Winter skin woes

About a month ago it started to get cold, proper autumnal weather. The sun is lower in the sky, the colours are orangey/red and my skin goes to pot.

It's been a few months since my first facial in August and the start of that new skincare regime. What I can tell you is that was working. WAS. Until this cold snap kicked in. Normally my skin is dry. In winter it gets even drier. The only area that doesn't get dry skin is my torso. I have a rather smooth toned torso, even if i do say so myself, thankyouverymuch. But everywhere else i get varying degrees of dry skin. Even in my hair - that's been the bain of my life since i can remember.

Back to the face. My cheeks get red blotchy patches and it looks like tiny acne/spot scars get redder int this weather. (I think it's only me that notices this). With that comes dry skin on my nose, around my lips, on my lips, down the sides of my face near the hairline and in my eyebrows. Yes, i get flaky eyebrows. That is more annoying than anything else.

About a month ago i read a blog (from someone whom a lot of people recommend for her skincare picks). Then she recommended a few products to someone else and i copied one of those products. It was meant to be pure hydration in a tube. "Well in that case i must have this miracle elixir that will end all of my dry skin woes, so that i may tip toe through winter with the dewiest of faces". Aye, i knew it wouldn't end well too...

I skipped to Boots. Dithered. Went home. Went back the next day, dithered again, and finally bought a 30ml (30 fucking mil) tube of Hydraluron hydration serum.

As the name suggests it has hyaluronic acid in it - more on that later... There's loads of science and graphs and time frames on the box, but basically, within 8 weeks it's meant to have transformed your skin into a moistened pillow of health. It's a clear gel and a little goes a long way. It feels nice putting this on my face and neck - a pea sized blob does all of that. But it's been about 4 weeks now of me using this juju and i can report that whilst it does feel nice applying it onto my parched skin after cleansing, my skin hasn't seen any marked improvements. In fact, I'd say my skin was the same as before. I won't say worse because I really do think the cold weather upsets my skin more but i would say no real noticeable improvements yet. I'm going to power through and stick with it. I'm not gonna quit you miracle gel thing, no I'm not! At £25 a tube i expected a lot more from this. I'll use it up but hardly think I'll buy it again.

Now before you start. I know that everyone has unique skin tones and types and what's good for one may not necessarily be good for the other. I'm just telling you my experience of this product.

At the same time i bought the Hydraluron, i also bought a new eye cream.

Now, here's another thing about me and my eyes. I have really sensitive eyes. I wear glasses too. I can't get contact lenses in and i only really started wearing eye make up in the past 3 years. Some products make my eyes sting. Some concealers do this, MAC moisture cover being one, some mascaras and most eye creams.

Near the start of the year I bought a La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense eye cream. It was good, great in fact, but most of all it did not irritate my eyes at all. Bonus! But after a few months use the pointed end of the tube broke off so that was the end of that. I was literally unscrewing the cap one day and the whole pointy tube came off too. I was in the market for a new one anyway. I bought a few cheap ones. They stung. So i laid off the eye cream for a few weeks. I mean i'm 35, i don't have really bad eye bags, they're not too wrinkly, but the skin around my eyes is thin and gets a bit crepey and of course, dry too. I wanted to keep them moisturised.

I decided the try another La Roche-Posay cream. I really do like that brand and it's reasonably priced and available in Boots. Although you can get it cheaper online. This time i opted the La Roche-Posay Redermic C for eyes.

This was to be the turbo charged eye cream. It's anti-ageing as well as suitable for sensitive eyes (all LRP products are good for sensitive skin). I had high hopes for this baby. I applied a few dots as instructed. It's a thicker cream than the last one and promises so much more. Helps deep wrinkles (not that i have those but you gotta strike while the iron is hot), it aids hydration and it has our old friend hyaluronic acid as well as 5% pure vitamin C in it. I mean come on ladies, 5% Vit C! Our friend, the latest beauty buzz words Hyaluronic Acid. Here's the blurb on that... 

this powerful ingredient can hold up to 1000x its weight in water, creating a plumping effect on the skin. 

Sounds great right?!

Anyway, after a few applications i thought yes, this is fine. But then midway through the day a slight sting would start to appear. My eyes began to water and that's how i knew this is not going to work for me. Grrrrr. Such a disappointment. AND the skin around my eyes appears to have gotten a bit drier. Now that of course could be the turn in the weather.

Oh but i nearly forgot. The end of the little tube is a pointy plastic thing. If you have a tube of eye cream you'll know what i mean. It means you can squeeze out a little at a time and not waste any product. But the end of that tube has a crack in it. This means that the cream is clogging in there and turning yellow. The eye cream has a slight yellow tone to it anyway, but when it clogs in that crack and dries it's turning a dark yellow colour and doesn't look nice.

the clogged tube!

This was an expensive eye cream too at just shy of £20 so I'd expect more. I'll try to keep using it if the eye irritation doesn't get too much. After that I'll go back to the less expensive but better for me Hydraphase Intense. It as more of a cool thinner cream/gel. Much better for my little peepers. We gotta keep them happy.

