Clinique Do The Best Free Gifts

Clinique occasionally do an offer of a free gift set when you spend over a certain amount. And when they do, I almost always fall for them! I say fall, but it's more like falling in love than falling for a trick. This is not a trick. This is a bargain!

Clinique is one of my favourite brands on the highstreet. It feels luxurious, but it is fairly affordable. And some of their skincare products are my holy grail, like the Clinique Anti Blemish Clinical Clearing Gel which is my favourite and I have spoken about it so many times of this blog. And this was exactly what I needed to repurchase when I found out that John Lewis had an exclusive offer running. An offer I couldn't refuse...

Inside the beautiful wash bag I got six little Clinique minis (although the lipstick is actually full size!). The first two were these pots of Clinique moisturiser, a day and a night cream. I've used these for a couple of days and so far I am really impressed. They are very rich, which is amazing as at the moment my skin is so dry. The day cream has an SPF in it which is essential to me, although 15 is the lowest I will go. But it is really light to apply and feels like it lasts hours. Today is Sunday so I am having a no makeup day, but this moisturiser has appeared to have blurred some of my imperfections. And the night cream is very similar only minus the SPF and slightly richer. But I'll keep trying these out so that I can give a full review at some point.

The gift also included a couple of makeup goodies, a lipstick and a mascara. Firstly we can't ignore this incredible lipstick packaging. How pretty is that?! The idea of a jet black mascara and a red lipstick just makes me this of a really fresh-faced and slightly Parisian makeup look. The red is a true letter box red and the mascara I have tried before and is one of my favourites. It's also great to have a little mini to throw in to my handbag.

And finally a couple more skincare items. The face wash I am really excited to try as it is aimed towards Dry Combination skin, which is what my skin currently is since I have been on Roaccutane. And I'm hoping that this will be really gentle but still leave my skin feeling clean and fresh. And the little bottle of eye makeup remover is perfect for when I'm away. Even if I am just spending the night at a friends I will always taken my makeup off properly, this just means I won't have to carry around my huge bottle of Micellar Water!

I can't wait to continue to try some of these new products and maybe give some full reviews on the blog soon. And if you also want to get your hands on this goodie bag (I think there may be a few variations to choose from), the offer end on 11th March.

Speak soon xx

Clinique Skincare

Clinique Skincare

This is another post that I have been meaning to write for so long! But I guess the fact that it is probably nearly two months after I took these photos, and I still want to talk about these products means they really are that good!

Sadly, unlike a lot of my friends, I was not one of those people who was blessed with the genetics of perfect skin. My skin is something that I have had issues with ever since I started Secondary School and I still have some problems with now. I can't even being to imagine how many skincare products I have tried from so many different brands, all claiming to left my skin perfectly clear, and most leaving me pretty disappointed.

Clinique is a brand pretty well known for their skincare, with products that a lot of people (including some of my "perfect skin" friends) swear by. I first came across the Clinique anti-blemish solution over a year ago now after it was recommended by my doctor. At £20 for a little bottle of gel, it seems a little expensive. I thought the same when I first look the plunge and bought it. But this is one of the few products in my skincare routine that I use almost everyday and have continued to repurchase ever since.

Thankfully for my purse, a little bit of this really does go a long way. Particularly if you have fairly sensitive skin like I do, you don't want to be using too much of this stuff. When I first used it I thought I needed it on every single spot I had, so I literally slathered it all over my face, which just left my face feeling very tight! I have found that the best way to use this is after my cleanser and toner, morning and night on specific spots. And then if I have a particularly nasty one I will reapply this a couple of times throughout the day too. What I really love about this is as soon as I start to feel a spot coming I can apply this a few times during the day and often the spot will disappear without ever coming to the surface!

The Clinique dramatically different moisturiser is something that is slightly newer to my skincare routine. Not long ago while I was really trying to get rid of my acne I was using a moisturiser for spot prone skin that wasn't actually particularly moisturising. I thought that the best way to get rid of my spots was to dry my skin out. And to some extent that does work, to get rid of a spot you want to dry it out, you just don't want to dry your whole face out in the process! Especially if you have dry/combination skin like myself.

