My Skincare Routine - natural and affordable

Dear Beauty Diary,

I am finally doing a post on my skincare routine! I'm not sure if you are interested to see what products I use, but I still decided to carry on with this post. I personally love to find out about other people's skincare routine. You can find out about products which you would not have tried otherwise. If you have the same skin type as others, you can also see which products work for them, which may also work for you. :) So let's get on with the post!

First off, I have normal, acne-prone skin. My skin is not dry, but neither is it oily. Its normal, but gets slightly oily whenever I'm stressed. And I break out quite a lot. Those small kinds of red bumps. >.< So here are the products I use, to keep my skin happy and to keep the acne at bay. Don't worry, I refuse to spend a ridiculous amount on skincare, so the products I use are mostly quite affordable.

Biore Marshmallow Whip cleanser for acne skin, around $12 (USD $9.60)

I've been using this cleanser for years now. I prefer a foam cleanser, and this one foams up so beautifully. The foam is very packed and spreads on my face very smoothly and evenly. It removes oil and dirt though, so it is a little drying. However, it doesn't completely strip my face dry. You'll need to follow up with a moisturiser after using this cleanser.

LUSH Tea Tree Water toner water, $16 (USD $12.80)

I don't use those traditional kinds of toner, where you pour a little onto a cotton pad and swipe your face. I realised that many of them contain harsh ingredients and are quite drying. I also don't like the idea of drying out my face right after cleansing my face. So I use the LUSH Tea Tree Water toner, which is a spray on mist. The mist is quite heavy though, and dispenses quite a lot of product at once. The mist is cooling and refreshing, and I pat it into my skin after spraying. It contains tea tree water which helps to battle blemishes, so I got it for my acne-prone skin. Its a nice toner but I don't see much improvement in my skin. I use it just to allow the other products to absorb better into my skin.

Badger Damascus Rose Antioxidant Face Oil, $27 (USD $21.59)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the star product of my skincare routine - the Badger Damascus Rose Antioxidant Face Oil. You can read my full review here. Its mainly made up of Jojoba oil, along with lavender, rose and roman chamomile essential oils, which are all very calming and great for sensitive skin. Jojoba oil is a very light oil that absorbs easily into the skin, which makes this oil suitable for all skin types. Don't be intimidated by the sound of a face oil, thinking that it'll be too heavy for you. Nope, this face oil is very light and it has a texture that is similar to the Kiehl's midnight recovery concentrate. It just sinks in and leaves my face feeling slightly dewy and plumped. I've been using this for months and it just lasts and lasts. Fantastic face oil!

LUSH Celestial Facial Moisturiser, $43 (USD $34.39)

Recently, I entered a LUSH store and had a very convincing salesgirl guide me around the store, so I ended up getting the LUSH Celestial Facial Moisturiser. The LUSH website says its very light, but I personally feel that its a little too heavy for daytime use, I use it at night after using the Badger Rose face oil. It spreads easily and you only need a finger dab to cover your entire face evenly. It leaves a nice layer of product on your face, which takes a few minutes to sink in completely. It is a great product though, since it leaves my skin feeling so soft, matte and supple the next morning.

Badger Pink Grapefruit Lip Balm ($8, USD $6.40)  and Chinoshio Baby Balm $19 (USD $15.20)

I alternate between these 2 lip balms. I usually use the Chinoshio Baby Balm, and I prefer it over the Badger Pink Grapefruit one. However, it comes in a pot and I have to use my fingers to apply it. So if I don't feel like washing my hands prior to applying lip balm, I'll just use the Badger one. The Badger one is moisturises well and is USDA Certified Organic, but I feel that the Chinoshio Baby Balm eliminates all dryness immediately upon application, which I like very much.

Truth be told, the Chinoshio Baby Balm isn't even a lip balm. It is a moisturising body balm for babies and is a 100% natural product. However, since it is a balm, there's no harm in using it on my lips. So I got one in a sample size just to use on my lips. The balm just magically dissolves away all dry skin on my lips. This is saying something, since the dry skin usually just accumulates on my lips into hard, disgusting skin (TMI? >.<).  Its amazing and I simply adore the Chinoshio Baby Balm. This is quite hard to find though, it being a lesser known Japanese brand. Maybe you can search for it on Ebay if you're interested.

LUSH Mask of Magniminty, $26 (USD $20.80)

Twice a week, I use the LUSH Mask of Magniminty face mask. I use it as both a mask and a scrub. There's lots of honey (yipee its one of the first few ingredients, so it has a really high concentration) and kaolin in this mask. Honey moisturises, while kaolin sucks up all the impurities in your skin. What a fantastic duo! There's ground up aduki beans in the mask too, which is really hard, so I use it to scrub away at the dead skin cells on my face. There's peppermint in the mask, which is what makes your face tingle in a refreshing sort of way when applying the mask. Peppermint helps to banish blemishes, so why not? Haha the more the merrier! My skin always feels clarified after using this mask, and I'm already halfway through this pot!

Whew, I finally finished writing this post. That was quite a list of products eh? I prefer using natural products, so many of the products here are almost 100% natural, if not organic (with the exception of the cleanser. Anyone knows of any natural facial cleansers that cleanse well?). This skincare routine has helped me to prevent breakouts, though I still have some pimple scars. Hopefully they will go away with time. On a whole, I'm really happy with my current skincare routine and I feel that these products work really well together.

By the way, I did similar posts on my Bodycare routine and a What's in My Shower post. Click to read my reviews and see the products I've used. :)

What are your thoughts on some of the products mentioned? Any recommendations for natural products? :)