My skin story

Well hello everyone,

I though I would give you a little background into myself and my skin as I feel this will shape a lot of the products I review and things I talk about and so giving you a little insight into what I am all about will help you much better understand where I am coming from.

The first thing to say is that although I have been into beauty and makeup for a long time it is only the past couple of years where I have really started experimenting and trying lots of new things. I tended to just buy the same things time and time again without giving much thought to what I was buying or how it would affect my skin. But a few years ago I really for the first time noticed just how bad my skin was and from there have been on a quest to try and find anything that would help

My skin type is oily, not just the run of the mill a little oil, but full on oil slick skin. When I am wearing no makeup in a matter of minutes my skin is covered with an oily sheen. Up until recently I was one of those strange cases where although I had really oily skin I didn't really suffer with acne, just the occasional spot or blackhead but through trying out all the different products to try and combat my oily skin I have actually made my skin worse and am still no closer to finding anything that can help.

For my skin I have done or gone through most of the phases and crazes to try and bring my oil to a more manageable level. I have tried everything from not putting anything on my skin so that it naturally balances itself out, to trying to strip away oils and everything in between and so far I have only found products that keep my oil at bay for an extra few hours (which is not great).

I find myself constantly checking in the mirror to make sure my make up hasn't slid off my face and would love to be able to go out for the day without the constant worry of what my makeup is up to.

I use a variety of products currently (all of which I will do full reviews on later), but to give you an idea of what I use of a daily basis: first La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo, then OC Eight mattifying gel, MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC15, Urban Decay All Nighter makeup setting spray and then Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 003 Peach Glow. This is just the basics and it still doesn't make a huge difference.

I will do a proper post on my skin care and make up routines another day but from this I hope you can get a feel of what sort of things I am looking for in my beauty and makeup purchases.

Phew this has been a bit of a long one but I hope it gives you some insight into what I am about and to all those girls who also struggle with their skin sometimes it's just nice to know you are not alone!

What's your skin type and how do you manage with those not so great skin days?

Catch up soon,
Claire