For years and years I have assumed that my skin type was oily. I have always had spot prone skin, and suffer from mild acne. Unfortunately, I have taken my spotty, oily teenage skin into my twenties and am constantly looking for products that help.

Previously, I have constantly bought products for oily skin, products with harsh, stripping chemicals, products with rough exfoliating balls and god knows what else in a desperate attempt to dry out my skin, but every day I would wake up with skin just as oily as the day before.

It wasn't until very recently, after researching skincare and reading people's blogs that I came across a post (which I frustratingly can't locate now) that explained why my skin remained so oily: the dryer you make your skin, the more oil it produces itself. I was making my skin create more oil on the surface to counteract how dry I was making it with all those low quality, harsh face washes.

Before a couple of months ago, I had never put anything but an oil-free moisturiser on my face, and that was only once a day. In fact, I'd never put anything with oil in on my face in fear of creating more grease and more spots, until I finally looked into putting a skincare routine together. 

I have managed to find some products that I've been using, that are working, and have managed to completely change my skin.

In the mornings I simply cleanse and moisturise, but here is my full skincare routine I use in the evening to remove all makeup and grime...

I always prefer to remove my eye makeup before anything else. I often wear a lot of eye makeup and don't see the point in wasting cleanser to remove it when there are some great, cheap products on the market to do it for me. I have a couple of favourites that I tend to alternate between.

These are the Nivea Daily Essentials Double Effect Eye Make-Up Remover (125ml, £1.94 on sale at Boots) and the Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make-Up Remover (125ml, £2.26 on sale at Boots).

I don't have a bottle of the Nivea one at the minute, so haven't got any pictures of it, but it's one of those two part solutions that you have to shake up. It does a really good job of removing even the toughest of makeup around the eyes. One thing I would say is that it is quite oily and leaves an oily film on the surface of the skin around the eyes.
I do prefer the Simple one only slightly more, as it's not as oily, you don't have to shake it up and it, ironically, is just so simple. It does what it says, removes all eye makeup and is really gentle on the skin around the eyes.

I use a micellar cleansing water for removing the rest of my makeup. I splash my face with water first, just to remove as much dirt as possible so I'm not using endless amounts of cleanser on removing my makeup, rather than cleansing my skin. At the minute, I'm using the Garnier Skin Naturals Micellar Cleansing Water Combination & Sensitive Skin (400ml, £3.30 on sale at Boots) which is a really lovely, gentle cleansing solution that removes all makeup with just a little product. I pour some on a cotton wool pad and wipe all around my face and down my jaw and neck. It's really refreshing and you get a huge bottle for the price!

I have also heard really good things about the Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water (£2.99 on sale at Boots) and will be trying that one out soon.

This is the only thing I ever used to do and it was making my face so so dry and tight so I was on the lookout for a really gentle exfoliating scrub that I could use only in the evenings before bed. I've recently discovered the Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliation Wash (150ml, £2.66 on sale at Boots). It has little beads in it that gently exfoliate your skin, without leaving it tight or dry. It has really helped with clearing up spots and the oil balancing agents really work. Afterwards, my face feels super clean but my skin is soft and feels amazing.

 

Ahh, the dreaded oil inducing moisturiser... How wrong I was. I have done so much research on moisturisers that won't cause oily films or greasy skin and there's so many to choose from. I was having a stroll around Home Bargains and stumbled across Re-Gen Cream (125ml, £3.99 in Home Bargains). I remember reading about this cream so much on blogs a couple of years ago so when I saw it I thought why not just give it a try. It's a really good dupe for Bio-Oil but half the price so I didn't really have anything to lose. They also sell it in ASDA so is such an easy product to get hold of. It's also very good for using on dark marks, stretch marks and red patches all over the body.

I'm currently using the Nip+Fab Dark Circle Fix (15ml, £15.95) which is a really lovely light serum that I lightly dab under the eyes and up onto the brow bone. This is quite expensive, but I managed to get it half price, and it is a lovely little product. It lightens under the eyes, no miracles but every so slightly, and does wonders when I wake with puffy eyes. I get colds and allergies a lot so puffy eyes is often a problem for me and this cooling serum really works wonders. It absorbs into the skin really quickly and isn't sticky or greasy. A little goes a long way too, so this little bottle should last a while - or at least until it's on sale again!

This is by no means the perfect skin routine and is something I think you really have to work on to perfect, but at the minute, this is really helping clear up my skin and has completely banished the oily film I used to wake up with. This also means my makeup stays on longer and I have to do less touch-ups throughout the day. I am loving the way my skin is feeling at the minute and would recommend all of these products!

I hope this has helped some of you rethink what you are putting on your skin as it was posts like this that really helped me out! With a little more research (and less chocolate) I might actually get my skin in a condition that I am happy with.

Be beautiful, always,

Chel
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