Sonya Skincare: Aloe Refreshing Toner

Hey so I thought I'd share with you a really nice toner that I've been trying over the last month. Sonya's Aloe Refreshing Toner is really gentle on the skin (all the usual properties of using a Aloe product) but also very effective at removing that last bit of tough make-up and/or dirt that your cleanser or face wash missed!

As it says on the packaging, it is a alcohol-free product so is kind to skin and doesn't dry out your face like some toners tend to do. I love the benefits of the white tea ingredient giving your face some extra radiance and I love the smell! The scent is really pleasant and it reminds me of another of my favourite toner's: this Michael Todd one. 

I truly feel like this helps my skin to stay clean, fresh and moisturized. At £26.84 it is an high-end toner but a little bit goes a very long way. I haven't even used a 1/4 of the bottle so far and I've been using regularly for around 3-4 weeks now. I would highly recommend it.

You can purchase the product here.

* Please note: As with all the products there is an unconditional 60 day money back satisfaction guarantee. 

Give it a try and tell me what you think :)

Acne cure! My Roaccutane experience.

Hello. Ok so this wasn't an easy thing for me to post. Did I want to show everyone how horrid my skin was?...No. 

BUT I did want to show how the medication drug, Roacctune, got rid of my awful skin and transformed my life. So regardless of how embarrassed I feel about showing the most unflattering selfies ever, I am doing it in the hope that this post might help others currently suffering with spots or acne. 

I'm going to keep the write-up of this short and sweet as I have talked at length about my background and my findings of this drug over on my YouTube channel. If you wish to check that out then please do so here. 

If not, long story short, I was put on the prescription-only drug, Roaccutane (Isotretinoin). The drug is specifically for suffers of acne and other severe skin problems and does come with a warning of a fair few side effects. 

I failed to mention in my video about the dangers regarding depression. The drug has been linked to causing depression and in some cases suicide, however I don't believe any firm evidence of this has ever been recognised. 

I would say that I was possibly more depressed and feeling low when my skin was at its worse, rather than whilst taking this medication. But if you suffer with depression and anxiety etc then this may be something to consider and discuss with your doctor prior to taking the drug. 

Not surprisingly, I only ever took 2 photographs of my bare face whilst I was suffering with a form of cystic acne. These photographs show how sore and irritated my skin was and from this point on it only continued to develop and get worse. I didn't take a picture of my skin at its most extreme point but you can grasp the idea.

Everyday I would wake up to new yellow-headed monstrosities that would be sore and painful. They would explode, oozing out grossness, if I didn't pop them first! So my daily task was to squeeze out the liquid before going about soothing the essentially open wound. Then I would set on with job of concealing my face so the world wouldn't have to see the horrible sight I saw every day! 

It would take me roughly 20 minutes to conceal, foundation and powder my face. Luckily I got quite good at it and if I told people how bad my skin was they would say "no you're skin is fine, doesn't look bad at all". Little did they know. 

And ahhh the itching! Boy did it itch. It would drive me up the wall some days and I couldn't often scratch it anyway in fear of my makeup coming off!

And so along came... ROACCUTANE. 

Again, check out my video for more detail about my experience with the drug, but wow it worked well. 

I was taking Roaccutane for 6 months in total and having now been off the drug for 6 months, here is my skin today in the picture above. I must say I'm not a fan of these no-makeup-selfies but I wanted to show you what my skin was like today without any products. 

I'm so impressed with how the drug simply got rid of my itchy painful skin and I only encountered 3 side effects along the way. The latter 2 of which I loved!

1) Extremely dry lips. This is the most common side effect of Roacctune but very easy to manage with a good lip balm. I found the cherry Carmex worked a treat. 

2) Drier skin. I used a nice body moisturiser as normal and found no real issues. As for my face, I loved getting rid of my usually very oily skin. Again I just used a good moisturiser. 

3) Drier hair. Again not an issue. I could last up to 5 days without needing to wash my hair! It was brilliant. 

Main effect: GOODBYE ACNE. Winner. 

I hope you find this useful. Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you might have about the medication or general skin related issues. 

X

Micheal Todd's Blue Green Algae Antibacterial Toner

For a long time I neglected toners and didn't really get the reason for using them. When I started looking into the idea behind them...balancing your skin's PH levels and removing any leftover makeup etc I started to use Simple's Toner as I thought I probably should.

However more often than not I'd forget and whenever I'd remember I didn't get any satisfaction from using Simple's. To me it was like rubbing water over my face...no scent, no feeling, not a lot going on really.

