Morning Skincare Routine!

Hey Everyone! 
Look what I'm going to talk about today! 4 products that I am obsessed with!

Finally, I've decided to step away from the make-up and talk about something super important. Skincare. In order to have your make-up sitting right, you gotta have your skincare game tight.
Yeah I just did a lame rhyme - I do that sometimes.
Anyway, Today I'll be doing my morning skincare routine and soon to follow will be my night-time routine!

To begin - I'll give you a little insight to my skin before finding this combination of products.
I would have an oily T-Zone that caused me to get MINOR breakouts once a month (we all know when, ick).
On top of that, I would experience some blackheads on my nose and chin, as well as a bit of dry skin around my eyes and cheeks.
In the last few years, I've been seemingly developing a sensitivity to certain products and began to notice small patches of eczema, so I've started paying attention to ingredients in products I use to wash and moisturise my skin and pay close attention to any products that cause undesirable changes.

TVAL Deep Cleansing Oil with Mandarin and Cedar

This is the first thing I do in the morning. Every morning. I know it sounds odd using an "oil" as a cleanser - but I swear this stuff is ridiculous. It has a faint cedar smell (which is nice and not overpowering like some cleansing products) and actually does feel like a thick oil. I just put a little on my fingers and apply it to dry skin and just rub it all in. After about 30 seconds, I just wipe it off with a warm, wet, facecloth until it feels clean. Your skin MAY feel a little "oily" at first, but I kind of like the moisturised feeling; yet that does fade go away after the next step.
Just to add; every second day or so, I wet my Clarisonic brush and use that after I've already rubbed in the cleanser. This just makes me feel like I got a really good deep clean and scrubbed all the dirt off. I then continue to wash it all off with a warm, wet, facecloth.







Michael Todd Jojoba Charcoal Facial Scrub

This product was in my June or July (I can't remember which) Ipsy bag. I have actually come to love this and will definitely be purchasing a new one when this runs out. I only use this about 2-3 times a week (usually the days I don't use my Clarisonic), but I love it. It is a black scrub with tiny gentle beads in it. I usually go for harsher scrubs that make me feel like I've actually ex-foliated my skin; however, this is very gentle and still leaves me with the same feeling as those harsher scrubs. There is no scent to this product at all and I've been hearing a lot about charcoal facial products lately, so I'm officially jumping on this trend.








TVAL Cucumber Aloe Toner

Another TVAL product. I actually disowned all toners for a while. They made my skin tingle and feel very tight and dry - which I thought was just a clean feeling. Turns out it was a drying feeling and I began hating it. I was an avid lover of the Body Shop Tea Tree Toner for such a long time because I also thought the ingredients weren't supposed to be so bad for my skin. After watching a Vlog by Hollyannaree (I'll link her below), I realized it actually has some harshness to it and I then gave that one up too.
After a while I started missing using a toner, I'm not really sure why, but I did. So, when I came across this, I had to give it a shot.
Amazing again.
This actually makes me feel like my skin is super clean, and not dry at all. There is no drying, tingly feeling.
I just apply it to a cotton pad and run it all over my skin. Seriously just feels nice on the skin.




L'oreal Youth Code BB Cream

So, oddly enough, my daytime moisturiser is actually a BB cream I picked up at Wal-Mart. I'm not a big fan of BB creams - yes I've tried a lot. I find they give an odd color to the skin, or no coverage, etc. This is the first one I've come across that I actually like. I have it in the shade "light", and although it is slightly lighter than my actual skin, it isn't a terrible match. This also offers decent sheer coverage that I enjoy on the days I don't want to use any foundation (sometimes my skin needs to breathe).
I also find that this does well as a daily moisturiser. I haven't experienced any dry patches since using this (although, as you'll soon see, night-time is all about moisture).
Overall, I really enjoy this to top off my morning skin care!







After finding this combination of products (as well as my night-time products you will soon see), and consistently been using them for about 3-4 months now my skin has drastically changed.
I have zero blackheads - anywhere.
I have gotten 1 (ONE!) pimple in 4 months. (I'm attributing that to my trip to Toronto as I find travelling really affects my skin, no matter where I go).
My T-zone can still get a little oily near the end of the day depending on the foundation I use.
Finally, the area around my eyes and cheeks no longer feel dry.

On a side note: TVAL has been mentioned here (and will be again for my night-time routine) and some of you probably don't know what it is. It's a local skincare shop that offers all-natural products for the face and body (I'll link their site below as well). They do let you purchase and ship products online. I have only tried a few things from them so far, yet so far I have liked them and hope to try many more in the future. (I like supporting local if I can :)). Also, just putting this out there- as much as I LOVEEEE the products I have from TVAL, they are purchased solely by me and are my own views (as is everything there). I don't want anyone thinking I have been paid or given free things in return for a good review - they simply are just products that I have been raving about because they work for me.


Links I promised :)

TVAL skincare
http://tvalskincare.com/

Hollyannaree YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/hollyannaeree/


Thanks for reading! Love!

-J