My Current Skincare (Cruelty Free)
I've never been very into skincare. Having been blessed with fairly good skin I never felt the need to worry about it. When I entered high school I started washing my face at night (I'm a nighttime showerer) with a face wash instead of soap and once I was wearing makeup I took it off with wipes everyday. No moisturiser, no toner (still no toner), no muss, no fuss.
It was only a year or so ago that I started a morning skincare routine and only in the past few months that I made it cruelty free and started transitioning to natural products. I don't yet have all of my bases covered but these products are good enough to get me through day-to-day and some are actually great.
First up I wash my face with Dr. Woods Tea Tree Castile Soap. I love this product but I think if your skin was any drier than my oily-normal combination face it would be too squeaky clean for you.
Castile Soap is an all natural multipurpose product that I use on my face everyday and have also used as a body wash. The texture is just a little thicker than water and a light yellow colour (I know, not an attractive image). I only use a blob about the size of the pad of one finger for my entire face and several squirts if I'm washing my body.
Dr. Woods is a brand you can buy from iHerb and is a cheaper dupe for the very popular Dr. Bronner's (I have not used this brand) Castile Soap. If you don't like Tea Tree then both brands have different scents for you to choose from.
Next up I go for an eye cream. I have mixed feelings about this because a sample I had around 2 years ago from Clinique was lovely but the Mecca brand To Save Eyes which I currently use does not rock my world. It has an SPF 30 which is the main reason I got it but I don't think I'll repurchase this one as it just doesn't feel silky smooth enough to justify beyond a facial moisturiser.
The product is a fairly thin pinkish cream which the salesperson touted would 'brighten the eye area'. Nope. When applied to my eyes it looks off white and immediately blends to transparency. Depending on your needs and preference this could be a black mark or a big tick for this product. As you can see the applicator is a metal ball which feels gentle enough but occasionally won't spin, preventing product from escaping.
After eye cream I apply a product I really enjoy, my Desert Essence Daily Essential Moisturizer.
The downsides I can see for this moisturiser is it not being emollient enough for drier skin and the obvious hygiene issue inherent in a product which is exposed upon use.
The next item I would apply would be a facial sunscreen. This is really important to avoid sun damage both from burning and aging rays. I have previously finished a Neutrogena Face Sunscreen which performed brilliantly, but given I will only buy CF products now and I would prefer those to be non-toxic (Check out the EWG Skin Deep database) I will not repurchase this lovely specimen.
I decided to save some moolah and try a regular body sunscreen because I'm already shelling it out for the non-toxic factor. Big mistake. The sunscreen I got is the Nature's Gate Aqua Vegan Sunscreen SPF 50. I think this would be fine for the body but it is simply too thick and incredibly difficult to blend out for delicate faces. Not too mention is will leave a white cast (as physical sunscreens do) and my biggest issue: it won't dry down. Nice try Nature's Gate but no bueno.
It was only a year or so ago that I started a morning skincare routine and only in the past few months that I made it cruelty free and started transitioning to natural products. I don't yet have all of my bases covered but these products are good enough to get me through day-to-day and some are actually great.
First up I wash my face with Dr. Woods Tea Tree Castile Soap. I love this product but I think if your skin was any drier than my oily-normal combination face it would be too squeaky clean for you.
Castile Soap is an all natural multipurpose product that I use on my face everyday and have also used as a body wash. The texture is just a little thicker than water and a light yellow colour (I know, not an attractive image). I only use a blob about the size of the pad of one finger for my entire face and several squirts if I'm washing my body.
Dr. Woods is a brand you can buy from iHerb and is a cheaper dupe for the very popular Dr. Bronner's (I have not used this brand) Castile Soap. If you don't like Tea Tree then both brands have different scents for you to choose from.
Next up I go for an eye cream. I have mixed feelings about this because a sample I had around 2 years ago from Clinique was lovely but the Mecca brand To Save Eyes which I currently use does not rock my world. It has an SPF 30 which is the main reason I got it but I don't think I'll repurchase this one as it just doesn't feel silky smooth enough to justify beyond a facial moisturiser.
The product is a fairly thin pinkish cream which the salesperson touted would 'brighten the eye area'. Nope. When applied to my eyes it looks off white and immediately blends to transparency. Depending on your needs and preference this could be a black mark or a big tick for this product. As you can see the applicator is a metal ball which feels gentle enough but occasionally won't spin, preventing product from escaping.
After eye cream I apply a product I really enjoy, my Desert Essence Daily Essential Moisturizer.
This item is cruelty free, non-toxic and again, available on iHerb for a reasonable price. The texture is fairly thick but it blends in very quickly and dries to a natural near matte finish on my skin. I dip one finger lightly into the tub and that is right about enough for my face.
The downsides I can see for this moisturiser is it not being emollient enough for drier skin and the obvious hygiene issue inherent in a product which is exposed upon use.
The next item I would apply would be a facial sunscreen. This is really important to avoid sun damage both from burning and aging rays. I have previously finished a Neutrogena Face Sunscreen which performed brilliantly, but given I will only buy CF products now and I would prefer those to be non-toxic (Check out the EWG Skin Deep database) I will not repurchase this lovely specimen.
I decided to save some moolah and try a regular body sunscreen because I'm already shelling it out for the non-toxic factor. Big mistake. The sunscreen I got is the Nature's Gate Aqua Vegan Sunscreen SPF 50. I think this would be fine for the body but it is simply too thick and incredibly difficult to blend out for delicate faces. Not too mention is will leave a white cast (as physical sunscreens do) and my biggest issue: it won't dry down. Nice try Nature's Gate but no bueno.
To end on a positive note I will give a final recommendation for skincare, something which I've been using a lot lately while my skin revolts against me: Tea Tree Oil. This was recommended many times by Shaaanxo on her vlog channel and I thought "Well, my skin already looks like the victim of a particularly irritable fire ant, let's do this!". Tea Tree Oil is a natural option for treating blemishes. I do not have any knowledge about how chronic acne sufferers would fare but for me it helps the healing time of a blemish and dries the little suckers out.
The brand I feature here is just one that we had around the house in our medicine chest, I don't imagine they would vary terribly much brand to brand.
Some extra notes before you leave: I would recommend picking up an exfoliator, people often recommend chemical ones featuring AHA, personally I like physical ones. I don't have one right now because I'm out and waiting to place another iHerb order.
If anyone wanted to know I use the Garnier Micellar Water to remove makeup. It isn't terrible, it isn't amazing, once it's done I'm going back to makeup wipes as I just prefer them.
Okay that sums that up!
Feel free to leaves any questions or comments below, thanks for reading, catch you next time.
Cassy.
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