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New Additions to the Skincare Shelf

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My skincare shelf has got pretty exclusive these days. It’s the Chiltern Firehouse of the bathroom shelving world (my Daily Mail ban isn’t going too well) and its days of being overcrowded with my toothbrush almost toppling over every time I removed a product to use are long gone. It’s an edited club of picks that I use every single day – no fluff or things for show – just good solid skincare that gets the job done with plenty of space for my toothbrush. I’ve been strict. No purchases have been made since the big tidy and my complexion is thanking me for it. However – there are two new-ish potions that have been allowed in and today I thought I’d share the deats…

The Oskia Restoration Oil is currently the only oil-formula that occupies my stash, and with good reason. It’s lush. Oils have come a long way since the grease-fest days and this reincarnation may just be the best one yet. I could sit here and list its ingredients credentials and we could all nod along, half understanding and half pretending – African Amcella, Alaria Esculenta Algae, Crithmum Matrimum, Sea Fennel, Lupin Seed, Heart Seed Vine, Echium, Rice Bran Oil, Turmeric, Starflower, Sunflower Seed and Evening Primrose – ah yaaassss Oskia yaaassss. But the real scoop is that it just feels ridiculous lovely on the skin. Not heavy, nor thick; in fact one minute or so after application you wouldn’t even know I’d just got pipette-happy. My skin feels peachy, juicy and my dry patches are somewhat appeased. It’s pricey, but with just a drop or two needed I have a feeling in my belly that it’s going to last years (oh at least until the expiration label says so). 

You know I love a good SPF, and Benefit’s Dream Screen SPF 45 is taking care of that category single-handedly at the moment. On first test I was convinced that the texture of this was unlike any SPF I’ve ever tried before and then it clicked – in fact, it’s actually a dead ringer for Chantecaille’s Ultra Sun Protection SPF 50 – for just a third off the price. I know. Madness. Oil-free, lightweight and smoothing the skin with a matte-ish, almost primer-like finish, I like. I’d even go as far to dub it ‘the most un-SPF feeling SPF’, it just feels like a makeup step if anything and it’s impossible to overdose on meaning you really can layer it up to ensure full whack protection. Given the dry-ish nature of some parts of my skin these days I do find that these patches need some extra work when it comes to blending foundation with this underneath, so I will be keeping the Kiehl’s Ultra Light Daily Moisturiser SPF 50 handy for days when that’s on high alert, but in terms of a tack-free, silky smooth SPF the Benefit one is seriously bringing it.

But that’s it for now. Fully capacity has been reached at Anna’s skincare shelf and it’s strictly ‘one in, one out’.

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