Skincare that Works #3 | Back to Basics

Since January my skin has been atrocious, in particular my chin, which has been up and down (quite literally) for four solid months.  I'm not sure what exactly has caused this, although I have an idea it might be something to do with university stress (my dissertation and FMP were due in the past four months), using and trying an array of products all at once or just my hormones being all over the place. Whatever the reason, my skin has really been getting me down.  As a result, I completely stripped back my skincare routine, beginning with products I knew my skin would tolerate before slowly introducing other products into the mix.

To start off, I swapped out a cleanser for my old and faithful Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I (and so many others) have an ongoing love affair with this product, but my skin loves it and I knew I would be safe.  I then cut out my morning cleanse, changing it for a clean flannel and warm water, to wake my skin up, followed by a double cleanse in the evening.  I've found this to be a lot better for my skin, the double cleanse means my make up is completely wiped off in the evening.  Another cleanser I've been using a lot more recently, due to Liz Earle running low, is the infamous Emma Hardie Amazing Face.  I originally purchased this in January when everyone and their dog in the beauty blogosphere had discovered it, but it was around this time that my skin had gone berserk and I wasn't sure if it was products that were fuelling my breakouts or not, so it got thrown to the back of my stash.  I pulled it out mid-March, not wanting to waste the money I'd spent on it, to give it another go and to my surprise my skin has taken to it quite nicely (a full review is coming soon).  I use this in the same way as Liz Earle, using it only in the evenings with a muslin cloth. 

Once or twice a week I will follow a cleanse up by exfoliating my skin.  Another greatly loved product by myself is the Origins Modern Friction.  I usually exfoliate whilst in the shower, the product is quite abrasive but also has a creamy lotion too it so it's not extremely stripping on the skin and gets rid of the dead skin cells that have built up over the days.  My favourite part of the routine is my night cream, another product from Origins.  I have the oil-free High-Potency Night-A-Mins and it just feels wonderful on the skin.  It's got a gel like texture which is cooling on the skin and extremely moisturising - the formulation is somewhat comparable to the Drink Up Intensive mask by the brand, except it's lighter.  

So that's my current skincare routine, quite stripped back in terms of what I was using but it seems to be working (for now anyway).  Sometimes I will pop on a face mask (usually Out of Trouble, again by Origins) but I'm trying not to overload my skin at the moment.  

How do you banish those pesky breakouts?