Hair care

Firstly I start by washing with the Organic Care Dry Nourish Ultra Hydrating Shampoo and follow it up with the conditioner from the same line. I always wash my hair twice and condition once. I also make sure that when I’m rinsing my hair that I turn the heat of the water down a little bit because cold water helps to control frizz. Before I rinse the conditioner out, I’ll make sure to get rid of any knots by using a comb. 

Once I’m out of the shower I’ll put my hair up in a towel, get dressed and carry out my skincare routine. Once my hair has had time to dry, I take my hair down and run my fingers through it, and make sure my part is in the correct spot. I’ll then get roughly a 5c size amount of the Pantene Pro-V Intense Smoothing leave on Crème and run it through my hair focusing it at the roots and using the excess throughout the rest of my hair.

I’ll then take a pump and a half of the Joico K-Pak Reconstruct Leave-In Protectant to Prevent Damage and focus it on my hair from my ears downwards because that is where the majority of the damage of my hair is situated. I take the excess and spread it through the rest of my hair. 

I’ll then spray the TRESemmé Heat Tamer Protective Spray through my fringe and blow dry my fringe and make sure it looks right.  If it isn’t sitting properly I’ll run my straightener though my fringe until it does. That’s how I deal with my hair. I let the rest of my hair air dry or will put it up in a french braid until dried. I’ll set everything in place with the L’Oreal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray, in extreme hold natural touch. The smell of the hairspray is awful, very strong and potent but it does the job. If you can withstand the smell, then you wont regret it because it helps contain fly-aways and holds the natural curls in my hair. 

I only wash my hair every few days. If my hair gets a bit greasy in between washing, I use the Batiste Dry Shampoo. 

First Impressions: Garnier Skin Naturals Micellar Cleansing Water All in 1

Ooh, so Instagram worthy

Price $11.99 available at Priceline. 

Alex 4.5/5 

Feeling fairly sceptical about this highly praised micellar water product, I purchased it today (40% off, yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout) and am very pleasantly surprised. My ultimate test with any form of makeup removing product is its ability to take off the disgustingly thick and sticky mascara that adorns my eyelashes some days. Surprisingly, the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water removed all the mascara gloop in one fell swoop, along with the rest of my face makeup. Although I am not convinced of its “no rub” promise, as I still had to scrub a bit to clear away the last remnants of my eye makeup, it was otherwise very effective. Personally, although this is a “no-rinse” product, I still cleaned up afterwards with a touch of toner, but I’m sure on my no-makeup days (about 6 of the 7 days of the week), my face will feel cleansed after using this product as a standalone. Half a mark extra has been awarded for the quantity of the product. This is not something you will have to re-purchase often, so save that extra money for a hot chocolaty milk.

Megan 4/5

The amount of product you get for the price is very good and it didn’t sting my eyes which is an added bonus. I’m glad I purchased this because I think it will replace my makeup removing wipes in my daily skincare routine because it is more economically viable because it does a better job and is going to cost me less in the long run. Alex recommended this to me, so when it was on sale I jumped at the chance to try it. Cleansing waters are increasing in popularity, within the blogasphere but they aren’t budget friendly *cough* Bioderma *cough*. The product feels good on the skin, and manages to take off most of my makeup without a lot of effort. However, I feel as though I still need to wash my face with my normal cleanser to get the rest of my mascara off as it doesn’t get everything off. Like Alex, I felt as though I had to rub at my eyes to get my mascara off but not as much as I do with my regular makeup remover wipes. Although the product says perfume free, there is a subtle scent to it. 

Before

After

Daily Skin Care Routine

Let’s just pretend that we didn't neglect the blog for the last month and get right into this post. 

Just as the title suggests, this is my daily skincare routine. I’ve included my morning and night products because they don’t differ greatly.

Morning routine:

While I’m still in the shower I use my favourite cleanser I have ever used, the Biore: Daily Detoxify Scrub. I use about a pea size amount and massage it into my skin and it gently exfoliates my skin and I like to think that it actually does make my skin glow. It doesn’t break my skin out and makes my skin feel really nice and clean and fresh. 

The first thing I do to my face when I get out of the shower is apply a lip scrub. I use the Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub. If you love sweet scents this one is for you, it’s a bit sickly sweet. 

I then follow that up by using the Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm. I always have this lip balm on me, it’s cheap, and does the job so well. I do these steps first because I find that the lip scrub is a bit messy and I don’t want the scrub to end up all over my face.

Afterwards I’ll use the Simple Kind To Skin Soothing Facial Toner (why do simple products have such long names). I’ve recently started using this again because the first time I tried it I was trying it along with a whole bunch of new products and my face kept breaking out so I stopped using everything, but this time I haven’t had a problem and it is doing the trick. 

The final step to my morning routine before I put on makeup and get on with my day is moisturise. I live in Australia so the sun gets super intense and I want to protect my pale complexion from sun damage. So the Nivea Daily Essentials Light Moisturising Day Cream Normal and Combination Skin. (Until I typed this out I didn’t even realise it was for a certain type of skin, but it doesn’t matter because fit into that category hooray, also such a long name). This product is in SPF 30 so that’s a win in my book. Now this product is quite heavy, but is also super moisturising and even though it’s winter here currently I’m still using it because I really enjoy how the product feels on my skin and what it does to my skin. 

Now, in the evening I do a couple of things differently. 

Firstly I’ll use the Simple Kind to Eyes Eye Make-Up Remover Pads (review here) to get rid of my eye makeup and then follow up with the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes Night Calming. These two products together take of 99% of my makeup so if I’m being super lazy I’ll just leave the rest. I love both of these products and they don’t sting my face because they are created to be gentle. 

I then use the Biore facial cleanser and the Simple toner that I mentioned earlier. 

The final step is to moisturise and in the evening I don’t need SPF, so I use the Clean & Clear Essentials Moisturiser. It’s a good, lightweight moisturiser that leaves the skin feeling super soft until the morning.