Angela x

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What colour do you blush?

I've had a long weekend off work. It's been bliss. It'll be the last holiday until the Christmas holidays so i chilled in the only real way i know. I went to the cinema and i did some Christmas shopping.

Today i decided to head into town to break that back of the Christmas shopping. £80 later in Boots and a visit to Superdrug and i was done. Of course I was lured in by their 3 for 2 deals!

In the end I resisted the Superdrug 3 for 2 offer on make up and only bought one product. As an aside I should say i live in a small town. Well, a big town, a small city. Our shops are quite dated, except we've recently seen an 'Apple' shop open in the shape of Stormfront - a premium Apple reseller and our Superdrug has undergone a make over. So much so that they've finally got the Accesorize make up range in and the Essie nail polishes that southern girls have been going on about for months.

Anyway, in this new layout the make up stands have been tidied up and renewed - phew, they were a bit dirty looking. The new, clean stands obviously caught my eye. Especially the Sleek Make Up stand. All shiny, new and fully stocked! Jesus wept! FULLY STOCKED. This has never happened.

I was drawn to the set of 3 blushes that have been available since summer but never really in stock here. They also have the PPQ x Sleek palettes, blushes, lip stains, eye shadow palettes in all colours and it's very reasonably priced AND included in the 3 for 2 offer. But like i say i resisted.

What i did buy was this... a Sleek Make Up blush in the shade Pixie Pink (£4.49).

Sleek Pixie Pink blush - looks pretty full on

It looks pretty full on bright baby pink in the palette. Don't be scared though because applied with a light touch and you get that pretty 'been out in the cold too long' autumn/winter blush on your cheeks. Delicate and really pretty. It's really pigmented and a few swooshes of a brush gives you enough for a delicate pink cheek.

I've got a MAC cream blush in the shade So Sweet, So Easy and it applies much the same colour. I haven't used that for a while because to be honest i dipped a brush in it to apply it and it got all bits of fluff. I've managed to clean it though.

MAC (left), Sleek (right) 

I'd say the Sleek is a more delicate pink and the MAC is more of a blue based pink. A dark Barbie pink.

I've swatched them lightly on my arm (you won't ever get a close up make up picture of my face!). I can't wait to wear this tomorrow :)

Sleek pixie pink (left), MAC So Sweet, So Easy (right)

I'm quite a fan of Sleek Make Up but honestly, the empty (slightly dirty) stands have always put me off. Now that they're all new and fully stocked, i might head back to Superdrug and get the Storm eye shadow palette. I have the All Natural one already and the colours are great for a barely there look.

Angela x

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When I Give Blood...

...it never goes to plan.

I never thought I'd be saying this but i got a letter last week from The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. A few weeks ago i headed to the Albert Hall in Stirling for what was to be my second time giving blood. I honestly don't know why it took me until last year to actually do it.

I waited in the queue, got checked in and sat in the seating area waiting until they called my name. The hall was busy with people all there doing their bit. I felt a sense of pride that i was doing this. I'm not a scaredy cat but needles aren't my favourite thing.

My name was called and i was taken to a make-shift booth (an area with a curtain around it). The nurse went over my questionnaire. It was sent to me in the post so had all of my details already printed on it, with a few other sentences that made no sense to me but did to the nurse. After here double checking with me that i'd filled it in properly she got a senior nurse over to explain...

After my first giving blood session last November, i'd received a letter to say that due to a technicality the couldn't use my blood. It had gotten contaminated somewhere between my vein and the testing centre.

This time the senior nurse informed me that due to the above they only take a couple of test tubes (instead of the bags) of blood and get it tested again to make sure everything was ok. It's normal she said. Ok I replied, but the worrier in me had started to reappear.

Anyway, i was sat at another seating area and a nurse came over, stuck the needle in my arm and promptly took 4 test tubes of my blood. She labelled them, marked them up and bagged them, then sent me on my way. I was feeling somewhat deflated. I realised at that point that i wanted to have that feeling of doing something good, to help others. That's my real reason for doing this, to help others. To do my bit.

Last week a letter came through. I recognised it because they type them in comic sans!!!.... I know!!

see! comic sans letter... 

I opened it and once again it read that my blood had somehow been spoiled again(!!) and that this time i wouldn't be called to give blood again within 2 years!! TWO YEARS. My heart fell. Literally fell into my stomach. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!!

(Interlude: apologies for the overuse of exclamation marks).

The actual words are that my 'samples taken are showing a false reaction. I can, however, reassure you that extended detailed test have not confirmed the screening test result, and we can therefore conclude that this is a false reaction, due to the extremely sensitive nature of our test systems'. I was left feeling really really really disappointed but kind of reassured by their serious letter that had been typed in comic sans... hhmm.
Aw man. It really knocked me again. I want to do some good. Something that people will benefit from. This is how my feelings started when I ventured off the Nepal (go back to the start of this blog if you want to read that story!).

So who knows... out of some minor disappointment, a new adventure may rise up. But if you can stand it, please do give blood. It's relatively painless and a great thing to do. Please.

What should I do next?

Angela x

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