I’m constantly switching up my routine for morning and evening in hopes that I find the best products for my skin each season and because I simply get tired of using the same thing over and over.
The last few weeks I’ve been testing some items sent to me from Garnier that I’ve worked into my morning routine.
Let’s start with my first step; cleansing. I love cleansers that have citrus scents especially to help wake me up in the morning and the Clearly Brighter Gentle Smoothing Scrub* is really nice for that.
I don’t usually do exfoliating cleansers everyday because of their rough texture but this is surprisingly really soft and gentle on my skin. The formula is like a gel cleanser with argun nut shell. I find the the shells feel really smooth. Garnier claims that this can be used for all skin types including sensitive skin.
It helps to smooth my skin and prep it for my next step which is whatever face spray I have at hand.
Recently, I’ve been using a sample of Jurlique Rosewater Balancing Mist. This spray is really nice to hydrate my skin and prep it for moisturizer. 
It has a beautiful rose scent that I personally like. I also love the mist this creates, it’s very fine but wide so two-three sprites will cover my whole face.
My next step after that is moisturizer. There usually isn’t a moisturizer I don’t like and the Moisture Rescue* is no exception.
This is simply a great everyday fragrance-free and oil-free moisturizer that feels really light on the skin and absorbs really quickly.
It has Vitamin C and E and an SPF of 15. I appreciate the SPF, even if in the summer I’d want a bit more, I like that it has any coverage.
My stand out product for the morning is the Ombrelle Ultra Advanced Tinted Lotion with SPF 60*.
I did try a tinted lotion last year from Clinque which I quite enjoyed for my face but this one from Garnier has a higher SPF. This is non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores), water resistant for up to 80 minutes, and hypoallergenic. I also LOVE that this is fragrance free. I really don’t like the smell of sunscreen so I’m glad I don’t have it here. This is a mineral sunscreen which is new to me.
Upon further reading I found that unlike most sunscreens mineral sunscreen doesn’t get absorbed into the skin but instead sits on top and reflects the suns rays. I mostly just love this because it feels really nice on the skin and the tint gives me a little bit of coverage. For the summer I move away from foundation so I use mostly BB Creams to add a bit of coverage and then use concealer around my eye area or where I need more coverage. This does the same thing but has a really high SPF so I won’t need to worry if I’m out in the sun all day.
My next steps after this are to add my makeup which I might post since my makeup over the summer is pretty minimal but great for those who like to rock a simpler look like I do!
What’s your morning routine like? What steps do you take?
Lots of Love,
Dal
Price
I don’t exclusively use only these products in my routine but since I do tend to use these together I thought I would post my thoughts. I’ve used the polyphenol cream interchangeably with other face creams for what feels like 4 months now and about a month and a half ago I added the eye cream to my skincare regime.
The polyphenol cream is really nice for days that I don’t crave too much moisturizer which, lets be honest, isn’t very often except on humid summer days. This is meant to protect the face from free radicals which improving the appearance of wrinkles (Sephora.com). What I like to do is wear serum and then put this guy on top. I’ll then follow with a face cream to add some extra moisture to my skin. That’s one thing I’m not the biggest fan of with this cream. I still need to add a moisturizer because it doesn’t really hydrate my skin. Now, I have dry skin, so I guess it’s something that I’ll have to do with certain creams because not everything is designed to be overly hydrating.
The eye cream is also really light and spreads easily. It has anti-aging ingredients to instantly transfer the eyes and deliver long term results (Sephora.ca). UMMM….OK I don’t agree with that statement and I’ll tell you why. I use it sometimes on top and sometimes under all my other creams. No matter how I wear this, I don’t think I’ve noticed a difference at all when it comes to reducing any wrinkles.
I’ll admit, I’m pretty disappointed in both of these creams. With my other skincare items they are OK, but they don’t stand out as must-have products. Out of the two I do like the polyphenol for the SPF but even then I would use my Clinque Super City Block because it has SPF 40 and is less expensive (see my review 
I mostly ordered this for the extra large face brush because the last time I bought a face brush off Amazon, I thought it was good – but I just wished it was a bit bigger. The large size brush is about double the size of that one which I am really happy with.
I used only these brushes for a week to get a good feel of applying my makeup with them and I must say they are really good. Granted, the handles are a bit flimsy so I would mostly hold these closer to the brush head to prevent them from snapping. The black handle is rubberized adding to a firmer grip and I loved the rose gold colour making these a bit more chic. I’ve included the sizes of each brush in a photo below.
