My top five skincare picks

While I'm busy preparing a new collection for June, I thought I might as well use this blog to share some of my favourite things with you all. I guess I'm risking losing some followers by doing this, but hey, maybe I'll gain a couple too. Before I start listing my top five skincare products, I should probably tell you a little bit about my skin - in case any of you out there are on a similar boat. Basically, it has multiple personality disorder - it can't decide whether it's oily or dry or if it wants to co-operate or make my life miserable. Oily? Check. Dry patches? Check! Recently, it has been quite well-behaved, but when I was 19-20, it was acne city - thank God for concealer. To generalize, I would say I have an oily t-zone, but also get a bit flaky around my nose, cheeks and chin. Hurrah! Here are my holy grail products that help keep my skin behaving. 1. Nivea's Natural Beauty Radiance Boosting Eye Cream Oh hey undereye circles, why must you plague me my whole life? I've probably cornered the market on concealers and undereye creams, and I've haven't liked anything enough to buy twice. But this cream will probably be the first. To be honest, I don't think it's doing anything 'clinically' to reduce the darkness, but it is hydrating and does disguise the problem, which is enough for me. Here's what Nivea says anyway: "The Radiance Boosting eye cream, enriched with Mango Milk, hydrates throughout the day whilst visibly brightening and refining the eye area. The light-reflecting formula with Cashmere Proteins immediately gives the delicate eye area a natural-looking and even radiance." Here it is applied to my hand thickly on the left and more 'subtly' on the right. It's the sheen of the cream that brightens up the eye area quite nicely, and it doesn't sink into fine lines like some traditional concealers tend to do. I really like it. 2. Shu Uemura White Recovery EX cleansing oil Washing oily skin with oil - really? Okay, it may sound weird but this stuff is golden. I think that after years of trying to strip oil out of my skin, it responded by producing even more oil, which was definitely counter productive. This stuff is takes everything off -including mascara - and doesn't leave your skin feeling tight or parched. It really does leave my skin feeling nice and clean. No breakouts and less oil, what more could I ask for? 3. Lush Eau Roma water Smells pretty, is full of rose and lavender water to soften the skin, doesn't leave my skin feeling dry, and is only £3.25 a pop. Why not? 4. Avene Skin Recovery Cream Trufax, my skin was going mental last summer and I started getting these random little bumps on my cheeks and chin. So off I went to Boots to find a quick fix to my dilemma (which never often works, unfortunately), but this time, lo-and-behold, it did. "This highly effective cream quickly calms irritation and restores the skin’s natural defense mechanisms. Created to be hypoallergenic for sensitive skin Avene Skin Recovery Cream soothes and mositurises skin prone to redness and irritated by climatic conditions." Within a couple of days, my skin returned to normal and I'm pretty sure it's thanks to this cream. 5. Lush fresh face masks Lush face masks are kind of like celebrity boy crushes - they are all so good and you can't decide who you love most, but more than often you are in truly in love with just one for a period of roughly 2-3 months. In high school, Cupcake was my bff. It was capable of sucking the oil right out of my skin and soothing even the grossest of spots. I always had this in my fridge and my mum once thought it was a dessert and almost ate it. True story. Right now, my love affair is with Catastrophe Cosmetic. "Fresh blueberries are rich in beneficial antioxidants, vitamins and minerals to reduce inflammation and act as a mild antiseptic. Soothing chamomile, Irish moss and almond oil work with the gentle cleansing action of calamine to save your skin." In a way, these masks are 100% better than celebrity crushes anyway, because they love you back. Here is a picture of me with the mask on, and freshly out of the shower without. How glamorous.   Anyway, if you really like this sort of stuff, you should really check out my friend Suzanne's blog . She is a cosmetician and definitely knows her products. Mari x