My All Natural Skincare Routine

I've been asked about my daily skincare routine because people just don't know where to start! And I totally get it, there are SO many products out there its hard to know what to buy. My advice is to whittle it down to all-natural paraben-free products that BENEFIT your skin rather than adding all kinds of nasties to it. The beauty industry is HORRIFICALLY unregulated and my advice is to focus on the brands who want to make a difference, both to our environment and to our skin. My absolute all time new favourite skincare brand is Willowberry founded by Jenni Retourné. Jenni's ethos behind the brand is to build products that HELP our skin with all natural products (and packaging!) so we're not left wondering what we're putting on our faces! I asked Jenni a few questions about her brand and the industry:

When you started your skincare line Willowberry, why was keeping it natural so important to you?

For me personally, I simply believe that natural ingredients make a real difference to the skin. I used to be a beauty editor and so I tried hundreds of products, and it was the natural products that made such a difference. So my journey evolved from there.

What are the benefits of an all natural skincare routine?

With Willowberry I always use high quality natural ingredients with a focus on antioxidants, essential fatty acids and vitamins, to nourish and nurture the skin to help it look its best. It’s like food for skin!

Can you touch on how (un)regulated the beauty industry is? And why it's important to buy high quality/natural products like yours? 

There are no legal standards for terms like ‘natural’ and ‘organic’, so a brand could put 1% natural ingredients in a product and call it ‘natural’. Greenwashing happens a lot, so it’s important to seek out brands that you trust, and take some time looking at the ingredient info they provide. For Willowberry we provide detailed info on our website about every single ingredient we use – not just the fancy marketable ones but also the necessary ingredients such as emulsifiers and gentle preservatives – so that our customers can feel confident and informed about what they are putting on their skin.

If you had any advice to my viewers/readers, what would it be in terms of a natural skincare routine? 

A consistent skincare routine is far more important than a complex routine. Even if all you do is cleanse and moisturise your skin, if you do it twice-daily every day, your skin will reap the rewards. Add in any extra products to suit your own individual skin needs, i.e. a face oil, an eye cream, a toner and so on.

You go the extra mile with your glass bottles, why is this so important to you? 

Sustainability is a hugely complex subject and suppliers are working hard to produce sustainable alternatives to plastics. I prefer to use glass instead of plastic simply because I don’t want to add to the pile of plastic in our landfill where possible. I continually research sustainable packaging and would look to use other materials in the future as well, if I thought them suitable.

Do you have any inside hints as to what we can look forward to next from Willowberry?

Watch this space!

Thank you Jenni!

You can find the full range of gorgeous skincare products at www.willowberry.co.uk and definitely check out @willowberryskin on Instagram!

Now for my full skincare routine!

First I start off with making sure my face is clean of any oils and dirt, ready for the day! This cleanser is actually a balm, totally different to anything I've used before. I take a little bit, rub it into my skin until I've covered my face and the balm has dissolved. Then I wet my fingers slightly and work the balm into my skin further. Then I simply wipe it all off with a CLEAN damp cloth and it leaves my skin feeling completely nourished and clean. I'm totally converted to this new cleansing balm!!

Have you ever wondered what's in your shampoo and conditioner? I've used Herbal Essences for years because they were always the most natural product available to me growing up. This coconut milk one is DIVINE and is paraben, colourant, and paraffin free all in a phthalates free bottle...I'm guessing that's good news too!

So now my skin is super clean, I rub a little toner on with a cotton pad. I still don't really understand what toner is supposed to do, but I have heard and read beauty experts saying "cleanse, tone, moisturise" on repeat ever since I picked up my first magazine. Liz Earle products are fabulous and smell divine, its like taking a mini trip to the spa. My husband got me gift set for Christmas with a bunch of her stuff in it, and the fact that it doesn't have any nasties in it means I'm popping it on every day! But don't let the brand fool you, I did a little digging and some products do contain parabens so its always good to double check!

I tend to have two moisturisers on the go at one time. One with SPF and one without. This Magic Cream is amazing and truly magic! It leaves my skin positively glowing and a lovely base for my daily makeup routine. BUT it is insanely expensive, so it's good to have a cheaper moisturiser to turn to if I'm having a makeup free day.

Admittedly I'm only using this Liz Earle one because it also came in the gift pack, but I absolutely adore it! Its super rich and lovely on my skin. SPF free and my go to for non makeup days, staying in, night time, and I always run the excess on my hands leaving them super soft!

But before I slather my face in moisturiser, I like to dab a little Willowberry eye cream on to really brighten up my eyes! This is such a fabulous base for eye makeup (which I wear A LOT of) and is a wonderful way to revive the skin. I'm not trying to get rid of all my wrinkles and laughter lines here, those can stay. But its lovely to have soft nourished skin with a bit of caffeine to really get ready for the day!

While I'm slapping on my skincare products, and maybe when I start my makeup (if I forget to do this first) I moisturise my lips to prep them for lipliner and lipstick. EOS (evolution of smooth) boasts using all natural products and I can't lie, I just love the ball packaging. Its such a fun way to roll on the balm!

If you haven't heard, deodorants have been shown to have some pretty nasty ingredients...one of them being Aluminum which has been linked to breast cancer. Native deodorants are aluminium and paraben free and they smell AMAZING! AND THEY WORK! Which...is always a bonus. I've tried a few different brands of all natural deodorants and they haven't come close to Native. I couldn't recommend them enough, and they've even just come out with their new eco friendly packaging! Way to go Native!

Now, I love love LOVE getting my nails done, and believe me if I could get my nails gelled every other week I would. I went to STILL, a non toxic nail bar in London (www.still-london.com) and it got me thinking about what was in regular nail polish; well its not good I can tell you. So I did some research and found Zoya, a vegan non-toxic polish that is paraben, sulphate, phthalate and formaldehyde free (among other things) which sounds pretty goo to me and also freaks me out that I've been putting that on my nails for SO many years!!

At night, when its time to get ready for bed I remove all my makeup using the Willowberry cleanser, its such a lovely way to end the day! And then, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I slather my face in oil before I go to sleep. Putting oil ON my face seems wild since I've been trying to keep oil OFF my face for years, but its actually a wonderful way to moisturise your skin naturally before it restores itself while you sleep!

I currently use this face oil by a Brighton based company called Juno and its absolutely divine. I found it at the Stella show in London when I was first on the hunt for all natural skincare products a couple years ago. It smells incredible and leaves my face feeling super soft and dewy, but I'm running low (its lasted 2 years) and I can't wait to try a new one...

Cue Willowberry's face oil! My sister absolutely raves about it and I can't wait to try it! If its anything like Jenni's other products then I'm just super excited!! I'm off to order it now!

I hope I haven't freaked you out! This isn't the point of this blog post. I just want to highlight the benefits of introducing an all natural skincare routine into your life because what we put on our bodies DOES matter! PLEASE let me know if you have found any all-natural gems, I would love to add to my collection.

Want it see it in action? Check out my YouTube video: https://youtu.be/IGZH5uA8cj8

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on something and make a purchase, I might receive a small % as a 'thank you'...isn't that lovely?

#allnatural #skincare #zoya #parabenfree #lizearle #willowberry #charlottetilbury #herbalessences #eos #magiccream