Finally, something free, a reward for all the hard earned money that I spend. LK Bennett (in Bentalls, Kingston) are doing an offer that if you spend over a certain amount, you get a complimentary facial. Preach! I need some downtime after all that shopping! The facial is an express one, to give you a little taster of what you could be paying for, but it came at just the right time as my skin is starting to feel a little dull from the heating and my cheeks are very dry.
The facial was at Clarins (in Bentalls) and on arrival I was told to take a seat, where I waited patiently for my skin therapist (I was 30 minutes early). Natasha, my therapist then greeted me and we discussed any skin problems I had and what my daily skin routine was. Now, I did have to admit that I was very lazy and I liked quick and easy products to use. I really hate ones that you have to wash off with water, it's ok when you are in the shower, but in the evenings I really don't want the faff! I just want to whip it off- even if that means using the dreaded baby wipe, which as a therapist myself I definitely don't like admitting as I would tell my clients off for such an offense!
The advise that I was given was extremely helpful and although I love Dermalogica, she was doing a good job of selling it to me. The problem I have is that I have combination skin, which means it has more than one problem area. I have the dryness on my cheeks but then I get a slightly oily T-zone, which breaks out at a girls favourite time of the month (sorry boys).
Therefore, products that I use seem to help one or the other.. or neither!
If you have the same problem then I will let you know what she used and I must say, my skin has been given a new lease of life, the dry patched have improved massively!
Cleanser: Extra-comfort anti-pollution This smells of Mango is beautiful, it helps to restore the skins purity and radiance and is gentle enough to be used on the eyes too!
Toner: Toning lotion with Iris This is good for combination skin and again smells lovely. A reason that you can get dry or sore skin can be that the cleanser is not being removed completey, so this is also great to use to make sure that there is no traces of cleanser left on the skin.
Exfoliator: Gentle exfoliator This product is suitable for all skin types, I loved this product because it doesn't actually have any beads in- I know that some people like to feel it like a scrub but the bits just get everywhere and sometimes are hard to completely remove. You only have to use this product once a week or every 5 days if you want more usage.
Now the therapist applied a mask, which was lovely but I'm afraid I can't remember what it was.
Booster: Beauty flash balm This product is one of clarins best sellers. It is great to give tired, dry skin a pick me up instantly, she mixed this with my moisturiser.
Moisturiser: HydraQuench lotion This was the product that I ended up buying, after all my skin needs the moisture. It smells lovely and is perfect for combination skins. An added bonus to this product is that it contains an SPF of 15.
(Typical me, I have just noticed that out of all the products she used on my skin, this was the most expensive!)
Eye Cream: Eye contour gel This targets puffiness and dark circles and although it was nice.. It's not as effective as the Dermalogica total eye care that I use and Dermalogica also includes an SPF, which the Clarins one does not.
Once I have used all of my Dermalogica cleanser and toner I am going to give Clarins a try because I definitely noticed a big difference from just one treatment. I would recommend you trying their express facial if you need some product advice before buying.
See you in tomorrow's blog
Love Life,
Emma xxx