Simply Back to Basic's - Skin Care

Yesterday I talked about lips and how to get them back under control during the winter months. (you can read it here) Today, I'm going to be talking about my skin and because this post is otherwise going to take you all day to read I'm going to split it into several smaller posts.

As I mentioned yesterday, My skin has been under attack from not only the cold weather but also dreaded late pregnancy hormones, making it senstive, dry, flakey and red. Not an attractive sight, and also I have found that wearing make-up is just making it worse. So considering I am on maternity leave with my only neccessary trip out into the bid wide world being taking the little one to nursery I have for now shoo'd away my make-up and am looking at trying to improve the condition of my skin before re-entering the world of make-up.

I told you back to basic's is the method that I have adopted, I am a firm believer (tried and tested over the years) that if you do take care of your skin using appropriate skin care products, you need less make-up anyway, as with the condition of your skin improved, you do not need to spend as much money on foundations, concealers and all the rest. I am not saying that you need to spend an absolute fortune on skin care. It is not simply throwing money at the most expensive product in the hope that it will miraculously cure any skin problems that you have, because it won't.

You need to first examine your skin and decide on what skin type you have, and then seek out the products that suit your skin types. Secondly, you need to adopt a routine which you can stick to. This part, was particularily hard for me when I was working, as I had to combine early mornings with late nights and always found myself too tired to be bothered.
One tip I have for you, and wish I had known myself years ago is to try new products one at a time and to try them for at least a month before deciding if they are for you (excluding if they cause an allergic reaction) I have wasted so much money on using a product for a week and not seeing some miraculous improvement or change. It simply won't happen. It takes time for your skin to adjust to a new product. So start off small and be patient.

The face wash I am currently using is the Simple Kind to Skin Moisterising Facial Wash.
 

 I have used Simple for years and although I have changed my skin care products over the years I still come back to Simple. The reason for this is because I like the Simple philosphy. There is nothing in Simple products which may irritate sensitive skin and more over they believe that skincare is not just about the products we put on our skin but also about our life style and the foods we eat.
I use this face wash both morning and evening and follow up with a toner, moisteriser and eye balm (but more about those tomorrow)

what face wash do you swear by?

L.X

*This is not a sponsored post, all products have been purchased with my own money and all opinions are my own.

Simply Back to Basic's

I have recently started having loads of problems with my skin, partly due to the cold weather, but I think mostly down to late pregnancy hormones. I have never really had many problems with my skin, and actually have the luxury of being a bit lazy with it. I can wash and dry it and then not really bother with moisteriser unless I'm using it in the morning before I put my make-up on.
Recently however, it has gone haywire, looking dry, flakey and red. Due to being pregnant aswell I have considered moving my bed to the bedroom as I seem to spend all of my sleeping hours sitting on the loo from where baby has decided that my bladder is actually a trampoline, so dark circles round my eyes have firmly planted themselves and considered I have a few weeks/months of sleepless nights to look forward to, I don't think that they are going anywhere fast. Then just to add insult to injurymy lips with the cold weather have turned from lovely, smooth, smoochibles, to dry and cracked and also flakey.

Pregnancy glow my backside!!!!

That aside, I've gone back to basics, shying away from make-up (trust me - it is not a pretty sight) and bumped up my skincare routine in an effort to regain some control over my Rudolph akin skin.

I'm going to start with Lips, my lips are a major concern at the moment because they are rough, dry and cracked (really attractive I know) but this is the trouble with the English weather, when it goes cold, your lips suffer, so here are my tips for sorting out winter lips;

*Don't lick, bite or pick at the dry skin on your lips. just like a scab on your knee the more you pick the more time it takes to heal and the worse it looks when it does eventually heal.
*Apply lip balm as often as you need it, buy two and keep one in your bag at all times and one at home so you always have a spare.
*When you put your moisteriser on at night, apple a lip balm to your lips, this will mean that you are more likely to wake up with softer, smoother lips
*and lastly, drink more, dry skin anywhere on the body is a sign of dehydration, so hydrate your skin more by drinking more (preferably water)

My current favourite lip balm is from The Body Shop, it's the Solid Oil Lips Wild Argan Oil,

It currently retails at £4.00 both online and in their stores (you can buy it Here) 

It is my current favourite because it smells amazing, it's deeply nourishing, and when I apply it at night I wake up in the morning with lips kissably soft. I do notice a big difference in my lips when I don't apply this, I didn't take my own advice at buying two, and recently couldn't remember where I had put it so went without, the result is the horrible, dry, cracked lips I was telling you about earlier in the post.
I have tried other products but find them to be too waxy, or irritate me by sitting on the lip rather than soaking in, this I find, does soak in which means although you have to apply more, atleast it doesn't look like I have stuck my mouth in the fat left in my frying pan.

What are your tips and tricks for keeping your lips under control during the winter? Are there any products that you would recommend?

Tomorrow, I'll be talking about trying to get my skin back under control, my skin type, routine, and products I'm currently using.

L. X

*This is not a sponsered post, all opinions are my own, and all products have been purchased with my own money.