My Skin Care Routine & Going Make-Up Free

Finally in my mid-twenties, I have overcome the fear of baring my fresh face to the world and am no longer scarred by the thought of people seeing me without makeup on. I genuinely used to have to hide my face if I ever saw someone I vaguely knew when I was without the slap. I even remember one day in secondary school when I was told we would have swimming lessons first thing so I braved not washing my hair or wearing makeup, only to get to school and find out the plan had changed… man was I devastated. It could actually go down as my worst school day in history (I had a pretty good school experience).

(apologies for this stupid pose)

I’ve never really had terrible skin. Luckily I was never a very spotty teenager and only wore makeup because I was well, a chav. But only in the last few years did it start to occur to me that I didn’t actually care what people thought of me or how I was viewed by people that didn’t really matter or have an effect on my own self esteem and confidence. 10 years ago, I never would have thought I could happily spend days with a bare face and wander around London without my ‘mask’ on, but now it is a regular occurrence and I’m sorry for whoever’s eyes I hurt.

Only when I stopped caring what people thought of my bare face or subtle makeup choices did I start getting compliments on my skin and it honestly wasn’t something I really noticed before. I have always eaten well and taken care of myself and for as long as I can remember, have drunk litres and litres of water daily, so I’m sure this has an affect on my skin… feed your skin from the inside out kids!

Admittedly, my biggest insecurity was my eyebrows (and lack of) so I felt the need to wear makeup purely to put my brows on. But after having them micro bladed by the wonderful Kerry , I felt like I no longer had to rely on makeup as they are the brows I had always dreamed of!

So my little quest for you is to go bare faced for a day and go about your usual chores and just see what it does to you! Are you defined by the makeup you wear? Or can you face your own true face? 😉

But my skin care routine is something that I also absolutely swear by and wouldn’t change it for the world… unless something crazily amazing came to my attention. I completely trust my little twice daily routine and when my skin flares up or breaks out, I can always put it down to either diet or hormones! With two (sometimes 3 if I’m feeling fancy) simple and natural ingredients, this routine can save you so much money and so much hassle! It also is so great at removing grime and dirt from the tube!

TWO SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

• Coconut oil:
  For anyone who knows me, knows I couldn’t live without coconut oil in my life- I carry a little pot around with me wherever I go! And it may seem a weird thing to rub oil on your face, but as a previous sufferer of terribly oily skin, it does anything but make your skin oily. It honestly does such wonders to your skin as a natural antibacterial moisturiser and anti-ageing dream!
  
• Apple Cider Vinegar (with ‘the mother’):
  Again, a very weird and out of the ordinary ingredient to use on your skin, but I absolutely swear by apple cider vinegar for it’s healing powers! Whenever I get a spot, I put a little extra on it and it is usually gone in the morning. You may smell like a fish and chip shop for a while and my best friend’s boyfriend has pretty much banned her from going to sleep with it on, but if you’re a singleton like me then you get pretty used to the smell and don’t even notice it anymore (I don’t know if this is an awful thing to admit or not).

THE ROUTINE
(Every morning and evening)

1. Apply the coconut oil to your fingers and rub all over your face until you look like an absolute fool with makeup smeared everywhere, making sure you are delicate around your eye area.
2. Grab a cotton wool pad and remove all of the smeared makeup.
3. Repeat the process again with the coconut oil.
4. Pour some apple cider vinegar on to another cotton wool pad and use this to remove the excess coconut oil and act as a ‘toner’.
5. Splash your face with water et voilá, you are all ready for bed (or your day).

I have recently got into spraying my face with Rose water instead of the water splash. And I’m pretty obsessed with this part of the procedure, but sometimes Rose Water is harder to get hold of so you can absolutely leave this bit out!

Try this routine out for 2 weeks, along with eating well, drinking 3L of water and regularly exercising and let me know how you get on!