An unconventional fashion blogger trying to find her place on the internet

It’s feels good to have a post ready to roll this week after missing my usual Friday evening post, so apologies for my needing some time to look after Gaby and wedding prep – we’re under 3 weeks away now and shit is getting REAL!
A while back I wrote a post about upping my skincare routine where I shared some new bits I’d introduced to my skincare routine to improve my skin in readiness for our wedding. My skin had a lot of acne scarring after a bad bout of adult acne during a stressful time last year and I was hating it.
Anyway, I’m back to talk about the progress I’ve made since then and a couple of changes I’ve made to my routine since then!

New Additions

L’Oréal Pure Clay Brightening Mask

I can’t give much more than my initial impressions as this is really new into my routine and I’ve only used it once, however I really enjoyed using this mask – it smelt very zesty, tingled on my skin (not in an “OH MY GOD I’M BURNING ALIVE” kind of tingle, just an “Ooh, this feels like it might be doing something” kind of tingle) and my skin felt refreshed after using it. I decided to apply this on my cheeks, nose and forehead, whilst applying the anti-blemish clay mask on my acne prone areas. So far so good!

Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Radiance Balm

This was one product I purchased the old fashioned way – not after hearing anything amazing about it or being influenced by one of my fave blogger friends; just having a mooch through Superdrug when I needed to re-purchase a moisturiser!
It smells AMAZING – I’m not very good at describing smells, but Aaron always thinks I’ve just come out of the bath after applying it (which isn’t always the case 😉) and it’s very nourishing. I wouldn’t say it’s done amazing things for my skin, but I have cut out the use of my foundation on an everyday basis since I started using it (I’m a concealer, setting powder, bronzer and mascara kinda gal right now – saves me a lot of time in the morning and I’m trying not to clog up my skin too much before the wedding). Whether it’s down to this moisturiser or everything else I’ve been doing, I can’t tell; but I’ve enjoyed using it!

Formula 10.0.6 Picture Perfect Day Moisturiser with SPF 15, Guava + Vitamin C

Another moisturiser I hadn’t heard of before mooching around on ASOS trying to find a moisturiser that had SPF in it (it’s so hard to find a good SPF!) and on first impressions, the SPF works well! I’ve only used this once when the weather really improved over the bank holiday weekend; Aaron and I popped out for a pub lunch in the beer garden, did some last minute wedding shopping and went to his parents house to let their little pooch Jake out (I bloody adore this dog) and sit in the garden for a while.
SIDE-NOTE: Aaron pointed out that Jake had his lipstick out in this photo AFTER I’d uploaded it to Instagram – I’m all about keeping it real 😂
Anyway, my skin didn’t burn, didn’t look rosy and I had a natural “just woke up like this” glow after a day in the sunshine. Impressed so far!

The Ordinary EUK 134 0.1% Serum

I picked up this serum during my first ever shop with Beauty Baywhilst picking up the Jeffree Star liquid lipstick that I featured in wedding makeup trial post – I’d been looking for something that could help my skin look more vibrant with less scarring, so was intrigued by the sound of this one and also loved that you could filter products by the kind of skin you have or are experiencing.
I fucked it up the first time I tried it out; it’s oil-based and doesn’t mix well if you apply a water based product after using it (I’d usually apply all of my serums first before plastering on the moisturiser) so it was very oily and took ages to sink in properly – I didn’t read the packaging of my moisturiser to check if it was water based first, rooky mistake! Luckily I’d applied it at night and by the morning my skin felt great, but I did now know how to try it out the following morning.
One thing I’d say about this product is it’s best to only use it at night, unless you’ve got a load of time for it to sink in before you apply your makeup in the morning.
Overall, it’s really brought my skin back to life and continued to improve the scarring on my cheeks – definitely recommend giving it a go!

Continued Use

Simple Replenishing Moisturiser

I stick to using this one at night since I’ve been using a day cream, but this does the job well! Nothing fancy, just Simple 😉

The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2%

This has been great for clearing up any breakouts I’ve had and it’s definitely staying put – my spots don’t hang around half as long as when I wasn’t using it!

L’Oréal Pure Clay Blemish Rescue Mask

I love this still and it’s lasted me really well – I tend to use this once a week on a Sunday when I have a little pamper before work the next day, it smells lovely, doesn’t irritate my skin and calms down any harsh bastard spots that might have crept up over the weekend!

L’Oréal Fine Flowers Gel Cream Wash

I love this face wash, it’s so gentle, doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin and keeps my skin feeling clear – firm favourite that’s here to stay!

In the bin

The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2% Serum

I loved this serum, but was absolutely gutted when ASOS gradually stopped stocking The Ordinary (possibly because The Ordinary were struggling with keeping their stock replenished at the time – I had a look on their website and there was a long delay for getting hold of this serum) so once I ran out of this initial bottle, I didn’t end up replacing it. I’d still highly recommend this as it worked wonders on my skin, but I needed something to continue using!

Before & After

Now it’s all well and good me telling you how great my skin’s been, but it’s better to actually SEE the progress right?
Well, here are a few before and after snaps from my last post to today;

How typical is it that I break out with the biggest spot on my chin the day I choose to take photos for this post?! 😂
Let me know what you think in the comments below, for now I’m going to go and enjoy the rest of this beautiful bank holiday!

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