The Beauty of a Good Education

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abrasions, acne, anti ageing, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, bacteria, base, breakout, brighter, Calming, clean, clear, college, complexion, cuts, dermalogica, Dermalogica All Over Toner, Dermalogica Breakout Control, Dermalogica UltraCalming Redness Relief Primer SPF20, Elemis, Elemis Tea Tree S.O.S. Spray, Elemis White Brightening Even Tone Cleanser, formulation, foundation, illuminated, impurities, mattified, mattify, oil, over-sensitised, primer, redness, school, sebum, sensitised, sensitive, September, skin, smoother, SPF, spot, spots, student, study, sun, teenager, Toner, university

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It’s the end of August which means that Autumn is on it’s way, school will be restarting again soon and the lazy summer days will be replaced with routine and structure, especially for those in education. Whether you’re starting a new school, college or university, you’ll want to be doing so with the best skin possible, so we’re going to show you five products which can help:

Dermalogica UltraCalming Redness Relief Primer SPF20

Sensitised skin can be difficult to control, and many products will add to the problem. This primer from Dermalogica is designed to minimise redness, mattify the skin by controlling sebum production and provide a good base on which to put make-up, giving you the confidence of knowing that your foundation will stay in place all day. It contains a green tint which counteracts redness and an SPF which protects the skin from the sun’s harmful rays.

Elemis Tea Tree S.O.S. Spray

This S.O.S. Spray from Elemis might not be a lifesaver, as such, but it’s definitely a SKIN saver – the cooling teat tree will help to soothe over-sensitised skin while the anti-bacterial properties will kill spot-causing bacteria, helping you to cut the cause of breakouts before they even occur. It can be sprayed directly onto the face to help speed up the healing process if you’ve already had a breakout, and can even be used on other cuts and abrasions for an antibacterial and antiviral barrier.

Dermalogica Breakout Control

If your skin is prone to acne or hormonal breakouts, it can be tricky to know when breakouts are going to happen and treat them before the fact. This lotion from Dermalogica is a fast-but-gentle formulation which is designed to target the bacteria which causes breakouts to halt them in their tracks, and contains natural sponges to absorb sebum which can make the skin oily. It contains soothing ingredients which help to calm the skin and reduce sebum production and is gentle enough to be used daily, under your normal moisturiser.

Elemis White Brightening Even Tone Cleanser

Keeping your skin super clean is the first step to staying breakout-free but that can be tricky as some cleansers irritate the skin and make spots worse. This cleanser from Elemis has been designed for daily use and gently removes impurities, reduces the appearance of excess oil and reveals a super-clean and mattified complexion. Skin is left smoother, brighter and naturally illuminated, as well as being clean and clear.

Dermalogica All Over Toner

This toner is the perfect product for keeping in your school bag as it provides a much-needed spritz of cooling toner, right when your skin needs it the most. It calms redness, kills spot-causing bacteria and helps to keep spot and acne prone skin under control. It’s perfect for teenage skin and can either be sprayed directly onto the face, or wiped onto problematic area with a cotton pad.

In a pickle

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boil, bread and cheese, brown sugar, burgers, cast sugar, grill, jar, lemon juice, oven, over-ripe fruit, pan, preserving sugar, purple beauties, red onions, ripe damsons, saucer, sea salt, September, simmer, soft, tomatoes, wrinkles

As summer comes to an end and autumn begins, many of us are switching from burgers on the grill to jacket potatoes in the oven.

With a wide variety of gorgeous autumn produce on offer, this is the perfect time to get to work in the kitchen making chutneys, pickles and jams that will take you through to spring.

To save you slaving over books, we are sharing our favourite recipes that will make your mouth water and taste buds tingle.

Tomato chutney is an autumn kitchen cupboard staple and a great way to use up anything still growing on the allotment.

This recipe does take two days to complete, but is so worth it.

What you will need:
3kg tomatoes
500g red onions
1 large tablespoon of sea salt
500g juicy sultanas
500g cooking apples
500g organic brown sugar
1.14 litre spice pickling vinegar – we love Sarsons

Slice and skin the tomatoes and chop the onions as finely as you can, then place in a large bowl with the salt. Put a clean tea towel over the top and leave somewhere cool overnight.

Next day chop and core the apples and chop the sultanas too.

Mix the sugar and vinegar in a large pan, then stir as you bring to the boil and totally dissolve the sugar. Add the apples and sultanas and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the tomatoes and onions in a colander, add to the pan and return to the boil. Then simmer the liquid for around an hour, stirring now and again until you have a lovely thick, pulpy mixture.

Once cooled, put into clean, sterilised jars and enjoy with bread and cheese.

Damson Jelly is a fantastic preserve that you can spread on buttered toast or enjoy with colds meats and Sunday lunch.

To make a decent batch of delicious jelly you will need the following ingredients and a little bit of patience, as this can be a fiddly recipe to perfect:

2kg soft, ripe damsons
The juice of two organic lemons
A bag of preserving sugar
Water

Once you have washed the fruit put it in a large pan together with 300 ml of water. Slowly bring to the boil before simmering for around an hour or until the damsons are soft.

Very carefully sieve the hot fruit and catch the resulting liquid in a large bowl. Leave to rest for around three hours.

Next measure the cooled mixture into a pan and add 500g of sugar for every 500ml of liquid. Stir this over a low heat and once the sugar has completely dissolved, raise the temperature and boil until the ‘setting point’ is reached. To find the setting point, put a little jelly onto a saucer, cool slightly then push with your finger. If the mixture wrinkles it is ready, if not, return to the heat, boil for five more minutes and test again.

Put the jelly into sterilised jars, cool before sealing and use within a year, but we think it will be eaten sooner than that!

September is the perfect time for blackberry picking and these purple beauties are perfect for making jam.

To make traditional no nonsense blackberry jam, you will need around three hours of time and the following ingredients:

2kg of just ripe blackberries – if they are a little sharp they will set better than over-ripe fruit
100 ml water
3 tablespoons of organic lemon juice
2kg caster sugar

Put the blackberries, lemon juice and water in a large pan and simmer until the fruit has broken down and is soft and lumpy. This tends to take around an hour and a half.

Once ready, add the sugar and bring to the boil whilst stirring all the time. You can then start testing for the ‘setting point’ using the same method as above. Once ready, place into sterilised jars and seal immediately. Leave in a cool, dark place for 24 hours and then you are ready to enjoy with fresh bread or scones and cream.

Happy cooking and let us know how you get on.

Team Pure-Beauty