Mirror Mirror....my skincare journey

My name is Cassie and I am a beauty addict.......it feels good to admit it.  I certainly cannot ignore it with a dwindling bank balance and bulging bathroom cabinet.....

As with most women my age I was introduced to beauty via the Clinique 3 step programme.  Who can forget that yellow soap in the green soap tray, the (what felt like) pure ethanol toner, and the yellow paste (I mean moisturiser).  My face went through various shades of red during the three steps and ended in an oil slick but this did not deter me.  I knew "products" made my soul sing.

I, obviously, moved on quickly from the "3-step" and embraced new brands.  Now as a teenager my scope was limited growing up in a village in the Midlands and then going to University in St Andrews: shops were limited to say the least.  However, my early years introduced me to one of my long time loves: Aveda.  Ahhhhh, Aveda with its Pure-Fume goodness.  The Botanical Kinetics range is like the "3-step" on natural steroids.  

Then I moved to London and oh the beauty goodness that lay before me in the form of the department stores (this was before they opened SpaceNk!).  My first new foray was to Clarins which I used in the first 4 months of living in London.  That flat I lived in was dreadful.  My room was pokey and small with a single bed and a shelf (yet I somehow paid as much as the other girls who had lovely large rooms with bay windows, wardrobes, drawers and double beds) and the bathroom was far from clean (the girls I lived with had questionable attitudes to basic hygiene and I think believed that bathrooms were self cleansing....) and horror or horrors had a very old and discoloured carpet.  Whilst I loved my Clarins products I will always associate them with that flat and once they had ran out, and I had moved out, I never purchased again.

So onwards I went to West London and in a bid to save money (I had had to double up on rent) I switched to cheaper brands: Nivea and Simple.  Loved them both.  At this time SpaceNK opened near where I worked, though at this point my SpaceNK devotion it was all about the make-up and not skincare for me.

I then became a skin care tart and switched brands as regularly as my knickers (well sort of, you know what I mean).  I have a slight genetic flaw in as much as I cannot buy on product in a range, I have to get EVERYTHING so when I go through "the change" I really invest.  I flirted with  Eve Lom, Sisley, Chantecaille, Shiseido, Nude and the Organic Pharmacy.

I was ready to form a monogamous relationship with the Organic Pharmacy and then I discovered beauty blogs.  Oh dear!  2016 has been an expensive year and I have tried a landslide of serums, cleansers, you name it!  Emma Hardie, Zelens, Radical, Bakel, Kat Burki, Colbert MD, Tata Harper, Sunday Riley, Caudalie, VenEffect, Pixi, May Lindstrom...the list seems almost endless.....

Some of the above were very expensive mistakes and a couple of friends have been the beneficiaries of my offloading product. Most have been okay or good, though in some cases quite hard to justify the price tag.  I think I am going to write some "reviews" as it might be fun.

And the conclusion of all this, well I think I might be ready to go steady*.....I went back to the Organic Pharmacy for a facial in April and after coming out looking radiant I decided I needed to go back to natural and organic skincare.  No regrets, not one blemish have I had in months, my skin is hydrated and I don't look too bad for 41 plus.

*I say this but I may have just put in an order for some Aurelia Probiotic skincare, for when I am at home in the Midlands you understand, so technically this is not "cheating"....

In the arms of the angels....

My latest "thing" is to try alternative healing and therapies.  Starting with the "As" I have given Angelic Therapy and Ayurvedic healing a go.

I have to admit my friends (and myself) raised a metaphorical eyebrow in respect to the former and one colleague described the ayurvedic visit as a "trip to see the witch doctor".  However I was not to be steered off my alternative course by such cynicism!

You see I have tried conventional medicine and therapy (formal doctor therapy and er, moaning to my friends) but at 40 I don't want to stuff myself full of pills when I may not need to and to be frank with therapy, well not only can you lie to yourself and to your friends but it turns out to your therapist too...."i'm fine....."*

*goes home, sobs at sentimental adverts, eats biscuits...

So why chose angelic therapy and ayurveda, other than them being the top of the list I looked at?  In the case of ayurveda it was an easy choice as it is the sister science to yoga (one of my obsessions) and I kind of like the idea of being able to re-balance oneself through routine and food choices (that are not too restrictive) getting back closer to a natural state before stress ruined our lives!  With the angles, I honestly just thought what harm can it do!???  Also, if this communing with angels is real, it was highly unlikely I could lie and get away with it!

What were the results?

Angels: over the years I have certainly developed quite a sturdy defence mechanism so that I appear pretty hard and independent and impervious however, as my best friend says, really I am total mush on the inside.  Whilst that sturdy defence has served me well, I knew that the approach to 40 was the time to re-set and re-discover my more happy go lucky side.  So my aim with the angels was to try and get some guidance as to how, some reassurance I suppose.  The therapist I saw, Dawn, is quite possibly one of the most pure and wonderful human beings in the world.  Any cynicism I had melted away on that first meeting as did my defences so it was win win from the start.  I know it sounds very new age and like I have been smoking but Dawn just knew "stuff".  We talked lots in the sessions, she let me know what she was seeing and what messages they had.  It was all pretty comforting.  We also did some healing work.  Again the cynics will raise the eyebrows but at one point the heat that was being generated through my body was bonkers and I thought things had gone awry when I thought Dawn was pulling up the waistband of my jeans....she wasn't of course it was all  a release of tension and my god was it cleansing.  After 6 sessions I felt re-set and positive and ready for.....

Ayurveda:  as mentioned this is the sister science of yoga and basically via a consultation with an ayurvedic doctor, where they take your pulse, your "dosha" (body type) is determined and from that lifestyle/routine/eating recommendations are made.  Again the accuracy of this, from a pulse and no medical history being exchanged, was incredible.  Jono (my doc) diagnosed my migraines, endometriosis and my hypothyroidism: you got to love the ageing process....From this I am following a two month re-setting diet and taking herbal supplements.  From there I will do a one week cleanse where I only eat mung bean soup (I will be staying home and not seeing anyone during this week) and then I implement longer term routine/change etc.  So far after one month I have bags more energy, I am sleeping better and even with my Christmas diet of chocolate, bread and wine I have managed to lose 4kg!

So to sum up, it might all seem a bit hocus pocus but from where I am sitting (my sofa obvs) I am thinking "winner winner chicken dinner"....