L'OREAL VELVETY-SOFT TONER AND NOT-SO-MIRACULOUS CLEANSING OIL.

I'm a traitor. My much adored coconut oil is currently taking a back seat, because once again I've become a total sucker for OOOH SHINY NEW SKINCARE, and picked up these babies;

Why yes, it's the Miracle Cleansing Oil and Velvety-soft Toner from the L'Oreal Skin Perfection range! You know, just incase you couldn't see that from the picture. Or the post title. I picked the oil up on a whim and the toner on somewhat less of a whim after reading a review which described it as 'hydrating', so obviously I was all over that jazz. I find toners are generally either oh-so-stripping or just.. boring. 

So, what dey all about?

I have to say, I am not disappointed with the toner. I've been using a Clarins offering for some time now due to a continual gifting of it at Christmas and birthdays, but I've never really had any strong feelings about it. It's just plain okay. But this. THIS. 'Velvety' is most definitely the appropriate word, because sweeping this across my face was like.. er.. well, it was soft guys.

Like a baby's butt.
Like the fluffiest of puppies. 
Like actual velvet. 
This is the first time I've been genuinely sold on a toner. GREAT SUCCESS! It also a really lovely scent which is very reminiscent of suncream, which is (oddly) just one of my favourite smells of all time. As a bonus, Boots currently have 1/3 off on select L'Oreal skincare, so this cost me a bank breaking £2.66 (usually £3.99)!

Now, the Miracle Oil. I have significantly fewer feelings about this compared to the toner, but probably only because this doesn't really deliver anything new for me. I've been double cleansing with coconut oil and cleansing milk for some time now, and I'm very much sold on the ease of it (in terms of easily dissolving face grime - 'like dissolves like'), and the benefits it's had to my skin. The only flaw with coconut oil is the fact that it's solid at room temperature (though this probably depends on where in the world your room is, given its low melting point of 24°C), so the fact that this 'ere miracle oil is liquid and dispensed via a pump is pretty convenient. Of course, there are many oils out there that you can purchase and put in a pump dispenser yourself, probably for a vastly lower cost (as a side note, I would high suggest looking in to the oil cleansing method and/or double cleansing with oil, whatever your skin type. They're flexible routines which can suit anything from the super dry to the super oily, and can be incredibly beneficial for problematic skin).

But what's in this biz? Well, mineral oil mostly, AKA liquid paraffin AKA baby oil (minus the fragrance). Opinions are divided over mineral oil - I've read and understood enough of the chemistry to have no objections to putting it on my face however. The next ingredient on the bottle is 'caprylic/capric triglyceride', which is a specific (liquid) fraction of coconut oil. Yay, coconut oil! That's like, my favourite. As for the actual cleansing power of this combination - it's good! It dissolved my makeup effortlessly while leaving my skin feeling all super smooth. But this is nothing different from my usual coconut oil (albeit a slightly more convenient form), so I'll be unlikley to repurchase this - it'll probably be saved for when I'm travelling and lugging my industrial sized tub of oil is a little unreasonable. I picked this up for £5.33 in Boots, and it usually retails at £7.99.

I think I need a skincare no-buy. Alas, Escentual have up to 1/3 off French pharmacy brands for the whole of June, which means I'll very likely be stocking up on some La Roche-Posay and Avene, plus I'd reeeeally like to give the Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm a go. SHAME.

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY LEAVE BOOTS EMPTY HANDED

I have a genuine problem with Boots. I walk past and find myself being drawn in, and I quickly start racking my brain - do I actually need anything? Toothpaste, shower gel? Probably, but the chances are I'll completely forget about them and find myself immediately drawn to the skincare and makeup aisles. 'I'll just have a browse', I tell myself. 'Just see what's new'. Turns out I'm a pathological liar because I rarely leave Boots empty handed and seem to come up with all sorts of wild justifications for my purchases. BUT, this time, I done good. I stuck to my intended purchases and EVEN PUT SOMETHING BACK?!?! Whack. My purse is pretty grateful though.

