La Roche-Posay Effaclar Anti-Blemish System

La Roche Posay is a brand that I have raved about in the past, so when I received this 3 step system as a present, I was over the moon. You get three full sized products within this set, which is amazing, and they're all clearly targeted at blemish prone skin. I've tried several of their products in the past, one of those being the Effalar Duo which I have previously spoken about so I won't go into too much detail about that one. You can read about that particular product here and here.

The second product you receive in this trio is their clarifying toner. I really loved using this product, I felt like it really cleaned my face. It got rid of any left over make up that my cleanser may have left of my face, which was super satisfying. I found this product was also really soothing on my blemishes and also helped with the redness. Over time, after using this product, I would say I saw a difference when I finished using this product. Using a toner is the one of the steps of a 'skin care routine' that I honestly do not normally do. However, I thoroughly enjoyed doing so whilst using this particular toner.

The third product is the purifying foaming gel which is effectively a foaming face wash. Unfortunately this is the product that I don't rate very highly out of the three. I simply found that it did nothing for my skin or my blemishes and I don't really have much else to say about this particular product if I'm honest.

Overall this is a great trio set, I personally just cannot warm to the face wash however, it may work for others. I cannot rate the Effaclar Duo enough, it is by far my favourite La Roche Posay product and if you haven't tried it already then you definitely should. Let me know your favourite La Roche Posay products, as I would definitely like to try some newbies!

My Current Spot Saviours

Recently my skin has been playing up a lot and you guys know how difficult it is to actually pin point why it's happening, and it's probably just having a moment. A moment with a face full of spots though feels like a lifetime. For the past couple of weeks I've been getting patches of spots, especially on my chin and they're those horrible under the skin ones which are just bloody painful. Unfortunately there's not much you can do about those under the skin ones, other than to try and soothe it and get it out from under the skin somehow. These four products pictured are what I've been using, in attempt, to try and save my skin. Just look at how they colour coordinate together in these pictures, that makes me happy *loser*.

First the Garnier Pure Active Anti-Spot Exfoliating Scrub which I have been using every other day since I purchased it. I have really been enjoying this product, it's really quite invigorating but I like that as it feels as if you're really getting to work on those spots. After using this my face feels squeaky clean and ready for either the rest of my morning or evening routine, depending on when I use this product. Next the Boots Skin Clear Ultra Rapid Action Spot Gel which is a relatively new product I've been using but I always like to have a spot gel on my bedside table. I haven't tried this one before and it was on offer recently at Boots so I thought I'd give it a go. It's in a squeezy tube with a thin nozzle so it's really easy to determine how much product you get out. I wouldn't say this is my most favourite spot gel but it's not the worst. It helps soothe and calm down the redness of angry spots which I like and I make sure I apply this every evening before bed.

A slightly more expensive product I love is the Malin & Goetz 10% sulfur paste which I've had for quite some time now. It's definitely on it's last legs, as it's now quite dry, however I love this product. I use a cotton bud to apply this to those big, nasty spots before going to bed. This isn't really a day time spot get as it leaves a white residue on your face for quite sometime before sinking in. This really helps reduce the size of the spot and also helps to soothe. I like to use this product on my bigger spots and the spot gel on smaller ones. Finally Sudocrem Skin Care Cream which was previously sent to me and I have previously written about. Using Sudocrem on spots is just a cult beauty hack that everybody should know. This particular version is aimed slightly more at spots and is just a really soothing product. I either apply this and really rub it in or apply it in the evenings, but don't rub it in and let it sink in over night. Sometime I do a face mask in this product as it just generally helps your skin in several ways.

There's the four products I've been religiously using for the past few weeks to try and sort my face out! I'm going to touch wood now but I do think it is working and my skin is clearing up which is fab. Let me know your favourite cult spot saviours in the comments as I'd love to try them, if I haven't already!

Eucerin Dermo Purifyer Day & Night Care Moisturisers

A few weeks back I was having a bit of a splurge on Boots, mainly because I was in desperate need of a night time moisturiser and then just kinda wanted a new day time one as well. My skin was playing up a bit at the time too so I was on the look out for something to hopefully help with that issue. My mum had recently purchased a moisturiser from Eucerin and kept saying how much she loved it, so I headed to check them out on the Boots website. That's when I came across these two moisturisers, both from the same range, one for day time and one for the evenings. This range is aimed at oily, blemish prone skin which sounded right up my street. I was quite shocked at the price, in a good way, I thought they were going to be a lot more expensive than they actually were. If I remember correctly, they were around £10-11 each, so really not expensive at all and I actually ended up using my Boots points to purchase them which made it even better.

