SKIN CARE SAVIOURS! - Lucy J Aubrey Blog

How I got my skin from this. Blemish prone cheeks, redness and inflammation.

To this. Normal texture, less inflamed and less blemishes 2 months later using the following skin care regime.

If you’ve read a few of my previous posts you’ll know my skin has been a bit problematic recently. Up until the age of about 25 I always had very dry skin and I could lather my skin with rich creams and oils and would never get any spots. Then I started to find I was breaking out with richer products so I used kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream which was fairly lightweight and for years it worked for my skin but fast forward to 2024 and my skin started causing me issues again.

This time it was bumps and redness on my cheeks, sensitivity and breaking out with anything that was too rich. I ended up going to the doctors and was told I had acne which I personally don’t believe to be true. I was given a cream that stung my face and made me super dry. While it did help with some of the blemishes I wasn’t happy using this product all of the time so I did my own research into skincare products that were more gentle available over the counter rather than prescription.

I believe I potentially have started with acne rosacea and that is what I have been treating my skin for. My skin is combination and this is my current skincare routine that works for me. Anyone reading this that suffers with sensitive skin or acne / rosacea may benefit from these products that have been helping my skin. Everyone’s skin is different but these have been tried and tested by myself and have made a huge difference to my own skin.

These are the products I use in the morning…

Washing my face tends to flare up my skin so I like to use a very gentle cleanser applied directly on to the skin and I wipe off using a damp cotton pad. My favourite for the morning is Cetaphil Cleanser.

My under eyes are quite dry but if I use anything too rich I get milia so finding good eye creams has been a struggle. I like to use one in the day and a different one at night. My favourite day eye cream is the Cerave as it works well under make up.

Moisturisers have been very problematic for me until I found this lightweight Aveeno calm + restore oat gel moisturiser. It doesn’t caused any blemishes but hydrates my skin.

Keeping your skincare as basic as possible is key to sensitive or rosacea prone skin. These are all the products I use in the day time and I do not switch up the products at all.

My evening skincare routine is as follows;

To remove eye make up I have always used Nivea. You shake the bottle to mix the solution and it’s the best to remove stubborn eye make up!

Removing the rest of my make up I use L’Oréal cleansing milk. As much as I love the Cetaphil cleanser I find it doesn’t remove heavy make-up well so when I’m wearing a full coverage foundation I use L’Oréal. I apply one layer then remove with a damp cotton pad and repeat the process a second time.

Next I apply a toner to make sure all of my make-up has been fully removed. I apply this on to a dry cotton pad. I absolutely love this Rice Milk Toner it gives a lovely glow to my skin, doesn’t break me out and my skin feels so soft after using!

Scrubs and harsh chemical exfoliants were making my skin worse until I found this product. I use this Inkey List PHA toner every other day on a dry cotton pad and it really helps with texture and gives a lovely glow to the skin.

Azelaic acid has been an absolute life saver. I don’t like to use this the same day I have exfoliated so I alternate. I use a 5p sized amount of this serum before moisturiser.

My favourite nighttime eye cream is the Kiehls Midnight Recovery as it’s hydrating but not too heavy to cause milia.

I then use the same moisturiser as I do in the day Aveeno calm + restore oat gel.

If my skin is being extra problematic with blemishes I apply a small amount of The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Moisturiser just on the textured area.

Finally I’ve been taking tumeric and black pepper supplements as they reduce inflammation. I take one every evening with my evening meal.

I appreciate there is a lot of products here and it may be quite costly to purchase everything at once but if I had to choose just 3 products that will absolutely change your textured skin it would be The Inkey List PHA Toner, The Inkey List Azelaic Acid and Aveeno Gel Moisturiser. Thank me later!