As promised, my skincare routine

I’ve mentioned my problem skin a few times, and I’ve also mentioned a new skincare routine which I’ve been deliberately vague about lest it fail. Except it hasn’t.

So I have always had kinda bad skin. During puberty and up until first year it was particularly bad, but never bad enough for proper treatment. Since then, it’s gone through stages where it’s been really great, kinda bad, and oh jeez I can’t leave the house like this. Recently, I’ve been getting kinda big, hard cystic pimples that hurt a lot and make me super self conscious. By recently, I mean on and off for about 5 years.

I also have this thing where I don’t like wearing a lot of products on my skin, I don’t like using a lot of chemicals, and I like my skin to feel fresh and clean. I’m also horrendously lazy.

I had my skin looking kinda great about 9 months ago. Then I got my nose pierced and was given some Dr. Bronner’s Castille Soap to wash the site. I did some research into castille soaps and found that you could use them for almost anything. So I did. And while it makes a great soap for washing mooncups, it’s a terrible face wash. It’s way too harsh, and it contains coconut oil which is comedogenic. Some people have great stories about how coconut oil cleared their skin up; I have great stories about cystic pimples.

Once I got my shit together, I formulated a plan and made a very expensive trip to Lush. I’ve mentioned my infatuation with their products before – they work really well for me and I like the customer service (for the most part) both in store and online.

I start by smearing Ultrabland all over my face (including my eyes!) to take my makeup off/loosen all the grime from the day. It’s kinda waxy but super gentle and takes everything off. I scrub with a flannel and hot water a few times to make sure everything’s gone, then a rub a pea sized amount of Angels on Bare Skin between wet fingers to make it a paste. If you don’t do this, I’ve found you end up with lumps of it going everywhere and not really scrubbing your face. Angels has lavender and rose oil, and is gentle enough to use every day. I used this prior to castille soap so god knows why I switched. Brainiac. Anyway, after I’ve washed off Angels, I spritz a couple of sprays of Eau Roma Water toner and while that’s still wet use a small amount of Imperialis moisturiser. I’ve found that I need to let the moisturiser soak in a bit before face to pillow action/pashing because it can be a bit smeary and wet, but once it absorbs it makes your face smell delicious and it’s super soft. Success.

Once a week I swap out Angels on Bare Skin for a Cosmetic Warrior face mask.

Doing the bulk of my face washing at night is new and exciting for me but makes total sense – I’ve spent all day wearing make up and touching my face and doing god knows what, so it should be super clean for the next 8 hours I spend pushed up against a pillow/with my hair all over my face while I sleep. Also, washing it over the sink with a flannel means I’m more likely to take everything off and give my face a proper (gentle) scrub.

In the morning, I either wash my face with water or a bit of Angels while I’m in the shower, the finish with Eau Roma Water and Imperialis as soon as I get out.

The worst part about this routine is when I’m not staying at home and have to remember to take all this shit with me, but there’s nothing wrong with using some baby wipes and resolving to clean your face thoroughly when you get home.

My skin’s still not perfect, but this is where we’re at about 4 weeks and this is pretty fantastic as far as my skin goes.

No more cystic pimples, my skin doesn’t hurt, it’s not red and aggravated, and there are only a few small areas left to clear. For the most part, it’s all hidden by makeup quite easily and if I can’t be bothered with foundation I don’t get self conscious like I used to.

So that’s what I do. Do you want to hear about Analiese’s super special sensitive skin routine? Have you found a winning combination? Or better, what’s the worst skincare idea you’ve ever had?