Life in Colour - 16: My Skincare & Haircare Routine

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

In this episode, I’m spilling all the details on my current skincare and haircare routine—the things I love, the products I use, and how I got here. But it hasn’t been a smooth ride. I���ve had to navigate some pretty frustrating allergies along the way, so finding what works and keeps my skin and scalp happy has been a bit of a journey. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by all the options out there or struggled with sensitivities yourself, this one’s for you. Think of it as a peek inside my bathroom cabinet—with a few allergy hurdles thrown in! Products mentioned: The Ordinary Squalene Cleanser, Brightening Serum, Caffeine SerumLa Roche PosayNivea Body LotionGeorgiemaine Shampoo, 10 minute Mask, Growth Spray and Hair Protector Spray Want to learn more about seasonal colour analysis? Get my free Finding Your Colours Guide @ https://www.lovingcolour.au/findyourcolours Or want to know your perfect colour palette now? Purchase a Virtual Colour Analysis with me to find out exactly which colours light you up! Go to https://www.lovingcolour.au/colouranalysis Follow along on Instagram: https://instagram.com/lovingcolour__

I've been thinking for a while to do something a little bit different. I have had a number of questions about the different skincare products that I use, hair care products, those kinds of things. So I'm actually going to take you today through all of the different things that I use. Now, as you know, or many of you know, I have a number of allergies. So to take you through what those allergies are, when I was 37, I became anaphylactic to sesame. I don't know when or how it started.

I have eaten sesame my entire life. love sesame, well, not so much now, but I used to love sesame, but I came allergic to it. And then over time, there were things like sunflower. I was using a shampoo that had sunflower in it and I would feel like the sun when I used it and I realized that I couldn't be with sunflower. I went into Mecca once looking at some makeup and I tried something and it had meadow foam in it, realized that. So bit by bit, I realized that I'm actually allergic to a number of seed oils. And when it comes to cosmetics, seed oils get into everything. And I mean everything. So these items that I am going to chat to you about today, they are tried and tested and true. And I have used them for a number of

years, for a number of different reasons. And I thought I would just chat you through what my morning skincare routine is like, my evening skincare routine is like because I have mixed that up a little bit just recently because I'm noticing that perimenopause is really affecting my skin. So for those of you that aren't aware, I'm 43 and I had a hysterectomy two years ago, and I feel like that has accelerated my perimenopause journey. And I've noticed quite a few things since then, some that I'm really not loving, including how it's changing my skin, like literally even in the last month or so, it's changing my skin.

And I am going to be on the journey of, I'm seeing somebody about HRT in about a week. I've been on the wait list for two months and I'm looking forward to seeing if that's going to make a difference, A, to all the other symptoms that I'm experiencing, but then also for my skin because it's really starting to bug and irritate me. So let's start with things that I use in the morning for my skincare. I have used this for a number of years. It is the ordinary, let's hope I've pronounced this correctly. Let's see.

It's squaline, cleanser, squaline, squaline. It's their cleanser. This is never on sale and I mean never on sale. And I asked someone at Priceline about that, which is a pharmacy here in Australia. And I asked someone about that recently. And they said it's because it is so popular, it never needs to go on sale ever. So I buy the really big bottle, so it's 150 mil. And that's about $36, Australia.

I use that morning and night. And the way that I use it, you don't put it onto wet skin. You put it onto dry skin and then you rub it until it, comes like an emoliant and it just melts all of my makeup. Before I became allergic, I used to use Dermologica religiously. I still love the Dermological products, especially their face cleanser, the oil cleanser. I loved that and I felt like I was in a day spa every single time I used that. But unfortunately, I was allergic to it. So I can't use it anymore or any of their products anymore. But if you're looking for an oil cleanser, highly, highly recommend that. But the

squaline cleanser. I use that morning and night, but at the moment we're talking about morning. So yeah, I use that in the mornings and it's just lovely and it makes my skin really, really, really soft. After that, another ordinary product that I use. Now, there are limited number of brands that I use in all of this purely because obviously with my allergies, I'm limited. But I just wanted to give you an idea of the things that I'm using at 43. So I'm using the ordinary alpha Arbiton 2.5.2 percent plus H.A. Now, this is a concentrated serum with alpha-arbiton and hyluronic acid. And the reason that I use this is a brightening serum. I've noticed that my skin's gone quite dull and I don't like it. I like, I thought it was my makeup that was doing it perhaps and that I wasn't drinking enough water,

which can always be the case, obviously, because we can get quite dehydrated anyway. But I was noticing that it was definitely feeling a bit flat. And since I've been using this and I've been using this for a couple of years now. I love it. And I just, I use it. I used to use it morning and night, but I've switched that up a little bit now. And I just use it in the morning and I find that makeup sits really, really nicely on top of it. It doesn't interfere with makeup. It's not sticky. It melts into the skin and then your skin accepts moisturiser really nicely on top of it. So the moisturiser that I use is the La Roche Posee-Tolerone Dermological Crem. I haven't pronounced any of that really nicely at all. Anyway, it's the cream one. It's not the fluid one. There are different ones.

