THE BEST FACE SUNSCREEN FOR EVERYDAY USE AND WHY YOU SHOULD USE IT.

The summer is fully upon us now. What better time than now to get into sunscreen and start preventing ultraviolet (UV) damage?! No matter what skin colour you are, sunscreen is incredibly important.

What are the benefits of sunscreen?

The overriding benefit is that it helps to reduce your risk of skin cancers (mainly malignant melanomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and basal cell carcinomas). Too much UV light can cause damage to the genetic material within your skin cells and this gradual accumulation of damage can lead to your skin cells dividing uncontrollably and abnormally, thus resulting in skin cancer. 

Followed closely by its benefit in slowing down the ageing process and preventing wrinkles. Persistent exposure to UV light is what contributes to wrinkles through damaging the elastin and collagen fibres within the skin. Elastin and collagen fibres are connective tissue found in the deeper layer of the skin. They are vital in maintaining its elasticity and firmness. Gradually from the age of around 25, your body produces less collagen and elastin is not produced after puberty, with the addition of UV rays causing further breakdown and destruction of collagen and elastin, this results in skin sagging and wrinkling. 

There is a well-known case (published in the New England Journal of Medicine) of a patient who had been a truck driver for 28 years presenting with severe wrinkles on the left side of his face. Because of the constant UV exposure that he would experience through the window on only the left side of his face, this side was considerably more wrinkled with thickened skin compared to the right side of his face that was in the shade. 

Another advantage, one that I find most beneficial at the moment, is that it prevents hyperpigmentation, including sunspots and melasma. Melasma occurs due to overstimulation of melanocytes (cells in your skin that produce pigment) thus producing too much melanin (the pigment), resulting in areas of hyperpigmentation. UV light is just one of the factors that cause this overstimulation. Sunspots, also known as solar lentigines or age spots, occur for a similar reason but tend to be smaller areas than melasma - a bit like large freckles. If you are suffering from acne or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, it is especially important to reduce sun exposure as it can worsen the appearance of these areas and lengthen the time taken to revert to its original skin colour.

So you're pretty convinced now of its importance. 

How can you get SPF into your daily routine?

Sunscreen lotion

- By far the most effective way of protecting your skin UV exposure

- Tends to have high levels of SPF

- Very easy to apply but depending on the brand, it can sometimes leave a white cast on your face (I currently use the Sunprise sunscreen and find that this is not a problem at all)

- Needs to be as the last step in your skincare routine and wait for 10-15 minutes before applying makeup

-  OR on top of makeup, which is not ideal after spending 20 minutes doing the perfect face

- LOWDOWN: In my opinion, it is the best way to apply sunscreen for maximum evenness and protection

Heliocare 360 fluid cream SPF50 | La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF50+ | Etude House Sunprise SPF 50+ | Heliocare 360 Gel SPF50

Moisturisers with SPF

- Tend to have a nicer lighter consistency for your face as well as containing other beneficial ingredients for hydration

- Usually have a lower level of SPF, making it better for colder climates or wearing indoors

- LOWDOWN: Great to use in the winter months when higher levels of SPF aren't necessary

Nivea Day Cream for Sensitive with SPF15 | Nivea Day Cream for Normal with SPF 15 | Nivea Q10 Anti-Wrinkle with SPF 15 | Avene Hydrating Cream SPF 30 

Foundation with SPF

- Tend to have a lower level of SPF due to the difficulties of getting the sunscreen to remain stable in the foundation and mix well

- For this to be fully effective, you would have to apply a thick layer of foundation, which in reality not many of us would do, especially in the summer!