One of my best friends who I am currently living with swears by this moisturiser (and most things from Clinique). So when last Winter I was complaining about my skin feeling really dry she let me use her bottle of this for a few days. And it only took a few days for me to be completely sold and go and buy myself  a bottle. This is just the nicest moisturiser than I have used. It doesn't smell weird, its so easy to apply and feels really lovely. It sinks into my skin quickly and feels moisturising without being greasy. And on top of all that I also find that it is the perfect base moisturiser underneath makeup.

Let me know if you have tried either of these products or if you have any other favourite products from Clinique.

Speak soon xx

Clinique Nude Pop Mini Lipstick

Clinique Nude Pop Mini Lipstick 

I have another amazing magazine mini to tell you about. This Clinique mini lipstick came with with the December issue of Glamour magazine with the beautiful Tanya Burr on the cover. I am a huge fan of Clinique makeup and beauty products so I was desperate to get my hands on this. 

They are giving away four mini Clinique pieces with the magazine, a moisturiser, a mascara and 2 different shades of lipstick, a red and nude. While I love a bold lip for this time of year I still reach for my more natural lipsticks most often, and I really wanted to be able to add this mini one to my collection. 

The shade of this lipstick is Nude Pop and it's just a beautiful "your lips but better" shade. It's pinky with a hint of brown and has a moisturising glossy finish which I love. I think the packaging is really cute, but then I am a sucker for mini beauty products! 

This lipstick is perfect handbag size and great for a top up without even needing a mirror. I really recommend this shade if you love nude lipsticks like I do. Please let me know in the comments below if you have tried any of the other minis with the magazine. Glamour is currently only £2 which is a total bargain for Clinique products. I'm seriously considering buying a few more just for all the freebies! Definitely one to get your hands on! xx

Clinique Nude Pop Mini Lipstick

Clinique Nude Pop Mini Lipstick 

I have another amazing magazine mini to tell you about. This Clinique mini lipstick came with with the December issue of Glamour magazine with the beautiful Tanya Burr on the cover. I am a huge fan of Clinique makeup and beauty products so I was desperate to get my hands on this. 

They are giving away four mini Clinique pieces with the magazine, a moisturiser, a mascara and 2 different shades of lipstick, a red and nude. While I love a bold lip for this time of year I still reach for my more natural lipsticks most often, and I really wanted to be able to add this mini one to my collection. 

The shade of this lipstick is Nude Pop and it's just a beautiful "your lips but better" shade. It's pinky with a hint of brown and has a moisturising glossy finish which I love. I think the packaging is really cute, but then I am a sucker for mini beauty products! 

This lipstick is perfect handbag size and great for a top up without even needing a mirror. I really recommend this shade if you love nude lipsticks like I do. Please let me know in the comments below if you have tried any of the other minis with the magazine. Glamour is currently only £2 which is a total bargain for Clinique products. I'm seriously considering buying a few more just for all the freebies! Definitely one to get your hands on! xx

High End Worth The Hype (and money)

High End Worth The Hype (and money)

I've been planning on doing a post like this for a long time. The luxury beauty industry is huge and growing and something that more and more people are wanting to buy into. But with so many new products making different claims and promising miracles it's hard to know if a product can change your life or you are basically just flushing money down the toilet for pretty packaging and a label. 

