Best of 2015: Skincare

Hello my darlings! I seem to be writing these 'best of 2015' posts in portions... there's just too many things to mention and I didn't want to 'shove' them all in one huge post. Anyhew... today I'm going to talk a bit about my favorite skincare (and some haircare) products of 2015. I didn't realize it until now, but boy there sure seems to be a lot of L'Occitane products... they got me good last year and now I'm hooked. :) 

My beautiful moisturzing duo were (and still are) L'Occitane's Shea butter face cream (the lighter version) and La Roche-Posay Nutritic Intense Riche. I use L'Occitane's during the day and LRP's for night time as it is a bit heavier. L'Occitane's smells amazing and that was a big part of why I had to buy it, but it's also a very lovely face cream. LRP on the other hand has a very mild scent and is suitable for more sensitive skin. 

I recently also tried a bunch of samples of L'Occitane's 'heavier' (20% shea butter) face cream and I loved it, sooo... I guess I have to start saving up some money. ;)

I ran out of my precious Liz Earle toner so I decided to venture out and try something else. Since I was very happy with my face cream I picked up the toner from the shea line as well. I actually loved it so much I went and bought a backup bottle when I 'had to' use my 15% off VIP card. It's such a lovely, gentle toner with a nice scent. I love that it has a pump which makes dispensing so much easier. 

Besides a gentle, everyday toner I also use an exfoliating one - Mario Badescu Glycolic acid toner is still my man but I am going to try something else soon (Pixi Glow tonic or Clarins Exfoliating toner probably).

One Liz Earle product I make sure I never run out of is of course my beloved Cleanse&Polish... I love the original but I couldn't help myself when they had some LE ones with different scents. I have three - Grapefruit & Patchouli, Pink Pepper & Mint and Sweet Orange & Mint. I love all three but Orange & Mint is my favorite... they really need to make it permanent! ;)

Just in case you're new to my blog and aren't aware of my Cleanse&Polish obsession... it's a creamy cleanser that gets rid of all makeup and I have yet to try a cleanser that does that better. You remove it with a hot muslin cloth (hence the 'polish' part) and it makes your skin feel and look amazing.

The other two cleansing product that were in regular use were also Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth face balm and Neutrogena's 2in1 wash/mask. I use the Balance Me for morning/evening cleansing when I'm not wearing any makeup since I don't consider it a makeup remover at all. It does however perform amazingly well as a cleanser/exfoliator and is effective yet super gentle (great for winter time when my skin is all flaky and messed up). :) 

I use Neutrogena's wash under the shower in combination with a regular face brush (I currently use L'Occitane's one but since they don't sell it anymore I got some cheap ones from eBay). It's a great clay-based cleanser that's very purifying and almost feels a bit cooling on the face. I love using it under the shower to get a really good cleanse when my pores are open and my skin is all softened up. ;)

As you can see from the empty big bottle of Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse, I absolutely love this stuff. I use it for my face and body and it can also be used on your hair but I haven't tried that yet (I'm pretty happy with Orofluido). I used up this bottle during my pregnancy as I was trying to keep the skin on my tummy as nourished as possible (still got a bunch of stretchmarks but who gives a crap). I also looove using it for my face - alone or underneath a moisturizer. It smells amazing, it feels amazing, it's just a wonderful dry oil you need to try for yourself. :)

Another cleansing product I really liked in the past year were micelar waters. I don't advise using them as cleansers and please don't think you don't need to do anything else after you've removed makeup with them (you need a proper cleanser!)... but they're great for quick fixes and for quick removals. I've tried quite a few, the last one being Bioderma and I liked them all... just some more than others.

Two new body products that impressed me were L'Occitane's Jasmin-Imortelle-Neroli body lotion and Melting Honey Ultra soft cream. Both are gorgeous and I love both for different reasons. :)

Now I just need L'Occitane to make Melting Honey a permanent line and start selling a 500ml jar of the body cream.

Dove surprised me with their new hair care line and I've been thoroughly enjoying the shampoo and conditioner from the dry oil line (the gold one). I think I'm on the 4th or 5th bottle of both of them and that's saying something since I don't usually stick with one hair care product for that long. 

And of course Dove shower gels/creams are still my favorite... I just haven't found anything better yet. They're just the creamiest and most nourishing shower gels and I love their scents. :)

And last but certainly not least are L'Occitane hand creams... I've managed to collect quite a few of them so far, the last one being from their LE shea line - Hugs&Kisses (a separate post on all the hand creams is coming soon). They're all really nourishing but don't 'sit' on the skin for long which I like. I always have one on my night stand and one in my bag. 

Phew... so this turned out to be quite a long post after all. Hope you found it interesting enough and maybe discovered some new products to try out for yourself.

What were some of your skin care favorites recently?