THE STARTING OFF PROJECT WEEK 1 : SKINCARE

Hello lovelies, and welcome to the first post in 'The Starting Off Project' (or #thesoproject)! Incase you didn't see my introductory post, #thesoproject will be a series of 10 posts, one each Tuesday, dealing with the basics of skincare and makeup, aiming to help those new to makeup, teens, and anyone interested (I know I'll be reading as many posts as possible!). This first week will deal with skincare:

THE BASICS
So, first things first, it's important to know that all skin is different. The products that suit me might not suit you as everyone has different skin, although we generally sort it into three types- oily, dry and combination (a bit of both). If your skin gets greasy a lot, you probably have oily skin, if you have flakiness to the skin, it's probably dry, or if like most of us you get oilyness on the t-zone and patchiness on the cheeks, you'll be combination like me. Before we get on to specific products, I'd just like to say, especially if you're new to makeup and skincare, keep things simple! There are millions of lotions and potions out there but for beginners a simple cleanse, (tone) and moisturise will be just fine!

CLEANSE
No matter what your skin type, there are a few things you should know. You MUST MUST MUST cleanse! I'll admit I can be a bit naughty with the ol' makeup wipes every now and again, but a good cleanser is best. My favourite is the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser (free delivery today for 24 hours actually and you can get a starter kit quite cheap) , although a more affordable version for beginners would be the NO.7 offering (still £10 but much much more product as you can see)! Huh, hot cloth cleanser? I hear you say - don't worry, its not as complex as it sounds - simply massage all your makeup off dry skin with the lotion, dampen a cloth in hot water (there's the hot cloth) and gently scrub it off. These cleansers are usually made for all skin types, so it should be fine for all of you out there! Try to cleanse both morning and night, and always cleanse to take off makeup. And NEVER ladies, I repeat NEVER, put a baby wipe near your face!

TONE
Now this one is a little less essential, some people love it, others don't rate it, and personally I can take it or leave it. One I do love is the Clinique Clarifying Lotion, however it's not the cheapest so you could find alternatives in drugstores easily. This comes after cleansing, before moisturising, and should leave skin feeling clean, but not too tight! If you do fancy the Cliniques version, they do do starter kits with cleansers, toners and moisturisers which I highly rate, and if you go to the counter they'll help you decide which products you need to suit your skin (very helpful if like me you have trouble putting a finger on what your skin type is).

MOISTURISE
Finally in thebasic skincare steps is moisturise. Moisturise morning and night and you will see a difference in your skin! My favourites moisturiser of the moment is the Origins GinZing offering, but again a bit on the pricey side, some more purse friendly offerings I love are the UltraLift moisturisers from Garnier (even though I don't have wrinkle they just leave my skin looking lovely), and they're currently on 1/3 off in Superdrug. You might want a day a night moisturiser, but if you're just starting out, one good cream will do just fine!

SPOT PRONE SKIN
Besides the basics, once you get started you might want to add other bits to your skincare routine depending on how your skin behaves. As this series is aimed at newbies to makeup, teens in particular, its quite likely that you will suffer from at least the odd teenage hormonal outbreak, I still do and I'm almost 20! For spots I have 3 top tips -
1. The hardest to do, try not to cake too much makeup on your face. I know its hard as you just want to cover cover cover, but the less clogged the skin is, the quicker those spots will go.
2. Sudocreme! This stuff works wonders. Put a little on your spot when it flares up and overnight it will go down rather dramatically. Plus its available pretty much everywhere, and your mum probably has some in the cupboard already.
3. Try not to touch your face too much, as touching spots and then somewhere else is likely to spread the spot causing bacteria. Carrying an antibacterial hand gel could really help with this too.

EXTRAS
Other extras you might want to include are face masks (again clay ones or scrubs are great for spotty skin and moisturising ones for dry skin). My favourites are by Origins, but I also enjoy the more purse friendly Una Brennan range from Boots. Finally, you could add and eye cream such as the Benefit one shown to your moisturising regime, but I don't think this is essential. Much like a face mask this is a little luxury in the life of your skin which you might want to add once you've mastered the basics. Benefit actually do little starter kits like Clinque actually which I love, they last quite a while and were around £12.50 last time I checked, but these are probably not suited to problem skin.


Okay, breathe! I know that was probably a lot to take in, you might want to come back and read this again at another time ( a note to any newbies, if you have bloglovin and like a post it will save it so it's easy to come back to). To sum up -you must cleanse and moisturise, you don't need the extras but you might want to, and the best way to figure out your skin is probably to go to a counter in Boots or Debenhams or House of Fraser or wherever else and ask! You don't have to buy a product just because you tested it, you can ask for samples (this is especially important to sensitive skins out there), and you can get decent products at decent prices!
I hope this has helped, and please please do ask any questions or leave any comments.
Have a lovely week beauties, and I'll see you next Tuesday for concealer!
Lots of Love,

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