1. Not cleansing correctly
‘If you don’t remove cleanser correctly, cleansing particles sit deep in your skin,’ Nichola explains.
‘That will lead to congestion and cause breakouts and also an imbalance of pH levels. Essentially, you have to make sure you cleanse off your cleanser.
Nichola is famed – and loved by the A-list – for her bizarre ‘inner facial’, which costs £250 and involved her massaging the inside of her client’s mouths
‘In the evening I always make sure I remove any environmental grime, and then do a second cleanse to cleanse the skin slightly deeper.’
2. Skipping toner
‘This is one of the most important elements for keeping skin clean and maintaining its pH levels,’ Nichola explains.
‘It can also re-balance, refresh, and remove any cleansing particles that are still in the skin – as well as helping to remove cleanser.’
3. Wearing too much makeup
‘Nowadays, girls in their twenties wear far more makeup, layers of foundation and contouring and illuminators, and that can be quite damaging because there’s quite a heavy build-up on the skin,’ says Nichola.
‘The most important thing is to remove all of your makeup and do a gentle exfoliation. Too much makeup can cause congestion and cause breakouts.’
4. Rushing your routine
‘It’s imperative to break your skincare regime up into stages,’ says Nichola.
‘As soon as you get home, the first thing you must do is remove the grime and pollution, then allow your skin to optimise the heavy-working products like anti-ageing products.
‘Do those first steps very early in the evening and leave for at least three to four hours.
‘If they’re working throughout the early evening while you’re cooking or watching TV, they can work quite freely and you’re still active and moving therefore your blood is circulating quite highly. That helps the function which helps efficacy of the product.
‘And then, when you put an oil on at bedtime, because you’ve given these products time to work.
‘When you massage an oil in at bedtime, it traps those products skin-deep so it keeps them working.’
Nichola also reccomends an anti-ageing supplement called Lumity.
The two-part supplement programme (you take one in the morning and one at night) contains a variety of useful vitamins and amino acids, and was created by a Cambridge University graduate.
The celebrity favourite also contains nutrients including lysine, selenium, vitamin D and magnesium to support hormone production.
‘I’ve been using it religiously for about a year,’ Nichola reveals. ‘It makes a massive difference; helps to heal the inside of my body and helps me to recover quickly.
‘It also helps to re-balance my hormones, and helps with hair as well.’