This year you haven’t heard it: oh how I love a facial oil. And this is a gem from a brand I got to know quite recently: Votary, which makes this post that little bit more exciting.
Now, my personal battle navigating between aggressive, drying blemish fighting and hydrating, nourishing age fighting products is known to an extent here (and I’ll publish a full piece on it soon), but this little hero addresses just that. Tamanu oil and salicylic acid, make it nourishing with blemish fighting properties.
Votary Blemish Rescue Oil’s 2% salicylic acid goes down deep in the pores dissolving dead skin cells and exfoliating all the way to the surface. This helps with the congestion that usually brings spots about.
And the blend of natural plant oils including rice, oat, tamanu and rosemary essential oil aids quicker recovery and promotes balance.
It’s a great targeted, non-aggressive solution which is a bliss to use: it doesn’t feel heavy or greasy, and even though it’s for use on the spot, I feel it works wonders on the whole face or areas, like the chin, to help prevent breakouts.
And for that, I really want to get the Votary Clarifying Facial Oil, as I think it would be a very powerful duo for problematic skin.
The Votary Blemish Rescue Oil costs £35 for 15ml (it goes a looooong way!) and you can find the gorgeous Votary products at Liberty – I mean, any excuse for a trip over there – or online on their site.
My favourite from the selection I tried was the Pores Be Pure Skin Clarifying Mud Mask. This light mud mask feels very purifying and is quite gentle on the skin.
Taking about clearing, the Best Face Forward Daily Foaming Cleanser is exactly that: a fabulous, gentle everyday gel foamy cleanser that leaves skin feeling super clean and fresh.
Now, who doesn’t love an exfoliating scrub? The One Smooth Operator Pore Clearing Face Scrub purifies, gently exfoliates with pumice from volcanic rock.
Finally, the P.M. Perfector Overnight Hydrating Cream with black currant and liquorice for a long radiance, soothing and nourishing overnight skin workout. It’s light and absorbs very well.
A while ago I appeared on Instagram bobbing along looking like something out of a sci-fi movie. remember that?
After using for about a month, I noticed my skin is calmer. Usage overlapped with my pre-menstrual period, when my breakouts are more active. Although I still have some, I feel they disappeared much quicker.
Using it is very easy: wash your face, attach the activator device, make sure the metal pin is all the way in, pop the mask on like sunglasses and hit the button.
And that is the catch and what people have been feeling uncertain about: the mask itself costs £59.99 and can be re-used. Now the activator, which is a necessity for it to work, costs £14.99 and deliver 30 treatments of 10 minutes, enough for a month.
Again, making your skin a priority might require some compromise on other areas and back up from your parents. This is how I went through countless treatments when young.
Furthermore, I’d say that after a while month I will get extra activators and not do it every day. Maybe every other or even every three, just as maintenance.
So Many Lovely Things 