The brushes are really dense and surprisingly soft so using them on my face was a breeze. I mostly loved the large face brush (#1) because it spread my makeup quickly and easily over my face. I ended using the third largest brush (#3) for concealer which was nice. I used the liner brush (#4) to apply a soft shadow liner. The second largest brush (#2) was about the same size as the brush I got before (see that post 
I washed these a few times too and experienced no shedding or loosening of the glue. I can imagine over time that these will not hold up as well as an Artis set but it’s not expensive so I’m sure with proper care I can get a few years out of them.
This is the very first BB Cream I purchased and I’ve become accustomed to using it on its own and mixed with foundation. I think since I last bought this they’ve changed their shade names because I have 710 which I think is equivalent to 810 now which is light to medium. It’s a bit darker than my natural skin tone but once blended in it helps to give my face a bit more natural warmth. It also leaves a satin finish and leaves my skin hydrated. This has a creamy texture which is really light weight.
It wasn’t until I was looking up some info on this product that I realized how old my actual tube of the Benefit BB Cream is. Not sure if the formula was reformulated or if it’s just the packaging but the one currently on Sephora has an SPF 35 and I can’t tell if mine ever was. You can see in the photo below from Sephora that now Benefit has changed the packaging to include a note that it has an SPF.
Of all the BB Creams I own, I use this the least. It has a really mousey texture which I don’t like and I find it doesn’t blend super well for me. This is a liquid to powder bb cream that doesn’t work well for my dry skin because it’s supposed to balance out the oils in your skin. I should have probably read the labels before picking this up.
This is the newest BB Cream in my collection and currently my favourite because as well as having added moisturizers this also blurs and perfects the skin. I like wearing this on its own and under makeup as a primer too. The formula of this is liquidity so I find it blends into the skin easily (more like a light moisturizer would). It also has a light fresh scent which I am loving. The finish on this is a velvet matte so it doesn’t look completely matte on the skin but more matte than say my Covergirl BB would. I have this in the shade light which I find matches my skin nicely.
Do you have any BB Cream recommendations? Do you wear BB Creams? Let me know!
There are some good hits and many misses in this brush set for me. It had such great reviews on Amazon that I thought they all were going to be amazing brushes, but I think out of the 11 I only really liked 5, and out of those only 3 I can say are faves. I really didn’t like the face brushes, in the picture they looked like they would be denser but were really flimsy. The eye brushes, however, were nice and easy to use for blending. The three brushes I liked are starred in the picture below.
I really like using this dense brush for liquid foundation. More so than the dense brush I tried some time back from amazon that looked like a toothbrush, 
The issues I have with this brush is that some of the bristles stick out but it’s glued in so well that I can’t pull them out. It’s also bent. I guess it’s what you would expect from a cheap brush. You need to use light pressure when using this brush to ensure you spread it around easily, but overall I’m not mad it. I do think this is worth picking up if you’re looking for a dense brush for liquid foundation.
The ergonomic design allows for easy handling and more stability when applying liquid liner. The top of the liner has a dip that I was able to rest my index finger on and extend my thumb to stabilize application closer to the felt tip.
One thing I’ll note is that I’m right-handed but this made applying eyeliner on my left eye much easier than most other liners. Also, I really love the deepness of this black, it dries matte and doesn’t smudge. I also love that the felt tip is long and has a precise point which makes creating thick or thin lines easy. 
I think with any new product you need to practice a bit to get the hang of it. I’m sure that someone new to eyeliner will find the learning curve with this shorter than a standard liner, but for me I think I’ll just stick to what I know.
Packaging
I tend to use a lot of shadows on the left neutral side of this palette for every day and then incorporate the ones on the right when I want to intensify my look for the evening using the reds. Although the colours are nice and super pigmented, I wish it had a deep green or dark cool brown just to balance out all the pink and red tones in this palette.
Application
I wore Tempura all over the lid, then worked the crease with Warm Taupe and added depth with Cyprus Umber. I put Venetian Red on the outer third of my lid and did Primavera in the inner half. (please don’t mind my eyebrows – they have a mind of their own)
What it Claims
Wear & Longevity
Translucent Loose Powder ($43.00). This is really finely milled. It rivals my Laura Mercier setting powder because it doesn’t leave me feeling dry. I love using it to set my under eye concealer, especially on days I’m wearing a lot of makeup. It does not settle into any fine lines making everything look air brushed. Plus I love the puff! 
Gift with Purchase which included the Ultimate Power Infusing Concentrate, Benefiance Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam, Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask, Benefiance LiftDynamic Eye Treatment and Rouge Rouge Lipstick. So far I’ve tried the Ultimate serum which is really awesome as a primer under foundation or as a face serum on it’s own for hydration. This is magic on the skin. Also, the Rouge Lipstick is the most beautiful red! I really love this because I can try other products from this brand.