Daily Skin Care Routine

Everyone knows that if you want your make up to look anything better than ok, you need to be underpinning it with a fairly decent skincare routine. Back in the day, I used to use Lush and Lush only on my skin, but when I left Lush I felt like taking a break so I did nothing much for quite a while, then went back to a really simple routine of Breath of Fresh Air toner with Afterlife moisturiser. Sadly, Afterlife got disconned and in all honesty, my skin wasn't really looking fantastic. All I knew was that I was getting married, my skin looked dull and dry and I wanted something reasonably ethical... one thing led to another and I found myself at the Origins counter in Boots.  It was pretty much love at first sight (or maybe first touch as it was when I started using things that I really fell in love with it). I've been using this skin care routine for over a year now (with the odd patches of lazyness where I do literally nothing) and my skin is looking so much better! Anyway, on with the products themselves.

Cleanser:
Pure Cream

One of my biggest problems with cleansers is that they often require washing off or at least for water to touch your skin at some point. My skin is never going to look good with a water based cleanser - why? When I have a shower/bath, I come up with huge red marks all over my body that make it look like I've been hit and my skin goes completely and utterly dry. It's not as bad as it used to be, and I can tolerate it every now and again , but if I use water on my face daily, it ends up screaming out for mercy. Hence my love of Pure Cream. It's quite a thick cream cleanser, which you can wash or tissue off. I generally find that I only need a pea sized amount of this to do my whole face, so a little goes a long way! It's completely soap-free and enriched with lovely things like carrot oil and coconut oil and glycerine to keep you skin lovely and soft. I use this to cleanse morning and night and it does a brilliant job at getting rid of even the most glittery and complex of eyeshadows, although it does have slightly more problems with my waterproof mascara (but then again, even eye make up remover seems to have a tough job with that one - Lancome really do know how to make them stick!). All in all, a great all rounder!

Toner:
A Perfect World

Wow. Just wow. I actually love this. I used to be impressed with the Breath of Fresh Air by Lush for its moisturising and gentle nature, but this is divine. There's no alcohol and no oil so it doesn't leave you feeling tight or greasy, but it does leave you feeling soft, clean, refreshed and smelling yummy. It has many nice sounding ingredients which I'm sure do great things, and apparently it's good for providing your skin with a healthy boost of hydration and also helps to stop deterioration and oxidation, which is never a bad thing. I find a bottle of this lasts ages and is great for those times when you're in a hurry - I find that if I skip cleansing, this still picks up a fair amount of grim, leaves my skin looking perkier and gives a good base for moisturising.

Moisturisers:
Have a Nice Day

Who doesn't want a moisturiser that encourages them to have a nice day?! This is available in two consistencies and I've used them both at different times. I currently use the cream, which is the thicker of the two and more suited towards dry/combination skin. I started off with the lotion, which is a little lighter and aimed more at combination/normal skin. I'd probably recommend that if you're oily, you steer well clear of both of them. The main thing that drew me towards Have a Nice Day over anything else is that it has an SPF 15, which none of their other moisturisers have. As my skin chooses to skitz out at the slightest thing, I can't really use suncream on my face, so I use these instead. I actually prefer the way my skin feels with another of their moisturisers (which I'll maybe talk about in another post), but on the whole, this does quite nicely. It's got a nice, fresh smell (as does pretty much all of the origins range... they seem to stay away from sweet, sickly and synthetic smells, which for me is only ever going to be a good thing!) and is packed with lovely ingredients like birch extract to firm, soybean oil to nourish and a healthy dose of vitamin E, amongst other lovelies. It's SPF comes, in  part, from titanium dioxide, but fortunately you don't get left with any noticeable big, white streaks. My skin is really silky and gorgeous after using this. I spent the first week or so constantly telling people to touch my face. *ahem*

High Potency Night-a-mins

So funny story... I actually bought this by accident. I didn't really see the point of a night cream, but this was when I was using the Have a Nice Day lotion and I needed something a bit thicker for the drier parts of my skin. I'd been given a sample of another Origins moisturiser (I think Make a Difference - also, I should point out that origins have always been really great at giving me little samples of things, especially their Peace of Mind on-the-spot stress reliever when I was engaged... I think the ladies at Origins basically kept me sane in the run up to my marriage) and I was planning on buying said moisturiser. Somehow whilst I was chatting to the counter assistant, I ended up buying this instead. As in as far as we both knew, I was buying the other cream. She hadn't even tried to talk to me about night cream. We'd picked up what we though was the other one and put it through but when I got it home, it was this instead. Weird. But, being typically English, I didn't want to take it back so I decided to use it anyway. I flipping love it. How did I survive without a luxurious night cream like this? It's like dipping my finger into a really thick tub of creme brulee (but it smells better) and the feeling on my skin is just nummy. Again, definately not for oily people. I find this quite rich and heavy, but it sinks in really well, never leaves me feeling greasy and leaves my skin really soft. Here's what Origins say about it:

Let the hypnotic aromas of nature's nightcaps summon the sandman. Newly-formulated with extra Vitamins (including B-complex, C, E and A), extra minerals and exfoliating extracts, this mega moisture cream fortifies skin's own nocturnal nature to help it repair the appearance of damage done by day and rebuild itself to face tomorrow. Worn out surface cells are gently released to reveal brighter, more youthful texture and tone. Skin awakens rested, renewed and richly replenished.

It's amazing, and I actually think I've been sleeping better since using this! It's full of nice sleep inducing essential oils as well, so it's a multi-purpose product. Huzzah!

I think I'll stop there. There are a whole host of other products I use at various points in the week, but I'll save them for another time. Just to finish though, a little from the Origins website about their ethical stance and all that jazz:

Origins products are powered by nature and proven by science using:• Natural & Certified organic ingredients
• 100% natural essential oils
And formulated without:
• Parabens
• Phthalates
• Propylene Glycol
• Mineral Oil
• PABA
• Petrolatum
• Paraffin
• DEA
• Animal Ingredients (except cruelty-free honey and beeswax)
At Origins, our conscience has always been our guide. Since day one, our commitment has been: Preservation of earth, animal and environment. Origins was the first major cosmetic brand to choose not to do animal testing on our products and not to use animal ingredients (except cruelty-free honey and beeswax).
In addition, we ask our suppliers not to test on animals on our behalf, except when required by law. We evaluate our finished products in clinical tests on volunteer panels.
Origins Natural Resources fully supports the development and global acceptance of non-animal testing alternatives. To this end, the Company works extensively with the industry at large and the global scientific community to research and fund these alternatives.

*all pictures taken from the Origins website.