So firstly I will talk about the day time moisturiser, which comes in a tube with a pump so you can easily control the amount of product you need. This moisturiser is slightly green in colour which I thought may be to help control redness, due to the product being aimed at blemishes which we all know can become angry and red. This moisturiser feels very light on the skin and takes no time at all to sink into the skin, which is perfect when in a rush. It really helps my skin feel hydrated as well which not many products aimed at oily skin often do, so I really like that element to this product. My make up applies seamlessly over the top of this moisturiser which is another great factor. Having oily skin however means it's bound to make its way back to the surface of your skin when it feels like it. By lunch time my oiliness has arrived back but I simply just blot this away when on my lunch break, however this doesn't necessarily mean it's this moisturiser due to applying other products on top of it. Overall I am in love with this day time moisturiser and will definitely repurchase in the future. It simply helps all aspects of my skin which is what everyone looks for when buying a skin care product!

Onto the evening moisturiser which comes in a squeezey tube which I'm not the biggest fan of but again you can easily control how much product comes out. This moisturiser is white in colour and is a lot thicker and heavier in comparison to the day time one. You do slightly feel the heaviness of it on your skin; however that doesn't fully bother me as most evenings I will apply it with only a short period of time to go before I get into bed and go to sleep, but I do understand that this will bother some people. It is easy to apply though and you don't feel like your dragging it across your skin, it's really not that thick but in comparison to the day time one it seems so. This moisturiser definitely helps to keep my oiliness at bay throughout the night until when I wake in the morning. My skin feels fresh and hydrated and if I do have those red angry spots they do look reduced. After applying this product I would simply just put some spot gel onto my blemishes just to help (hopefully) eliminate them quicker. This doesn't affect the moisturiser in any way as from previous experiences sometimes the moisturiser doesn't like additional products applied over the top, but this one worked a treat with other products. Obviously you don't need to apply anything else over the top if you don't need to but just at times with my larger spots I felt the need too. Again, I absolutely love this night time moisturiser and definitely think I will be repurchasing in the future.

If you're skin type is similar to mine then I would 100% recommend trying these two moisturisers out as I am really enjoying using them. I really want to check out the rest of Eucerin's products and see what else they have to offer, especially within this range.

Ooharr Face Masks

I find face masks are quite a luxury as at the moment I just don't seem to have that down time to sit down, relax and put a face mask on. I was recently sent these three different face masks so wanted to make sure that I used them when I had time too. I basically made time to use these so I could give you guys honest reviews on these masks, it also meant I had at least 15 minutes to relax in the bath.

I was sent three different face masks; one to rejuvenate skin, one to refresh skin and one revitalise skin. The fact that these masks targeted something different was great for me but right from the off, when I received these, I was drawn to the middle one photographed. When read in more detail the middle one is targeted at blemish prone skin therefore right up my street. I do love these packet face masks as if you don't like them then you haven't spent lots of money on the full size and you actually get two face masks out of one packet.

As I mentioned I was keen to try the blemish prone skin face mask and actually this is the one I enjoyed using the most. There were particles in this one which also exfoliated your face, so kind of like a two in one face mask, and it just left my skin feeling refreshed. This one in particular actually felt like it was working on my face, it wasn't one of those face masks you could forget about once you applied, but it wasn't a horrible feeling. I found after using this mask that my current blemishes didn't look quite as red or noticeable. This mask was my favourite out of the three but I did enjoy using the other two; again the one names Rosie Glows smelt so lovely of Vanilla which is one of my favourite scents but it wasn't to overpowering.

Another great thing about all of these face masks is that they are made with naturally effective ingredients; such as pure essential oils and natural extracts. I love using more natural skin care items as I do find some of the results are much more noticeable. For example my skin just seems to really prefer it in some ways and it feels much softer.

Overall I enjoyed testing out all of these face masks and think it's a great way of testing out new skin care products which can ultimately cost a fortune in the long run. I would definitely consider repurchasing the Dead Sea Cooler mask as I really enjoyed using it :-)

Witch Overnight Clearing Serum

I've been pretty loyal to the Freederm Overnight Clearing Serum for quite some time but when this Witch one came out recently I couldn't help but pick it up considering I had just used up my Freederm one. This was recently on offer in Boots for around £4 which was a bit cheaper than the Freederm one so I couldn't help but give it a go.

Witch say "Witch Overnight Clearing Serum is designed to help reduce the appearance of blemishes and spots while helping to prevent future break outs. Your skin is visibly hydrated and looks more radiant and clear." I've previously used other products from Witch and have loved them so was really excited to give this one a go. The claims Witch make were exactly what I was after taking into consideration my blemishes, oily t zone and dry patches.

I apply this product last thing at night before my head hits the pillow and I'm asleep. The consistency is a light serum/cream and doesn't take long at all to settle into the skin. The pump makes it super easy to know how much product to apply to the skin and this product does go a long way. I find that I don't even need a full pump for it to cover my entire face. Due to the light consistency it doesn't feel heavy on the skin which is the last thing you want before going to sleep. It doesn't leave my skin feeling tight or irritate my current blemishes which I have found can sometimes happen with other blemish products.

