As Tori recently mentioned in her review of Lush Ultrabland, after my short-lived trial of the cleanser I went through an allergic reaction. It was the only new addition to my routine and it seems as if Iris is the culprit. A small bout with contact dermatitis sent me into skincare survival mode, and I significantly pared back my routine. Sticking to cleansing and moisturizing (along with a few over the counter medicated creams) seemed to look after my skin without exacerbating the irritation.

A couple of weeks back, a friend and I took a lil' jaunt into The Body Shop and Lush. Major damage to my wallet ensued, but it was worth it. Since I've been using this product for awhile now I feel like I can do a pretty well rounded review on it.

Lately my favorite part of my daily routine is taking all of my makeup off at the end of the day (besides eating of course). I have really fallen for the products I've been using so I feel like it's a good time to post about some of the products that make the process easy and really leave my skin looking prettayyy good.

Lush Ultrabland Cleanser
This is by far the best product I have purchased in a very long time. I love the thought behind Lush, so it's not difficult for me to want to buy everything in that store. I first apply a small amount of this solely to get all my eye makeup off. After I have taken that off with a warm washcloth, I will apply this again to take off the rest of my makeup. Ultrabland is the most moisturizing, yet cleansing product. It doesn't strip the skin at all but you can definitely feel that it's taken off all your makeup.

Murad Essential-C Cleanser
I first heard of this product through Rachel. I have been using it for about a week now (I had been using Avalon Cleansing Milk), and so far it's pretty solid. This is probably the newest product to my skincare routine. I feel like the thing I change the most in my routine would be my actual face cleanser. I thought the Avalon Cleansing Milk did an alright job for the price and I might pick up one since I used all of mine. This Murad cleanser is gentle enough on the skin that it doesn't bother me too much to double cleanse. I like this product, but when it's empty, I'm sure I'll try something new.

Mario Badescu Skincare's Glycolic Acid Toner
This is the first toner that I have been loving. Toners have always been difficult for me to find because they always had a high alcohol content and would dry my face out. Glycolic Acid creates a barrier for moisture so this is perfect at the end of the day as to prepare my face for the morning. This hasn't dried out my skin and I'm about half way through this bottle. Sometimes I use this in the morning, but most of the time I use a separate toner (a separate post to come). With all of the cleansing happening before this step, I usually just do a once over, but if I notice any dirt or anything on the cotton pad I'll go ahead and do a double tone.

The Body Shop's Nutriganics Smoothing Eye Cream
When I went to the Body Shop they were having their buy three, get three sale, and I can safely say that this is my favorite of the six products I bought. I use this after I have used my toner in the morning and at night. In the morning it is perfect because it is a thick enough eye cream that my concealer goes on nicely. At night, it just helps my eyes not look so sad. Dare I say, this product has made me notice my dark circles less? I don't even remember reading that when I was browsing the eye creams, but I definitely feel like my dark circles are less pronounced.

REN Bio Retinoid Anti-aging Concentrate
I got this little sample in a set for Christmas. It smells pretty much like olive oil and that was kind of gross at first. However, for some reason I have been loving this like crazy lately. After I put my eye cream on, this stuff mixed with my Seventh Generation Boots Serum (which has it's own post here), makes my skin feel ridiculously soft. Sometimes I feel like serums and concentrates can feel really heavy on my skin, but when I mix these two it is light enough to not make me feel like I have a lot product on but still completely moisturize my skin.

What are your evening staples?
xx Tori

Okay, so, I am throwing in the flag as far as filming goes for another week. However, my brother is working on my camera so hopefully this situation can be remedied in a soonish fashion.