Discovering Skincare

I'll be honest, I've never really been a skincare kind of girl. I use the Body Shop's Vitamin E Day and Night cream religiously but apart from the odd experiment with various kinds of face wash my interest with skincare has always ended there. Until recently, however. Maybe it's because I've entered another decade of my life and the reality of wrinkles and ageing skin is edging ever closer but since I've turned 20 I've became rather curious about the world of skincare. And let me tell you, it's rather baffling.

I finally understand why toners exist in the world and I'm slowly starting to develop a skincare routine (hurrah!) but I still have a lot of things to try before I find my dream combination of products! My favourite way to discover new products without breaking the bank is to use skincare samples and this week I've been trying out three new products: L'Occitane's Amande Hand Cream, Clinique's Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle Correcting Eye Cream and the ever so famous Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser by Liz Earle. I've fallen in love with two of the products and I can't stop using them. The Liz Earle Cleanser and L'Occitane Amande Hand Cream have been my skincare favourites this week and they were wonderful to use. Together, they've added a little luxury into my life which is a great treat after a stressful day at work!

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 L'Occitane's Amande Hand Cream
The scent of this hand cream is so gorgeous and I often find myself wishing I could eat the entire tube! It just smells so delicious and it has a really comforting scent - I'm constantly reaching for it when my hands a feeling a little bit dry. Enriched with Almond Oil and Milk, this hand cream is soothing and really helps to soften the skin. Unlike many of the hand creams I've tried in the past, this feels light and manages to absorb quickly into the skin without sacrificing any of its moisturising qualities. I'm really impressed by L'Occitane and I can't wait to try out more of their products.

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser
Who hasn't heard of this cleanser? I received this sample in my May Birchbox but I was so busy with exams at the time I didn't get round to testing it out. I usually remove my make-up really quickly with Simple Cleansing Wipes so using a liquid cleanser and muslin cloth was a strange experience.  In the morning I use this on my face before moisturiser and at night I prefer to remove my eye-make first then use the cleanser to remove the rest of my make-up. The all-natural ingredients are brilliant for sensitive skin and the hype around this product is truly deserved! My skin was left feeling really clean, smooth and soft and the scent was so relaxing!

Clinique's Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle Correcting Eye Cream
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy using this eye cream and I'm so glad I had a sample of this instead of buying the full sized product. If I applied this in the morning before my make-up it didn't absorb very well and my concealer started creasing and when I applied it at night the effect wasn't as impressive as my beloved Vitamin E Night cream! Maybe older women would benefit more from this eye-cream and its wrinkle correcting effects (I should probably give this back to my mum!) but I personally didn't see or feel a difference when I applied this. It isn't a bad product, it moisturised my eye area a little, but it didn't blow me away either.

If you have any skincare recommendations I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!

(The Cleanser was part of my May Birchbox, the Clinique Eyecream was a gift from my mum and the L'Occitane handcream was free when I used a voucher from L'Occitane)