OILY SKIN SAVIOURS | 3 Make Up Products You Need In Your Make Up Bag

I don't know what your skin likes to do for fun but mine likes to produce excess oil leaving me with enough shine on my T-Zone area to safely guide sailors back to shore. Since I'm a killjoy, I like to find products that will stop my skin's oil-slick impersonations and give me at very least of couple of hours with nice, matte skin. When I find products that work well for me, I hold on tight and use them religiously until my skin rebels and goes back to doing its oily thang. Right now, my skin stays matte throughout most of the day and it's thanks to these three products: 

THE PRIMER | The Body Shop Instablur™

I love, love, love this primer. I've already raved about it in this blog post, and will rave about it forever, and by forever I mean until it breaks me out or I find a better primer, but for now it is my go-to. If you have oily skin, you need this in your life because it not only primes your skin for make up and lengthens the its staying power, it also smooths out your skin, minimising the look of blemishes and large pores. On a lazy day I just smooth this on, fill in my brows and I'm good to go.

THE POWDER | L'Oréal Paris Nude Magic BB Powder

All the benefits of BB cream but with none of the oiliness that tends to accompany them in a nice compact powder that you can apply directly for a light-to-medium coverage or use to set your liquid foundations - in other words, perfect. I didn't realise this is what I had been looking for until I found this. I've written more about it in this post here, but all you really need to know is: mattifying, beautifying, gorgeous velvet finish. (Just make sure to build it up slowly or the only word you'll think when you look in the mirror is cakey, and not the good kind).

THE FIXING SPRAY | KIKO Milano Make Up Fixer 

If I had to describe this in one sentence it would be: a super-affordable make up fixing spray that sets all your hard work into place without irritating your skin. It has become a beauty essential in my make up bag as a finishing touch just to extend the life of the mattifying effect of my products (check out this post for a full review). On an average day at university, my make up is done by 5.30am and I don't get back in until 6pm, and with the make up fixer, I know I don't need to worry about my make up during that time.

Have you tried any of these? Do you have a make up product you cannot live without?

Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal Range: Great for Oily Sensitive-Prone Skin

If you have sensitive oily-to-combination skin then you will know that the struggle to find face care products that will keep the oil under control without either breaking out your skin or stripping it until it's a messy dry-to-oily mess is very real. There is nothing worse than realising that the face products that are supposed to be helping your oiliness are actually making it worse due to your skin's reaction. So I have never been so grateful as to have discovered Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal range.

The first product I tried was the Hydrating Micellar Water 2-in-1, which acts as both a cleanser and a toner. I saw a difference within the week, and it became an instant favourite. So when it was close to running out and saw that my local Yves Rocher offered a Complete Sébo Végétal Program Set with a €10,70 reduction to what you would pay if you bought each of the products individually, I had to get it.

The set comes with the Purifying Cleansing Gel, the Zero Blemish Gel Cream as well as the Micellar Water. All these products are said to help minimise pores and control the excess sebum leading to a nice matte finish without drying out the skin which for us perpetually oily-skin girls is the dream; a dream that is very difficult to reach without breaking the bank. I was also on the look out for a serum so I decided to give their Pore Minimising Serum a go. I have not looked back since.

The first week I couldn't believe that I actually could have an entire day without oily skin - my face is usually a lovely ball of shine by lunchtime! Having accepted that I would always wake up with shiny skin, I was shocked to look in the mirror to find my skin clear and matte without that drying pull you get with some products. It is insane how well this range has worked for me. Since I've started using this my skin has been bright, clear and, apart from hormonal spots, break out-free. 

That said, I am careful to balance out these products with more moisturising products (for example, I only use the Purifying Cleansing Gel in the mornings and use my DHC oil cleanser to remove make up in the evenings) because even though it's quite gentle, and the Gel Cream is surprisingly moisturising for a skin-clearing product, I don't want to risk stripping my skin, especially with the colder days. I have ve learned the hard-way that for me dry skin = super oily, irritated (and irritating) skin.

I still have to try the Purifying Scrub, the Purity Mask and the Mattifying Gel Cream to have tested the entire range, and they also have a a Kit Zero Defaut which is like a 7 day programme to help give your skin an extra boost when it's not looking it's usual amazing self, but right now I'm loving to products I'm using.

Have you tried any of the Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal range? Don't forget that Yves Rocher offers mail-order service to lots of countries worldwide, so if you don't have a store near you, chances are they deliver online!