My Current Morning Skincare Routine

I've been trying to get myself into a proper skincare routine over the past few months, making sure I take time every day to give it the attention it needs - not always succeeding, particularly in the mornings as I'd rather stay in bed a while longer! But for the past month or so I've been making a real effort in this department - my wedding is just months away and I want my skin looking its best.  My skin is very dry and you can always spot when I've neglected my routine, as all those nasty flakes start to appear and my skin becomes very tight. After many months of testing out a ridiculous amount of skincare products, I've found a morning routine that I am happy with and have been using for about a month now, so I thought I'd share the products I've been loving using with you.

 

I like to keep my morning routine quite simple - partly to save time, partly so I'm not loading on too many products on before my makeup and making my skin feel too heavy. So, for the mornings I just stick to one cleanser and toner. For my cleanser I use the Avene Gentle Milk Cleanser. It's important for me that I look out for words such as "gentle" when searching for new skincare products. As well as being dry, my skin has also become quite sensitive so I need to be careful I don't irritate it. This cleanser is lovely and creamy soft but not too heavy on the skin, so is perfect for my morning cleanse. It's also very hydrating, so doesn't dry up my skin after use, as I have found with a lot of other cleansers. It comes in a bottle with a pump which means you don't end up with too much product and wasting it - 2 or 3 pumps is all I need of this.

Next up, I spritz on the Caudalie Beauty Elixir, a beauty blogger favourite. Again, just a couple of pumps of this is all that is needed. It sprays nice and evenly over your face and doesn't leave any droplets of product that have to be wiped away. It leaves my skin feeling nice and refreshed without a nasty "wet" feeling that you can sometimes get with similar products, I just leave it for a few minutes to sink in before I move on to my next step. The only thing I do dislike about this product is that it has a bit of a funky smell. Not very pleasant when first applying it, but once I'm done with my routine and the other products have been applied, I can no longer smell it, so not a huge issue for me.

 

 

For an extra boost of hydration in the mornings, I next use Hydraluron by Indeed Labs. I recently raved about this in my Best Beauty Discoveries of 2013 post and, whilst many other products had been changed around in my routine during 2013, this remained a constant for many months. I don't tend to use this product every day, just when I feel like my skin needs that extra boost, usually every 2-3 days. It leaves my skin feeling soft and plump, and helps my skin to drink in my moisturiser a lot better than when I haven't been using it for a while.

For under my eyes I am currently using the Super Facialist Vitamin C+ Dark Circles Eye Cream. This is a lovely light formula which sinks in quickly, again perfect for morning application as it doesn't leave your concealer feeling all cakey when you come to apply it. It also does as it promises and reduces the appearance of dark circles over time, which I suffer from massively. If you regularly use it over a two week period, you'll see a noticeable difference.

The final product I use for my morning routine is the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion +. A couple of months ago, I tried Clinique's Three Step Skincare range (review here), and this was the only thing from the range that I actually liked. Luckily, I liked it so much that I repurchased a full size and have been using it every day since, so the experience wasn't a total loss. Another light feeling product, this moisturiser gives me just the right amount of hydration for the daytime, and also gives my skin a nice healthy glow. Another product I use that comes with a pump, so you don't get any wastage from it - this bottle is going to last me ages!

 

Have you used any of these products before? What do you use in your morning skincare routine?