Being a student I can't claim to have a vast knowledge of luxury makeup at all. But I have been lucky enough over the last few years to try out a few different products that I would consider to be more luxury makeup (although not quite Charlotte Tilbury and Burberry, one day!). So today I wanted to talk about what I think of all of these products and whether I actually think they are worth the price tag.  

bareMinerals Primer and powder foundation

These two products are some of my most recent purchases, although I have been using them nearly everyday for a good 3 months now. I actually pretty recently did a know blogpost review on both of these products which you can read here if you want more details. Basically I really love both of these. They were recommended to me by a very good dermatologist who has converted me to mineral makeup. I really don't have the best skin but recently my attitude towards my skin has changed. Before I just wanted to cover up everything with as much makeup as possible but heavy foundation was clogging up my pores, making my skin worse and looked so cakey on my skin it was almost doing more bad than it was good. Yes, mineral foundation is a lot lighter and yes you can still see my imperfections when I wear it. But I don't mind that because you can't actually tell that I am wearing any makeup on my skin, it just looks like I have naturally better skin which I love. So would I recommend this? The answer is definitely yes. And the ladies at the counter are so helpful and well informed about choosing the correct shades for you. 

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream

For my 16th birthday I was very lucky to be given the Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume. I loved it so much and wore it pretty much everyday until it ran out. And even then I still have the bottle in my room because it is so beautiful and occasionally I like to sniff it and it bring back so many memories. Does anyone else do that?! So when this came out and I was passing through duty free on the way to Spain this summer I decided to treat myself. The packaging and the smell were both beautiful and I couldn't resist. Up until that point the only perfume that I had ever used had been given to me as a gift, so it was nice to chose a scent that felt really personal. This is quite an expensive perfume and had it not been at duty free I'm not sure I would have bought it. But I am so happy with it. It looks beautiful on my shelf and the scent is so fresh and feminine. And actually there are more and more deals for this perfume so if you haven't yet tried it and it sounds like a scent you would like them I would recommend it. 

Clinique high impact waterproof mascara

I think I bought this with my boots points or chose it as a free gift at the clinique counter. Either way I am glad that I didn't actually pay for this as I really wouldn't have got my moneys worth. I don't really wear waterproof mascaras but I really wanted to try one to see if it would hold a curl better, stay on during the day or flake less. But this mascara is just so clumpy. I actually think something has broken or my one is missing something is the bottle that takes the excess mascara off the brush before you use it. But I'd have to spend ages trying to scrape the excess mascara on to the side of the bottle. To be honest the lasting power of this was really good. But for all of the issues that I had trying to take it off at the end of the day it really wasn't worth it. I know obviously waterproof mascara is going to be harder to take off but it was just ridiculous. I was tugging on my eyes for ages so it was really painful, I lost quite a few eyelashes in the process and when I woke up in the morning I found loads of mascara still under my eyes. So as you might has guessed I really wouldn't recommend spending your money on this one. But I am still in the market for a good waterproof mascara, so if anyone has any good ones or can point me to some reviews or blogposts I would love to know. 

Clinique bottom lash mascara

When I first got this I thought it was really amazing. For big nights out I would do loads of mascara on my top lashes and then this on my bottom lashes and it would look like false lashes. The small brush does make it a lot easier to apply mascara to your bottom lashes. But to be honest unless it is for a big occasion and I am spending a lot of time doing really special makeup then I never really reach for it anymore. There are a lot of mascaras with smaller brushes now that are just as easy to use on bottom lashes. And for nearly £20 I really can't decide if this is actually a great product or a bit of a gimmick. 

Naked Palette 2 

I think this is the first piece of more luxury makeup that I ever owned. I remember my mum had just got back from a holiday with a friend and when I walked up to my bedroom it was just there looking beautiful on my bed as a total surprise. At first it was so perfect I didn't actually want to use it out of pure fear of ruining it. Now the shadows are a bit messy and the packaging is a bit scratched and dented but it is one of my most worn and most used palettes. I've tried and loved pretty much every single colour and there are just so so many different looks that you can create from these 12 beautiful shades. Anything from a really natural daytime look to an amazing smokey eye, making this a perfect palette for taking away with you. Yes £36 may seem a little pricey at first but when you think about it that is for 12 shades. So these shades are actually only £3 each and they come all together in this sleek tin palette with a huge mirror. I honestly cannot recommend this one enough. 