I use the cream one. Now, it used to be stocked in price line and even chemist warehouse. I haven't seen this particular one in their stores for a while, but I buy it online, especially when they have like a 20% off or something like that. You can get some great deals. And a little goes a really long way. So in the mornings, I only use one pump of this. I find if I use two pumps of it, that's when my makeup, again, because of perimenopause, my skin's starting to get a little more oily, like how when I was a teenager, if I put too much of this on, that exacerbates that later in the day. So I don't actually use a huge amount of this in the morning.

I just use one pump in the morning. And then that's where my makeup then starts to go over the top. So that's my morning routine. Sometimes I will use the ordinary caffeine serum that they have and I use that under my eyes to help reduce puffiness and dark circles. I have dark circles and there's a little bit also dark patches for one of a better way to tell you from when I gave birth and I've never been able to get rid of them. I don't know if it was the pressure of pushing or what it was, but that's what happened and I've never been able to get rid of it. So thoroughly irritating. But that's just the way that it is.

Now, for the evening, I use the squirling cleanser again. And, oh, hang on, I've got the box literally right next to me with everything. The caffeine, it's called the caffeine solution 5%. And it says that it reduces the appearance of dark circles and puffiness. Now that, I've only bought one bottle of that because it lasts forever, like forever. Whereas the other one I go through quite a bit more because I use a bit more. So in the evening, to take my makeup off, I use the scurriline. Garland cleanser, and I rub that all over my face and make it really emoliant. I always use a

face cloth. That is a game changer. If you're not using a face cloth to remove your makeup, it's not, when you just rinse it off or wash it off, you're not getting that grime grit and the makeup off your skin. It can still sit on the top of your skin. And it can make it look a bit dull, flat. It can cause imperfections and spots, all that kind of thing. So make sure you're using your face cleanser. Like, don't rub it vigorously so that you're going to hurt your skin. But it really helps to soften the skin and bring out any of those impurities or dirt that's sort of been grind that's got stuck in. So I always use a face cloth, change them regularly. So I use the squalling cancer first to take off my makeup. And then I do what's called a second cleanse. Now,

I've done a second cleanse for years, like years and years. I must be like 15 years. I've been doing a second cleanse. I use the, and I'm going to kill the, I'm absolutely going to kill the pronunciation on this. You're all going to have a laugh at me. Now, I use the La Roche Pose, ephaclair, gel. I don't know how to pronounce that. It's the micropeeling imperfections one, the gel, and it's for persistent imperfections, and it's in the green bottle. That's the one you need to know the most. They have two for imperfections, like acne kind of thing. They have one in a blue bottle, which I bought years and years ago for my teens to use, but we didn't really like that one. So I tried this one instead for them. And then I borrowed it one day because I find it really

hard to find exfoliators that I can use. I can use this daily. It doesn't dry my skin out. It gives a little bit of a tingliness to it. My skin is so soft after using it. Like so, so soft. And it helps get rid of any like dead, dry skin flakes that are on my face. I know when I haven't been washing my face with this, like if I've just been using the other one, the ordinary one, and I haven't been using this, I get dry patches on my forehead, my exma starts to come back and my skin tone, whilst it's uneven at the moment, like underneath, I've almost got like these little bumps sort of sitting underneath, which I think is hormonal or an allergy, I'm not sure which. This is more, it's on the surface.

It makes it really, really soft, like really, really nice. And I love it. All of my kids use it too. They find it. It is fantastic. So I use that one at the moment. as a cleanser. I also keep it in the shower. If you're prone to breakouts on your chest, shoulders back anywhere, that is a fabulous body wash to use as well, like after a soap. So it's like

an extra thing that you're doing. So I do that. And then the next thing that I use is I have XMA. So I actually do have to use a Dermade 1% cream, which is a hydrochortosone cream. And I use that sparingly, like really, really, really sparingly. Obviously, this is if you've got dermatitis or even rosacea, things like that. This is where a hydrochlorlorone can help. I don't use it every single day. In winter, it's worse because of the dry weather. I've always suffered from eczema since pretty much I was born.

