Skincare Favourites: CeraVe Facial Moisturising Lotion PM

Obsessing about skincare is somewhat of a hobby of mine these days, so I thought I’d share some of my skincare faves (and possibly some not-so-faves) on the blog. First up is CeraVe Facial Moisturising Lotion PM - I’ve been using this moisturiser since July, after reading about it on Beautypedia, and it now has a well-earned a place in my daily regimen.

CeraVe Facial Moisturising Lotion PM is a facial 'lotion' (is it just me that always thinks of 'lotions' as a body thing, not a face thing?) containing a host of ostensibly beneficial ingredients – Niacinamide, Ceramides, Hyaluronic Acid – and is free of potential irritants, like fragrance.

Disclaimer: Although this is marketed as a nigh time product, I actually use this lotion on my face in the day instead. I have always preferred to use a separate SPF product, rather than a moisturiser with SPF so the lack of SPF in this lotion isn’t a problem for me. I used to use this at night too, but I now have a retinol night cream to use instead (now I'm 30 it's time to start fighting those wrinkles!).

The lotion itself has a very light texture and is somewhere between a gel and a cream. It’s a slightly translucent white colour and really has no discernable smell. It comes in a neat little pump bottle, which is a bit ‘medical’ looking, and not necessarily one to keep out on the dressing table, but personally, although I do like pretty packaging, it’s not the be-all and end-all for me. The pump is small enough to easily be operated with one hand and it also locks in place for travelling, so one less thing to worry about leaking everywhere (so speaks the woman who lost half a bottle of expensive toner on a flight recently).

On application it feels cool and goes on smoothly, spreading well with a nice fluid motion. It sinks in quickly, but without disappearing – personally I like a moisturiser to give my skin a nice dewy feel and I find this does that, without leaving my skin too tacky. I am always a bit over-liberal with moisturiser so I use about three pumps of this to cover my face/neck (and sometimes go in with a second application just because), but I think someone who doesn’t over-use like me could easily get away with two pumps to cover the face and neck.

This moisturiser seems very gentle and has never irritated my skin at all, it makes my skin feel instantly plump and hydrated and that feeling lasts well throughout the day. I haven’t had any issues with pilling when using this moisturiser and my SPF or foundation always seems to sit well on top of this. I find this is a very light-yet-hydrating product and gentle enough to use around my eyes without problems.

For reference my skin is slightly combination, but leaning more to the dry side (I get a bit of oiliness in the t-zone) and definitely dehydrated and often feels tight after washing if I’m not careful with my choice of cleanser. I have struggled for years, finding that often moisturisers don’t help with any signs and symptoms of the dehydration in particular, but this does wonders and feels like a drink for my skin. Also, despite being on the dry side I am still prone to breakouts and haven't had any unusual issues since using this lotion.

Cost-wise this isn’t an overly expensive product, in my opinion at least – it’s not available to buy in the shops in the UK – I get it from Amazon and pay around £13 for a 3oz (~85ml) bottle. A bottle normally lasts me at least a couple of months, even though I slap it on with gay-abandon. I went to the US recently, where you can pick up CeraVe products from almost every chemist, so I stocked up on multiple bottles (it’s cheaper, more like £10 in the US) while I was there.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone. You can read more about it here.

Jetlag

As I mentioned in this post – HONEYMOON!

We’re back now and we had the most amazing time. Honestly it was fabulous and we did and saw so much (which made it seem like we were away for a lot longer than we were (which was pretty long anyway at almost three weeks)).

However, currently I am busy recovering from the jetlag – Oh my holy hell, the jetlag – I think I’ve broken my body clock forever. I haven’t slept properly since we got back on Friday morning (and barely slept on the plane). Today was my first day back at work – I have REALLY suffered, as I spent almost the entirety of last night lying awake, for the third night in a row.

I have had bouts of insomnia / sleeplessness throughout my life, but never have I been so goddamn tired and yet completely incapable of sleeping. I think it’s fair to say I am a bit of a drama llama about not sleeping (understatement, I am an utter nightmare if I don't get my eight hours), but I honestly don’t know how people who travel frequently between the UK and US do it – I think it would actually ruin me. I am clearly not suited to the jet set lifestyle, that's for sure (finally a plus in favour of not being crazy-wealthy - hurrah!), and I am now likely live in fear of being sent to the US with work.

If I don’t sleep tonight I’m going to cry. There may be a fully blown tantrum. But eventually – when I’m no longer having an out-of-body experience due to tiredness – I will get my act together and do a proper post, with photos of things we saw/did and EVERYTHING. Right now though I don’t have the energy to sift through the 1500+ photos (yes, we took that many) to find those worthy of sharing.

If anyone has any jetlag related advice in the meantime, I am ALL ears.

1st Wedding Anniversary

So on the 5th of October this year, was my husband’s and my first wedding anniversary. It truly is unbelievable that it has been a whole year since our wedding day, time has simply flown by. It honestly feels like our wedding, on a beautiful mid-autumn day, was only a couple of months ago.

We spent our anniversary in the US, where we were on our (very belated) honeymoon. On our actual anniversary we were in Louisville in Kentucky, staying at the wonderful and historic Brown Hotel and we dined that evening at the very grand hotel bar (it was a Sunday when, unbeknownst to us, most of Louisville seems to close on a for the day) with lots of Manhattan cocktails for good measure. Given that we were on Honeymoon, our anniversary couldn’t help but be special, but the Brown hotel really was a magical setting (and the truffle oil on my lobster mac n'cheese didn't hurt either). I will be writing a separate post (or more likely posts as there is a lot to tell) about the Honeymoon trip itself soon.

The first anniversary is PAPER – which proved an interesting challenge from me to find a suitable gift for a gift for him. In the end I opted for a pair of paperclip cufflinks from Notonthehighstreet, and a personalised ordnance survey map, centered on our post-code. I used a photo of our (Pea & Badger) cake topper for the front of the map and I think it turned out beautifully.

I felt this was a good gift for him as he loves maps and we like going for walks around our home, I admit the cufflinks were cheating a bit, but my getting him cufflinks is somewhat of a tradition for us, which I wanted to continue.

I also made him a card, because I do feel that a hand-made card is more personal than a bought one (and also I enjoy making them). I got the idea for the card from one I saw on Notonethehighstreet, but changed it to suit us. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it.

Luckily all the presents went down well and he seemed very happy. I’m really not the best present buyer and tend to worry endlessly about what I’ve opted for, convincing myself that the gift won’t be well received.

It seems kind of odd to me, to be celebrating a year as a married couple, when in May next year we will have been together for nine years. I somehow thought it would feel like less of a milestone, one year in the face if almost-a-decade together, but on the day that wasn’t how it felt at all, and we had a really lovely anniversary. Here's to cotton (oooh clothes!) next year!