Skin care has become a very important focus for me recently, as everyone knows as you get older your skin starts to show the signs of ageing and I think its key to ensure you start a routine early before your skin becomes an issue.

I myself have dry skin and I like to wear make-up so I am taking steps to ensure that I treat my skin accordingly and upping my skin care game!

I enjoy using The Body Shop products as I feel they are good quality and are ethical which is important to me. So I made a beeline for The Body Shop to stock up on some skin care essentials.

Step 1 - Cleanse


For anyone who regularly wears make-up a good cleanser is essential in your routine. There are so many ranges in The Body Shop that I was tempted by but in the end I chose the Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil. This cleanser is oil based so all make- up just melts off, even waterproof mascara!

Using a cotton wool pad I add a couple of pumps before sweeping it over my face. For my eye make- up I take a cotton wool pad add a pump or two of the Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil and hold over my closed eye and like magic my make-up dissolves.

 

Step 2 - Tone


I then follow up with the Aloe Calming Toner, which is specific for sensitive skin like mine, which with the wrong type of product is prone to break out.

Taking a cotton wool pad again I add a few drops of the toner and sweep across my face. The toner removes any left over traces of make-up, cleanser but importantly removes impurities from the skin and helps to unblock pores. You really can't skip to this step and use this a make-up remover but toner is important to remove any excess oil from the skin and prime it for moisturiser.

I love the smell and feeling this toner leaves and I find it really gentle to the skin but at the same time really does the job, I've been using another toner recently that had a very clinical smell and contained alcohol which had a drying stripping effect to my skin, so I much prefer The Body Shop Aloe Calming Toner, which does not include alcohol.

Step 3 - Moisturise
I then follow up my routine with a moisturiser. I think its important to find a moisturise that is perfect for your skin because in my opinion its the most important skin care product of them all. I am currently looking for a new high quality moisturiser that my skin will be happy with as it is very sensitive and I've tried lots of moisturisers and my skin hasn't been very happy so I don't like to change it when I find one.

Exfoliate


I also bought from The Body Shop the Seaweed Pore-Cleansing Facial Exfoliator to really clean my skin when I feel that it needs a thorough cleanse. This exfoliator is very tough as its aimed at combination and oily skin - which technically I don't have but I wanted a clay based exfoliator I knew it would clean deep down and I find exfoliators aimed at sensitive or dry skin to not do very much.

After using this my face felt so clean and fresh and it definitely felt that it my pores had been thoroughly cleansed. This is not a product you should use on a daily basis and for my skin I will probably use it when needed or once a week. My skin did feel a little dried out after use so I will use this sparingly when I want to go deep!

There are a few other skincare items that I would like to add to my routine but I'm happy that I have found these products for the cleansing stage.

Let me know what your skincare favourites are in the comments below.