Morning Skincare Routine

When it comes to skincare, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.When I started working in skincare and beauty, I was overwhelmed with the amount of products I could try, but ended up overloading my skin and had a couple nasty allergic reactions. So now I start every morning with my firm favourite, the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser (£14/100ml). This beautifully creamy cleanser has been a staple the past few years, as it's gentle enough on my eczema prone skin, but dissolves away every last scrap of dirt and make up. Full of naturally active ingredients like eucalyptus and cocoa butter it keeps skin soft and supple, unlike a lot of cleansers which were far too harsh and drying on my skin.

With the colder weather coming in, I'm finding my skin a lot more problematic and blemish-prone, so I've been using the Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum (£29.00/30ml) every morning for the past month to combat dehydration. Although it sinks into the skin quickly, it provides long lasting hydration with the use of organic grape water and hyaluronic acid. And as always, the company promise zero parabens, mineral oils or animal ingredients (winner!). I follow this up with the Khiels Creamy Eye Treatment With Avocado (£20.00/14g), which is a fantastic product for younger skin that doesn’t need firming or anti-ageing. A little bit of this rich eye cream keeps my under eyes hydrated all day and makes concealer application an absolute dream.

Unlike my loyalty to my cleanser, I flirt with a lot of different moisturisers and sit on the fence with almost all of them: "yeah, they were okay, but they weren't amazing". I'm currently testing and loving this Liz Earle moisturiser, but I'm not ready to settle down just yet. It's of a more richer texture, which I like on my dry skin and absorbs really fast, so it doesn't feel like it's just sitting there. 

Lastly, I use my Clarasonic with the Delicate/Sensitive Brush once a week. My skin doesn’t react well with over-exfoliation, so I’m building up it’s tolerance slowly to the Clarasonic  and might increase it to twice a week soon.

What are you currently using on your face?

K

Beauty Boosting: Anti-inflammatory Raspberry & Coconut Chia Seed Pudding

Sally can’t comprehend my stress. She doesn’t get how I can easily freak out and lose all will to continue, or how I can bottle everything up and allow a violent explosion. She just doesn’t get stressed out like I do. We all react to things differently, which makes stress hard to understand and sympathise with. But when Sally suggests that I simply ‘stress less’, it makes me want to LOL in her face. 

Whilst I breakdown, feeling totally out-of-control (often) over minor things, Sally could stand there watching her house burn down without even a glitch in her calm exterior. So no Sally, I can’t simply ‘stress less’ because that’s just not how I deal with things (and clearly flailing about like a headless chicken is far too much fun).

Now these bouts of stress can appear uninvited and really out-stay their welcome. And those lucky Sally’s of the world may just never understand, but to all those who suffer, it can be a real problem that makes everyday life hard to deal with - it can affect our relationships, our jobs/education and most importantly our health.

Stress sends our hormones flying all about the place. This in-balance can lead to increased anxiety, weight gain/loss, little to no motivation, fatigue, digestive issues amongst many other problems. And for me, wherever the root of my stress may lie, it always blossoms into something that makes my stress so much more stressful: spots. 

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do to prevent this, as often stress in unavoidable (and we can’t just ‘stress less’), but by eating foods rich with anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories and essential fatty acids, we can help to support and sooth our skin whilst attempting to calm our stress.

This Raspberry & Coconut Chia Seed Pudding is packed full of Omega 3 fatty acids that are essential for our bodies. An omega deficiency can lead to depression, anxiety and fatigue. Chia seeds are packed full of omega 3 fatty acids that help to balance out our hormones. Raspberries and chia seeds both contain a lot of antioxidants which combat inflammation and b-vitamins that fight stress. The copper and magnesium found within the coconut support healthy collagen production, keeping our connective tissues strong and also the potassium provides the skin with loads of hydration.

This recipe is anti-inflammatory, stress-busting and mood-lifting. 

Serves 1

Ingredients:

8g Desiccated Coconut 

20g Chia Seeds

40ml Almond Milk

60ml Coconut Water

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)

30g Raspberries, crushed.

1. In a bowl combine the desiccated coconut and chia seeds with the almond milk, coconut water and vanilla extract.
2. Cover and leave in the fridge to set (preferably overnight).
3. In the morning, top with the crushed raspberries.

Tip: Add heart-healthy chopped walnuts or antioxidant rich cacao nibs when serving. Alternatively add sliced banana to make this a great pre-workout snack/meal! 

When I’m stressed, I love to exercise and have long warm baths. What do you do in times of stress?

Kay's Kitchen Playlist

Youth - Daughter
T-Shirt Weather - Circa Waves