WHAT I HAVE BEEN USING ON MY SKIN IN 2017 AND MY MUST-HAVE PRODUCTS!
When it comes to my blog, I often stick to beauty and makeup - however I do not talk that often about skincare. The reason for that is I have only really started thinking about good quality skincare over the last year and I have wanted to make sure that I thoroughly test out the products before mentioning them to you. Over the last year, I have tried so many new skincare products from the drugstore and from more luxury brands; some have worked and are featured in this post and some I didn't like and won't even talk about on here. Now it is coming into the colder months, I am making sure that my skincare routine is on point as I do suffer from dryness and blemishes. So these products that I mention in this post are my absolute favourite skincare products and work well for dry skin, but some are even great for people with oily, sensitive and acne-prone skin types.
Skincare for me is the most important step to invest in; I have always said that it does not matter how much you spend on a makeup item or the quality of it, if your skin is not looking its best. There are some amazing drugstore items out there as well, which I have included in this post, but I do feel it is always better to invest in at least a couple of skincare items so that your skin looks great. All of these products I absolutely love and use either on a daily or weekly basis and I have tried to put them into categories to help you decide what area of skincare you want to really focus on. I am also going to be listing some products that I like but I don't use them regularly so that you have some more options as I know what I use regularly will not be great for everyone. I have some drugstore and some high-end products in every category and I will be doing little mini reviews of every product that I class as my must-have skincare products. I will also be leaving the links to all of the products that I mention as well.
I was really inspired to make this post after being contacted by the lovely team from a website called reviews.com - I am not being sponsored or paid to talk about this website, I was just asked to look at it and give my opinion on whether I thought you would like it as well. As soon as I looked at the website I knew I wanted to share it with you all because the team at reviews.com have put in so much effort into reviewing so many different products. They review products from beauty, fitness, homeware, insurance and so much more. I have been reading so many reviews of beauty products, including skincare and makeup and have absolutely loved it. Their reviews are so easy to understand and they put in the research so you don't have to - they will look at and review sometimes over 300 products to find you the best of the best from that particular category. They will also sum up what product is best for different skin types and they really explain the process for why they have chosen those products as the absolute best. For example, I have been reading their Best Eye Creams review today and am definitely buying one of the eye creams they recommend as they started off with a list of 318 eye creams and then spoke to experts in the field, as well as testing them out on themselves to find the best eye creams. Obviously I don't have the time to put so many eye creams to the test, so I would really recommend checking out their website as they have done all the hard work for you, and they have reviews on everything from foundation to vacuum cleaners. Also look at the other product reviews that they have, because there is something for everyone and it is the perfect time to see what products you might want to buy people for Christmas. You can find their website by clicking here or you can read their blog here.
Now let me show you what my favourite skincare products of 2017 have been so far ...
A U.F.O. CAME AND SOLVED MY ACNE PROBLEMS?
OK maybe not exactly ... but it is amazing at reducing blemishes and acne ...
Of course an U.F.O. didn't literally come and solve all my acne problems, but the Sunday Riley U.F.O. Ultra-Clarifying Facial Oil did help reduce any acne I was suffering from. As I have said before, in many posts, I suffer from dry skin in certain areas of my face (like my T-zone) and then the rest of my skin is fairly normal. However, most of us will suffer from acne and breakouts at some stages during the year, and because I test out a lot of skincare and makeup for this blog, my skin sometimes cannot copes and just breaks me out. I don't have acne or breakouts all the time but if I have tested a lot of different skincare products in one week, my skin has a meltdown and likes to break me out. I also suffer from pores that are sometimes difficult to conceal and hide.
Throughout the last few years I have tested out so many products that are meant to reduce the appearance of acne and blackheads, and I have found some products work - but a lot do not do anything for my skin. That was until I decided to bite the bullet and order the Sunday Riley U.F.O. Ultra-Clarifying Facial Oil. This is really expensive but I have noticed such a difference with my skin and it really has helped to reduce the signs of acne, blackhead and blemishes. I have always wanted to try something from Sunday Riley, as I had seen so many people talk abut their products on YouTube and on blogs but I was just never able to afford such a pricey skincare product. However, I am now of the belief that it is so important to invest in your skincare routine and not worry about buying luxury makeup - you can make any makeup product work if your skin is looking its absolute best.
This is the only product from Sunday Riley that I have tried and I am so tempted to buy the LUNA sleeping oil from the brand but I haven't been able to justify it just yet. However, this U.F.O facial oil is literally out of this world!
This product is expensive at £34 for 15ml or £68 for 30ml and is available from Cult Beauty, Harvey Nichols and Nordstrom.
IS IT WORTH THE HYPE? AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MORPHE
When it comes to beauty launches, I am not someone who is desperate to get my hands on a product the day it launches; but with the Morphe X Jaclyn Hill palette I did want to get it on the day it was released so I could review it for all of you. I know that this palette has been out in the States for a few months now, but the Jaclyn Hill palette was only launched on the BeautyBay website last week. At first I was never going to buy this palette as I didn't want to pay the customs through the Morphe website but when I saw BeautyBay was going to have it in stock I knew that I wanted to get my hands on it. As soon as this palette launched in the UK I went on to the website to buy the palette and it took me two and half hours of refreshing the page to finally get my order confirmation - I have never spent so much time trying to get my hands on a palette and I did almost give up at one point. This is literally a first impressions review of the palette as I have only had it for a couple of days now and I have used it for the first time today (just before I started writing this blog post).
I will admit, I have never been someone who has been interested in Morphe products - when I bought this palette, I had only owned one item from Morphe, which was an eyeshadow brush that I am not the biggest fan of. But, I have never owned or tried any of Morphe's makeup products and I have always been curious about trying their eyeshadow palettes. I have heard mixed reviews of their eyeshadow palettes but a lot of people seem to like them. I know their is some controversy over whether the products are made my Morphe and there is the whole drama over beauty YouTubers constantly mentioning their Morphe codes in their videos. However, do not worry as I have no affiliation with Morphe and I am going to give my honest opinion on the Morphe X Jaclyn Hill palette.
I use to watch Jaclyn Hill a lot when I was younger and I would always want to buy whatever she mentioned in her videos but nowadays I will sometimes watch her videos if I think it is something I will like or want to recreate myself. I was a massive fan of Champagne Pop (the highlighter Jaclyn Hill created in collaboration with Becca) so I was excited to see what her dream eyeshadow palette would look like. I didn't buy this palette because everyone else was buying it, I honestly bought it because I do watch Jaclyn's videos every now and again and the shades looked like something I would use on a daily basis. This eyeshadow palette is literally the colours I would put into my own eyeshadow palette (if I ever made one) as she has focused on the warm toned shadows that I love but had added in a pop of colour with the blues and greens.
This palette is more expensive than other Morphe palettes at £37 or $38. Unfortunately this palette is sold out on the BeautyBay website but I know that it will be coming back in stock some time this month. However, you can buy the Jaclyn Hill Palette on the Morphe Website (just remember if you are in the UK, you will have to pay taxes, shipping and customs, so it might be worthwhile waiting till BeautyBay restock it).
