I have oily skin, with HUGE pores, so Cleansing, Toning & Moisturising are very important ESPECIALLY after wearing make-up. On a normal, no make-up wearing day, I (try) to C,T&M morning and night.
Cleansing
In addition to being oily, I've got quite sensitive skin and my current favourite Cleansing product is
'9-5' by Lush Cosmetics. It really works for me, it's full of natural goodness, including Almond Oil, Orchid Extract and Ylang Ylang; it's very easy to use, I put it on a cotton pad and cleanse in downward circular motions and it visibly lifts away all the dirt.
Toning
After Cleansing, toning is essential!! About 8 years ago, I did some part-time work on a beauty counter and whilst training for this position I learnt how important cleansing is, and it's stuck with me since then. The job of a cleanser is to remove dirt & oil from your skin and from inside your pores, from the moment the cleanser touches your skin, it's already started cleansing, now, this is all good, however, even when your make-up and dirt have been removed from your skin the cleanser is still working! So, essentially if you don't remove the cleanser residue from your skin, it will continue to cleanse and subsequently, it'll keep removing the natural oils in your skin which could cause skin irritation and/or blemishes. Additionally cleansing has a warming effect on the skin, and anything warming on the skin, increases elasticity and opens the pores.
SO, the point of a toner is to 1. remove the excess cleanser that is no longer needed and 2. Cool your skin down to restore firmness and close the pores. My favourite cleanser at the moment is
'Eau Roma Water' again, by Lush Cosmetics, it's main ingredients are Lavender Water and Rose Water, both are very gentle and very cooling.
Although I love this as a Toner, another (free) alternative is cold water! Simply rinse your face with cold water or run a cotton pad under a cold tap and gently rub it on your face, this does the exact same job! It removes residue and cools your face down.
Moisturising
Because my skin is oily, I often struggle with moisturisers; however I don't place too much emphasis on moisturisers, I kind of just use whatever I have to hand at that moment, whether it's coco butter or 'Simple' face moisturiser or any Lush face and body moisturiser. In my experience, WHAT you moisturise with isn't too important, you just need to make sure that you DO moisturise. Of course this statement is relative, but the point is, once you remove moisture with a cleanser (and toner) you need to restore it and as long as your chosen moisturiser doesn't dry out your skin or make it too oily, then you're fine, just make sure that you DO moisturise. Moisture is actually good for the skin, just not too much.
Oil Cleansing
Now, in my personal experience, oil cleansing works wonders!! If you don't know what it is, it's simply using oil to cleanse and remove make-up. Personally, I only do this form of cleansing, if I've been wearing make-up. If I haven't been wearing make-up, I just do the routine I mentioned above (C,T,M).
I usually remove my make-up with face wipes but from my experience, although face wipes APPEAR to remove make-up they don't seem to lift all make-up out of my pores, so I like to give my skin a DEEP cleanse to make sure all make-up is removed and my pores are fully clean, hence, I Oil Cleanse.
So, to Oil cleanse, I use a face wipe or two to remove the majority of make-up, then, I massage pure Almond Oil (or Olive Oil if I run out of Almond Oil) into my skin, run a face towel under hot water, squeeze the water out and then wipe away the oil, I do this 3-4 times, and it really works, better than any other make- up remover I've used before; after this, I usually use a very light moisturiser (but not everyone needs to moisturise depending on how the oil feels on your skin), I don't tone because pure oil is good for the skin so it's fine to just leave it on the skin overnight.
In the morning, my skin is visibly brighter and smoother and I find that this form of cleansing soothes breakouts. It sounds illogical to use oil on oily skin, however, oil attracts oil, I don't really know the science behind it, but it works for me, the Almond Oil attracts and pulls out the oils from my make-up (most make-up contains different types of oils). You don't have to use Almond Oil, I've also used Olive Oil and Avocado Oil, they're all just as effective as each other
Finally ... Face Masks
I LOVE face masks, they definitely help to reduce break outs and they keep my skin bright. I must say I'm a fan of most Lush Cosmetics Fresh Face Masks, particularly 'Cosmetic Warrior'; however, for the sake of variation I'm currently using 'Blue Corn 3in1 Deep Cleansing Face Mask' from The Body Shop, I like it a lot, it's a mask, cleanser and a scrub, it leaves my skin very soft and bright after leaving it on for about 20 minutes. However I must say that it doesn't feel as gentle as the Lush ones, it feels a bit chemically, but it definitely works. I usually use it once or twice a week or after a long bout of wearing make-up.
Thanks for reading
I hope this is useful :)
Love, you
Jennifer
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