Murad Perfect Balance

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a Murad Event hosted by Dr Murad himself. It was a really informative evening and I didn't feel that Murad were just trying to push products, he stated more than once that lifestyle had a much bigger impact and was full of useful tips.

Murad's philosophy is all about 'inclusive health' making the right lifestyle choices as well as the correct skincare for your skin type will result in a better complexion.

Just in time for Christmas, Murad have released five Try Me kits each tailored for different results. I opted to try the Perfect Balance kit which aims to control oiling maintain clear pores, whilst giving the right amount of hydration. The Kit contains T-Zone Pore Refining Gel, Blemish Treatment Concealer, Oil-Control Mattifier, Hydro-Dynamic® Ultimate Moisture for Eyes.

I've been trying all of the products for a couple of weeks and so far I'm impressed, no drastic results yet, but as we found out at the event your skincare can take up to a month to show affects. I'll be reviewing the products in more depth very soon. The star of the show so far though us the eye cream, it's got the nicest texture and sits perfectly under concealer.

The Kits are available now from Murad's Website (link) and the Perfect Balance set costs £42.50 (worth £89.70)

 

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Skincare Routine: Serums

I love serums, and now my skins on the dry side (who am I kidding, my face has turned into the Sahara!) I always use one before my moisturiser for an extra dose of moisture.

In the morning I use REN’s Radiance Perfecting Serum which has Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate and fruit acids to brighten and fade dark spots. This sinks in pretty quickly and has a lovely light formula, my skin feels really soft after using this. I also use the REN Glycolatic Radiance Renewal Mask and the combination of these have really helped to fade my acne scars.

At night I either use the Radiance Perfecting Serum again or if my skin or I will use one of my other serums. The Elemis Super Boost Moisturising Serum* (review) is great for dehydration, and really perks up my skin by the morning. At the minute though my skin is so dry that I have been using REN’s Omega 3 Night Repair Serum, which is in truth more of an oil than a serum. It has Rosehip and Wheat Germ Oils, and it has quite a herbal scent, which may be so strong for some. My skin looks really plumped in the morning and it really sorts out any dry patches.

Once a month when my skin gets a bit spotty, I apply REN’s Clearcalm 3 Replenishing Night Serum just to my chin, jawline and T – Zone and it soothes any annoying spots.

What are your favourite Serums? Any I should try?

Disclaimer – Elemis product provided by PR, REN products purchased by myself.

REN Glycolatic Radiance Renewal Mask

Perhaps my favourite product I have tried this year, this mask is an chemical exfoliant that uses fruit and lactic acids to break down dead skin cells and encourage a brighter complexion. This mask is gentle enough to be suitable for all but the most sensitive skin, but it still gives a through exfoliation leaving my skin looking more even and feeling smoother. And all without the use of manual exfoliants, which can often aggravate the skin and in my case cause redness and sensitivity.

Using the Clarisonic has improved my congested skin, the texture and scarring need a bit more help. I use this mask once a week, and it does take some getting used to, it has a very strong fruity pineapple scent, and feels a bit like runny jam! It does tingle but you won’t notice results immediately, but I think my skin looks better the morning after.

I think this mask will be a part of my routine for a long time, and hope it continues to fade the scarring I have from acne. If you are interested in chemical exfoliants I think this mask is a great place to start.

REN Glycolatic Radiance Renewal Mask costs £30 and is available here

Montagne Jeunesse Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

As I mentioned in this post I have been trying out the Montagne Jeunesse Skin Heroes range, the first product I want to talk to you about is the Deep Cleansing Pore Strips. You get 3 strips in each pack and I have used one strip a week for the past 3 weeks.

These are really easy to use, you just dampen your nose, apply and wait for 15 minutes before gently removing it. I find these do improve the texture of the skin on my nose, I do have a lot of congestion and it looks less obvious after using these. I do find that the results are temporary but I imagine if you used them on a regular basis the results would last.

I would repurchase these if I wanted a quick fix, as make up did apply a bit smoother but I would personally not use them regularly as I would worry that pulling them off would aggravate my sensitive skin if used to often.

The Skin Heroes range is available at Asda and Montagne Jeunesse website (link) and cost £1.49 each.

Clarisonic Plus : First Impressions

So I finally caved. I have been wanting a Clarisonic for about a year and the combination of having birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and a 10% off code for Feel Unique made me finally give in. I got the plus, as with the code it wasn’t much more than a Classic full priced and I wanted to be able to use it as a body brush, so it made sense, although if you do just want to use it for cleansing I would say the Mia is a lot cheaper!

I use this twice a day, and have been for the past fortnight. Please remember this isn’t a review, I just want to catalogue how I am getting on with it every few weeks or so, as I think it will be helpful for anyone considering buying one.

When I started using this I was suffering with quite few breakouts, and a lot of cystic acne on my jawline. After I ordered this I literally couldn’t wait for it to arrive as it was driving me mad! I use the sensitive brush head, and use it on the highest speed setting, after about four days my spots had pretty much all cleared up, and until today I have had no spots, aside from one pesky one that cropped up on my chin last night.

The texture of my skin has definitely improved, feels a lot smoother and the stubborn blocked pores look a lot better.

I’ve used this with a lot of different cleansers, but my current favourites are REN’s No1 Purity Cleansing Balm at night and Origins Checks and Balances in the morning.

In each of these posts I am going to include a picture of my skin without make up, so if you are of a nervous disposition look away now…

So at the minute my main concern is scarring and uneven skin tone, which I am hoping will hopefully submit to the products I am using currently. I don’t have the best skin in the world, but this is the best it has been for a long time. 

I haven’t hit the dreaded ‘purge’ stage yet, and am really loving the Clarisonic so far!

REN Kit for Blemish Prone Skin

REN are a skincare brand that I am becoming very interested in. I picked up this little kit of travel size products from Beauty Expert which contains four products from the ClearCalm 3 line, which is aimed at blemish prone skin. My skin has calmed down a lot recently (more on that soon) but I have a feeling I will still get some pesky spots once a month.

As my skin is between types at the minute it made sense to try a few smaller products, and these will also come in very handy for the weekends I spend in Leeds.

I haven’t tried these yet, but I got such a good deal I had to share! If you shop at Tesco a fair bit no doubt you get sent a fair few coupons every few months, I found myself with a quite a few and wanted to spend them on something more interesting than milk and bread. £5 of coupons can be used to get £10 in Beauty Expert vouchers, and along with a 20% discount code I got a pretty good deal on this and some other bits I picked up! They send out quite a lot of discount codes, so if you like high end beauty but not the price I definitely recommend signing up for their newsletter.

The REN Kit for Blemish Prone Skin costs £15 and is available at Beauty Expert.