A Take On Natural Beauty

I'm not big on natural skincare. I love the prospect of chemical peels, and all of the AHAs and BHAs being poured onto my face. (Okay, maybe a slight extreme but you get my drift). But I'm not someone who reaches for natural skincare, the kind in green bottles and plastered with the words "organic" or "chemical free" because most of the time, they really don't do the job.

However, a couple of new products have popped up on my radar and have converted me (slightly).

I'm big on facial oils and even more so now that we're setting into winter so the Antipodes Divine Face Oil was something that I was instantly drawn to. The one thing that massively appealed to me from it was the inclusion of rosehip oil which is known to reduce both redness and scarring (something that when that time of the month strikes, I suffer from). I've been using this now for at least a week and every night before bed, I slather it all over my face and wear it like a serum. It's a bright yellow green colour which isn't exactly appealing but my goodness, it does the job. The oil has a herbal scent so it's something I enjoy applying and my skin always feels far smoother and softer when I wake up in the morning. My skin tone is far more even and redness is not as prominent as it once was. I'm obsessed and this may well have knocked my favourite Nuxe oil off the top. Worth every penny.

In Summer, I tend to reach for my Una Brennan oil to remove my makeup but in the cooler months, I'm a big fan of cleansing balms. My usual favourite is the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm but there's nothing fun about using it - no scent or anything like that. So when the Antipodes Grapeseed Cleansing Butter landed on my desk, I was making grabby hands at it. It has the same classic Antipodes herbal scent but by goodness, this is brilliant. The cleansing balm isn't classically smooth but has beads of some sort in it that break down as you massage it into your skin. It's incredibly luxurious and I love how moisturised my skin is when I rinse it off. It's made taking off my makeup far more exciting. I can't say this has had a significant impact on my skin but it's a lovely change from my standard Clinique choice.

And finally, a somewhat ambiguous "natural" option is the Origins Clear Improvement Mask. This is bloomin' brilliant. You can buy this in either a tube or individual 'pods' which is the choice I went for because I didn't want the mask to dry out. I slather this on for about twenty minutes and wash it off with a flannel and my skin simply glows. The mask contains activated charcoal which is a great pore cleanser and it really clears out the gunk you might have lurking. If I'm having an unusually spotty day, I dab this onto spots and it really helps to clear them up and help them heal faster.

What are some of your favourite natural beauty options?

This post may contain items that have been sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.