- A good option for winter when there are lower levels of sunlight or if you are spending the large majority of your day indoors away from windows

- LOWDOWN: Any SPF is better than none, and if this is the only way you can get SPF into your routine then I approve

MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF15 | Revlon Colorstay SPF15 | Rimmel Lasting Finish SPF20

Sunscreen spray

- This is something new I've recently added to my collection and have seen the benefit (I use the Garnier Sensitive Advanced Spray with SPF50)

- Tends to be a little greasy compared to normal sunscreen lotion

- Difficult to evenly distribute on your face

- Make sure you either apply the spray to your fingers first before putting on your face or if sprayed directly onto your face then to use your fingers to spread it gently and evenly around

- LOWDOWN: Very useful when you're on the go to top up your sunscreen

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Spray SPF50 | Nivea Sensitive Sun Protect SPF50+ | Garnier Sensitive Advanced SPF50 | Avene Protection Spray SPF50

SPF powder

- Tend to be non-comedogenic, containing physical sunscreen rather than chemical

- Can be applied over make up, perfect for a top-up

- Difficult to spread evenly on the skin

- LOWDOWN: Perfect for a light base of makeup with added UV protection

Bare Minerals Original Powder Foundation SPF 15 | Avene Compact Protection Make Up SPF 50

Can you use body sunscreen on your face? Of course you can. However, the problem that many of us run into is that the skin on our face skin is more sensitive than our body skin. So if you have acne-prone or sensitive skin, body sunscreen can be comedogenic and too heavy to apply on the face. The beauty of face-specific sunscreen is that it is usually lightweight, non-comedogenic and formulated to reduce the chance of leaving a white cast on your face after applying.

The cardinal rules of sunscreen are:

1. SPF 30 or higher is generally required for a good level of UV protection in heavy sun exposure

2. When in direct sunlight it should be reapplied every 2 hours of sun exposure for it to maintain efficacy

3. It should be applied at least 30 minutes before heading out into the sun

4. It is a must 365 days of the year, even if you're in the office or car all day or its snowing outside!

5. Don't forget about your lips!

What are some of your favourite brands of sunscreen? Do you wear sunscreen every day?

FOUNDATIONS I'VE BEEN LOVING

I thought my first post back could be on the same topic that it ended with in 2014: foundations. Almost four years later, unsurprisingly, I've changed the foundations I've been loving based on how my skin has changed. Compared to four years ago (when I last posted): I have a lot less acne, my acne scarring has reduced but there's still some hyperpigmentation, my skin is less oily, but I seem to have more clogged pores... I would say that's a slight success. So here's a rundown of my current faves and how they've worked for me.

FENTY BEAUTY PRO FILT'R SOFT MATTE LONGWEAR FOUNDATION | SHADE 330 | £26

I have never been complimented on my skin so much as when I'm wearing this foundation, from my boyfriend to my mum's friends to my friends to random people who see me on placement - everybody can't get enough of it! As I'm sure everyone is aware by now that Rihanna and her team did an amazing job bringing out this foundation (and the whole Fenty Beauty range to be honest), not only is it fully inclusive of all skin tones and shades but it is an incredible formula. A little really goes a long way with this foundation and it is totally buildable in coverage. I tend to save this foundation for special occasions or night outs or days where I need my foundation to be heavy duty and long lasting, i.e. I wore it for one of my best friend's weddings from 7am to 12am, a whole 17 hours it lasted. Plus it looks flawless in photos. At £26, I wouldn't even say it's overly expensive, it's not quite high street prices but it's similar to the likes of MAC Studio Fix Fluid (my old favourite).

My only qualm is that if I wear this foundation for weeks and weeks in a row, my skin does start to break out a little. I would probably put it down to a combination of the foundation being so full coverage and my skin being slightly sensitive.

KIKO UNIVERSAL FIT HYDRATING FOUNDATION | WARM BEIGE 90 | £5.90
This is my holy grail foundation, I am in love with it and for such a cheap price as well, it ticks every single box! It is a fabulous everyday foundation and it applies onto the skin so easily - I use my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. It comes in 20 different colour shades, again could probably do with a couple more darker shades. I wear this foundation in the winter because warm beige 90 is literally my skin colour. It makes your skin look smooth and it has good coverage without looking cakey, but can still be buildable. It works well with other face products and doesn't go patchy. If you look on the Kiko website, it's rated the best of their foundations and has so many reviews praising it. If I had to find a negative, I guess it would be that it's not like stand out amazing (like Fenty/Clinique) and lasts throughout the day well but I wouldn't wear it on a night out for example. For an affordable everyday foundation, this is the one.

