© anitasstudio

Happy hump day, folks! Come climb over that hump with me, will ya?

Regular readers will notice that we don’t have a Bloggie Wednesday post today because we’re continuing with Skincare Favourites Week! We’ll resume usual Bloggie Wednesday posts next week. But for today, we’re talking more skincare and I’d love to share my top 10 serums with you.

I’m pretty particular when it comes to serums, what makes it to my hit list and what makes it to my miss list. I’m not usually a fan of serums with “fluff” ingredients. This is what I call oils and plant extracts because more often than not, they don’t do much for the skin other than give a good texture and a fine scent. Moisturisers with “fluff” ingredients, on the other hand, don’t bother me because as long as they moisturise my skin (usually the work of glycerin), I don’t really care if they’ve got extract of newt. Although I would prefer them not to have extract of newt if possible unless it makes my skin look damn good. 😛

The serums below are my top favourites. Most I’ve used and repurchased over the years and some are recent discoveries that have made the list. Even if beauty companies never make another new serum (yeah like THAT’S ever going to happen, eh?), I’m more than happy with these.

Let’s get started! Here they are in no particular order.

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© Norwayblue

Hello and welcome to the second day of skincare favourites week! I hope you’ve enjoyed yesterday’s edition of my top 10 cleansers. It was fun reading about your favourite cleansers and it gives me new ideas on what to try too.

Today, I’d like to share my top 10 toners and lotions with you. I’ve used toners since I was 13 years old when I started using a small bottle of one of Clinique’s Clarifying Lotion that was a hand-me-down from Mum. To be honest, a few years ago, I started questioning the need for a toner and I wasn’t the only one. Beauty bloggers and editors were talking about the “myth” of toners as well. I believe it was then that I started using lotions as well.

Lotions were and still are a Japanese concept. They’re used after cleansing and before serums, which is why a lot of people consider them as toners. Toners were traditionally used to “close pores” and also to remove any remnants of dirt that your cleansers didn’t remove. As far as “close pores” go, pores don’t open nor close (read this article by How Stuff Works) and if the cleanser doesn’t remove all of the dirt on your face, well, you need a better cleanser. Having said that, I do use toners for refreshing the skin and also do a wee bit of exfoliation as I do a gentle swipe of it with a cotton pad.

As for lotions, they’re not meant to do all that. They add what I call extra “hydration and softness” to the skin. You can even soak cotton pads with lotion, place the pads on your face and use them as a mask. You can’t really do that with toner.

I use both a toner and lotion depending on my needs. I don’t use many types or brands of toners and lotions because they often come in large bottles and each one will last me at least 6 months. Some are recent discoveries and some are classic favourites.

Here they are in no particular order.

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Happy Monday, folks! I hope you’ve had a great weekend and am ready to begin a brand new week.

Speaking of which, welcome to Skincare Favourites Week! Instead of my usual individual product reviews, I thought I’d do change it up a little and do a round-up of my favourite skincare products. This ranges across the board, from cleansers to serums to moisturisers to sunscreens. I get quite a lot of questions via blog comments and email on what my favourite skincare products are so today, you’ll get the full monty.

Well, full monty of the products, that is. Ain’t nobody seeing me in my birthday suit! 😛

I’m starting the week of skincare favourites off with my top 10 cleansers. Some of these cleansers are recent finds (discovered them this year) and some are classic favourites. Even so, these are the cleansers I have and will gladly repurchase. My favourite cleansers also include cleansing oils and balms that I use as pre-cleansers in my double-cleansing routine. You’ll notice that I didn’t include micellar waters like the ones from Bioderma and Garnier because I do not consider those as cleansers but makeup removers.

In no particular order, let’s get started!

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