SKINCARE: Out with the old. In with the new!

Hello hello!

It's been a long old winter here in sunny Manchester, and my face has taken some punishment during it. Despite that, I feel that my skin has been behaving extremely well! Usually my skin is an absolute pain throughout the autumn/winter months, I always seem to get mini-breakouts and whiteheads! ARGH!

But as I said, this winter it has been very well behaved! Why? Well, I think it may have been down to my skincare regime. But you know me (and all other bloggers for that matter), I'm always on the lookout for something better. Even though my regime was working well, it just seemed to have something missing. So, I embarked on a mission. A mission to find a better routine...

First off, what I want my skincare to achieve is clear, bright, even skin. Who wouldn't want that? Now I have oily/combo: oily around the t-zone and pretty much normal around the cheek area. And I suffer from uneven skin tone. Mainly around the mouth and temples. Booo!

At the beginning of autumn, I had upgraded my skin care routine and picked 3 items for my quest for CLEAR, EVEN, BRIGHT skin. And here's my run-down on them:

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(From left to right: Lumicen, Olay UV Fluid & Duac)

DUAC: As I had problems with whiteheads and literally NOTHING WORKED (Other than Alpha-H Liquid Gold & White Gold, which strangely enough, does not seem to work for me anymore :/), I visited my doctor as a last resort and alas, he prescribed me Duac which is a gel based cream. I actually blogged about my first initial thoughts on this back in September. I've still got just under half the tube left. I've been using this sparingly.

Mr Doctor instructed me to use this at night after cleansing, apply to areas where it's needed and to use a decent moisturiser as this would dry up my skin. So I applied this every night for first few weeks. At first, I peeled like a snake, my skin looked and felt dry and taut. My skin looked horrible! But I moisturied like mad with Olay UV Fluid which really helped soothe and calm down my skin. Over those few weeks, I noticed that most of my whiteheads seemed to have disappeared.

I then cut down usage of this to once or twice a week which explains why I have still have just under half of the tube left. This was definitely the corner-stone in my routine. I still use it now and again when I feel I'm about to get a spot coming on or see a bunch of those pesky whiteheads creeping up. Hallelujah for Duac!

Olay UV Fluid (Normal/Oily Skin): As I mentioned above, this was a lifesaver when I was shedding skin like a bloomin' lizard. It's a lotion and the consistency of this was light and easily absorbed into my skin without that yucky, greasy feel. This did not interfere with my make up, it did not make it slide around my face, it helped keep it put as you would expect from something that claims to be a great make up base.

Lumicen: I bought this after reading countless number of glowing reviews on this. it's supposed to be an overnight brightening treatment that helps reduce the size of your pores, help fade the appearence of discolourations and improve skin's texture and tone. Sounds perfect, doesn't it?
My main reason for buying this was to help me even out my skin tone and just to help it look much brighter.

I applied this every night religiously in hope of waking up to see some form of improvement. I'm sad to report this did absolutely NOTHING for my skin. No sign of brightness. No sign of even-ish looking skin. I couldn't possibly comment on the reduction of pore size as mine are quite small looking anyway, lucky me! Priced at £30.99, this was a big fat fail for me. :(


As a fickle blogger, I'm always on the hunt for something new, something way better than what i've already got. A couple of months ago, Spake NK held a 20% discount throughout the store. I hurtled towards the store and just went crazy and bought a load of products *guilty*. I've only just got round to using them a couple of weeks ago as winter is nearly over, it's time to upgrade my skin care regime!

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Skin Doctors Accelerating Cleanser: So for cleansing, in the morning I'll use this baby. It is the only product I didn't buy from Space NK. I bought this from Boots for around £10. I was sold on this product when I came across Jo's review on this where she said it helped perk up her skin in the morning. It contains a form of Alpha hydroxy acid (lactic acid to be precise) which is supposed to help in getting rid of dead skin cells. So far I can't really tell much of a difference other than smoothness of my skin, it's not a massive difference but it looks like it could be working. Eeee!