So I've had to sort of use it on and off. But yes, it's really, really good and I find it takes care of it for me. It's mainly on like the sides of my face and forehead is where I break out, sometimes on my cheeks. But I use that. So if you've got any kind of skin irritation, itching, rash, you know, due to eczema, dermatitis, cosmetics, that kind of thing. That derma 1% is fantastic. Now, obviously, I'm not a medical practitioner.

This is just what I use, but you can always talk to your pharmacist about it if you have concerns. Then I've actually had to buy something recently, just for me, because I was going to borrow my teens one, I've had to buy some spot cream because good old perimenopause is definitely, like I mentioned, playing havoc and I have had some breakouts. I haven't had breakouts in a long time now. For me, when I get breakouts now, it could be stress. It's obviously definitely hormonal.

I get it more on my shoulders and my chest sometimes on my back. I don't have it as much on my face, but you know where I've been having it in the last few weeks? My neck. And my neck is visible and it's been coming up even almost into my hairline. It has driven me crazy and I don't like it and I feel really self-conscious about it. and I'm telling you about it in case any of you are going through skin conditions or skin things to do with perimenopause and you're like, oh my God, I'm not alone.

And if you haven't hit perimenopause yet, then that's fantastic. And you can enjoy that. Or if you're on the other end of the spectrum where you're right the way through, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about and are very happy to be on the other side. So I just bought the Benzac AC, which is the benzol peroxide, 25 milligrams. It is the mild strength that I bought the two and a half percent acne. gel. And literally a little bit goes a really long way. So if I do have a couple of spots, then that's what I use for that in the evening. I don't use it under makeup. I just use that at night.

Then I have back to a serum. I have the La Roche Pose ephaclare serum in the ultra concentrate. Now this one is for anti-imperfections, anti-marks and things like that. I've noticed since my skin has become more textured and you can see like it's really weird. I can just see like all these bumps or raised areas or mottled areas, not necessarily skin spots or sun spots I should say, not skin spots, sunspots, this is fantastic, like really fantastic now. It is made up of, let me see if I can see the ingredients and read it properly. No, it's not on this particular bottle. is brilliant. It can have a little bit of a tingle to it, a little bit of a sting to it, but it doesn't last for very long. And I find if I have overscrubbed my face for whatever reason, then it will

tingle a little bit more. A little of this goes a really, really long way. And this is literally the order that I put things on, the order that I'm telling you. And I find that's brilliant. Again, I have used that on my neck as well with the spots that I'm suffering from. And I feel like it really helps dry it up, but also it helps that it doesn't leave a mark. The fact that it's like that anti-imperfection and mark, that's where I feel like it's helping with that because it's taking that away. Then I used to think I didn't use that many products and now I'm doing this podcast interview and I'm like, wow, I've been talking for almost 15 minutes just on my skincare. This is hilarious. Anyway, I didn't use to, but it's actually, you know, I have to say

is actually quite nice that I even have this many products in my little container in front of me because when I first became allergic, I had to cut everything out. I didn't use anything. Like literally didn't use anything. And it just really, I'll be honest, it got me down. It got me down a lot. So I'm really, really excited that I actually get to use this many products. Next, I use the La Roche Pose. It's called the Plus M. So it's the Eiffaclared Duo plus M. And again, it's for anti-imperfections and triple corrective care. Again, this is brilliant. And this in combination with the green cleanser that I was telling you about and the serum and then this particular moisturiser, if you have teenagers that are struggling with their skin

with acne during teenage years, this little duo or trio, sorry, I should say, are fantastic. Now, they're not cheap. They're really not cheap. But if, again, again, if you get them on South, then that's brilliant. A little goes a really long way, but it makes such a difference. And I find using all of these together makes such a difference. So I hadn't been using a couple of these because I was like, oh, my skin's been fine. And I noticed the difference straight away. So sometimes I dip in and out.

But as soon as I start using this combination together, my skin starts to look much, much better. And it looks brighter and healthier. So I then use that's in a tube, this one. so I just use a little bit almost like a pea size. A little goes a really long way. It's a bit more fluid. It's not like a thick kind of moisturiser. It's quite fluid.

So a little spreads a really long way. Again, I put this on my neck as well as and when it is needed. And then the last thing I use is I find if I leave it at that, my skin can feel a little dry in the morning. So not at night, but in the following morning, it can feel a little bit dry. So that's when I use one or two pumps of the same moisturizer, the Tolerine cream one that I use in the morning.

