Current favourite beauty essentials

This year has been a bit up and down on the beauty front for me, I started the year still on antibiotics for my skin, had a massive acne flare over the summer, and now I'm working towards better skin.

Several things have helped me and I've really loved this year and I thought I'd share. 

Logona Rhassoul Mud
This fantastic product has changed my life! Mixed with a chamomile infusion, an oil blend containing a base of olive oil, essential oils of frankincense, rosewood, lavender, palmarosa and a maceration of St John's Wort, with a dash of sea salt. This makes the most amazing cleanser which helps keep pores clear and cleanses without affecting the acid mantle of the skin. It is also mildly exfoliating.

Simple Spot Zapper
I actually discovered this in 2011 but it has remained a staple of my routine. This quickly absorbed, non drying gel is enriched with lavender and zinc, two things that really help with healing and redness. The genius thing about this gel is that it doesn't dry the skin out, so make up sits beautifully on top. You can also see it working before your eyes almost!

Yoghurt
The regular white stuff you eat for hour breakfast, really. AHAs are the best form of exfoliation, and yoghurt is packed with lactic acid, one of those glorious AHAs. As well as that, the fat in yoghurt is great for plumping the skin, although apparently the lower the fat level, the more AHAs. I usually have 0.1% in for eating, so I just use that. Apply to clean skin with a foundation brush and leave for 10-15 minutes, then rinse. I like to remove with a hot flannel for the best effect.

Argan Oil
I'm late to this bandwagon, but I'm glad I got there in the end. The oil is amazing, and the healing properties have to be seen to be believed. I've used some for an oil based serum using the same oils as my cleanser, to use overnight on my skin, and under my regular day moisturiser. 

Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Day Cream

This stuff is really good. The ingredients list is tiny, and is full of nourishing ingredients. My skin loves it! I have really dry skin and therefore this is brilliant, but if you have slightly more normal/combination skin, there is a version for that. It makes an amazing base for make up as well, and works really well with the serum I made with argan oil underneath it. 

Make Up Alley app (Google Play link)
This is brilliant when I'm out and about, or just need to check reviews of a product. You obviously have to take all personal reviews with a pinch of salt and your own experience but I find Make Up Alley one of the most reliable sources of information on the efficacy of products. 

MAC Matchmaster Foundation

Another 2011 discovery but one that I can't live without. The texture, colour and the coverage are all perfect for me. Despite having quite severe acne and scarring/redness as a result, I find the lighter coverage of Matchmaster (which is medium at best) combined with strategic concealer placement the best option for my skin and overall look. I always find that heavier foundations sit badly and feel awful, but this is a dream. I always forget I'm wearing make up!! Set with MAC Prep and Prime Translucent Finishing Powder, it provides a 'my skin but better' look. I actually think it is one of MAC's most underrated foundations. 

Youtube

I have learned so much from Youtube make up videos, in particular Lisa Eldridge and Pixiwoo. Check them out for tips, tricks and new looks! 

Losing something loved

Today I proved to myself, yet again, that I shouldn't be trusted with anything nice that represents anything.

My grandmother bought me a charm bracelet as a present when I passed my GCSEs. It originally had a grand piano charm, a shell with a pearl and a Cornish pasty, all representing me and my life. Then, when I passed my driving test, she bought me a car charm to go on the bracelet. At some point (I can't remember when, but probably Christmas one year), she bought me a Cornish Piskie for luck. Unfortunately I lost the piano many years ago, before I had the charms all soldered on properly. But I've kept hold of this bracelet for years now. I didn't wear it much after I started university, the charms dangled on the desk and annoyed me a bit when I wrote anything. My grandma passed away just before I graduated from university.

I recently started wearing it again, as a way of connecting myself with my home land. And today, I appear to have lost it.

I'm pretty certain I was wearing it when I left my German class, and given the sub zero temps I was wearing gloves. I took them off to go into the drugstore, and I am sure I felt the lining of my gloves catch on my bracelet. When I got home, I realised it was missing. The Beard and I retraced my steps, scouring the snow for it to no avail.

I've put a tweet out on Twitter in both languages, and I have hope that maybe the drugstore will have found it in the clean up after hours tonight, so I shall pop back in there tomorrow morning and check. In addition, it could have fallen off in my German class, but I have to wait until Monday to find out.

The bracelet isn't worth much, but the sentimental value is immense. I am so very pissed at myself right now.

How To Dance Like A Goth

Someone shared this on Facebook. I love it!