Origins Original Skin: The Best Smelling Skincare of All

The Origins Original Skincare line looks good with everything. Plus points right there.

I like to think of myself as a vicarious skincare junkie. I live through the skincare experiments of other people. Weird I know. And I wonder why my skin still looks the same?

There’s a reason of course for my bad habit. That reason is plain old fear. With the amount of pressure we feel to have beautiful skin, yes still, I’m not quite strong enough to totally not feel it, experimenting with a skincare regime, frankly, quite terrifies me. How do I know if somethings working?

What if it is working, but working the wrong way? Will I do more damage than good? And with so many ridiculously similar yet different products out there, which ones do I pick? And certainly yes I could go and get a skin analysis and have a consultation to answer those questions for me. But they beg further questions. Which brand do I go with? 

Am I really going to show up at the counter bare faced and risk finding out how awful my skin may actually be? The answer is of course no. I don’t bloody know to the first question and a resounding no to the second. 

(Alright my skin isn’t awful but you know how it goes. You walk into Boots thinking you look quite nice actually and you’re immediately accosted by someone reminding you of how much you need their new concealer. I’ll pass thank you. I don’t hang around beauty counters chatting if I can help it!). 

If there’s one thing I wish I was better at, more knowledge about, more experimental with, more consistent with, its skincare. I absolutely love the idea of skincare. And there have been phases in my life where I have been utterly ridiculously consistent. Obsessive even. 

But skincare has a nasty way of phasing in and out of my life, and I’m now convinced that skincare is like any other habit, something you need to work at to stay consistent with, something you get better at, and something that hopefully eventually changes a little bit of your life. 

At least that’s what I’d like to think. There are definitely naysayers out there, people who firmly believe skincare doesn’t really do much. And they may well be right. 

But I’d like to hang in there believing it does a little longer please. Which is why I’m trying really hard to get back into being super consistent with my skincare. This was not an issue for me at all prior to my wedding a couple of months ago.

In the 9 months or so before the wedding I was pretty good at the lotions and potions and eye creams and sheet masks and under eye pads. But since the wedding, I’ve fallen off the wagon. Which is alright. It’s barely been three months so I imagine I’ve not done irreparable damage by not using three eye creams nightly. Every one needs a break sometimes. 

And to be fair I think my skin was better off for it, at least for awhile. But with the cooler months drawing in, I definitely want to up my game again and find the products I can stay with, hopefully for a few years to come. 

One line of skincare I’ve been LOVING in this respect, is the Origins Original Skin line. I’ve, like anyone else vaguely intimate with the blogging world, always heard the praises of Origins sung from the rooftops, especially some cult classics like the Ginseng Cleanser (I’m not a fan of the color orange so I have to say that’s been a factor in me never trying it! Ridiculous! But the truth).

However, I had myself yet to try any of their products, unsure as I was of where they were available in Dubai (Sephora you silly, and you claim to be obsessed with the place). 

But around early spring this year I was on a visit to the UK and passing through House of Fraser, when the most absolutely beautiful range of skincare caught my eye. And I was pleased to discover it was a line from Origins, a brand I had been wanting to try. And that too, it wasn’t orange. It was pink. Beautiful, sublime, soft blush pink. 

Lets face it, I was already sold, before I even opened the lid. I am a discerning customer if there ever was one. 

Lucky for me, the products are absolutely fabulous. 

I bought myself the Original Skin Matte Moisturize with Willowherb, sold as a great product for renewal and radiance for all skin types (as are all the products in this range), the Cleansing Makeup Removing Jelly with Willowherb (I love me a cleansing jelly!), the Retexturising Mask with Rose Clay, the Renewal Serum with Willowherb and the Essence Lotion with Dual Ferment Complex (trust me, its not as scary as it sounds. I think). Apart from the primer, I had literally picked up every product in the range. And I got a few free sheet masks to boot, so it was a good day all round. 
I have to admit that this has been my first foray into using an essence, and I was keen to get onto that bandwagon and find out what the whole hype with essences was about. The image of serenely pat, pat, patting a lovely silky essence onto a freshly scrubbed face made me feel quite good about myself indeed. 

The first thing that struck me about all the products, but especially that lovely jelly soft moisturizer, was the absolutely divine scent. Now, I know a lot of people pick up on and comment on the scent of a product. Those people are not me. I’d be lucky if I ever noticed the scent at all. Not so with the Origins Original Skin line. The scent is delicious. 

I’m not sure if its Willowherb, having never encountered willowherb in my life, or something in the medley of ingredients that make up this lovely, soft, feminine line of products, but the. Smell. Is. Out. Of. This. World. I found myself moisturizing and double moisturizing about a half hour later just to get that fresh waft of loveliness back. 

The serum and the essence, both newbie products to my routine, were lovely to integrate and I found myself wondering why I had never used them before! I imagine I may not get on as well with all serums and essences but these lovely, light, non greasy, and sunk right into my skin (hence making me want to use them all over again, right away!). 

The mask is easy to apply, dries down quickly but keeps its color, and while a bit of task to wash off, is nothing particularly crazy or difficult to clear away. I actually used it as the mask of choice at a pre wedding pamper party with a couple of friends, both of whom went out and bought it right away. The lovely pink clay leaves your skin looking instantly clearer, softer, and smoother. At least it did for all three of us, and we all have naturally quite different skin types. It’s also just so much nicer to put on a lovely pink face mask than a really rather awful grey or green one, let’s face it. 

I can’t always see a change in my skin when I start using a new skincare product, part of the reason why I like to live vicariously through other’s skincare regimes, more so than my own. I never quite have anything to report back. I’m happy to say, this time, that’s not been the case. With consistent use, my skin looked unusually clear by the time that my wedding came around. 

I’m not going to gush too much because it feels a little conceited, and I obviously don’t mean it quite that way, but I was very, very pleased with the radiance I could see on my face in all the photos I took near about and during my wedding. That’s exactly what you want on your big day, of course, and I imagine a lot of that credit needs to go to the Origins Original Skin line, seeing as it was the most major change to my pre wedding skincare routine. I have no complaints! 

I would suggest going out and picking up at least one of the products in the range, if for no other reason but to smell that absolutely unique and yummy scent. I’ve restocked (double moisturizing means you go through them a lot quicker!) already and can’t wait to get back on my skincare regime and end the day with a lovely lingering whiff of willowherb. 

Or two.