I went on holiday with the very best intentions, promising to maintain a solid skincare routine, do lots of treatments and masks, wear a high, daily SPF and return with skin glowing from TLC rather than excessive sun. Other than wearing the daily SPF (Neostrata for life *bumps chest with fist*), my skincare routing was positively rubbish. I did not one single mask, I barely cleansed (it was all very micellar-y) and I just about managed moisturiser each night – I took the whole “relaxing whilst your away” approach far, far too seriously.
I actually took four cleansers with me, but I forgot to photograph the DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. I took two balms – my all-time favourite Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm and the Clinique Take the Day off Cleansing Balm, the latter of which didn’t get a single use, whilst the former got used twice, I think. I was rubbish with my cleansing! In fairness, I didn’t wear a lot of makeup whilst I was there, preferring just a bit of tinted SPF, but still. I’m such a double cleanser girl when at home, so my lack of cleansing was just terrible. Bad Sascha. I did, however, regularly use the awesome SVR Sensifine Micellar Water, which is still as fantastic as ever at getting rid of all the makeup whilst feeling like water on the skin.
I took a full bottle of my Obagi Hydrate with me, which I just about managed to apply each night after a poor show of a cleanse with the SVR. The product that probably got the most use for the whole trip was the Neostrata Sheer Physical Protection, which may well be my most used skincare product EVER (wearing it now!) as it suits my skin needs so very well and it’s the Goldilocks of tinted SPFs; just tinted enough to provide some flattering coverage, not so tinted that you have to faff about with a mirror and careful application, it’s juuuust right.
I didn’t take any major actives other than the Obagi Professional-C Serum 15% – please excuse the state of my bottle! It’s such a potent product that stains the lid if you’re not careful (and I am not…) so I’ve given up trying to clean it. I’m on my very last few drops of this and with that in mind, I used it a lot less than daily when I was away – I think maybe three times? On the days where I felt like my skin was in desperate need of a bit of help, I used this. I switched it to a night time product as obviously I was swimming quite a bit and didn’t see the point in applying it before going into the water. I also took the Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask just in case I needed a de-congesting treatment, which I did, but did I use it? I did not.
Finally, I had visions of myself lounging around with a gel sheet mask on every night, soothing and repairing the sun and water damage, so with that in mind I took a huge collection of sheet masks and did not use a single one. I took some of the Jamela Sheet Masks away with me (I think one was just for soothing whilst the other was a specific after-sun treatment) as I still think they’re some of the best gel sheet masks around, but having had a little look online it looks like they might not be operating anymore, which is a real shame. I also took some of the newer launches from Masquebar, the Aloe Vera After Sun and the Bronzing Self Tanning Sheet Mask, both of which sound awesome so I’ll get them used soon…although I’m slightly scared of the bronzing one, but still.
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