I've been using this product most nights ever since I purchased and can say that I have seen results. I find this product dries up my blemishes and reduces the redness of them overnight. I can't say that the actual appearance of my blemishes are reduced but it does change the look of them in some way. The blemishes are still visible, and I know this product isn't going to clear them up completely, but they look better than they did the night before applying this product. They have dried out which is an annoying stage of blemishes but a stage in the right direction of getting rid of them. I can't say I agree with the claim about looking more radiant and only slightly agree with the hydration. On application the serum feels hydrating but come the morning I find that it's disappeared and where I have dry patches it doesn't help that out a lot. Not to say that it completely doesn't work, because it does, it just only hydrates for a short period of time.

Overall this is a great, cheaper alternative to the Freederm serum but if it was a toss up between the two I think I would opt for the Freederm one. However I will continue to enjoy this product and use it up as I am enjoying using it. If you've tried this product or any similar then leave the links below and let me know what they are :-)

Dr Nick Lowe Sebum Control Cleanser Anti Blemish

Oh yes another skin care product from me that include the words 'anti blemish', hooray! I actually purchased this a while back from a store where I live called The Factory Shop which really isn't that amazing but occasionally do stock some great beauty bits. So I found this little beauty and prior to seeing it there I had actually been looking at it on Feel Unique where it RRP's for £12. Well in this shop it was only around £6 I believe so was a bargain I had to grab it.

It claims:
'A one-step, alcohol free anti-bacterial cleanser to refine, purify and deeply cleanse pores without stripping skin of vital moisture. Regular use of Dr. Nick Lowe Anti Blemish Sebum Control Cleanser will help reduce the triggers for spots and breakouts to leave skin thoroughly cleansed and revitalised.'

This is a lovely cleanser and really does leave your skin feeling fresh and clean whether it's day or night. I have been using this both in the mornings and the evenings and most of the time it tends to find something on my face that shouldn't be there and removes it. It definitely doesn't strip your skin, it feels smooth and also removes all the oil from my oily t-zone.

This cleanser claims to helps reduce the triggers for spots which I do agree with to some extent. It doesn't seem to help with existing spots which for an anti blemish product for me is a slight downer as I mainly purchase to get rid of the ones I'm currently suffering with as they're the present and not the future. But going to the future for a second here I believe this product only seems to occasionally work for reducing future spots. Now yes the claim does say help reduce not completely stop so in a way it really does work. And yes I do not use this cleanser every single day twice (most but not all) so not sure if that could be a factor. But obviously I can't single handedly hold this product responsible for my spot prone skin. Yes it does work but yes I do also still get pesky spots (what is doing it to me!)

Overall it's a lovely fresh cleanser suitable for day and night which does fight some of those pesky blemishes we have to suffer from! You can buy it here from Feel Unique for £12. And on a slightly different note I am jetting away on holiday as of Wednesday this week so there might be a lack of posts over the next 10 days whilst I soak up the sun in Greece! But don't worry I'll soon be back to blogging once I've had my belated summer holiday :-)

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer

Slightly delayed post this/last week, I would usually upload a post on a Sunday (yesterday) but I was up at the crack of dawn and on my 3 hour journey to the Clothes Show Live, which was super exciting! So that's the reason for the last post but I had such a great day at the Clothes Show yesterday so in my eyes it was all worth it! I had also originally planned a post for today but then realised it was another lipstick post and didn't want to post two of those up in a row so have delayed the lipstick until next week so keep your eyes peeled for that. Instead today I have a lovely new primer review for you.

Now I've actually had this primer for quite some time now in my make up draws but it's one of the products I really enjoy using then completely forget to blog and tell you guys about. I'm all over primers that help with my oily and spot prone skin hence why this one has been added to my collection. I love Witch's skin care range as it is aimed to help with that spot prone/anti-blemish skin type and that's exactly what this primer does.

It's a super smooth consistency and effortlessly glides over your face, it really does just feel nice to put on your skin first thing in the morning. It then also means that my foundation applies really nicely over the top. Witch products don't include any nastiness (products) so doesn't aggravate your skin and helps soothe the blemishes. I must point out though this does not get rid of your spots/blemishes, it helps your skin stop the prevention of spots and I've found it also helps cover the ones you do have up nicely.

One thing this isn't the best at is keeping my make up in place for a long period of time. Now I believe that's due to me having very oily skin but saying that it's not one of the worst primers, for staying power, that I've ever tried. It definitely gives me a good 5 hours wear before I am needing to get my blotting paper and powder out for a touch up. So it's not amazing nor is it completely naff, it's just mediocre.

Overall I really enjoy using this primer on a daily basis although I would love to find this exact formula maybe that would also help my oiliness a bit more! I'd definitely recommend this to anyone with the same skin type as me (spot prone) as it does work wonders. I'd love to know if you've tried this and your thoughts on it? Or any other Witch products you would recommend :-)