Review: A brown girl's holy grail of skincare products

Get ready for a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng post.. here are all the products I swear by and will not change in a million years (unless, as is always my luck, they are discontinued)..

Shower gel:
A little goes a long way with these and my skin is still soft if I forget (read can't be arsed) to moisturise afterwards. Oooh and they smell lush.

I use the lemon and tea tree but couldn't find a photo of that one.

Body exfoliator:
I'm quite particular when it comes to these, I want it to be grainy enough and then cheap enough because I fly through these. I bought the Botanics one in a tube and it was finished after one shower and I won't buy it again as it was rubbish!

My current HG one is Delicious Beauty Scrubalicious from Boots and mine is a cocoa butter flavour. It smells gorgeous. It is really grainy and works well on my arms where I have a lot of rough skin and yet doesn't cut me to ribbons either. Mine doesn't come in a pot, it's in a squeezy tube but it's the best tube exfoliator I've ever used.

Body moisturiser:
Been through the mill with these products and this came out on top:


The only moisturiser which actually does its job and lets me moisturise once a day and have soft skin. When I'm on the way to work in the morning the only way you can tell people are wearing MB stuff is if you use it yourself, I find it smells very executive and grown up (not granny like). I always tell the man that if they bottled up the way boardrooms and sharp suits smelled, they would smell like MB products.

Foot scrub:
I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Body Shop's Peppermint Foot Scrub, it scrubs enough dry skin off and makes them soft afterwards which for me is great. I also love Scholl's foot scrub but the TBS one smells nicer.
Face wash:
I don't really rate the Clinique three step skin care system as a three step thing, I am in love with their liquid soap. I use number 3 I think which is the one for normal to oily skin and it works a charm on me. Gets rid of the greasies and more importantly doesn't give me dry patches.
Face masks:
I love this, it doesn't dry on your skin but when you take it off you feel a lot less greasy and the colour of the mask in the box I have is a very nice green. I think TBS UK have stopped making it as I haven't seen it in stores recently. Been using this range for years with good results.

This is the brother of the face mask posted above, it does go hard and is really good for my nose. Also seems to have been discontinued which is not good. I prefer this to Biore as they recently haven't been doing anything for me and this works a charm. Doesn't leave me with gaping big pores which the world can see.

Face scrub:
This is the be all and end all as far as I'm concerned. Cheap, smells nice and does the job perfectly. I've tried St Ives and that pales in comparison to Cyclax. I have been using one jar non stop since last March.Cleanser:
Dr Barefoot (Barefoot Dr?) Clean Face Enhancer. I would buy this product until the day I died if they hadn't stopped making it. Clears off anything horrible on your face, all makeup etc.. It's a foaming cleanser so I put it on and let it get to work. Once it sinks in, I just wash off with water..no fuss no muss and one gorgeous face at the end.

Oh, how could I forget my other HG cleanser...Boots Time Delay Daily Cleansing Balm. This is a dupe of an Eve Lom cleanser I think and it's great, it's also greasy but it's not foaming. Majorly stops the greasies and I think it will be bought until the end of time after Dr Barefoot dies :(

Here are both my beauties:











When I get lazy and am not wearing makeup but feel to cleanse I use the Botanics wipes from Boots, I can't remember which sort I buy as I have only bought them once (been on the using everything up flex) but will buy again when all my cleansers run out/I go on holiday..here's what I think they look like:

But I know they aren't the ones for sensitive skin so they are either the pore perfecting or double action ones..hmm, should really read stuff.

Toner:
Quite drying on my skin so I don't have one but I do use these Clearasil pads (I've reviewed them on this blog) and they act like a gentler version of a toner. They tone and "exfoliate" at the same time and I can see them getting grime off my face. Perfect as they are wet enough to get the dirt off and also not leave me dry.

Moisturiser:
Simply the best EVER. Moisture in the right places and matte in the right places. Just need to exfoliate as well to prevent false dry skin. Not sure if it has SPF but I think I remember it having some..Eye cream:
It's super easy to apply and feels nice and cool, I don't know what they mean about giving you the wide eyed look but it doesn't do that for me.
And there we have all my HG skincare products..

I think I'll do a hair care one and a makeup one the next time I don't know what to do with myself.

I hope the stuff above is of some help to someone out there :)