CLINIQUE EVEN BETTER GLOW LIGHT REFLECTING MAKEUP SPF 15 | SHADE 68 BRULEE | £28
After my skin cleared up and my acne scarring started to fade, I needed an everyday foundation that wasn't too heavy and was breathable, but was still able to give enough coverage for me to feel confident. This foundation did that for me. I wear this most days and I have also frequently been complimented on 'how nice my skin looks' (not quite as much as with Fenty) when I'm wearing this. Considering it's a light/medium coverage foundation, that's pretty good going in my eyes. It has the added bonus that it contains SPF, making it perfect to wear in the summer (and winter) - as each year goes by, I'm really starting to see the importance of protecting your youthful skin! I 100% agree with the marketing of 'even better glow', it really makes your skin look radiant, which is ideal for that fresh dewy look this summer. The shade range is good, and it caters for all undertones, maybe could do with a few more dark shades. My only issue is that when I first bought it, I didn't go into store to match my colour and instead watched YouTube videos to help find my right shade, it was slightly too dark, hence I've only recently been able to wear it everyday whilst I'm more tanned so I'm going to need to look for my winter shade.

----Quite often it does seem to be discounted on FeelUnique, I think when I got it it was around £23.----

LEFT: the foundations in normal light. RIGHT: foundation with flash.

As you can see the Kiko foundation is definitely my winter shade. The Fenty foundation has the least flashback and you can tell it has the fullest coverage. Whereas the Clinique one actually has quite a lot of flashback, most likely due to the SPF 15 in it, but you can see how glowy it truly is!!

Q. What are your favourite foundations, both everyday and heavy duty?

REVIEW: la roche-posay effaclar duo [+]

LA ROCHE-POSAY EFFACLAR DUO[+] 40 ml | FEELUNIQUE £15.50

I've used the original Effaclar Duo almost religiously for about a year now, and when I somehow stumbled across Effaclar Duo[+], I thought why not give it a go! Apparently the main difference between this new formula is that it contains Procerad -- a type of Ceramide. After doing a bit of research I found out that Ceramides are found in the top layer of the skin helping to stop excess water loss, therefore retaining moisture in the skin. At the time that I bought mine, FeelUnique were doing some sort of discount meaning that I got two for around £20, and they were also doing another promotion where if you spend £20 or more on La Roche-Posay products you get a free La Roche-Posay Thermal Spa Water, which is pretty cool because who doesn't love a refreshing free gift.

HOW I USE THE PRODUCT: 

I use this everyday, once in the morning after I've cleaned my face with Lush's Tea Tree Toner Water and then once at night after I've taken a shower, used a make up wipe and St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub. 

GOOD FOR: Oily skin, acne prone skin (it's non-comedogenic), skin prone to marking/scarring, sensitive skin (it's hypoallergenic)

PROS:

+ It is really hydrating (I'm guessing due to the Procerad) and moisturising -- when I use this at night, my face still feels soft the morning after.

+ It blends into the skin nicely, it doesn't feel heavy on the skin and when it's all soaked in it feels like you're barely wearing anything.

+ Just like it says it most definitely fights against marks and corrects the appearance of imperfections. + Ever since I've started using it I have noticed a huge difference in the healing of any spots -- the marks left aren't as dark and if there are any then they clear up completely within a week or two, when it used to take months!

+ One of its main active ingredients is Salicylic Acid -- it encourages the natural process of shedding dead skin cells promoting replacement skin cells to 'grow' thus helping to unclog blocked pores.

+ Not too too pricey for something that works so well, I think it's worth the money

CONS:

- Compared to the original standard Effaclar Duo, it hasn't made a drastic difference to my skin.

- When I don't use it for a few days, my skin does act up a little bit, so it's the type of product that once you start using it you can't stop.

SCORE: 5 out of 5 I would highly recommend if you haven't already!

Q. What do you think of Effaclar Duo or Effaclar Duo[+]?

REVIEW: lush cupcake fresh face mask

I think I picked up this product about a month ago now and have been using it about 2 or 3 times a week. I went into the shop planning on buying Love Lettuce, but after talking to the lovely Lush worker and telling her that I tend to get oily skin, she convinced me that Cupcake would be better for me.