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes

I got this for Christmas this year and I can't stop raving about it. I did a whole blogpost not too long ago with lots of pictures and describing all of the shades if you want to check it out here. These are more purpley pinky shades to the Naked palette but still very neutral and still very pretty. The shades are really quite unique I think but still so wearable and again you can create so many looks with these 12 shades. And I think this is even cheaper than the Naked palette and has prettier more travel friendly packing. I don't think I can actually fault this!

Clinique Chubby Stick - Two Ton Tomato

Clinique chubby sticks I think are kind of old news now and I had wanted to try them for so long. My brother kindly got this for me as a going back to university present and said he was going to miss me loads. They can be cute sometimes! I chose this red shade as I wante a red lip colour that was a bit more glossy and subtle that I could wear everyday. And this is such a great one. The formula is really balm like and glossy and the colour pigmentation is good but not really in your face so I feel confident wearing this. My only issue is it does have a bit of a funky play dough kind of smell. But it doesn't hang around and I can get past it as I really love this. And I also love doing a really thin one swipe of this for a "you lips with a bit more colour" look (not sure if that is a thing or not!). Either way, yes, I would recommend this one. Would love to try out some other shades if you have any to recommend. 

Quite a few benefit bits and pieces to talk about now. A few of these are sample from magazines and gift sets but I thought that I would include them anyway in case anyone was thinking of buying the full size of any of these. 

Benefit the POREfessional

God there was so much hype around this product when it first came out. Girls were literally swearing by this stuff! So when I managed to get my hands on a sample I was very excited. I've had a bit of a love hate with this though. At first I didn't get it and thought the texture just felt weird. Then I kept using it and decided that it was actually great and I was seriously thinking of buying the full size. And now I don't really every reach for it because when I don't use it I really don't notice any different. So if you have a real problem with large pore then maybe this is a good one for you but as just a regular primer I think there are better and cheaper products. 

Benefit Hoola Lip Gloss

Can't remember how I got my hands on this little sample but I think I have possibly worn it once. Lipgloss (apart from the maybelline coloursensational shine gloss) really isn't my think. And I don't know what else to say other than I would advise you not to waste you're money on this one as there are much better high street lipglosses. 

Benefit roller lash mascara

This is the new Benefit mascara which is really having a bit of a moment in the beauty world right now. I got this sample in last months ELLE magazine and did a little review of it a few weeks ago which you can read if you like here. The long story short is that I love this mascara and it is literally all that I have been wearing since I got it. I love the brush and the formula and the shorter bristles that are perfect for the bottom lashes. So yes, I do actually think this could be worth the price and I might have to get this once my sample runs out!

Benefit Tints - Posie Tint, Sun Beam and Cha Cha Tint 

I got a set of these little tints for my birthday last year. They are really pretty and perfect for travelling. And a great way to try out all the different colours. I probably get the most use out of Sun Beam. It's a really beautiful golden highlighter shade which gives the skin a lovely glow. I also really like Posie Tint for a natural pink tint on my lips. I think that this set is a great way to try out all of these shades. But if these weren't given to me as a gift I am not sure that they are something that I would spend my own money on. 


Hope you like this very long post. Congratulations if you have actually made it all the way to the end. And let me know if you have tried any of these products and whether you agree or disagree with me. Hopefully this will be useful to some people. Lots of love xx

High End Worth The Hype (and money)

High End Worth The Hype (and money)

I've been planning on doing a post like this for a long time. The luxury beauty industry is huge and growing and something that more and more people are wanting to buy into. But with so many new products making different claims and promising miracles it's hard to know if a product can change your life or you are basically just flushing money down the toilet for pretty packaging and a label. 

