Skin Problems & routine | A rant

What ruins my confidence more than anything is my face. Ha ha, that sounds weird but I mean the state of my skin. when one is feeling down or down right irritable having troublesome skins just makes it all the worse for me. And I should be grateful as I do not have anything major and have 'fairly' good skin but a spot is enough and to put me down.

However, I suffer really badly with blackheads on my nose and they will not budge what so ever. My pores are huge and that is the major thing that upsets me. In addition to that, I get the spot or two when it's that time of the month but in these past two weeks I'm suffering with 4 spots out of no where. On my chin, I've been suffering from what seems like a boil. (There's TWO); yuck I know. It's not a zit but just a flared up red bump, which was there two weeks ago, calmed down, and decided to scour my face again. In addition, up north I have two zits which are as red as anything and look yuck. They've calmed down now.

I do not wear foundation and concealers never seem to cover the 'ol thing. I just want skincare to do its damn job. I have accumulated some skincare but I think I need to add some more high end products because I know they will be better for my skin.

This is the skin stash so far:

Moisturiser: Well, you see I haven't really invested in a good moisturiser and I really should because my skin is always dehydrated. In the morning, I use neutrogena's moisturiser with SPF 15, which doesn't do a lot and feels quite icky. I then use Simple's thick face cream at night. I am thinking of Hydraluron and something with an SPF to get me through the day which is is highly moisturising and combats spots, oil build up and so forth.

Cleanser: I currently use the Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser both day and night, which I forgot to add in the picture. However, I think a clay cleaner like the REN one would be a good alternative especially for the evening to rid all that grime and reduce the likelihood of blackheads. Also, the Emma Hardie cleansing balm seems to be a good option too.

Chemical exfoliators: I've been using Alpha H liquid gold for months now and in the first instance I was blown away and saw great results. Now I think my skin does not respond as well. However, the feeling of the 'sting' means that some magic must be going down with my skin. I've been using this about a once a week when I feel spots are starting to rise again, or my skin needs some serious TLC.

Toner: I do not have a toner which I use everyday, especially in the morning. That's another investment I need to make. I'm really interested in Sero zinc by la Roche Posay but conveniently they do not sell it in the UK. However, I was recommend the Clarins brightening chemical exfoliator by the lovely Caroline Hirons and I use that almost everyday in the evening. This has really helped me a lot, it was supposed to help with the blackheads but I have not seen a lot of change. But ultimately my skin feels more smoother, brighter and not as congested.

Spot treatments: I have had the Origins spot treatment for what seems like a year now. At the beginning it seemed good but now I hardly use it. I put it on my current spots and it didn't do much. I do not think it's the best of treatments out there.

Oils: So a few months ago I discovered Jojoba oil and tea tree oil. Jojoba oil being good for adding moisture back in the skin and tea tree which is a natural anti-bacterial that kills off the bacteria that invades ones face. Therefore, healing to reduce the formation of spots and so forth. I used these together profusely, mixing them together at the beginning. It seemed to help. making my skin softer and possibly reducing the amount of spots on my skins. However, I developed small red marks/ spots on my cheeks and so stopped. Since then I haven't developed them again. However, I have been slapping  tea tree oil almost every night after my moisturiser has settles in on my nose, chin and quite rightly all over my face and my face has been quite clear. Beware though, that stuff stinks and it stinks up the whole room, as my sisters pointed out. Thank god I sleep by myself.

SPF: My friend recommended my the Soltan SPF as I needed some for my holiday. I was going to pick up a La Roche Posay one for my face but she said it was OK to use on the face. Soltan seems to be a very good brand and knows its SPF niche well, however i do not think its the best for the face especially if you have oily skin. It can be quite greasy and icky.

So, that is my current skincare routine. Not the best but there is space for lots of improvement. I seriously do not think it is necessary to have five hundred and 1 expensive products. I use about four and my skin is actually OK.

However, on my skin care wishlist are;

1. Sero zinc by la Roche Posay
2. REN clarifying clay cleanser
3. Origins vitazing
4. Hydraluron

There are so many products that I would like to try but I cannot recall them all. One product at a time for me. 

What are you Staple skincare saviours?