Skincare Shake Up: Feb ’18 Edition

It barely feels like a week has passed since my last Skincare Shake Up… how on earth did January last for three years but February disappeared in the blink of an eye? Are you ready to hear all about the skincare I used and loved/loathed this month? Get comfy and let’s go!

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Serum - a great basic serum suitable for sensitive skin

As always, I’ll start with my evening routine. I list products in the order used and try to explain why I use each one and their benefits, but if you ever have any questions or concerns just let me know and I’ll do my best to help. I try a lot of products but each skincare item will always have been used for at least a month to make sure that my picky skin gets on with it okay. If anything ever caused any kind of flare up or irritation I would always include this in the description. It goes without saying that I’m not a dermatologist and I can’t speak for every person with rosacea, I can only tell you what my skin likes and try to point out potential irritants if they are included. As with everything, I’d recommend you do further research, look at ingredient lists, and conduct patch tests with any new products if you do have sensitive skin. RIGHT! Enough of the disclaimers, let’s chat skincare!

Skincare Shake Up, evening routine (full skincare routine for sensitive, rosacea skin)

SKINCARE SHAKE UP EVENING ROUTINE

My evening routine is a lovely mix of old favourites and new discoveries.

I’ve been trying out some bits from the new range Your Good Skin. This is a range from Boots, who have created a community of real consumers around the brand in order to get feedback and find out what products were really wanted, needed and valued. You can read more about it here. The Blemish Clearing Calming Cleanser* is a milky cream cleanser that left my skin feeling very clean but wasn’t stripping (something I worry about with products targeting spot-prone skin). It contains salicylic acid to gently exfoliate the skin without aggravating it – obviously it won’t have the same effect as using a toner containing an exfoliating acid (see below!) as you’re washing the product off pretty quickly. But if you give yourself a mini-facial massage and take your time using it I think you’ll see a benefit to any blemishes and congestion. I don’t get a lot of spots but I tend to get hormonal bumps along my jaw and around my chin and exfoliating acids really help with them.

The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% - an affordable dupe for some of the pricier exfoliating toners? Read my review on the blog...

Talking of exfoliating acids, I’ve been using The Ordinary Glycolic 7% Toning Solution* twice a week. I soak a cotton pad, sweep it over my face concentrating on the areas I want to target, wait 15 minutes and then carry on with my skincare routine. It’s not sting-y, doesn’t annoy my rosacea, comes in an enormous bottle so will last for ages, and because it’s Deciem it’s very affordable: £6.80 for 240 ml. As with all acids, you should be even more vigilant with your SPF when using them as your skin can be more susceptible to sun damage. I don’t find this as hydrating as Pixi Glow, but it’s more affordable per ml than the Naturally Radiant one. When you have sensitive skin, it can be daunting to spend a lot of money on skincare that might not work for you, so to have more affordable options to try is wonderful. It’s worth noting that this contains 7% Glycolic whereas Pixi and Naturally Radiant both contain 5%.

It’s a general rule that you don’t combine AHAs (like Glycolic) with retinol, so on the nights I wasn’t using The Ordinary Glycolic Toning Solution I was using my trusty La Roche Posay Redermic R Intense* (Both Boots and Escentual have a sale on La Roche Posay at the moment so I’d recommend having a peek at both sites to work out which is a better deal!) This product has featured in the last few Skincare Shake Up posts so you can have a look back HERE and HERE to see my thoughts but the fact I’m still using it is a very good sign!

I followed it up with another repeat offender – La Roche Posay HyaluB5 serum* (it’s temporarily out of stock at Boots, but it looks like Escentual have stock), which has also featured in the past two months of Skincare Shake Up posts. I love both of these LRP products and will be continuing to use them for the foreseeable!

I have had so many people ask me about Azelaic acid (also know as finacea) as a rosacea treatment and I finally got around to trying some. The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%* is a gel that sinks into the skin very quickly, leaving an almost powdery feeling. It’s an antioxidant and helps with skin texture, redness, blemishes and dryness. I found this really interesting article which recommends Azelaic acid for those with rosacea, acne, melasma (pigmentation issues) AND those with seborrheic dermatitis (which I have around my temples and eyes). I think this product has helped the inflammation and redness on my cheeks, but the results on my seb derm is staggering. After a week, my skin was so much less dry and textured – I am completely sold! I do wish that it came in a bigger bottle as it’s not very big if you’re wanting to use it all over your face every night. I’ve also read a few reviews that say that it pills on the skin if you use it under SPF or make up, so I’d recommend just using it at night like me.

I followed it up with another product from Your Good Skin, the ProVitamin Overnight Cream*. This is a really nice, standard moisturiser that layered well over other products, sank into the skin quickly, and left my skin feeling comfortable.

Trilogy Very Gentle Hydra Mask - a lovely soothing mask perfect for sensitive skin and rosacea

This wonderful mask featured in my recent Friday Faves post but I wanted to rave about it again. The Trilogy Very Gentle Hydra Mask* is so calming and kind to my skin. I’ve been applying it whenever my skin feels warm, weather-beaten, or generally unhappy and it is flipping lovely. Trilogy are great at caring for sensitive skin but this product in particular is very special.