Being a student I can't claim to have a vast knowledge of luxury makeup at all. But I have been lucky enough over the last few years to try out a few different products that I would consider to be more luxury makeup (although not quite Charlotte Tilbury and Burberry, one day!). So today I wanted to talk about what I think of all of these products and whether I actually think they are worth the price tag.  

bareMinerals Primer and powder foundation

These two products are some of my most recent purchases, although I have been using them nearly everyday for a good 3 months now. I actually pretty recently did a know blogpost review on both of these products which you can read here if you want more details. Basically I really love both of these. They were recommended to me by a very good dermatologist who has converted me to mineral makeup. I really don't have the best skin but recently my attitude towards my skin has changed. Before I just wanted to cover up everything with as much makeup as possible but heavy foundation was clogging up my pores, making my skin worse and looked so cakey on my skin it was almost doing more bad than it was good. Yes, mineral foundation is a lot lighter and yes you can still see my imperfections when I wear it. But I don't mind that because you can't actually tell that I am wearing any makeup on my skin, it just looks like I have naturally better skin which I love. So would I recommend this? The answer is definitely yes. And the ladies at the counter are so helpful and well informed about choosing the correct shades for you. 

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream

For my 16th birthday I was very lucky to be given the Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume. I loved it so much and wore it pretty much everyday until it ran out. And even then I still have the bottle in my room because it is so beautiful and occasionally I like to sniff it and it bring back so many memories. Does anyone else do that?! So when this came out and I was passing through duty free on the way to Spain this summer I decided to treat myself. The packaging and the smell were both beautiful and I couldn't resist. Up until that point the only perfume that I had ever used had been given to me as a gift, so it was nice to chose a scent that felt really personal. This is quite an expensive perfume and had it not been at duty free I'm not sure I would have bought it. But I am so happy with it. It looks beautiful on my shelf and the scent is so fresh and feminine. And actually there are more and more deals for this perfume so if you haven't yet tried it and it sounds like a scent you would like them I would recommend it. 

Clinique high impact waterproof mascara

I think I bought this with my boots points or chose it as a free gift at the clinique counter. Either way I am glad that I didn't actually pay for this as I really wouldn't have got my moneys worth. I don't really wear waterproof mascaras but I really wanted to try one to see if it would hold a curl better, stay on during the day or flake less. But this mascara is just so clumpy. I actually think something has broken or my one is missing something is the bottle that takes the excess mascara off the brush before you use it. But I'd have to spend ages trying to scrape the excess mascara on to the side of the bottle. To be honest the lasting power of this was really good. But for all of the issues that I had trying to take it off at the end of the day it really wasn't worth it. I know obviously waterproof mascara is going to be harder to take off but it was just ridiculous. I was tugging on my eyes for ages so it was really painful, I lost quite a few eyelashes in the process and when I woke up in the morning I found loads of mascara still under my eyes. So as you might has guessed I really wouldn't recommend spending your money on this one. But I am still in the market for a good waterproof mascara, so if anyone has any good ones or can point me to some reviews or blogposts I would love to know. 

Clinique bottom lash mascara

When I first got this I thought it was really amazing. For big nights out I would do loads of mascara on my top lashes and then this on my bottom lashes and it would look like false lashes. The small brush does make it a lot easier to apply mascara to your bottom lashes. But to be honest unless it is for a big occasion and I am spending a lot of time doing really special makeup then I never really reach for it anymore. There are a lot of mascaras with smaller brushes now that are just as easy to use on bottom lashes. And for nearly £20 I really can't decide if this is actually a great product or a bit of a gimmick. 

Naked Palette 2 

I think this is the first piece of more luxury makeup that I ever owned. I remember my mum had just got back from a holiday with a friend and when I walked up to my bedroom it was just there looking beautiful on my bed as a total surprise. At first it was so perfect I didn't actually want to use it out of pure fear of ruining it. Now the shadows are a bit messy and the packaging is a bit scratched and dented but it is one of my most worn and most used palettes. I've tried and loved pretty much every single colour and there are just so so many different looks that you can create from these 12 beautiful shades. Anything from a really natural daytime look to an amazing smokey eye, making this a perfect palette for taking away with you. Yes £36 may seem a little pricey at first but when you think about it that is for 12 shades. So these shades are actually only £3 each and they come all together in this sleek tin palette with a huge mirror. I honestly cannot recommend this one enough. 

