Sunday Night Scrub Up

Sunday evenings are one of my favourite times of the week... A chance to unwind, relax and prepare for the week ahead. It is also another excuse for me to have a mini at-home pamper and scrub myself up ready for the next day at work! My skin isn't the best - I have extremely sensitive skin and I also suffer from eczema. Your face is an important thing, strangers make their initial decision on someone within the first 7 seconds of meeting them, so I dreaded to think what people thought when they saw my flaky face! I have managed to calm my skin down though in recent years, I have trialed and tested a lot of products and just spent some time figuring out what works. For me, +Liz Earle skincare is amazing and my skin hasn't been as soft since my pre-teen years!

I thought I would show you my Sunday Night Skincare Routine, just to show you what products I use. Hopefully I might introduce you to a life-saving product... They have certainly saved mine!

So to begin with, I tie my hair in a top knot and remove jewellery. I also grab a large glass of iced water (especially if I am having a bath afterwards). You might think it is weird having a drink but this isn't a usual 'wash', you want to treat yourself and pretend you are in a spa! You will also be doing a DIY facial which will stimulate lymphatic drainage so it is important to stay hydrated too.

I begin with cleansing my face, using Liz Earle's legendary Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. I find I don't need to remove my make up first, because the cream based cleanser melts any make-up away very easily, without leaving any residue on my skin.

I buff the cleanser into the skin using a +Soap&Glory facial buffer. This has tiny little rubber bristles which gently rub away any product, lightly exfloliate the skin and is great for getting into the nose and chin areas.

I then soak a Muslin Cloth in hot water and apply over the face, taking 3 deep breaths in through the nose and out of the mouth to really relax me and open up my pores. I remove any left over cleanser with the cloth and again, rub over t-zone areas.

Now for the deep clean - I squeeze a generous blob of Soap and Glory's 'Greatest Scrub of All' to my skin, making small circular motions over my face - from my nose to the temples, along the jaw line and around my T-Zone area - this action will encourage lymphatic drainage and is the same technique skin therapists use to achieve that post-facial glow. I remove the scrub with a facial loofer to leave an extra smooth canvas, ready for the facemask!

Now my pores are all open and skin is clean, I apply a Biore nose strip, and Liz Earle's Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask to all other areas of the face.

This is the part where you can completely relax for 15 minutes!! Sometimes I will have a lie down, light some fragranced candles and apply two cotton wool pads soaked in Liz Earle's Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion to my eyes, or cucumber and focus on my breathing. Otherwise, I usually paint my nails, shave my legs or apply a hair masque.

After 15 minutes, remove the nose strip and the face mask using a clean, hot muslin cloth. This is now the part where I add an optional step... lip scrub. I am using the Bubblegum flavour sugar lip scrub from Lush which smells incredible! If you have tried any of Lush's products before and you are familiar with the comforter or the Fairy Godmother soap, it smells just like that! The edible scrub tastes as sweet as it smells and I find it as hard not to lick my lips as when eating a sugary doughnut however, I remove any excess scrub with my toner (otherwise you would be licking dead skin - lovely!) The toner I use is the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic which is very cooling, calming, non-drying and smells like aloe vera, cucumber and all things fresh. I apply this very liberally and allow to soak in. 

Finally, I use Liz Earle's Skin Repair Moisturiser (Liz Earle again, can you tell I like things to match!?) and allow to quench the skin overnight. This moisturiser smells as fresh as the other products so it isn't too distracting just before bed as it is a nice clean scent which doesn't feel greasy on the skin. Polish off with a smack of lip balm - I like to use Burt's Bees Replenishing lip balm with pomegranate oil as it has natural ingredients and doesn't feel like you are wearing lip gloss for bed! 

And that's the end of my Sunday night skin care routine! Hopefully, I will have inspired you to try one of these products. Do you have an amazing skin care favourite? Please leave a comment to recommend it!

Love Melanie xx