The First Skin One- My Evening Routine.

 I will hold my hands up, I have slept in my make-up after a night out. I have woken up the next morning false eyelashes stuck together, eye liner smudged everywhere, foundation and fake tan smeared around my face, I am not proud. I will admit to another thing aswell, I have used baby wipes to remove my make-up, no matter how rough they feel on my face and no matter that it feels like I am simply pushing make-up around my face until I feel I've made an acceptable attempt and can pass out in my bed. Both these things you may have guessed have resulted in my skin feeling dried out, rough and prone to break outs. Then something happened.

 I turned 21. I decided this was a time that I should behave like a proper adult and therefore do the adult thing and remove my make-up and let my skin breath, and so was born my night time routine. Now I won't lie, I have seen peoples night time routines that take about 79 hours, 5 million different lotions and potions and a singing bird or two to come and delicately wash their faces from the traces of shit that is left there from the day. (Kidding obviously, but you get my gist.) If however, you are one of those people I suggest you stop reading now as clearly I will be wasting your time.
 I am a lazy girl, there I said it. When I get into bed I want to hit play on One Tree Hill (or whatever I'm binging.) Then pass out into a peaceful sleep before my dreaded 5:30am alarm goes off. Therefore I want a quick and easy night time skin routine that still leaves good results, and I think I've finally found one that works. Plus an added bonus- it won't break your bank balance.

 I start by using Soap & Glory- Peaches And Clean. I want to begin by saying I LOVE the names S&G give to their products. Peaches And Clean (or P&C as I shall refer to them from now.) is a 4 in 1 wash off deep cleansing milk. It "purifies & clarifies" "dissolves makeup" and "energizes and smoothes." I totally, 100% back this up. I put two pumps onto my (clean) hands and rub it all round my face and down my neck and then remove that with a cotton pad, then I pump some more on to a cotton pads and get into stubborn areas such as the top of my forehead and around my nose and eyes and then rinse this off with water. Once I've done that I go over my face once more with a cotton pad just to be certain all my makeup is completely gone and what do you know? It's all gone.
 I also find that P&C lasts ages. I've had my bottle since December, I use it every night and I'm not even half way through it. What I will say is a little goes a long way. Sometimes I go a bit crazy with the pump and I'm leftover with excess lotion which is annoying. There is a fragrance to it which is (I'm sure you've guessed) peaches. If you don't like your moisturisers or lotions with an added fragrance then you probably won't like this but if you can bypass the smell, the results are worth it. If this sounds like something you want to try then head here, it's normally priced at £8.00 so it is affordable, however right now Boots have a sale on S&G products where you can save 1/3 on them so it's priced at £5.33 at the moment.

Soap And Glory- Peaches And Clean.

 Just a quick heads up, I am still working on the photo quality and set up; I realise the photos I'm currently taking are probably a cardinal sin in the blogging world.

 The next and final step, yes that's right my skin routine only involves two steps. Is to moisturise. I understand that the more expensive the product then maybe the better results. However I'm quite lucky with my skin that it's normally clear and I don't really get spots (but when I do get them, they take over my face they're so big.) Because of this I didn't want to spend loads on something I didn't need and I just wanted a light moisturiser. Enter Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser. 

 I love this. I love the fact that they have all the ingredients clearly on the bottles. For example on this one on the front it shows there are 2 vitamins, 2 skin loving ingredients and 0 artificial perfumes or colours. It then goes into detail on the back so I know exactly what I'm putting on my face. So just in case you're wondering in the light moisturiser the vitamins are: Pro vitamin B5 and vitamin E. And the skin loving ingredients are: glycerin and borage skin oil. Now I don't claim to know what they are but they leave your skin feeling super soft when you wake up in the morning. Plus it carries on working for 12 hours which is always an added bonus. If you're interested in this product it's super affordable at £4.19, however at Boots you can save a 1/3 on selected Simple products so it's £2.79, the same price if not cheaper than your average lunch. Even better head to Superdrug and get it for £2.65. There's also a 50ml bottle on the Superdrug website.

Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser.

  And for the nights where I go out out too late or I'm just too tired then I resort to my emergency wipes. However these are wipes with a difference. Low and behold the No7 Beautiful Skin Quick Thinking Wipes. Now these don't come cheap (in wipes terms) they are £7 but in my opinion they're worth it. Even if I just use these without the moisturiser or cleanser and toner then I still wake up the next morning with soft skin. This would be thanks to the ingredients like Pro-vitamin B5 which moisturises and softens your skins and the witch hazel and fennel (fennel?!?! Who knew) which clears pores and "leaves skin feeling smooth and fresh." I for one have to agree. These are every lazy/tired/drunk/busy persons dream. If I was pushed to give a negative it would be that there aren't enough wipes in one packet so I find I go through them quite quickly but there always seem to be an offer on at Boots, for example right now they have 3 for 2 on No7 products so if you're buying something from there anyway, pick these up and give them a try. Go here if I have managed to persuade you to join the lazy girls dream.

No7 Beautiful Skin, Quick Thinking Wipes. (Yes that
is an empty packet, sorry!)

 So there you have it, an easy, Simple (Ha Ha..!) guide to my evening routine. Yes it's not the most sophisticated but you know what the results are amazing. My skin is definitely thankful for it aswell. A short but sweet Blog post, plus you're getting two this week to make up for the lack of Blogs from the weekend. Another bonus for me is that it's pay day weekend so I will be buying lots of new products to try out and review for you. Hurrah I hear you all cheer. I see a haul in the not so distant future.

 

 Don't forget to follow me on here, Twitter and Instagram (link is in the previous post.) Feel free to leave comments with your favourite skin products and any thoughts on how I'm doing/how I could improve, until then thank you and goodbye. 

Xx

The First Hair One.

 Hi everybody and anybody, I hope you're still with me as I have an embarrassing confession, I wrote my "First Hello." I read it over and was so pleased with it, yes that was the perfect way (I say with fingers crossed and my hopes high) to introduce myself. Then I was like "oh God how do I publish it so it goes live?! I like to think I am down with technology (do people even say "down" any more?) But it took me multiple tries to get it up. But I succeeded- Hurrah! I hear you cry. More likely you're like "stop rambling AGAIN and get on with it!" OkOk I get the message.
 I've decided to start with a hair post. I should probably tell you a bit about my hair I guess. I wear it straight 98% of the time, this probably doesn't seem that unusual but naturally my hair is suuuuper curly, like tight curls- finding a picture of me with curls was so difficult, so you'll have to settle with old ones and one fairly recent one.

Ahh yes, younger me stroking a strange dog, looking oh so cool with her
little BlackBerry Bold. But take note of curls.

Me rebelling against my curls by tying them in oh so cool cowgirl style plaits.
Note the Blackberry makes another appearance. you're on holiday you fool. Get offline.

Discovered the art (albeit it, not well) of eyebrows by now.

 So, as you may be able to tell this takes so much time and effort and I've been doing it since I was around 13 so it's about 8(?!) years and countless hours of my life.

It can take a while to get from above to way I like it- straight.
What a lovely mess in the background. Apologies!

 Add onto this I've been dying my hair since it seems the land before time my hair can feel quite dry and brittle so finding good, affordable products to make it feel soft and look shiny can be a hassle, but fear not fellow curl tamers and hair dyers, I have at last found some that work and some that I will be giving a swerve in the future, I want to keep this post quite short and sweet to give you a taster of what I'm like when writing, so I'll focus on two products- both conditioners (sorry!) I also want to apologise for the quality of photos and the layout, I'm working on getting a proper camera and photo taking set-up! So let's crack on...

 I'll start with the one I least enjoyed and have to admit I probably won't be repurchasing this again. Lee Stafford Poker Straight Conditioner. I have to admit I bought this simply because it said poker straight on the front, and whilst not left disappointed per say-it does what it says on the bottle, there were some things that bugged me.

Lee Stafford Poker Straight Conditioner.