But when my skin started to break out left right and center and I developed a bacterial infection around my chin I started to look into maybe buying a new toner.

I first came across Micheal Todd's Blue Green Algae Antibacterial Toner over on YouTube in one of Fleur De Force's Videos. I was interested in the tingling sensation of the product she described and after reading more about it I felt it could be really good for my recently acquired acne!

I headed over to the Micheal Todd site, here, and was surprised to find it was $18 (just under £12)- I had expected it to be more to be honest! It's said to smell of lavendar and birchwood and whilst I recognise those scents, to me it's slightly reminiscent of green tea?! Anyway it is a really pleasant smell which I was relieved about because I don't handle a lot of fragrances too well!

When I read "...customers love this toner for its antibacterial formula to help improve problem skin.." I was completely sold and quickly ordered myself a bottle. P&P was reasonable I remember and although I was quoted an approx. 3 weeks delivery time, it was here after just a week. Fab, quick and easy service!

I've been using the product near-on twice a day every day since I received it about a month ago and have about half a bottle left! I'm slightly addicted to the pleasant tingling feel to it when it's applied...I feel like I can actually FEEL it working its magic.

As for results, I definitely think that it is helping to tackle my skin problems. I cannot categorically say that this is the sole reason why my skins improving, as I'm using many things at once but I'm 100% sure it's having nothing but a positive effect.

Along with that, I find it amazing how after washing my face REALLY well my MT's toner-covered cotton pad still reveals a little left over makeup. It's crazy how stubborn it can be!

So, to conclude...This, for me, is a winner! It's worth all the hype it receives! I'd recommend it to anyone but especially to those of you that have troubled skin!

Let me know if anyone tries or has tried this? What do you think?!

Ellie x

bareMinerals Matte foundation

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day?! Personally I've never been one to do anything special for it...it's just another day in my opinion...but this year I went speed dating with a few friends. 

Yep, over 40 dates in one night...I reckon that might be me done for the year?! Haha. Anyway it was a good laugh, but no...I definitely didn't meet the love of my life, nowhere even close! :)

Sticking with the sickly theme...I thought I'd add a little love to my photo and include a couple of roses! They are mine, but no, I didn't get them for Valentine's...they were weirdly just kicking around! 

I've been a bareMinerals fan for a couple of years now, with my first foundation purchase in 2011. Being an oily skinned gal, I opted for the Matte version...which came on the scene that year I believe? So at the time I remember quite a bit of hype around it.

I was ever so excited when I got it for Christmas that year and couldn't wait to try it. Sadly, on first use of the product I was really disappointed. Back then, I wasn't as beauty obsessed and didn't have a good skincare regime going on. I had never moisturized! I know, crazy!

So on first using the bareMinerals foundation I found that by buffing the product onto my skin, using the Sigma F82 (love love love this brush), all it did was cling to the drier areas on my face, like nobody's business!

Anyway, after using a facial scrub and picking up a moisturizer, I found the product to apply much easier and it gave a nice complexion.

Then, for some reason I went off this foundation...possibly when summer hit. I don't particularly think this is the best option for those hot, sweaty days. Whilst using the Matte version, it does an OK job at keeping oils at bay for a few hours but generally I've found liquid foundations are a lot better at this.

I like the light-feel to this foundation and I get why it might seem like a good idea for summer days, but for me it doesn't have the staying power. I mean after all, it's basically powder.

However, I've recently got back into using this foundation on days where I don't want to apply my fuller coverage Chanel Perfection Lumiere. BareMineral's gives a nice light build-able coverage and generally can get your skin looking pretty flawless....

...But note that I said CAN. At the moment my skin troubles; spots, acne, seem to be clearing thanks to some prescribed medication...so I'm enjoying using the foundation. However, when my spots and acne was at its worst...I personally wouldn't have even considered using bareMinerals- simply because it wouldn't provide enough coverage and it doesn't have overly great staying power.

In my opinion bareMinerals is a great foundation for those that have pretty flawless skin to begin with. It'll do a fab job of evening out skin tone, covering a little redness and maybe even dark circles...but if you have much more to cover, then this wouldn't be advisable.

Like I say, I'm loving this product at the moment, but we do have a love-hate relationship. I love it and it loves me when my skin is behaving, but throw outbreaks into the mix and it remains firmly in my makeup storage!

Let me know it you have tried this/use bareMinerals? What do you think?