Well hi there lovelies!

During my short twenty-two (almost twenty-three, eek!) years on this earth, I've been attempting to look after my skin for around eight years. Along the way, I've picked up some handy little tips and tricks that my skin (and hopefully yours will be too) was extremely thankful for! Some of these are kind of basic and if you're not new to skincare then you'll probably already be doing, and some of them, I tried for curiosity's sake and found they worked really well. So here are my skincare top tips and tricks!

Don't sleep in your makeup!
Kind of an obvious one? But how many of us here have done it? Guilty! It's only recently that I came to realise how much damage sleeping in your makeup can do to your skin. Not only can it cause horrifying breakouts that can leave you traumatised (perhaps a bit dramatic, but we've all been there), it can severely dry out your skin, cause wrinkles and block your pores. Your skin goes through a lot in one day; it will sweat and pick up lots of dirty particles from the air around you. Leaving this to absorb into your skin overnight really isn't doing that lovely little face of yours any favours!

Don't use wipes to remove makeup!
If you're a repeat offender of using wipes to remove your makeup then you need to stop, now! Invest in some micellar water and oval cotton pads. Makeup remover wipes just don't do a very good job at all. Half the time, only a handful of the makeup is removed and, more scarily, a makeup wipe is like a breeding ground for bacteria - yuk! Micellar water is definitely the way forward for the removal of makeup - in the long run, it'll work out cheaper for you too!



Wash your face every morning AND night!
I used to think that I could get away with the old, 'I've already done my crazy elaborate skincare routine this morning so I don't have to do it tonight,' or the, 'I'm a bit pushed for time this morning... I'll just do my skincare tonight and it'll be fine'. The official medical terminology for this is called 'lazyitis' (this is something I've been diagnosed with time and time again, mainly by my mum!). By cleansing your face at night, you're letting all the goodness soak into your skin while you sleep and letting it recuperate after having a full day of makeup wear. As it works overtime while you're sleeping to repair itself, come the morning time, there will be dead cells and excess oil to cleanse away (can you imagine trying to get a flawless base with these?! Yuk!), which is why it is important to wash your face both in the morning and at night time.

If you're like me, a sufferer of 'lazyitis', and you really can't be bothered going to wash your face before bed, then a handy tip is to just remove your makeup and wash your face when you get home for the day - when your tea is cooking, during the adverts for Corrie, or when you get changed into your pyjamas, which for me is as soon as I get home!

Apply your cleanser to dry skin!
This is a little trick I happened across by accident. With the majority of cleansers, the instructions tell you to apply your cleanser onto damp skin. One day, me being me, having one of my many moments in life, applied it directly from the bottle onto my skin. After I had massaged it all in, I realised what I had done and washed it away with cold water. I noticed that after I had washed it away, my skin felt absolutely beautiful, so I started trying it with my other cleansers and they all had the same result. I also noticed that my skin actually felt clean too! After doing some research just to check that I wasn't doing more damage to my skin than good by applying it directly onto dry skin, and I found then when you apply cleanser onto damp skin, the water actually dilutes the cleanser so you're not getting as much out of it. The lesson learned: always apply your cleanser to dry skin!



Always, always, ALWAYS tone your face after cleansing!
This little step is so important and many of us either forget or 'don't believe in toner'. I'm telling you now, toner is not a myth. It's very real and very important! When you cleanse your face, you disturb the natural pH balance of your skin. Toning helps to correct this, as well as shifts any dirt that may have been missed during cleansing, and it helps the appearance of pores. You don't need a mega expensive toner, one that you can pick up from the Pound Shop will work fine - just make sure you remember to tone!

Exfoliate your face up to 3-4 times per week!
If you're like me and have dry skin, you might want to go a bit mad with the exfoliation. Don't! Put down your St. Ives Scrub and read this post! Under no circumstances should you be scrubbing your face every day. You need to find a healthy balance that works for you. I like to exfoliate either every other day or every three days, and I've found this works wonders for me at keeping the dryness at bay.  By exfoliating every day you can actually cause the skin to become more irritated, dry and flaky, and you're killing off the healthy cells in your skin. For me, that's a big no no!

Don't use the plug and fill your sink with water!
Always use running water from the tap when you're washing your face. If you fill the sink up, once you've splashed your face once to remove a product, you're just splashing that product right back on your skin, so you're not actually washing your face. Why would you want to splash dirt back on your skin?!



Avoid the temptation of the hot tap!
I know, especially in the winter months, the hot water tap is far more appealing than the cold, but you should always try to use cold water on your face. Not only does it help you feel more awake in the mornings, whereas warm water opens up your pores, cold water help to minimise the look of them.