 The reason for my disappointment is probably my fault. I built it up to be something that would miraculously get rid of my curls- let's not kids ourselves it's not going to do that. Let's start with the positives. It's reasonably priced- I got it at Boots for £5.99 so it's completely affordable. I also happen to know there's an offer on at Boots at the moment where you can get two selected Lee Stafford products for £10, so if you want to try out his products head here or alternatively head to his website.

I also agree with the fact that as it says it fights frizz, my hair is alot easier to manage and straighten so that's always a bonus. They've also added P2IFTY Complex to help fight the damage from the heat of styling it. I have to say my hair certainly feels in much better condition after straightening, it no longer feels straw-like but I find this wears off very quickly. Another thing it says it does is battle static and this is where I fall out with this product. Because I blow dry and then straight away straighten my hair it can end up that my hair has alot of fly aways and static. This product has had no difference on that, I still find myself annoyingly with static hair which means I end up going over the roots with a comb spritzed with hairspray to try and tame them,

 It also says it has a great fragrance and this is my biggest pet peeve about the products I've used so far. I can't stand the smell. It reminds me of nit lotion (if you live with kids or remember the scent from your younger days you'll know what I mean, if not lucky you.) I honestly can't say that I enjoy walking around and every so often getting a faint whiff of nit lotion. For me this is the biggest turn off and the reason I won't be repurchasing. If scent doesn't bother you and you don't suffer with the almighty annoyance of static then this conditioner is perfect. Pair it with the Shampoo and Flat Iron Protection Shine Mist which I also have and you're good to go. For me it's not bad enough for me to stop using it but it will be a one time buy.

 Onto a more positive note, I have found a conditioner which I absolutely love. I don't have one fault with it. This product is OGX Hydrate + Defrizz Kukui Oil Conditioner.

Hydrate + Defrizz Kukui Oil Conditioner.

 This is definitely one of the best conditioners I've ever bought. It literally does everything it says on the bottle. As soon as you take the top off the fragrance hits you and it literally smells like holidays and summer which I love. As soon as I put this in my hair I could feel it working, once I washed it off my hair instantly felt softer and it stays that way until you next wash it. It again, definitely helps fight the frizz I usually battle with when I'm straightening my hair. This is also the type of conditioner I'd take on holiday with me as this is the only time I leave my hair natural- even I don't have the patience to straighten it when I'm away. It leaves my natural curls looking alot more tame and easily manageable unlike the usual lions mane I'm normally left with. I like that it's humidity resistant aswell as I find when I go away or on those once a year days in England where it's hot and humid my hair is literally impossible to do anything with so normally it's just throw up into a topknot bun. So it will be interesting to see what it's like in those weather circumstances. If any of you know feel free to leave me a comment with your findings. It also leaves your hair looking super shiny (hurrah!) Which is hard to come by with me thanks to all the abuse I've put it through in the past.

 This conditioner is also very affordable, I actually ordered this one off Amazon for £9.16 plus postage and packaging but don't make my mistake because they're in high street stores for alot cheaper, in Boots it's £6.99 and again there's an offer on at the moment where you can get two OGX selected products for £10. There are also OGX products on Feel Unique where you get two free samples on orders over £30 and free shipping on orders over £15 so definitely have a browse on there.

This also lasts ages. I bought this at the same time as buying the Poker Straight Conditioner and where that's nearly all gone this one is still fighting strong. The only downside is it's not an opaque bottle so you can't see how much you have left. That is the only- and it's minor downside I've found, I would definitely 10/10 recommend. 

 Sorry for the short Blog Post with only two products but I hope you've found it useful. I would love to hear your feedback before I start writing my next Blog post. Also any recommendations you guys have. Especially for tackling curly hair in the heat. What are your guys' go to products? Any tips or tricks I should know? I'm hoping my next post will be up next weekend. I'm not entirely sure what it's on yet. I have an unhealthy amount of lipsticks at the moment so might do something to do with them? When I know I will let you all know. Don't forget to give me a follow so you can keep updated.

Speak Soon. X x