That's when I use that again at night because I feel like that's a really moisturising, rich kind of moisturiser and my skin really, really likes it. And that kind of just seals everything in that I've put in underneath it. So that's the skincare that I use on my face. I've literally, I've never been able to find a body moisturizer. I know that sounds crazy. I've tried so many. The way that my allergies present, I feel hot like the sun, but I get really bad headaches

and it becomes pounding and nothing will take it away because it's an allergic reaction. Maybe a steroid might take it away, but I don't like taking those unless I really have to. So I study ingredients like over and over and over again. Anyway, I found one the other day because my skin, I was really noticing my skin's getting quite dry and I was feeling itchy from it. You know when your skin gets so dry, it becomes itchy. and I didn't want to deal with that. And also in summer, you know, you see people and they're wearing shorts and everything

and their legs look nice and shiny and really nice because, you know, they've managed to put something nice on them to make them look shiny and healthy. I can't do that. Mine never look like that because of, you know, I never was able to find anything. On the weekend, this is the only thing I've only just started using, but I know my mum has used it for many, many years. It is the Nivia body lotion firming one. So it's the 10 days for firmer feeling and elastic skin and 48 hour moisture.

It's got co-Q10 in it and it has vitamin C in it. It promises 10 days to firmer skin and 48 hours to moisture. We shall see. This one, a little goes a really long way. Actually, it's got a fragrance to it, but it's not too overpowering. Or for me, I'm really sensitive to fragrance. So if I can do this, I'm sure you can too. Like I'm super sensitive to fragrance.

This one, I got the normal skin one. They did have a dry skin. skin one, but I decided to try the normal skin and just see how I go with that. And so far, so good. Now, a lot of my stuff doesn't have a huge amount of natural ingredients in it purely because those are the things either could kill me or give me a really bad allergic reaction. So unfortunately for me, I have to go the other route, which does mean sort of more chemical based, I guess, for one of a better phrase. But I do my best with what I have. Now, let's move on to hair. Actually, no, I've got one more thing to tell you. Now, this is.

a prescription thing. So I was noticing for about nine months that my lips were peeling really badly and I was getting sort of sores on either side, you know, when you split your lip and I couldn't figure out what was going on. If that's happening to you, I tried everything. I tried the lip bumps that I'm not allergic to. I tried pawpore. Someone even said trivaselene. I really didn't like that because obviously that's like putting, well it is, putting petroleum jelly on your lips. Anyway, I tried everything and I stopped using the one lipstick at that time that I wasn't allergic to, which is a matte lipstick. Obviously, matte lipsticks are notorious for drying your skin out or your lips out more than ones that have like the really nice seed oils in it to make them nice and slippery

and moisturising. Anyway, to cut a long story short, if that's you, go to the doctors because I went to the doctors and he gave me an ointment. Again, unfortunately, it happens to be a steroid ointment, But my lips have a condition that they peel without it. And I don't have to use it every day. I use it a bit more when it's in winter. But that's what helps my lips. Otherwise, they just chap constantly and they have bits of skin constantly. I'm like peeling off and everything, which is not nice.

And lipstick looks really bad when you have that. If you have that issue, make sure you go to the GP and ask them if there's an ointment or something that you can try for your lips because you've tried everything else. I had no idea that this kind of thing was around. And I wish I had gone earlier. Okay, last but not least, hair. Now, funnily enough, I know I was saying about natural things, this is one brand that I can use that has a lot of natural stuff in it.

And I am so grateful that I can use it, like so, so, so grateful. So about a year ago, something happened in our house that was really, really stressful. And within 24 hours, my hair started falling out. I think I did. I talked about it on Instagram. And whenever that happens, whenever I have stressful, traumatic. things happen, my hair falls out. And when I say my hair falls out, like, it's not that I have clumps, but when I'm in the shower, it just keeps coming out. And when I brush my hair, it keeps

coming out. I lost about half of the volume of my hair. And my hair means a lot to me, as it does, I'm sure, to all of you. And it was upsetting me in the more. I thought about it, the worse that it got. I tried the Georgie Main system. Now, this isn't sponsored. None of this is sponsored. But all of the hair care products I use are Georgie Main. And the reason, the reason, and I love them and I use them, my hair, the amount that my hair has stopped falling out is phenomenal. Now, I do use the JS health vitamins, the hair and energy as well. That make, the first thing I noticed with that, the vitamin is that I had more energy. That was first what I noticed.

Then in conjunction by using the Georgie Main system, which is to stop the loss of hair or to have a lot less fallout, it made such a difference, like such a difference. and I notice if I come off it for any reason, whether that be the products that I'm using from Georgie Mae or the vitamin, my hair can fall out a bit more. Now, I have had quite a few really, really stressful things happen in the past year since that initial one. One would be when my son had like a major surgery in December of last year. My hair didn't fall out.

