allowing me to get a deeper clean than with with just my hands alone. It vibrates on two adjustable settings and this also allows for very gentle exfoliation which is so gentle that it can be used everyday. It also has a handy little one minute time which lets you know when you've done enough cleansing! You can read my full length review on the Luna here.  Superdrug Vitamin E Cream Cleanser (Alternative) - £3.99
For removing my makeup, I really love cream cleansers. I used to remove my makeup with baby wipes but I found that I'd have to use so many and that after using them, they always left me panda eyed which isn't really what I wanted. As well as this, I found wipes to be too harsh on my skin as you really have to get in there and tug at it which as we all know ladies and gents, can cause premature wrinkles and who wants that?! 

I particularly like the Superdrug Vitamin E Cream Cleanser firstly because of how inexpensive it is. It is a fraction of the price of most cream cleansers and in my opinion, it does just a good a job. Cream cleansers are used in conjunction with a hot cloth. You apply the cream all over your face focusing on areas with the most makeup or dirt and with a wet, hot cloth you wipe it all away. The cream disintegrates dirt and makeup easily allowing you to simply wipe it all off of your face. This process is really quick and is far more effective for me than wipes - as it is cream based as well, I always find it really great on my dry skin as it keeps it feeling moisturised.  If I want a deeper cleanse on top of this, I'll usually go in for about 30 seconds with my Luna and Simple wash as well! That's it for my current cleansing routine - what are your favourite cleansers? If you have any recommendations for those with my skin type (or others) it'd be great if you left them in the comments! Thanks for reading.

First Impressions: Foreo Luna Mini

Hello! Apologies for my sporadic posting as of late, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with University. I'll get there soon enough.. promise! So, today I'm bringing you a review of Foreo Luna Mini - which is a deep-cleansing facial brush. According to the website, the Luna is a device that uses T-Sonic technology, providing you with a deep yet gentle cleanse - eradicating dirt, oil and makeup along the way and giving you brighter, healthier looking skin. The website claims that just 1 minute day and night of using the Luna will give you results in only 3 days.

The first thing that I like about this product is it's packaging and design. It's sleek and stylish and comes in a variety of colours to choose from - I got the hot pink as you can see! The device itself has 3 separate silicone areas that make it perfect for any skin type. The device is also 100% waterproof and with just one hour charge can provide you with around 300 uses.

I've been using the Luna Mini for almost a week now and so I thought I'd share with you my initial thoughts and feelings. As directed, morning and night I firstly applied my cleanser of choice as normal, wet the Luna and used it to wash my face. The device has a timer built into it which tells you how long to spend on each area of the face until the designated one minute is up. There are also two power settings with varying strength depending on the kind of clean you want.

So, after my very first use I can definitely confirm that my face felt cleaner. After several uses, my dry and sensitive skin has begun to feel a lot smoother and it's helping with my dryness. Though it's still early days, I do feel that the Luna has really helped to brighten my skin and I feel like it looks and feels a lot healthier. The redness in my face has also been drastically subdued in my opinion - this was something I was struggling to control in the past. Moisturisers and serums sink into my skin alt more effectively and I feel as if they can do a better job because my skin is a lot cleaner.

I've felt absolutely no irritation from the device and I do suffer with sensitive and eczema prone skin. I can confirm that this device has done nothing to make my skin any worse and if anything has been all but positive for it! The silicone touch points are soft and gentle and they delicately cleanse skin as I use the device is circular motions.

In terms of maintenance, the Luna is easy to clean and keep in check. All I do is rinse out the device with warm water, dry it and then you're good to go! As I said, you only need to charge the device for one hour and it's done via a handy USB charger meaning it's perfect for on the go.

Over all, I've definitely noticed a positive change to the appearance and condition of my skin. My skin is brighter, softer and in general feels healthier. I feel like this is definitely something to consider as an investment and so far, so good for me. The Luna Mini retails at £99 and you can purchase it online or at larger Boots stores!

So, those are my thoughts on the Luna Mini - have you tried it? If so, what are your initial thoughts?