| September Blogging Challenge | Skincare for olily to combination skin

Skincare has been an important part of my routine for a couple of years now cuz I do believe that going back to "basics" can make, even the cheapest makeup, look great.

It is true that what you eat and drink can have an influence on how your skin looks and to be honest, I don't worry too much about that, and I should. But, it is amazing what drinking a lot of water can do for you. And I think that would be my first tip for a healthy looking skin, start from the inside to look great on the outside. (and here is when I should start taking my own advice...)

I'll start with my skin type: I have combination skin but, it is also very, very sensitive. So I struggle with a bit of everything; I have a bit of an oily T-zone but my cheeks tend to get dry especially during Winter. As for the sensitive part, I can't experiment with many products when it comes to cleansing because some of them give me rashes and reactions after the first or second use, no matter how good the brand is.

So, today I am going to share with you some of the products I use to take care of my skin. Keep in mind that what works for me may not work for everyone.

I linked some of the products to older posts dedicated to them, in case you want more info.

One of the main requests for this post was to talk about skincare for oily skin, which is caused by the excess sebum production, this colgs pores and can lead to acne. So I think good and constant cleansing is key here. Salicylic acid is known to be good to help with oily skin.

I usually go super basic with my morning cleansing cuz I don't have much time but, I always make sure to wash, apply moisturizer and sunscreen before I do my makeup. It also helps me to wake up. I'm currently using the Miniso Watermelon Bouncy Hydra Facial Cleansing Gel to wash my face in the morning and at night. It removes excess grease, dirt and impurities, is super gentle and it smells delicious. Other cleansing foams I love are the Missha Creamy Latte Cleansing Foam. They have 3 different "flavors". The Green Tea one is for oily skin. Plus they smell delicious and are super creamy. And lastly, a product I got to try a few months ago: The Burt's Bees Soapbark & camomille deep cleansing cream. As it says, it is very creamy and soothing. This is a great choice if you're looking for something with natural ingredients.

I've been using this sunscreen from Mary Kay 
for a couple of years now.

One product that I liked to use years ago was an astringent from Bioré that contained salicylic acid. I used to apply it at night, using a cotton pad after cleansing. Since it also contains alcohol it kinda soaks the oil from the skin and you wake up with a fresh, non-oily skin. I don't remember why I stopped using it and I'm not sure if it's still out there.

Another product I really, really like is the Avon Clearskin Pore Penetrating Invigorating Scrub (What. A. Long. Name.). I love to use a good facial scrub twice a week and this one if defo one of my favorites. Not only because it is super cheap but, it also does the job. It is gentle to my sensitive skin but at the same time you can feel the beads scrubbing all the dirt on your skin leaving it fresh and clean after using. It has a cooling effect that I love. It contains eucalyptus extract and Witch Hazel which is also a good ingredient to cleanse the oil. I love face scrubs in general, but this one is great for oily skin.

I double cleanse at night. Sometimes, when I'm not extra lazy. The first step would be to remove my makeup using Micellar Water or the MINISO Sakura Water Bright Cleansing Balm. I find Micellar water to be faster to use and effective when it comes to removing my makeup but the cleansing balm is pretty good too. After having a makeup free face, I move on to the washing to make sure there is no dirt left.

This is the one I'm currently using

After that comes the moisture part. Before applying a hydrating cream, I've been using a new essence lately. It is the MINISO Energy of Fruit 3 in 1 Essence (citrus) and it's been working well for me so far. I wake up to a moisturized and healthy looking skin.

A moisturizer that I would defo recommend is the  Hada Labo Tokyo Skin Plumping Gel Cream. It has to be hands down one of my favs. I like to use it as both, day and night cream.

But when in Winter, when my skin gets super dry, I try to use something thicker at night. Last year my aunt introduced me to this cream called Tressura, and it is one of those super old creams that are very cheap but work wonders. It contains glycerine and it works great as a night mask and super hydrating body cream.

And well, I think I've said this before but using facemasks constantly also helps a lot. There is a huge variety now, and not only for the face. You can choose according to your needs and some of them are also really cute and fun to use. 

I don't know if I'm missing some things, I probably am but I don't want to make this a super , duper long(er) post. So, let me now if there is something else I should mention when it comes to skincare and I'll be glad to share it in another post.

🐝 Essential Brurt's Bees Kit

I've heard and read so many great things about this brand, and I've been looking to try their products for a while. Especially their lip blam! But for whatever reason I never got the chance until now that I recieved this kit as a gift from my bestie, Lu.

This kit comes with 5 of the brand's essentials: Body lotion, hand salve, cleansing cream, foot cream and a lip balm. They all smell so natural!

So, I've been trying this products for a couple of weeks now and these are my impressions so far:

🐝 Body lotion with milk & honey: This lotion is for normal to dry skin, it's super light weight and the skin absorbs it incredibly fast. I love how soft my skin feels after using it, especially my legs that have been super dry and itchy lately. The only thing I don't like is the smell... I can somewhat smell the honey but to me, it mostly smells like tamarind (which might not even be part of the ingredients~). But being honest, it's not something I can't stand and, it does the job keeping the skin soft and hydrated for a long time.

🐝 Hand salve: This salve has a strong herbal scent and it is kinda oily but not thick. It absrobs immediately, leaving your hands feeling super soft. I think this one could be useful for dry elbows too! Plus, I really liked the little tin.

🐝 Soapbark & camomille deep cleansing cream: It is my first time trying a cleansing cream and I loved the super creamy and soft texture this one has. For some reason I was expecting it to create some kind of foam at some point but, it never did. It's literally as if you were applying cream. I like how it gives this minty fresh feeling to the skin as you massage it, leaving it super fresh after rinsing. A litte goes a long way with this one.
As for the scent, you can defo smell the camomille along with some herbs, I think.
What I like the most is that it didn't irritate my skin or gave it any weird reaction.

🐝 Coconut foot cream: I usually am someone who tends to neglect her feet, I'm not gonna lie. But this foot cream could change that since I liked it a lot. More than a cream, I see it as a vaseline type of balm thingy because it is slighty oily. It smells like coconut with a hint of mint. Once you apply it on your feet, you immediately see a differente and even tho it is oil based, it kinda fades once the product is absorbed into the skin.

🐝 Beewax lip balm with vitamin C and peppermint: This one is defo one of my favorites out of this kit because I aways, always have dry and chapped lips. This product leaves a thick layer on the lips that keeps them hydrated without feeling like you have something on them. You can easily apply lipstick on top of it (since this one is clear) and it has a cooling effect beacause of the peppermint that I just love. It also smells very minty.

I think this kit makes a perfect gift and it's also a good way to try their products before buying the full size ones. I think I'm defo going to repurchase some of these, once I run out of them.

Let me know if you've tried some of the Burt's Bees proucts!