Giving my face a wake up call | Morning skincare routine

I love reading posts about people's skincare routines, partly because I'm nosy and partly because I want to know if there's some sort of miracle product that I need in my life. So, in case anyone is nosy like me, here's what I slap on my face in a morning in an attempt to perk up my skin and make me look half awake. For the record, my skin is blemish prone and oily but can be dehydrated (I've never had someone tell me so I could be wrong but that's what I think it is).

The first thing I do when I wake up is go and splash my face with water. Just a little bit to get the grease off and I rub it on my eyes because I always seem to have some mascara leftover from the day before, no matter how much I try and take it off! The first proper step is using the Simple Kind to Skin Micellar Water on a cotton pad over my face, just to make sure every last scrap of dirt is off my face from the day before (and also because it feels nice on my sleepy face). This is one of my favourite micellar waters along with the one from Garnier. They do the job and are really affordable, you can't really go wrong. Next I give my face a spritz with the Body Shop Vitamin C Face Mist - not because I think it does anything magical but because it feels great in the morning. As I'm writing this I'm realising that my entire routine is based around what feels refreshing on my face and I don't actually know if there are any benefits of putting it on my skin!

Next up I apply my latest eye cream of choice which is the Body Shop Vitamin E Eye Cream. I'm not loyal to any eye cream and I have to say so far nothing I've tried as ever blown me away. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know! I just get half a pea sized amount and slather it under my eye until it feels like it's sunk in. It's quite thick but I feel like my under eye area needs a bit more hydration. I mentioned this product in my July favourites post and you can read just how much I love it there but it's the Palmer's Coconut Oil Lipbalm. Tastes amazing and does the job at hydrating my lips. Yum! Last but certainly not least is my moisturiser. I've been using the Body Shop Vitamin C Moisturiser and I think it's been doing a pretty good job. It smells amazing! Zingy and delicious it feels cool on my face in a morning and really helps to brighten everything up. What I like about it most is that I can feel it sinking into my skin and not just sitting on top like some of the moisturisers I've tried previously. It doesn't make my skin feel greasy either which is a win win!

I'm enjoying this routine at the minute, it seems to be working well for me. Stay tuned for the second part of my skincare routine next week.

What moisturiser are you using at the moment?

How to: Be Morning Ready

This how to is going to be one that I kind of also need to take note of because when it comes to mornings I'm not the best at being 'up and at 'em'. My speed setting is permanently set at slow so I have to wake up extra early to make sure that I get ready in time so I thought I'd give myself some tips on doing easy steps in a morning so that I'm ready but which gives me a little extra time in bed, because I seriously need my beauty sleep.

1. Set a reasonable alarm
It sounds so obvious but when I was in secondary school I used to set my alarm for five to seven so that I could sit and watch TV for twenty minutes. This didn't really work because it just made me feel ten times more tired than if I was to just get out of bed and get dressed straight away. My advice would be to set two alarms, one when you want to actually get up and then a back up one just in case you forget to wake up, because it sometimes happens.

2. Pick products that can do two things at once
Products like this will massively save you time in the morning. For example, in my skincare stash my current toner is a cleanser and toner in one. That means in the morning I can just use this to get any leftover dirt on my face. Doing something like this makes you feel more awake and ready for the day!

3. Quick makeup
'One swipe products' are really handy in early morning situations. If I have enough time then I'll do a full face but on those days when it's too much effort I'll go for the products that require not much effort at all but that do the job. For foundation something like the L'Oreal Infallible Matte will cover anything so concealer isn't really needed. An eyeshadow stick like the Kiko Shadow Sticks are all you need for eyeshadow because with one swipe and a bit of a blend you look like you've spend ages on your face. I like a good lip tint and the Kiko Kiss balm is great for that. Swipe and done!