Visiting Kiehl's at The Mall Cribbs Causeway

This post is in collaboration with Kiehl's 

I am one burned out business woman, let alone burned out blogger. Fear not this is not my '2016 has kicked my butt' round up post (that is coming though) but rather an out of the blue beauty blog post. I honestly thought these days were behind me, and I miss them as I felt like they had no place in my new business blogging world, but as many have pointed out to me recently, I am a very important part of what makes the BHC brand, so maybe some more in the future? Who can say.

Kiehl's, very kindly saw that I had been, lets say, 'not taking care of myself as well as I should have been' during the Christmas period and asked if I would like to come in to their new counter at The Mall Cribbs Causeway for a bit of a pamper session and consultation. To be honest I did wonder where I would fit in any time away from the workshop but if you don't stop to take care of yourself sometimes you will honestly burn yourself out into a dry husk and not be able to continue full stop. 

Jess the skincare consultant started by testing my face to see what kind of skin I had with these little pads. Turns out my forehead is a bit oily and the rest of my face is combination, which I sort of already knew. None of the other consultations I have ever had before with other brands have ever done this so I felt pretty reassured and was nice to have it confirmed. We then went through my current skincare routine, which consists of a cream cleanser, glycol acid toner, serum, and I currently use Kiehls avocado eye cream and face moisturisers, and morning just micellar water and a serum. 

Jess recommended that I start with Kiehl's Calendula deep cleansing foaming face wash, followed by the Calendula toner. The cleanser is a gel that you mix with water and it foams up, and if you watched my snapchat it worked, my hand was clean and it wasn't too harsh either, which you don't want with a cleanser. You follow this up with the toner which is very concentrated and has the Calendula flower petals in it. I found it really pleasant to use and it has no alcohol in which is very important, it is really hard to find an alcohol free toner (trust me I tried!)

We then moved on to Precision Lifting & Pore-Tightening Concentrate which I am all about, and a lightweight facial moisturiser called Rosa Artica which has a resurrection flower in, and is aimed at anti ageing. So these were two of my favourite products. I am looking for a pore refinisher/new serum as my cheek pores tend to be huge and probably not on the top of most peoples most troubling problems, they are one of my skin issues. I currently use a really heavy weight face moisturiser and it take a long time to skin in and sometimes I feel a bit greasy using it. Even with the pore concentrate on and then the Rose Artica my hand wasn't feel moist or weighed down. I am guessing that the pore tightening concentrate will take a while to see results, so will have to see it out. 

The Midnight recovery concentrate oil was 100% the best thing I was shown, and I hope will change my nighttime routine, because I am very lazy. Kiehl's claims that a cleanse, tone and a couple of drops of this is all you need at night and I am very sold on this. Jess did a tissue test to show me it leaves no greasy residue and I was sold you know. 

Jess then showed me some additional products like this Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Masque and Ultimate strength hand salve. Now I bought both of these products and used them that night. I am a huge clay mask person, nothing gives my face a proper cleanse like a good quality clay mask, and I know if it has done its job because I get a few very specific spots the day after, like you do a facial because all the crap in your skin has come out. I am very fussy about hand cream, and because I am constantly using my hands in the workshop making jewellery I need something akin to barrier cream to stop them being chapped, but cannot be too greasy and thick or take too long to sink in, and this seemed to do the trick. 

Overall my Kiehl's experience was great. They listened to what I had to say about my skin and what I liked and preferred and weren't overly pushy or overbearing with information. Their counters and staff are very welcoming but with this fun apothecary feel, but without it feeling like a quirk? The products I have used in the past of theirs have always been of a very high quality and I have never had any problems with them. I would highly recommend giving them a visit! 

Kiehl's very kindly gifted me three products and I chose Precision Lifting & Pore-Tightening Concentrate, Rosa Artica and the Midnight recovery concentrate oil. I purchased the clay mask and hand cream myself. 
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