My almost daily routine.

Until the past year or so I wasn’t really very interested in skincare, I used face wipes daily, I never moisturised and I actually used the baby soap my mom still buys on my face. Admittedly I still have the odd day where I am too tired and I just want to lay down anywhere comfortable and forget about anything remotely important and these become face wipe days. Face wipe days are fine every now and then but they really shouldn’t be used as an alternative for a good face wash, by only using face wipes we are leaving the chemicals that remove the make up so magically to dry out our skin.
Before I start my little routine and fab product list I’d like to add I have sort of combination skin as my forehead is always, always the driest and my nose and chin get really oily but this routine works fab for sorting out everything in the past three/four weeks of using it religiously my skin is the smoothest it has ever been. Also if you are into cruelty free products I would suggest reading the Animal testing section at the bottom of the post first.

Kat’s first cleanser
Face wipe days will move on nicely to my favourite new purchase which was actually  recommended (like a lot of the things that I love) by ma friend JESS who is the best at knowing whats fabulous for your skin.Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water is something I actually think is easier to use than face wipes, I just drop some onto a cotton pad and wipe it over my skin then hold it onto one eye for about 30 seconds give that eye a quick wipe down and then repeat on the other eye. I’m never overly worried about getting all my make up off efficiently with this one because this is just the start of my routine, but it really does get rid of the majority of it with almost magical ease. The best thing about this is I got a 400ml bottle at Boots  for £3.33 I think it’s on offer at the moment so if you want to try it out go grab some now they also do a smaller bottle for something fab like £1.99. Of course if you scout about a bit you may be able to find it cheaper!

Scrub of ya life
Bearing in mind my routines change completely on my mood this is my most used and reliable face product. This is something I know i’d miss even if i’d never used it because I have been searching for anything that scrubs this well and have always been sorely disappointed. When Jess said this literally saved her skin last winter (I will probably credit Jess for everything because she’s fab.) I thought i’d give it a go.So I picked up a bottle/tub thing of St.Ives invigorating Apricot scrub 150ml for about £4 at Boots- Although I am sure i’ve been told it can be found quite a bit cheaper-either way it is worth every penny.Little did I know it would literally sort my forehead right out, I have the driest forehead and little patches on upper lip skin and these ruin my foundation as well as  the days when I just want to let my skin be free without looking greasy because I’ve had too cake myself in moisturiser. Also after having a little look into it online they do other versions of it for anyone that wants a gentler scrub or a blemish fighting scrub, they do those too!

Soap
So make up off, face fab and smooth I give it a quick wash with my favourite Lush skincare product Coalface. I brought this originally because I have this weird trust in charcoal, I’m not sure where it has come from or exactly why I trust it so much I feel like it will fix my blackheads, whiten my teeth and just generally fix anything I ask it too(a bit like coconut oil).I think I brought like a eight pound(price not weight) bar and chopped it up into four pieces so it has lasted me at least 6 months as i’ve still got some left and that’s with daily use but on the website its £5.25 per 100g- also it smells like liquorice and that is a whole reason to try it out. Side note (I hope my baby brother doesn’t mind me saying this, he is sixteen not an actual baby) but he has super big black heads and plenty of them and since using my St.Ives scrub and Coalface his face has improved so much, I think the antiseptic rosewood in the Coalface helps a lot.

