Interestingly enough, not a single one of the things I use is targeted towards acne-prone skin, but this is what works for me.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I had been following a routine that helped a lot with my acne, lowering it to about 10% of what I used to have; although that’s true, unfortunately after the surgery – a few months ago – my skin has gone through some weird stages, from super oily, to very dry, to the combination of both, making it much more difficult to stay acne free.

That’s one of the two main reasons why I have been waiting to write about my skincare routine, as I wanted to make sure it was effective enough to share; the other reason is that I wanted to include some extra products, that are currently packed away in the other flat. I was hoping by now I would have moved back, so that I could reach for those things, but I guess for now I can focus on just the stuff I’ve been using for the past 5 months or so.

As I mentioned, my skin is trying to adjust to the shock that was caused by my surgery – and although my acne is not as controlled as it used to be, it’s still around 30%-40% better than the past, so I’m sure the products I’m using are still helping, as it could be much worse.

Alright – I wanted to get this disclaimer out of the way. Now we can go through everything!

The skin around my eyes is very sensitive. I’ve tried eye drops and washes to try and help my itchy, dry eyes; I of course used many different eye creams, but most seemed to only worsen my discomfort. That all went away when I tried this Origins Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream.In the past, there have been other creams that I liked, but I find this one to be the best one so far, and I’ve recently repurchased it from Boots.

I haven’t had any issues with my eyes since using it, which is kind of a miracle, and I like its consistency: it’s a pale pink cream that absorbs nicely into the skin, but you really do feel the moisture. When you apply, it leaves the area a bit dewy.

I find that, often with eye creams, you either get:

• a moisturising one, that tends to be greasy or heavy, making the under eye makeup crease faster;
• too light, making it feel a bit dry.

With this particular eye cream, the skin around my eyes feels moisturised, but doesn’t cause my makeup to crease.

So I highly recommend it, as it really is the best one I’ve tried so far.

Note that if you are looking for something that has SPF protection or anti-age properties, this may not be ideal for you.

Now I’m gonna move onto moisturisers.

My absolute favourite is the Origins Original Skin, a matte moisturiser, which is something I’ve never seen anywhere else.

I remember when I received this, and tried it for the first time – I wrote about it on my blog, and liked it right away.

This thing is what I had been looking for, as a girl with oily skin, for many years. It turns my skin from greasy to matte, feeling smooth and soft, within seconds. It’s incredible!

I’m running out of it soon, but for a while I felt like this was one of the key products that was clearing out my skin: because my skin was less oily, I didn’t feel the need to powder my face often, resulting is less clogged pores.

I love this stuff, but as I mentioned recently, in the past month my skin has gotten really dry, and this would over-dry it; so instead I’ve switched to the Derma E Vitamin C Concentrated Serum.

I say switch when really, I have been using this for even longer and always liked it; I believe vitamin C is supposed to help with acne scars. This product is technically not a moisturiser, but a serum; I still apply it in the morning, on its own, as it has a gel-like consistency and absorbs well into the skin.

This tube up here is a new one, as I have already gone through one.

Now let’s focus on cleansers: I have 3 to talk about, which all have different purposes.

The Fresh Soy Face Cleanser is my most used one, as I can use it for both morning and evening; it’s a clear, light cleanser that leaves the skin feeling clean but soft. It’s very gentle, but cleans really well. Again, I’m about to run out of this, so I will soon get another one.

The Ceramic Slip Cleanser by Sunday Riley is what I prefer to use in the morning, as it gets rid of any oil I’ve built up during the night, and visibly reduces the size of my pores.

I’ve discovered this quite recently, but was impressed with it right away! I better get myself the full size.

And finally, to remove my eye makeup, I found this one last week, called Well Off by Origins.

I was at Boots to grab the eye cream, and came across it: 3 weeks ago I got eyelash extensions done, and was told to opt for an oil free makeup remover to avoid losing too many of the eyelashes (as the oil would melt the glue). I was recommended to try Simple, which I did and truly hated – as I stated, my eyes are very sensitive and Simple stung, and didn’t fully clean my eyes properly without me needing to rub them – which is not good.