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes

I got this for Christmas this year and I can't stop raving about it. I did a whole blogpost not too long ago with lots of pictures and describing all of the shades if you want to check it out here. These are more purpley pinky shades to the Naked palette but still very neutral and still very pretty. The shades are really quite unique I think but still so wearable and again you can create so many looks with these 12 shades. And I think this is even cheaper than the Naked palette and has prettier more travel friendly packing. I don't think I can actually fault this!

Clinique Chubby Stick - Two Ton Tomato

Clinique chubby sticks I think are kind of old news now and I had wanted to try them for so long. My brother kindly got this for me as a going back to university present and said he was going to miss me loads. They can be cute sometimes! I chose this red shade as I wante a red lip colour that was a bit more glossy and subtle that I could wear everyday. And this is such a great one. The formula is really balm like and glossy and the colour pigmentation is good but not really in your face so I feel confident wearing this. My only issue is it does have a bit of a funky play dough kind of smell. But it doesn't hang around and I can get past it as I really love this. And I also love doing a really thin one swipe of this for a "you lips with a bit more colour" look (not sure if that is a thing or not!). Either way, yes, I would recommend this one. Would love to try out some other shades if you have any to recommend. 

Quite a few benefit bits and pieces to talk about now. A few of these are sample from magazines and gift sets but I thought that I would include them anyway in case anyone was thinking of buying the full size of any of these. 

Benefit the POREfessional

God there was so much hype around this product when it first came out. Girls were literally swearing by this stuff! So when I managed to get my hands on a sample I was very excited. I've had a bit of a love hate with this though. At first I didn't get it and thought the texture just felt weird. Then I kept using it and decided that it was actually great and I was seriously thinking of buying the full size. And now I don't really every reach for it because when I don't use it I really don't notice any different. So if you have a real problem with large pore then maybe this is a good one for you but as just a regular primer I think there are better and cheaper products. 

Benefit Hoola Lip Gloss

Can't remember how I got my hands on this little sample but I think I have possibly worn it once. Lipgloss (apart from the maybelline coloursensational shine gloss) really isn't my think. And I don't know what else to say other than I would advise you not to waste you're money on this one as there are much better high street lipglosses. 

Benefit roller lash mascara

This is the new Benefit mascara which is really having a bit of a moment in the beauty world right now. I got this sample in last months ELLE magazine and did a little review of it a few weeks ago which you can read if you like here. The long story short is that I love this mascara and it is literally all that I have been wearing since I got it. I love the brush and the formula and the shorter bristles that are perfect for the bottom lashes. So yes, I do actually think this could be worth the price and I might have to get this once my sample runs out!

Benefit Tints - Posie Tint, Sun Beam and Cha Cha Tint 

I got a set of these little tints for my birthday last year. They are really pretty and perfect for travelling. And a great way to try out all the different colours. I probably get the most use out of Sun Beam. It's a really beautiful golden highlighter shade which gives the skin a lovely glow. I also really like Posie Tint for a natural pink tint on my lips. I think that this set is a great way to try out all of these shades. But if these weren't given to me as a gift I am not sure that they are something that I would spend my own money on. 


Hope you like this very long post. Congratulations if you have actually made it all the way to the end. And let me know if you have tried any of these products and whether you agree or disagree with me. Hopefully this will be useful to some people. Lots of love xx

Updated Skin Care Routine

Updated Skin Care Routine 

I changed up my whole skin care routine over two months ago but am only just talking about it now. The reason is that skin care isn't like makeup, it takes a lot longer to find out if it is working as see how your skin is going to reach in the long run. I didn't want to talk about products that two weeks later I would find aren't working as well as I thought. But I have finished most of what I originally bought and now I am at the repurchase stage so I thought it was about time I did a little post on it.

