Skin Care Tips!

Blargh. As it gets colder here in Canada, the chances of me getting sick and staying home get higher. I'm also a lazy bum, so if I feel the slightest bit of a cold coming on, I stay home. Which is actually good, because I had to catch up on school work, and to be honest, I don't have time to do that when I'm at school.

Anyways, I've been at home all day, reading xxxHolic and playing Paper Mario (awesome series, and awesome game!). Then I received a tweet from one of my friends requesting a blog post on skin care! And I thought, what perfect timing! Winter is a time when peoples skin gets the most damaged, there by being one of the most important times to be taking care of your skin!

So today I'm going to tell all of you how I (try to) keep my skin in perfect condition!

In no way am I saying that my skin is perfect, because it isn't! I have my problems with acne and blackheads, and large pores, just like every other person. But I'm just sharing some of my tips on how I like to take care of my skin.

I'm going to start with the things I use DAILY. I use these products almost everyday, to keep my skin looking healthy.

One of the most important things in my skincare regime is moisturizer! Moisturizer is my best friend, because I have notoriously dry skin. It's pretty ridiculous actually. I use Olay Complete All-day Moisturizer with SPF 15 for sensitive skin. I have been using it for the last couple of years, and I love it! It's not too heavy, and it's 100% oil-free, which is awesome because I also have very oily skin.

My next daily skin care product that I use is for my acne. I have never had terrible, uncontrollable acne before. I get a few pimples here and there, and it's nothing I can't deal with. I previously used a prescription acne cream called Clindoxyl, but it didn't really work that well. I now use Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control 3-in-1 Acne Treatment. I find it to be incredibly gentle, and can be applied more than once a day if necessary. It's not too heavy, but you should only apply a thin layer of it at a time. It's been working great for me, and I've been using it for a few years now.

When I wash my face, I use Clean and Clear Make Up Dissolving Foaming Cleanser. It's awesome, because at night when I go to wash my face, I can take off all my makeup and clean my skin at the same time.  And it's very gentle on the eye area, so you can wash off eye makeup with it too. I started using this around the time I went to San Francisco, and I've noticed a difference in my skin from using this face wash. My skin looks cleaner and my pores are less noticeable!

At night I use a special moisturizer made for night time. It's Boots Botanics Night Moisture Cream. It's really good, because it helps restore moisture during the night. It's a pretty thick cream, but I love it a lot! It's been working wonders. It's especially good to moisturize as much as possible during the Winter, because your skin can get very damaged from the dry, cold air.

Now I'm going to move on to products that I don't use on a daily basis. These things are things that I use as "treats" for my skin every so often.

The first thing is St. Ives Apricot Scrub! I don't know HOW long I've been using this for, but it's been a looong time! My mom always buys this, so I use it too now! But I always make sure to get the GENTLE formula, because otherwise, the exfoliating particles are too rough. I use this exfoliator once or twice a week usually. It's great for getting rid of dead skin and keeping your skin super smooth! It also smells great!

The next thing I use are Lush Tea Tree Toner Tabs. I use these very rarely, but I LOVE using them in the Winter! They are very relaxing after a long day. What you do is you fill a bowl with very hot water, drop in one of the tabs. You then stick your face over the bowl and drape a towel over top and let the steam work its  magic! This particular tab is good for troubled skin. It steam cleans congested and oily skin like mine! And they are pretty cheap!

I love using face masks too! I don't use these very often, because it's hard to find the time too, but when I have the time, I love relaxing with Lush Cosmetic Warrior Face Mask. It is made with garlic, tea tree oil, kaolin, grapes, honey and free-range eggs. It does a little bit of everything for your face! And when removed, your skin feel heavenly! I only wish I had the time to use it more often! (And I actually did a review on this mask way back in the early days of my blog if you're interested!)

And that's my main skincare regime! People think you need to use tons and tons of creams and cleansers to get beautiful skin, but you don't really! Just stick with your basics and keep it routine! There is nothing to it. I hope this helped all of you out there who had any issues with skin care. And please, feel free to tell me about YOUR favourite skin care product! I'm always looking for new things to try!

Thanks as always for reading, and have an awesome day!