Nude Cleansing Oil: I've been using this at night. I'd apply 2 pumps of this onto dry skin and massage and damp muslin cloth all over to remove the make up. After that, I'd rinse it off with water. This really does help melt off all the make up and grime. But occasionally, I feel like it's not enough and my skin feels like it has some form of residue on, it might just be me being paranoid so I end up using a bit of the Skin doctor's Accelerating Cleanser to double cleanse.

A bottle of this stuff will set you back around £24. But I managed to grab a few of these at the Space NK boxing day sale for £10! Although, it looked it like it could have been the old packaging but hey ho. Don't think I'll repurchase after I've gone through all the bottles, I don't see the difference between this and extra virgin olive oil. Can anyone tell the difference?


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(From left to right: Sarah Chapman Skinesis Skin Tone Perfecting Booster, Sarah Chapman Skinesis Dynamic Defence SPF15, Sarah Chapman SkinesisOvernight Facial)

Oooh, don't the bottles look so posh?

At the 20% off Space NK sale, I knew I wanted Sarah Chapman's Overnight Facial after seeing Laura's skin care video. The promises of waking up to seeing glowing skin sold me. But seeing as everything was 20% off, I also purchased Sarah Chapman's Skin Tone Perfecting Booster & Dynamic Defence SPF15.

My initial thoughts on:

Sarah Chapman Skinesis Dynamic Defence SPF15
: This is a day time moisturiser that comes with a built-in pump, suitable for all skin types. It's supposed to help protect skin from pollution and the sun. I've got mixed feelings on this though. It is moisturising enough for my skin, but I feel for someone with dry skin, this will not be enough. also, it's only SPF15. For something that costs a lot more than skin care off the high street, surely SPF15 is not enough to protect the skin through out a whole day? I don't know. Will see how this goes. If I find I start getting hyperpigmentated areas, this is deffo going to get a big thumbs down from me.

Sarah Chapman Skinesis Skin Tone Perfecting Boooster: After my crap experience with Lumicen, I thought I'd give this a go in my quest for perfectly even skin. Okay, I'm not expecting miracles. Just something that shows sign of improvment. This doesn't really smell of anything. And it comes with a pipette. And one drop is sufficient enough to cover my facial hyperpigmentated areas. So far, I've not seen any improvement but it's early days yet.

Sarah Chapman Skinesis Overnight Facial: This is probably the only thing I've used so far that has shown a difference. I usually use this when I'm having a late night or if I feel my skin is looking generally blah. It's basically an oil based serum, comes out with a pump and smells divine, mainly consisting of jasmine and rose. Mmmm! One pump is enough to cover the entire face and neck. In the morning, I find my skin has this natural looking radiance about it. Yay!

Obviously, this isn't a review on the Sarah Chapman products, more like my first thoughts on them. although I will be doing a follow up review on them in a month or two.
And finally:

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Kiehl's Cryste Marine Firming Eye Treatment: I've tried the Creamy Avocado Treatment from Kiehl's which massively impressed me but it was far too rich for day time. So I purchased this one as it's more of a mousse texture. You need to really warm this up in between your fingers for it to turn to liquid-ish and then dab onto the eye area. Again, can't possibly comment on whether this works or not as I've only just got round to using it.

So yeah, there you have it! I will hopefully be putting up a more through review on these some time in the future to give you the full low down on them.

Have any of you used any of the products mentioned above? Do let me know how you got with them!

P.S - To the lovely girl that stopped me outside of Selfridges on Monday, HELLO! I'm sorry If I seemed quiet, I was just in shock that someone actually recognised me from my blog. Haha. I think you should definitely set up your own blog. Your make up was flawless, girl! :)

If any of you do spot me outside, please do come up and say hi, I think this time I will be more ready to talk, haha! :)

P.P.S - Thank you for all the birthday messages I recieved on Twitter. Yes, I turned 25 in the weekend. Shock horror! How did I get this old? Waaa!

 Halima
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