Daily Routine: Step Two - Face/Body Moisturisers

Hello!

Hope everyone is enjoying 2013 already (I've not been at work so far this year and have another day off tomorrow. so I'm really enjoying it so far!)

So here is step two if my daily routine. This is the bit I do directly after the shower (well, after towel drying etc) I've included both my face and body moisturising routine because if I do all these steps separately then it'll end up being some sort of epic, year long set of posts! (It's only since starting this that I've realised how much I actually do in the morning before I head out to work. Not sure how I get everything done in 45minutes a lot of the time!)

So firstly, I keep all my "day" stuff in one box. This way I find it a hell of a lot easier to remember to do everything and not miss steps out (like using a body lotion....I always miss the body lotion otherwise!) I'm currently using a Body shop box as it's super sturdy but with a clear panel so I know what's in there. 

• Estee Lauder Idealist Sample and DayWear Sample - I recently used these after stopping a while back, and I've recently remembered why. The Idealist smells great and it seems like a good product but the smell indicates some sort of citrus product in there and having done some research, it's Grapefruit... Now then, I'm going to tell you a little story about grapefruit....man, I LOVE grapefruit! It's one of my favourite fruits to eat (without sugar please)....but grapefruit does not like me. At all. It burns my mouth, makes my heart feel like it's full of acid, makes me feel really sick and gives me the most horrendous headache (same with oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi, pineapple etc (pineapple is my FAVOURITE and repays the favour by stripping my mouth of skin too. Thanks P.) so you get the picture right?) So anything with grapefruit in tends to not be great but won't generally kill me. However, the Idealist just makes my skin tingle a lot more than I am comfortable with. DayWear has this overwhelming cucumber scent to it. Again, this one just makes my skin tingle and it makes it feel unmoisturised. Not a fan. I really need to take these out the box and give them to someone who will get some use out of them! (Any takers? Idealist is a 7ml sample, probably about half full and DayWear is a 15ml sample and is probably 2/3 full! First come, first served....if anyone wants my cast offs of course!)
• The Body Shop Coconut Beautifying Oil - I brought this recently as a bit of an impulse "it's free" kind of buy and I've mainly used it as an overnight hair/face oil, which works quite nicely I think. I did use a tiny bit on my very dry skin this morning though as a test of how greasy it might make my skin look, and i have to say, I'm really impressed so far. The smell of this one wasn't quite as I was expecting but I like it so far. I've not had it for very long though so we'll see how it goes!
• Dior Face Mask Sample - I actually don't know which mask this is, which isn't very helpful is it now? My friend Toyah put a sample of the mask for very dry skin into a little Dior pot for me to take home and try a few weeks back. I really liked this and the smell of it is really nice too. Can't say I saw a massive improvement in my skin but it certainly helped a bit. Not sure I'd get the full size one though, just because it didn't help enough for me to warrant paying the full size price!
• The Body Shop Aloe Soothing Day Cream - This has been my staple face cream for about a year now. It's more like a lotion in texture and smells ok (not great, but then again, it's not over powering either) I used to absolutely love this cream as it absorbs quickly and made my skin super hydrated etc, but recently I've found that it's just kind of doing it's job...but not as well if that makes sense? I think my skin needs something extra at the moment. I'm going to try the Bare Minerals SPF 20 Moisturiser next (as I can get it on my allocation, so why not right?) so we'll see if that's any better.

All in all, my face moisturisers are a little bit of a fail for my skin right now! 

• Bare Minerals Blemish Remedy - This is a powder skin treatment for...well, blemishes obviously. I got this on my allocation in November and have been using it ever since. I like that it has a little bit of a concealing property to it but also that it naturally helps with breakouts and helps prevent future ones from forming in the same area. I used to suffer with multiple breakouts in one area, which would bother me so much and then I'd pick at them in frustration (lovely) but since using this I haven't had that problem at all. This also claims to minimise pores too but I've not tried it for that really so can't say if it works or not. I use this morning before makeup and at night after cleansing if I have a particular bastard of a spot on my face!
• The Body Shop Coconut Lip Butter - My lips get quite dry during the winter so this is an important step in my routine in the morning. I think most people don't think of moisturising their lips if they get that tight feeling on their face after a shower. Most people use a lip butter or equivalent during the day but i find that moisturising my lips straight after a shower just helps to keep the moisture locked in and makes my lips feel nice all day. I love the smell/taste of this one and it doesn't make my lip colour slide off either which is a bonus!

• Dove Invisible dry Deodorant - This is a nice, non-stinging deodorant that works quite well I think. My only issue with this one is the "anti-white marks" claim. I ALWAYS have to make sure I've put my work clothes on (black dress/t-shirt) on before this otherwise I get those dreaded white lines on them! If anyone has a full-proof non-white marks option then please let me know!
• The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter - This is a small version that came in a set I brought myself on Christmas Eve (with the lip butter) and I really like it. It's much thicker than my other body butter, which I actually prefer. It smells lovely and leaves my skin feeling so god damn smooth and soft too! Plus I love the matte packaging. It just feels nice. Think I may invest in the bigger version when I'm done with this.
• Dior Svelte Reversal Gel Sample - Again, the lovely Toyah gave me this sample (in a Body Shop sample pot!) after we'd had a laugh about how weird it smells! She then proceeded to tell me what it was suppose to do and I knew I wanted to try it! It does kind of smell like on old doctor's surgery, but I've noticed quite a difference on my legs from using this (it helps smooth, tone and help break down fat cells!) over the last few weeks - this is my second sample pot. I'm very tempted to buy this full size to see if it'll continue to help or not. I know I need to eat healthily and exercise too (started and started!) but this seems to be helping too so why not keep using it?
• The Body Shop Moroccan Rose Body Butter - This was free a while back and it's a nice body butter. I'm not the hugest fan of the smell anymore but it's not hugely over powering so I'll be able to use it all up. It's a lot less dense than the Coconut one though so I'd rather have that than this one.

I do have other body lotions that I haven't included as I don't use them everyday (Garnier 7-Day Intensive Body Lotion to name one...) but I will be trying to use them up before buying any more as I seem to have started to hoarde body lotions and it's just ridiculous and bad for my bank balance too!

So that's my step two. What do you guys think? Too much stuff again?? Anything you'd like more in depth reviews on? (and before anyone asks....yes I can waffle more about these items!)

Until next time,

xoxo