As it goes, the Clarins sunscreen wasn't actually a recent purchase, but something I received for Christmas and hadn't used till now. It's a lightweight and easily absorbed sunscreen offering SPF40 protection, leaving the skin feeling soft and moisturised with a matte finish - but at £31 a pop, it ain't cheap. I love this product, but I'll probably be giving the La Roche-Posay Anthelios range a go next, which seems to be very well rated but around a third of the price of the Clarins offering. Price regardless, use of a good daily sunscreen is one of the best things you can do to protect your skin and minimise the effects of aging, particularly if you use products which increase the photosensitivity of your skin, such as retinols, benzyol peroxide and AHA's..

..which brings us nicely to my next product! This was the reason I finally got round to incorporating a sunscreen in to my routine - Nip+Fab's glycolic fix serum. In turn, the reason I even bothered to include a serum in the first place is due to a recent interest in Asian skincare products and routines. >>This page<< offers some great information about all the extra steps that an Asian skincare routine can incorporate, the purpose for them and the order in which they should be applied. Their routines can typically include up to 10 steps, but for now i'll just stick with an extra one! I opted for this serum as it contains 4% glycolic acid, a great little chemical exfoliator which doesn't irritate my rather sad skin. It retails at ~£15, but it's frequently on offer in Boots and Superdrug. I apply this after my toner, gently pat it in to the skin, and leave it to absorb for a few minutes before applying moisturiser. The packaging says to allow 2 weeks before results are visible, but I find that this immediately makes my moisturiser glide on much more smoothly. Can't gripe at that.

Next up is the 'PapayaGold Paw Paw Payaya moisturising balm'. Long name for a little tube. I didn't actually set out to buy this but I've seen this mentioned on various blogs, and I'm always keen for anything marketed at dry, chapped skin. It contains manuka honey, which is something of a trendy ingredient in skincare at the moment, though the evidence for its claimed benefits are still somewhat up in arms - its antibacterial benefits have been shown in vitro but with minimal clinical evidence. However, honey in general (not just the manuka variety) is known to have antimicrobial properties (hence its use in acne treatments), and to be very good at retaining moisture - the reason this pipped my interest. It has a very thick consistency with no particular odour, and feels very nourishing on the skin without being too greasy (it's essentially jumped up vaseline though, so it's not absorbed particularly quickly). It's great for odd dry patches (I like it round my eyes at night), and a very handy little size to chuck in you bag day to day, plus a little goes a long way. It's £5.99 for 25g, available at Boots and Superdrug.

Finally, the Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix body lotion. I've gone pretty mad for 2 things lately - Nip+Fab products, and AHAs. Can you tell?! I bought this lotion to use on my legs in the hope that it'd help to clear up some keratosis pilaris (AKA 'chicken skin'). I haven't been using it long enough to comment on any improvements yet, but it's easy absorbed and has something of a fresh, citrusy scent - not actually something I like in my skincare goodies, but I'll live with it! I was torn between this and the Avene Akerat10 lotion, though I was swayed by the lower price tag of the glycolic fix (£7.99 vs. £15). Both contain lactic acid (an AHA) and salicylic acid (a BHA) to exfoliate, though the Avene lotion contains urea also - another keratolytic ingredient. Keratosis pilaris is caused by an overproduction of keratin (a protein of the hair, skin and nails), which in turn plugs hair follicles and causes those little bumps many of us are familiar with. So, theoretically, keratolytic ingredients soften that keratin build up and put us on the road to smooth, bump free skin. Theoretically. Time will only tell on this one!

Hopefully after this little spluge i'll be able to reel in my spending for a little while. Though, I have had my eye on some makeup brushes.. and some Sleek blushes.. and a tonne of Asian skincare products.. holy hell. SOMEONE HELP ME.