I knew I had to try something else, so I gave this a try, and now I think I won’t change to anything else for a while: it simply removed my eye makeup so quickly, and doesn’t bother my eyes at all. I use such a small amount, and within second the makeup is all gone. I love it!

So now it’s time for some night skincare: my go to product is the Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Face Serum. Anything from Fresh is great, but this one specifically is something I really use a lot.

In general, I find that rose infused products work well for my skin, as they avoid for my acne to get angry and red. Any time I use this (which is almost every night), the morning after I can see a significant different with the redness.

But of course, now that I’m in my mid-twenties, thinking a bit about wrinkle prevention seems like a good idea, so I like to mix in, every now and then, this Plantscription serum by Origin.

To be completely honest, I have not used this enough just yet to give an in depth review, but so far, I’m liking it, so I wanted to mention it briefly. Plus is Origins, which I’m noticing just now – writing this – my skin seem to get along well with many of their stuff!

Whenever I need some extra help, these two products by Derma E has proven very helpful.

The Overnight Peel is something I’ve talked about a lot in the past, but in case you missed it, I like to use it the night before events or when my skin is acting up, especially when cystic acne is forming; any time I’ve used it, I could tell it made a big improvement on my skin, but I do not use it every night.

The Anti-wrinkle scrub leaves the skin feeling extra soft and smooth. If I’m dealing with peeling, dry skin, I use this in the morning and it gets rid of all the bad stuff, allowing my makeup to go on much smoother.

I realise it sounds like almost every scrub – that’s just what they do – but again, it doesn’t upset my skin, as it’s gentle, and the fact that it has Glycolic Acid is a bonus for younger looking skin.

Alright, now – if it really has to come down to it – I will sometimes use spot treatments.

In the past I used to apply them every single night, but in the past few months I felt like it would be better to not be too harsh to my skin, so I use these when I really need it.

The Evanhealy Blemish Purifying Serum is a spot treatment I used for years; it’s the most gentle one, yet super effective, and would definitely recommend it. It’s one of very few that doesn’t even sting when you apply it, and feels oily and moisturising, rather than drying.

The other one, called the Super Spot Remove by Origin, is another new find of mine (I got it a couple of months ago, but only used it in a few occasions) and it’s the strangest and most interesting spot treatment I’ve ever tried: it’s a clear liquid, and when you dot it onto your skin, it dries instantly into a thin film, to fully cover the spot, making the top layer of skin feel smooth. I can see this being extremely helpful when you have an open, angry spot, and you don’t want to get it infected, and keep it clean from bacteria.

Oh, and lastly, I should probably share some lip balms I like. These 3 are probably my top 3 (well, the Fresh sugar treatment would be, instead of the Jouer one, but I already run out of it!).

The Glossier Coconut balm dotcom is the one I like the most, at the moment, as it’s thicker, incredibly moisturising, tasted and smells great.

The Kopari lip love is also really good, the scent is lovely, and makes my lips look very pretty even with just that (it kind of has a gloss finish, but it’s not sticky at all).

Very much like the one above, the Jouer one has a clear finish, and does basically the same thing as well, but it does not have a nice taste or smell, so I use this mostly when I travel (since it’s so tiny).

So these are all the products I use, as of now.

You may have noticed that my skincare routine is based around 3 brands, mainly: Origins, Derma E, and Fresh. Although I am lucky enough to receive free products from these brands, every once in a while, I am not writing this or including products as a promotion – none of the things I talked about are paid for.

I take skincare seriously, as I understand how much of a struggle it is to find things that actually work and help with skin conditions. Of course, what works for one, may not for another, but I do hope you can try out some of these things for yourself.

If there is anything I’ve learnt, for my skin type, is that there is no point in hurting my skin with harsh chemicals, as it will simply upset it; so I prefer to stick to something more gentle, and avoid switching out too many things too frequently.

Also, keep in mind I’m nowhere near being acne-free, but I’m certain that the things I’ve mention do help me, so I hope they can help some of you too.

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