I was waiting and my hairdresser was pretty much waiting. We were waiting for that to happen. And because I was like, oh my God, I'm going to be ending up with literally like no hair at the end of this. And it didn't happen. And I swear it's because of the combination of these products that I'm using. So if you feel that your hair is thinning from perimenopause or you lose hair from stress or whatever, I highly, highly recommend them. So I use the Georgie main shampoo every time I wash my hair.

I use about two, two and a half pumps and I wash my hair twice with it. My hair is always beautifully squeaky clean. I then use the 10 minute hair mask now. Sometimes I use that as a regular conditioner if I don't have time to do a 10 minute hair mask. I try and do it at least once a week where I literally do the proper 10 minutes where I get out the shower. I might clean the sinks or do something, make the bed, whatever, do something else. And then I hop back in the shower and rinse it out.

And you can feel the difference in your hair. Like when I do the proper 10 minutes, my hair is still soft, but it's soaked everything up. So the residue is not sitting on top of my hair. Whereas when I use it as a quick conditioner in the hair, you can feel. that when I rinse it off, my hair feels really soft and silky on the top because it hasn't had had time to sink in yet. It still does a great job. But when I do that 10 minutes, I kid you not, every time I do it and I come downstairs and I finish drying my hair, my husband's like, it looks like you've just had your hair done by D, my hairdresser. Every single time,

it thickens my hair, it makes my hair look like it's got a lot more volume than what it does. And being a blonde, I've never had shiny hair like ever. This gives me, the most beautiful shiny hair. So really, really enjoy it. So I use the 10 minute mask. I use the shampoo. I do not use the conditioner because that I am allergic to. Can you believe it? So they do have an extra conditioner. I then use the hair growth spray, which just reminds me I'm literally out. So I need to buy another one of those. You can buy like packages on their website, like bundles. And I use the hair growth spray every single time I wash my hair. You can use it every day if you're wanting your hair to grow quite quickly. And I did do that. When my hair was

falling out, I use that hair grow spray every single day and it 100% works. Like I've got little flyaway baby hairs everywhere. My hair's, I've got new hairs everywhere. And then I use their heat protectant spray as well. I'm fairly sure they have a curl one. And then they have other products too. I'm pretty sure they have a hair serum. Now I haven't used that just because I'm really happy with what I'm using and I didn't feel that I need to use anymore. Plus, I have really fine hair and so I didn't want to weigh it down with anything else. In terms of a hairspray, it is a tried and true classic that I occasionally use and that would be the Elnette hair spray, which my mum has used ever since I can remember. So I can smell her. Like every time I spray

it, it's like my mom's standing right next to me. So that is a roundup of all of the skincare and hair care that I use. There was more than I thought actually, but I love everything that I use. like you would know me by now, I sort of, you know, I take my time. I research a lot of stuff. I think that's the Virgo with me, though. I do like to research stuff. And then with the issues that I've had, health-wise, I've had to be really careful with what I choose.

So I use really good products. Obviously, I'd like to use more natural products, but it's just not on the cards for me, not if I want to feel okay every day. But I'm really, really happy. And I feel like this combination that I use, makes my hair and skin. I would say majority of the time look really, really good. Obviously, my hair's been a bit more greasy recently because of perimenopause. So I'm having to wash it more often at the moment. It goes through phases sometimes where I had to do it like every other day.

Sometimes I could go three days. It really depends, I think, maybe where I am in my cycle. Again, the same with my skin. Their hormonal fluctuations, though, I am absolutely 100% positive on it. So maybe if I can get on some HRT, that will help balance some of the hormonal issues that are causing a few little problems for me. They're not bad. I just don't necessarily like it. So that is everything that I use. I'll make sure everything is listed in the show notes from today. I hope today has been helpful. And it's a slightly different topic to what I normally do when we're talking about fashion. But it all, you know, comes together and adds up. Like I always remember my mum saying, you only get one skin and you have the hair on your head is what people see

every single day. So make sure you're using the products that suit you, work for you, and that you enjoy using. And I think of her every single time, pretty much. I do these things because that has been instilled in me from a really young age. Anyway, I hope you have a fabulous week. As always, if you would like to chat anything through from today's episode, send me a message to Ashley at lovingcolor.org.com.com as an email or head over to Lovingcolor double underscore on my Instagram. I would absolutely love to have a chat with you. And I'm going to make this into a full blog post, I think, as well. So if you're wanting all of the details, I'll make sure to put a link in as well as while it will be in the show notes. I've just thought, I'm going to make this into a

blog post and then everything will be listed sort of in more detail over on my website, which islovingcolor.com.A.U. Anyway, take care, everyone. Have a fab week and I will catch you in next week's episode. Bye.