And that’s it for my evening routine. Morning routine, go go go!

Skincare Shake Up, morning routine (full skincare routine for sensitive, rosacea skin)

SKINCARE SHAKE UP MORNING ROUTINE

As with my evening routine, you may spy some old favourites in this collection but I also have some newbies to introduce (and one product that sadly didn’t work for me…)

Bioderma is no stranger to my Skincare Shake Up posts. If I had a pound for every time I’d recommended this product… I could probably shower in Bioderma! You’ve heard me rave before: it’s gentle, quick, great for my sensitive eyes, and is the best micellar water I’ve tried. Both Boots and Escentual stock it, and both have deals on at the moment, with the latter offering a two-pack for a great price.

As with the La Roche Posay Redermic R product, I didn’t want to swap out my La Roche Posay Redermic C10* this month. You can read all about it in last month’s Skincare Shake Up HERE. Thankfully I have another tube waiting to be cracked open because this one is getting low! (Boots. Escentual. Sale. Bargains. You know the drill by now!)

I’ve been using two different serums this month, depending on my plans for the day. On days when I wasn’t going out and knew that my skin would be quite calm, I was using The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (which I’ve used on and off since December ’16 so won’t repeat myself, but you can have a nosey HERE).

On days when my skin needed a little more oomph, I reached for the Paula’s Choice Resist Omega+ Complex serum. I think this is aimed at a slightly older and drier demographic but I still liked it, especially the lightweight milky formula. Every so often I’ll try something that I like but that doesn’t wow me and this is one of those products. It’s not bad, it’s just not The One!

Weleda Soothing Facial Cream, Almond - a great simple moisturiser for sensitive skin, rosacea

Weleda are a great brand who make simple, reliable products that my skin loves (their Skin Food is a wonderful multitasker that I need to tell you about soon!). Their Almond range is aimed at sensitive skin and this Soothing Facial Cream* (Amazon link, although Holland & Barrett have a great deal on it at the moment as well FYI) is a great product for this wintery season. It’s a little thicker than I’d usually go for but that hasn’t irritated my skin, and it makes my face feel comfortable and calm. It’s not groundbreaking but it’s a another really good standard moisturiser.

The last item in my morning skincare routine is always SPF. The La Roche Posay Anthelios XL (Links: Boots, Escentual) has appeared on the blog more than I can count. It’s lightweight, doesn’t leave a white cast, it doesn’t aggravate my rosacea, and gives a great base for make up. So I thought I’d try the Anthelios XL Tinted Dry Touch Gel-Cream*, which is designed to control oil (which I definitely need) and give a slight tint to the skin. Unfortunately I really didn’t like this. The colour was a little too dark (a common issue in these ‘universal’ shades, which tends to mean ‘tanned white person’), the finish was streaky, patchy, gathered around my nose and eyebrows, and looked very dry. I thought it might be a more affordable version of the SkinCeuticals SPF in this post, which I love… but sadly not. I had to wash it off immediately and start again. Perhaps the un-tinted version may be better for me? Original Anthelios XL come back, I promise I’ll never cheat on you again!

And that wraps up my Skincare Shake Up Feb ’18 edition. I don’t like ending on a negative note but I try so many products and they can’t all be winners! As always, I’d love to know what skincare you’re loving this month (or always), or if you’ve tried any of the above products.

Lex

*PR sample. Links may be affiliate. For more information, please see the Disclaimer tab at the top of the page.

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Does Azelaic acid (finacea) help rosacea? How does it fit into my sensitive skin care routine? Did it help my dry skin? Read my blog post to find out...

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4 Comments

  1. Joanne Porter
    9th March 2018 / 12:23 pm

    Hi, thanks so much for reviewing La Roche Posay products, they are amazing. I asked for some samples from Boots as I have rosacea and have never found many products that don’t irritate apart from Clarins. I have now bought Redermic R intensive which I use at night and Effaclar Duo which I use in the day (with Heliocare advanced gel sunblock spf 50 uva+uvb). I also use Clarins Ultra-Matte Rebalancing Lotion (for oily skin).

    I was thinking of trying the Hyalu B5 serum and wondered if this was used after Redermic R at night? My skin is oily and don’t want to make it any oilier. Have you tried La Roche Posay Hyalu B5 Hyaluronic Acid Cream as well as the serum?

  2. Samantha
    9th March 2018 / 1:43 pm

    I have been using YourGoodSkin cleanser and its very nice have you used body shop Tea Tree anti imperfection night mask some people on YouTube have said its good

  3. Berna
    10th March 2018 / 9:55 am

    Lex , how do you re apply your suncream after you put your foundation on , any ideas ? X

  4. Cris
    20th March 2018 / 2:07 pm

    Olá, você não teve o famoso efeito rebote com o acido azelaico?
    Existem muitos e muitos relatos a respeito disso.Amo ler o seu blog!

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