Hey All....

So as you know, wearing make up is one thing and it's probably the most wonderful thing to cover up any bits you may not like on show to the world, but there is also a great need to take care of what's under the makeup... Your skin!!

I have tried in the past to be very good with my skin but I always felt I was fighting a losing battle. As a teenager, I wasn't too bad on the spot front in general but I did have specific areas like my chin which always seemed to have something. Even today at nearly 27 (My bday is next week yay!) I would consider myself to have bad skin... Always a spot somewhere and since I moved to Dublin, with the stress of moving county, changing job and starting a whole new timetable, I am never without spots!!

In July I started on the Clinique Anti-Blemish range. I thought this was exactly what I needed, I had been in talking to a lovely girl in Debenhams in Waterford explaining how I felt my skin was and what happens when I wear makeup so she suggested this range and I must have spent about €100 buying the cleanser, toner, moistureiser and spot treatment.... Months down the line... No change!!!

I had in that time visited both the lovely Emma in Eyrebrushed Academy in Kilkenny and Joanne Larby, The Make Up Fairy and neither of them thought these were the right products for me. It appears now I was using a complete range for people with much more severe skin issues then what I was having. Pretty disappointing when you spend all that money, but all I had done was pretty much damaged my skin more but placing really strong products onto my skin and constantly damaging the surface of my skin.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Clinique or blame the girl in Debenhams, she only chose what products she felt would help me after describing how I felt about my skin but I think that's the problem. I wasn't overly sure what was wrong, I went in with a complete face of make up on so she couldn't even get a great look at me.

My advice on this would be to go into a skincare counter fresh and clean and let them have a real good look at you. When I attend my make up lessons I always go with my scary make up free face so that people can really have a look at my skin.

After spending so much money before on products that really didn't do me any good at all, I was a bit unsure what to do next... do I head back to supermarket brands and hope for the best or try another higher end product and again spend a good bit of money for nearly no change?

Emma in Eyrebrushed had talked to me about the Kiehls Ultra range. She told me that this is her go to product range and that for each and every bride that comes to her who may have a skin concern, she suggests this range to. I hadn't heard of Kiehls before (again the joys of living in Waterford and not having access to all ranges) but I knew they had a store in my beloved Dundrum.

Emma had told me an example of how well the range works, she had a bride who had quite bad skin, who had always had bad skin. She came for her trial four months before her wedding and Emma put her onto the ultra range. On the day of the wedding Emma arrived to the house and she said she genuinely didn't recognise the girls, her skin looked so well and so healthy. I was sold!!!




As I said before, I don't have terrible skin but I'm very unhappy with it, I don't feel comfortable at all wearing no make up all day. I feel I look pale and washy and hate still having so many spots.

My fab boyfriend Justin gifted me the complete Kiehls Ultra Range gift set for Christmas. I was over the moon. I haven't been using it too long, actually only since Sunday the 5th of Jan so I will be using the cleanser and moisturiser twice a day each day and will keep you all posted on how it goes. I am really hopefully that this will help my skin clear up.

Also because it's January, I am trying my best to start on a proper health kick. I am going to increase my water intake, get some new vitamins as I have been quite run down lately and try eating more healthily, this is probably going to be a lot harder than I make out but I will get there, I really want better skin!

This is also the opportunity to once again mention my little blue saviour the Cleanse Off Mitt. As many of you will have seen on my Facebook and twitter pages, I have been raving about this since first coming across it. The great team at Cleanse Off Mitt HQ were extremely generous to send me a mitt to try and after waiting for what feels like an eternity with all the Christmas post, my blue mitt arrived yesterday safe and sound. Again I would just like to thank the Cleanse Off Mitt team for their beautiful Christmas card and thank you gift for helping them out kicking off the #campaignbinthewipes




I really hope to keep in contact with the girls and link in with their taking over of the beauty world. This is a wonderful product, I had read a few reviews and everyone seemed really happy so you have to think... are people being genuine or is it a little for show? So I waited until I knew I had a good deal of make up on and what better night than last night after my wonderful lesson with Michelle from Kandigloss. I will be doing a huge post on this lesson in the next week as it was amazing!! 

I headed home, posed for a few cheeky selfies and then took on the mitt!! I simply ran warm water over the mitt to soak it, rubbed it on my face, re soaked and kept rubbing and bam... No more make up!! I really didn't think it would take off all the product I had on, we're talking about four different eye shadows, foundation, powder, blush, liner, you name it, a full face of night time make up gone just using warm water and my mitt!!




I was so over the moon, I had to tweet about it, I had it on Instagram.... everything!! I am currently running a competition on my Facebook blog page in which you 2 can win a cleanse off mitt in conjunction with Carbon Beauty, a great little salon run by my good friend Davina, who is currently the only stockist of the mitt in Waterford. They are selling at €5 and you need one!!! 

If you want to change your skin care for the new year, take your time in trying products. I am a total marketers dream, I see an add and I just want it! I spend so much money and see no results so I am really hoping this new Kiehls range will work out for me.

Another range I want to mention is Nivea and I just want to let you all know about these two products before I finish, the Nivea Eye Make Up Remover and the Hydrating Primer. The eye make up remover is amazing, it takes everything off even stubborn glue from lashes. I like how gentle it is on my eyes, they never feel sensitive from taking off my make up and there is never a need to be rough with your skin as it literally lifts off the product. The hydrating primer is a fantastic product for you lovely ladies who do not like/have primer for your make up. This light weight moisturiser acts as both a moisturiser and a primer for your skin. You feel so fresh when you have this one and all you need to do is give it a couple of mins to sink into the skin and then lash on your make up as normal. This is perfect for me on the days I'm in a bit of a rush and especially before I started the kielhs range, i was using it all the time. It smells wonderful and I would seriously advise you to go out and try it if you are not a primer lover. At the moment both of these products are on off in Boots ranging from €3-€4.50 brilliant value and they will last you ages.



I do hope you have found this post helpful, if you have anymore skin related questions please feel free to contact me on all my usual details you can see to the right of the screen. Please check out my fab friends at 

Emma at Eyrebrushed Academy:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/EyrebrushedProMakeUp?fref=ts
Twitter:@eyrebrushed

Joanne Larby The Make Up Fairy;
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/TheMakeUpFairy?fref=ts 
Twitter:@MakeUpFairyPro

Cleanse off Mitt also on;
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cleanse-off-mitt/254485238050086?fref=ts 
Twitter:@CleanseOffMitt

Michelle from Kandigloss on;
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/KandiglossMU?fref=ts
Twitter:@Kandigloss

Davina from Carbon Beauty;
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CarbonBeautyT?fref=ts
Twitter:CarbonBeautyT