Skin Care : Real Talk

I've told you guys about my favorite makeup removers, but I think it's probably time to talk to you about skin care. Obviously, your skin is very important and what you do to it in your skin now will show on your face in your later years. Taking care of your skin does not mean slathering it in anti-aging products, it just mean doing what it calls for.

I have combination skin, so I'm going to walk you through my skin care routine. I don't have the greatest skin, I have visible pores and occasional acne, but I continue my routine regardless of breakouts. Keep reading to find out what I do

 

The first thing that I do is remove the majority of my makeup. I always remove my makeup before I wash my face because I noticed that I would still have makeup residue on my face after washing if I didn't. I go over my entire face with my Up & Up makeup removing wipes and I lightly go over my eyes. It's really important to remember not to rub your eyes when removing makeup. Rubbing leads to eyelash loss and over years and years, can lead to premature wrinkles.

 

The next thing I do is wash my face and 5 out of 7 days, I do this step in the shower. I use my Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser for Normal to Oily Skin. You're not really supposed to exfoliate every day, but I do... Honestly, this is probably not great for my skin, but it looks better when I use my Clarisonic every day. I am gentle with my brush and I don't scrub my skin with it. I use Cetaphil because it's a very gentle cleanser and it doesn't dry my skin out and it doesn't make my skin oily, the best of both worlds for girls with combination skin. It did take about two weeks for my skin to get used to this cleanser, which is normal. Any time that you switch facial cleansers, you need to give them about two weeks to see if they're actually working. You know how every acne product ever says to give it 2-4 weeks to see results? Same idea here.

This is an optional step and I don't need it every night, but after my shower, I do sometimes need to use more makeup remover. If I've had particularly heavy makeup on that day, I go back through with my Lancome Bi-Facil eye makeup remover. I just put this on a cotton ball and gently wipe; remember, never rub!

Every night and every morning, I put on moisturizer. I used to skip this step a lot when I was in my early 20s and still had very oily skin, but I shouldn't have. No matter how oily your skin is, it always wants moisture; healthy skin is moisturized skin. The great thing about moisturizers, is that there are so many different kinds these days, that everyone can find one that works. If you have oily skin, that have moisturizers that also mattify, if your skin is dry, there are heavy moisturizers, etc. I use Dramatically Different Moisturizing GEL by Clinique because it is made for combination/oily skin and has no oil in it. The only downfall of this moisturizer is that is doesn't have SPF.

In the mornings, my routine is very simple.

 

Again, I use a gentle cleanser and at the moment, I'm using Wild Rose Daily Brightening & Refinishing Buff Cleanser by Korres. Generally speaking, I would not use a cleanser this expensive, but it came free with something else that I bought over the holidays. Unfortuantely, for me and my wallet, I like this a lot. It's a bit creamy and and has tiny little exfoliating particles (not beads) in it. The exfoliating particles are few and far between, so you're not doing much damage to your skin. It's very gentle on my face and smells like roses.

After I wash my face, I apply my moisturizer! Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize; I don't think I can emphasize that enough. If you find that you break out from moisturizing, then you are using the wrong moisturizer and need to find something different. There are a lot of great brands out there. Here are a few that make great moisturizers:

Clinique

Embryolisse (I recommend this for dry skinned folks/dry winter skin)

CeraVe

Ceatphil

Aveeno

The awesome thing about almost all of those brands, is that they have tons of different formulas, so you can find one that works just for your skin.

I hope that this gives you guys some ideas about cleaning your skin each day or perhaps gets you to use more moisturizer :)