I'm sure many a beauty blogger has a sin that they're guilty of... well three guesses what mine is. I'm useless at skincare. Over the last couple of years I've bought practically every cleanser under the sun, and by doing so I've inadvertently made my skin worse. Let me explain...

I currently class myself as having sensitive skin. This means that my skin often feels tight and dry, with flakiness occurring on my forehead if I don't moisturise my skin. However my biggest complaint by far is my redness. If I apply anything strong to my skin, drink alcohol or I get a bit warm, I have angry, red, splotchy patches on my cheeks, jawline and neck. I'm not just talking about a bit of a flush after running around at work - no, I have the misfortune of a "red stripe" that starts at the top of cheeks and finishes at the top of my neck. It also spreads across my jawline if it's particularly bad. It's not attractive and always flares up at the worst times. Looking back, I don't remember having this sort of problem when I was younger. It's true that I might not have cared, but also when I was younger I wasn't trying a new cleanser every five minutes. Whilst I don't think this causes the problem, it certainly can't help, right?

Well, one day I was browsing through my blog feed and came across this post from Miss Budget Beauty. Mentioned in that post is a lady called Caroline Hirons, who I'm sure most if not all of you have heard about so she needs no introduction. Long story short, I watched the video that Sam and Nic - aka Pixiwoo - made with Caroline (embedded below) and it was a game changer. Normally I don't take much notice of "skincare experts" with their technological jargon but Caroline talks so much sense and that is so refreshing for me. Yes, there's some science behind what she says but it's clear and simple and she has picked up on things that so many people like myself miss. I still wasn't entirely sure to begin with, until I took her advice. She highly recommends using a cleansing balm as the first stage of cleansing and I have one of those - the RMK Cleansing Balm. When I first tried it I wasn't overkeen because it left a film on my skin. However, last week I tried it again and made sure I cleaned it off properly and I was impressed. Impressed... but not amazed. Until I walked into my bedroom. The balm has an oily texture so I was expecting my nose to be looking as shiny as it does after my usual cleansing routine. I glanced in the mirror when I sat down to apply my moisturiser and my nose was bone dry. Not a hint of shine in sight! If you've been reading my blog for a while then you'll know that my nose is a constant problem area for me, so seeing it shine-free was a miracle for me. It was in that moment that I decided that I would give the skincare routine Caroline suggests a full try.

In that video and on her blog Caroline has several recommendations for a skincare routine. Some of the products that are mentioned are expensive (£395 for a face cream, anyone?), but she does say that if you can't afford it, find a cheaper alternative and as we all know, there are thousands out there. She also says that if you would spend XYZ on a handbag then you should be prepared to spend XYZ on your face - you only get one after all. This is fantastic advice and one that I will definitely be keeping in mind when I walk around Boots in the future. Personally, there is only one skincare item mentioned in that video that I will be buying (and forgot to include in the line-up above), which is the Hydraluron Moisture Booster. I'm not going into it too much as you probably all know what it is already, but for those who don't it is exactly what it says on the tube. Apply it before moisturiser and it boosts the skin's hydration levels, easy. For me it's still on the expensive end of the scale, but totally justifiable.

For the rest of the skincare items, after having an intense read of Caroline's blog (Trust me, you can be there for hours soaking all that information up), I've come across a few that definitely appeal to me. After I have used my RMK balm up I intend to purchase REN's No.1 Purity Cleansing Balm for the first stage of my cleansing and either REN's Hydra-Calm Cleansing Milk or ClearCalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser for my second stage. Next comes the Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner, according to Caroline we should all be adding a liquid exfoliation step to our routine and this comes highly recommended. Next is a hydrating toner spray, this one from Sukin isn't mentioned by Caroline but contains all the ingredients that I should be looking for. The Hydraluron then comes after this, with moisturiser as the final step. The reason I picked these particular products is simple and quite cheeky... I can get all of the REN items and the Clarins toner from my staff discount website from work! Well, if you can, why not eh?

Whilst it is tempting to rush out and buy all of these products straight away, I am being sensible and using up the products I have first. Like already mentioned, I have the RMK Cleansing Balm to finish up and I also have a few dregs of the L'Oreal Micellar Solution that I bought not so long ago. Recently I also bought three bottles of the Garnier Simply Essentials Cleansing Lotion that I've been enjoying (3 for 2 y'know), and plan to use that as the second stage of the cleansing routine until they're finished up. My moisturisers I'm planning on keeping the same, which at the moment are the Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser, Derma V10 Day Cream and The Body Shop Seaweed Day Cream.

Well, this turned into a far longer blog post than I was intending! I will hopefully be changing my skincare routine soon, and when I make a start with things like how I've talked about above, I will update and tell you guys how it's working for me. I'm hoping that I will say that things are improving for the better, but as they say the proof is in the pudding so I'm excited to see how things turn out. As mentioned, I have embedded the Pixiwoo/Caroline Hirons video for you below... have a watch and prepare to spend the next several days researching everything about skincare - I know I did!