Firstly if you have read my blog from the beginning then you are probably wondering why I changed up my skin rountine anyway. One of my first blog posts was about the skin care set I was using that was prescribed by a dermatologists. I had been using it for years and it worked really well on my sensitive skin. The reason that I stopped using Clenziderm by Obagi was because it came to my attention, through an email that there was an ingredient in the products that had been scientifically proven to thin skin. I decided that however good the products were for my skin at the moment I wasn't going to risk it, so stopped using them immediately.

For a couple of weeks I used a few different products but they all seemed to leave my skin feeling painful and a bit irritated. Finally I went to the Clinique counter in Boots and they gave me a sample kit which lasted a week. After using the sample kit I decided to just by the products, but skin hadn't suddenly become perfect, but it wasn't irritated anymore. In the first two weeks of using the products, or possible because it was just that time of the month (if you get my drift) my skin got significantly worse. But I stuck with the products telling myself that they were just bringing to the surface the spots that were already under my skin. After about a month my skin looked a lot better than before. I was still breaking out in a few spots every now and again but the overall smoothness of my skin was a millions times better.

The range that I use is Clinique's anti-blemish products. I use the foam face wash, followed by the clarifying lotion (similar to a toner) and then the thin layer of the clearing gel all over my face. After I wait a few minutes for that to really soak into my skin before using the all over clearing treatment (not a moisturiser) and putting a little bit of the spot treatment gel on targeted spots. Then I will use my regular moisturiser and eye cream.

I've been using this set for nearly three months now and I am really very happy with it. My skin is nowhere near perfect, but I am guessing that it more because I'm a teenager, I don't drink enough water and I LOVE chocolate and squirty cream! However it has made my skin a lot clearer and I think all that I need now is a bit of sum to add some colour to my face! So bring on summer!

Updated Skin Care Routine

Updated Skin Care Routine 

I changed up my whole skin care routine over two months ago but am only just talking about it now. The reason is that skin care isn't like makeup, it takes a lot longer to find out if it is working as see how your skin is going to reach in the long run. I didn't want to talk about products that two weeks later I would find aren't working as well as I thought. But I have finished most of what I originally bought and now I am at the repurchase stage so I thought it was about time I did a little post on it.

Firstly if you have read my blog from the beginning then you are probably wondering why I changed up my skin rountine anyway. One of my first blog posts was about the skin care set I was using that was prescribed by a dermatologists. I had been using it for years and it worked really well on my sensitive skin. The reason that I stopped using Clenziderm by Obagi was because it came to my attention, through an email that there was an ingredient in the products that had been scientifically proven to thin skin. I decided that however good the products were for my skin at the moment I wasn't going to risk it, so stopped using them immediately.

For a couple of weeks I used a few different products but they all seemed to leave my skin feeling painful and a bit irritated. Finally I went to the Clinique counter in Boots and they gave me a sample kit which lasted a week. After using the sample kit I decided to just by the products, but skin hadn't suddenly become perfect, but it wasn't irritated anymore. In the first two weeks of using the products, or possible because it was just that time of the month (if you get my drift) my skin got significantly worse. But I stuck with the products telling myself that they were just bringing to the surface the spots that were already under my skin. After about a month my skin looked a lot better than before. I was still breaking out in a few spots every now and again but the overall smoothness of my skin was a millions times better.

The range that I use is Clinique's anti-blemish products. I use the foam face wash, followed by the clarifying lotion (similar to a toner) and then the thin layer of the clearing gel all over my face. After I wait a few minutes for that to really soak into my skin before using the all over clearing treatment (not a moisturiser) and putting a little bit of the spot treatment gel on targeted spots. Then I will use my regular moisturiser and eye cream.

I've been using this set for nearly three months now and I am really very happy with it. My skin is nowhere near perfect, but I am guessing that it more because I'm a teenager, I don't drink enough water and I LOVE chocolate and squirty cream! However it has made my skin a lot clearer and I think all that I need now is a bit of sum to add some colour to my face! So bring on summer!