The Lazy Gal’s Skin Care Routine | rosie abigail

I’ll put it out there – I love skin care. I always feel relaxed and refreshed and pampered after giving my skin a good cleanse. But I’ll also be honest; I’m pretty lazy. I used to pretend that skin care was one of the things I was faaaaar too busy to do, as I was under the assumption it would take a blimmin’ long time. Time wasn’t the issue; I just didn’t fancy doing it. I’m a low-maintenance woman, I don’t need fancy things. However, since getting annoyed at my constant breakouts, flaky forehead, dark circles, and oily nose, I’ve taken up some form of skin care and found it actually worthwhile. I’m sure some beauty bloggers will turn up their nose at what I call my ‘skin care routine’, and I honestly don’t care. This works for a busy (and lazy) girl such as myself, and it’s cheap as chips. All of the main products I use come to under £35 combined (yeah, I know how to get a bargain). So, to my other busy and lazy folks out there, let me share with you my skin care routine.

Step 1: Cleansing

In this step, I simultaneously take off my make-up and cleanse my face; to use the old proverb, ‘killing two birds with one stone’. I use the Body Shop’s Camomile Cleansing Butter as my catch all cleanser, whether I’m wearing make-up or have gone bare face all day. Using this cleanser is one of the most satisfying things in the world. Yes, it goes on smoothly; yes, it smells nice; yes, it does wonders for my skin. But the best bit; it literally melts the make-up off my face. I get such joy from lathering this all over my face and watching as the eyeliner melts away into a grey splodge. Once I’ve rubbed the balm into my skin, I wash it off with a warm, damp flannel. Easy peasy. This product is so good, I don’t feel the need to double-cleanse (as the cool kids say). Plus, it’s great for sensitive and combination skin, is from a cruelty-free brand, and the product itself is vegan!

Step 2: Toner

Look, I didn’t mean for this to happen, I didn’t want to be this basic, but yes; my favourite flower does match my name. I bloody love roses; their scent, their beauty, how you can’t get anywhere near them because they’ll stab you. Luckily for me, rose extract and rosewater are wonderful additions to skin care products, specifically regarding redness. Now, I have naturally rosy cheeks, and a naturally rosy forehead, and a naturally rosy nose – redness, I have a lot of redness. So, in my search for a toner that was great for sensitive skin and redness, I went for the Body Shop’s British Rose Petal-Soft Gel Toner (just so you are aware, yes I adore the Body Shop, and why wouldn’t I? It’s mostly affordable, completely cruelty-free, and of damn good quality). This product is delightful, and believe me, I don’t use that word a lot. I take a cotton pad, pop two or three drops on there, and rub it all over my cleansed face. It leaves the face feeling hydrated to the high heavens, and I find the scent very calming. It contains natural rose extract, so none of that overly sweet, fake smelly nonsense, and contains little bits of rose petals, which I find to be a nice touch. It takes to the skin quite quickly, which is great for us lazy folks as we can move straight on to the next step.

Step 3: Moisturiser

Now, I know this is when a lot of people start to apply their serums and oils and whatnot. I don’t have any; I don’t understand them. What do they do? Why do they cost so much? Why are there so many options? So, I just skip straight on and slather myself in moisturiser. I’ve already said I’m quite a low maintenance woman, so I only have one moisturiser that I use for both day and night. I’m currently using Nivea’s Soft Moisturising Cream. There’s nothing special about it; it smells like moisturiser, it looks like moisturiser, it hydrates my face like a moisturiser. A big upside of the product is that it is extremely affordable, and can be bought just about anywhere. The downside is that there’s some grey area regarding animal testing and Nivea’s worldwide suppliers, and I am trying to only purchase brands that are cruelty free. So, if anyone has any recommendations for a budget, yet cruelty free moisturiser, drop me a comment!

Step 4: Eyes

Now, I used to find any steps other than cleanse, tone, and moisturise to be completely unnecessary. However, I was in the Body Shop (what a surprise), and they had a 3 for 2 deal going on. I had already picked up the toner and an eyebrow pencil, and a tiny, little box caught my eye. One debit card payment later, and I was going home with the Vitamin E Eye Cube. I have extremely bad dark circles and even concealer struggles to cover them; on no make-up days, I am a little racoon. I’ve mostly accepted my little racoon state, but sometimes it does drag down my self-esteem. This product looks like a chunky lip balm, but you apply it under your eyes to help brighten those dark circles. I’ve tried plenty of eye creams and sticks and found them completely useless, but this one does work. I’m not saying it removes dark circles completely, definitely not, but it does slightly brighten them, and helps to cool down any puffiness that comes with them. It’s a pleasant thing to use to wake up your eyes in the morning, or to help cool them at night.

All in all, my everyday skincare routine takes me less than five minutes, which means I can stay in bed in the morning, slip straight into bed at night, and just generally spend more time sleeping (that’s the important thing here). I’ve even mastered the art of a quick and easy pamper session and once a month skin care. 

Got a breakout or a big ol’ spot? Apply pure Tea Tree Oil to a cotton ear bud (or Q Tip for my American friends), and dab it all over that monster before you go to bed. It’ll be much less inflamed when you wake up in the morning. Wearing a lot of makeup, glitter in particular? Make sure you have some Micellar Water in the house. Douse a cotton pad in it, and wipe off all of that tough to remove glitter, glue, and make-up, before you use your cleanser. Want a pamper sesh but don’t want to break the bank or spend hours in the bath? Get into comfies, and then cleanse your face and pop on a face mask; my favourite is Lush’s Mask of Magnaminty or the Body Shop’s Seaweed Clay Mask). Leave it on for the designated time (normally between 5-12 minutes, depending on the mask), and then simply wash it off. For an extra added pamper (and disgusting satisfaction), slap a pore strip on your nose (I love Superdrug’s own brand Tea Tree Deep Action Cleansing Nose Strips). Wait 10 minutes and then peel it off, which will reveal all of the gunk that lives in your pores. Dry lips? Get a lip scrub, like Lush’s Bubblegum Lip Scrub. I actually carry this everywhere with me as it’s so good (and it tastes delicious…)

So, that’s my low maintenance skin care routine, for the folks that are just too busy, lazy or sleepy to spend hours on their face. My next step is to introduce sunscreen into my routine, especially as it’s approaching summer (I mean, it should be, despite the rain). Let me know your quick skin care hacks and recommendations!

Rosie x

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