HOW I USE THE PRODUCT:

- I use it in the evenings only as I never have time to use a face mask in the mornings. I apply it evenly across myface with my fingertips, mainly concentrated on the areas that are more oily than others, such as my T-zone. I leave it on for around 30 minutes to an hour and wash it off either in a hot shower or in my putting my face in a basin of warm water.

PROS:

- at first I was out of by the price as it's almost £6 for something quite small, but I've been surprised at how long it lasts! Considering I've had about 10 uses out of it already (plus my mum having a couple here and there), there's still half the pot left.

- it smells absolutely gorgeous, I'm not a huge fan of chocolate and I don't like that sickly sweet chocolatey cupcake smell, but this is much more if cocoa buttery/mild hot chocolate smell, which isn't too overpowering at all.

- it does work wonders for oily skin as advertised. I'm not surprised seeing as it contains rhassoul mud and the majority of mud masks are amazing at soaking up excess oil on the skin.

- the consistency of the product is pretty much perfect. It's a very solid mask that will stay on your face for however long you choose to keep it on their for.

- it leaves your skin feeling so super soft, smelling great and moisturised, which I'm guessing is down to the cocoa butter

- I also love that Lush do have a recycling scheme of "bring back 5 clean full-size Lush pots or tubes & get one fresh face mask free".

CONS:

- it has a short lifespan because it is freshly made with fresh ingredients so it's expiry date is only about 3 weeks after purchase and in order to keep it fresh you have to keep it in the fridge pretty much all the time, as it will grow mouldy like any food that is meant to be refrigerated. However I've been using mine after the expiry date and it still works well, my mum always says that as long as it's been in the fridge it's all good.

- it says it's meant to help with spot prone skin and to be honest I haven't seen much of a difference spot wise although it has kind of helped keep breakouts at bay. It might be due to the mask being quite rich and because my skin is sensitive as well, it might be too much for it to handle, I'm not too sure.

I think I'll be trying Mask of Magnaminty next, seeing as that's better for sensitive skin as well.

SCORE: 4 OUT OF 5, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WITH OILY SKIN

REVIEW: M&S Pure Instant Radiance Hot Cloth Cleanser

PURE DAILY SKINCARE INSTANT RADIANCE HOT CLOTH CLEANSER
from MARKS & SPENCER | £9.50*

It's time for a mini review. Never had I been keen on using cleansers, I always found them to be quite heavy on my skin and make it a bit oily. But then my manager told me I had to try out this product and I'm so glad I was gifted it. 

How I use the product:

I know the convection of a lot of cleansers is to use it to clean off your makeup but for some reason I don't like the idea of getting the muslin cloth dirty so I tend to only use it in the mornings. For those who may not know, with a hot cloth cleanser (such as the renown Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish) you lightly massage it into your skin "to stimulate the skin and loosen dead skin cells" and then you run the muslin cloth under hot/warm water and in circular motions wipe the cleanser away. 

Pros:

- it leaves your skin feeling soft, squeaky clean, refreshed and kind of like taut, in a good way of course.

- the consistency of it is great, it has a really nice texture and doesn't feel like it's running off your face or anything as it's thick and creamy.

- the whole Pure range really prides itself in the fact that their products are made from mostly natural ingredients, stating that at least 95% of the ingredients are in fact natural and homegrown. As well as their "bee friendly project", which is explained in full in the photo above AND they don't test on animals which is always fabulous.

- it's unscented which I personally love, it has a nice pleasant aroma that's not overpowered by synthetic or extremely fruity smells.
- being from Marks & Spencer it's a really accessible product as most major towns/cities (in the UK that is) seem to have a Marks & Spencer. If this range isn't in your nearest store then you can always order it to be delivered to your store for free.

- suitable for nearly all skin types pretty much, especially oily/combination skin as it doesn't make you feel greasy or anything.
- the price is pretty impressive considering you get 200ml for only £9.50 which is well worth it

Cons:
- the pump dispenser is slightly annoying for the consistency and texture, when I first tried to use the cleanser, nothing would come out so I had to unscrew it and swirl it around a bit before it would work properly. I can imagine when it starts to run out, I'm going to have to just ditch the pump and hit it out.
- if you do like something fruity and scented then this isn't that unfortunately

Score: 5 out of 5, definitely recommend trying this out :-)