I popped over to Germany last week for four days and I completely fell in love with Berlin. Two friends of mine have been living out there since before the summer so my visit was well overdue. Turns out that staying with people who live in the city not only makes the experience better (mainly due to the fact you’re not going back to a hotel bar), but you can force those people to play tourist with you. I hadn’t been to Germany before, but Berlin has always been at the top of my wanderlust list. Autumn is my favourite season, so I happened to visit at the perfect time. 

Look at the trees! Look at the leaves on the floor! Autumn was in full force, including the crisp breeze which made me require multiple layers at one time. 

The seasons are changing and my skin is creeping back into its usual dehydrated state, which means I am lapping up the hydration in all products possible. This year, I have been forcing myself to drink so so much water - my technique is that during the work day, I will tell myself at different times of the day to drink a litre of water such as during a conference call or lunch time. 

My skin reacts to the basic skincare products, nothing fancy is going on here but all of these products work so well for me. Someone introduced me to the Avene Redness-Relief Dermo-Cleansing Milk a few months ago and I have been hooked ever since. I have been using this as my morning cleanse and my second evening cleanse nearly every single day, each time using a 50p size amount of product. Straight onto dry or wet skin, it’s super gentle and doesn’t tug on my skin. I find that it in the morning it calms down my skin which then looks better post-makeup and in the evening calms my skin after removing makeup. It’s £15 for 300ml and an absolute bargain which works perfectly for my skin. A few months ago I had a horrible recurring hormonal breakout which for someone who doesn’t break out often, was killing my vibe, and I randomly started to use the La Roche Posay Serozinc every-day. I knew it was a hugely hyped up product and didn’t expect anything to happen, but a week later my skin was back to normal. I have since asked my sister to stock me up with the largest bottle she could find in a French pharmacy and it hasn’t left my skincare routine. 
I enjoy using masks for both five minutes of quiet time and to help my skin out, so I tend to use them quite often. A new addition is the Vichy Instant Glow Double Peeling Mask, which I’ve found is the nearest to a drugstore version of Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask. Both very similar, it’s a resurfacing brightening mask which removes all the dead skin. I leave it on for around 10 minutes, or until the mask darkens in colour, wash off and find my skin is brighter with a smoother texture. The second mask is one of my favourites, Fresh Rose Face Mask, which hydrates and tones the skin. As my skin has the tendency to be quite dry and red, I often choose products if the main ingredients are rose. Fresh masks are so luxurious, as are all of their other products, so they’re hard not to love. 

As mentioned above, I am all about the hydration at the moment. I was recently introduced to the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Serum and it’s hands down the best serum I have ever used. I know it’s a big claim, but the reason why I love it is that there are no frills. It’s a hydrating serum which does just that without containing mineral oil. It does contain silicone and fragrance, which usually doesn’t work for me, but this really just does. It soothes my skin, perfect for sensitive skin, doesn’t affect my bank balance too much and Caroline Hiron approves of it. I’ve been using two pumps of it morning and night before my moisturiser/oil of choice and I love it. To follow, I have been using both Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Cream in the morning and Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Oil. Both perfect for sensitive dry skin, it calms and protects the skin. I’ve found that the facial cream acts like a great primer for underneath foundation and it hasn’t gone patchy by the end of the day. As for the soothing facial oil, it’s a thinner consistency than I’m used to but it smells delicious and keeps my skin supple until the morning. The extra little product I have been using is the Blink Brow Oil. I’ve heard a few people rave about this before and I’ve only been using it for a week or so now, so we’ll see if I see any difference from it! So far I just have very conditioned eyebrows.