Cleansers
This is where I rotate two products, mainly because I think stuff works better if you don’t let your skin, or hair or whatever get too used to it but also I want them both too last forever, plez. So my cleansers are L’Oreal Paris Extraordinary Oil cleansing Oil and Soap And Glory’s Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk.  Let’s start off the L’Oreal Paris Oil, I love,love,love the feel of this on my skin whilst I’m using it and when I’ve patted my face dry, it just adds this extra soft silky feel and dare I say it evens out my skin tone. I just pat my face dry after the wash then rub it in taking extra care to massage it in where my makeup was really heavy, I breathe in because the scent is so gorgeous and then I rinse it off. There’s not many products that when it says “rinse with warm water” I listen to it, I just prefer cold water on my face (I don’t care which works better) but I think with this you do need the warm water to get it all off effectively.  According to the boots website “It rebalances and purifies skin” and from testing it i’d say this is one hundred percent true and for just over five quid I’d say it is definitely a bargain. Looking at skin care as an investment I don’t really mind paying abit more when something works so well and five pound really is barely anything when its used so often with such great results.
Before I get to my new moisturizer I don’t want to forget my Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk. I am a huge fan of Soap And Glory and for christmas I received a the best gift box off my partners mum-that was the start of my new found love for cleansers.This one smells to me much like a lovely mint and cucumber dip, you know the kind where you eat the whole tub but forgive yourself because it’s got cucumber in it. As well as it working perfectly at getting the last of my makeup off this one I love to use with my moisturiser mainly because they are both Soap And Glory and smell so similar so it gives me that feeling I get when I’ve bothered to put matching underwear on or sometimes even matching socks. This is actually free online on Boots if you spend over twenty five pounds, which may seem a lot but is easily done,however if you aren’t doing a bulk shop it’s eight pounds for the 300ml bottle at Boots and on the SAG website.

Moisturiser

At the moment I only really use one moisturizer because I’m running very low on my Lush Skin Drink and my body shop Aloe Vera Face moisturisers, so I’ve been sticking to my Soap And Glory For Daily Youth 6 In 1 Multi Active Moisture Lotion 50ml which was  £12 from Boots on offer for buy one get the second half price. This is a very lightly scented moisturizer and it spreads so easily over my skin I literally use a pea sized dollop every morning and night. This is meant to do a lot of things such as soften, soothes stressed skin and rejuvenates tired skin. It definitely soothes my skin, I’m used to it being bright red and irritated after washing it with anything but since using this specifically my skins reacted so well too it, it’s never greasy and it leaves my skin feeling like a peach. I would one hundred percent recommend this too anyone that just wants a moisturiser than does everything, specially when I’m hearing more and more about having to use anti wrinkle cream earlier for it too work. A really interesting thing I’ve found when researching how to stay younger is the only consistent opinion is to protect your skin from UV exposure ALL the time. I may do a separate blog about this in the future.

A little bit about animal cruelty 
One of my main concerns when buying any makeup is becoming finding  out if they are cruelty free , I wrongly assumed whilst purchasing some of the bigger brands that they wouldn’t be so popular if they tested on animals, so this may change your mind on a couple of the products I have recommended, it has definitely made me think. Here is a link from a great website with a few companies you should avoid if you want to avoid anything that is being tested on animals – http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/cometic-brands-that-are-not-cruelty-free/ .
Whilst researching everything I had bought I thought this was quite an interesting statement from Soap and Glory;”At Soap & Glory, we absolutely do not test our formulations on animals, however we can’t say that each and every ingredient that goes into them has not, at some point historically, been cleared for human use, by animal testing. We hope this answers your question”
L’Oreal has a similar statement that they don’t use the cruelty free label as they stopped testing on animals in  1989 but do state that they no longer use anything that has been tested on animals or anyone that supplies ingredients that have  as they put  “All ingredients available today were once tested on animals.” but that doesn’t mean it should happen now. It might make my stomach churn but we have to accept that this was once the case and further work towards preventing it happen at all. However not long after reading all about how L’Oreal doesn’t test on animals I started looking into Garnier which is also owned by L’Oreal which is quoted as ” It is also probably the most notorious among cruelty–free shoppers” but Garnier tests on animals.
Also a huge devastating discovery for me is that my favourite product my St.Ives apricot scrub is no longer cruelty free, I was horrified to read a blog explaining that St.Ives had been secretly testing on animals and until 2011 It had “Not been tested on animals” printed on the bottle now it has been replaced with a Unleiver logo.
Of course I didn’t really even google cruelty free and Lush Cosmetics because it would be an absolute scandal if were involved in anything that was supporting animal testing. I’ve watched so many videos about how certain products are sourced and how they help as many people as possible by doing so, it would take a lot for me not too trust Lush- If only they would hire me. ( I also think I’ll do a post on my love for Lush as a company).

In the future I will definitely  being researching before I go shopping, I am still quite new at actually looking into cruelty free products, so i might be missing something if so please comment below, I’d love to learn more. Thank you for reading.