Developing a skincare routine takes a lot of trial and error, and tons of effort. While we can’t make finding the perfect product for your unique needs, we can make developing a skincare routine a little bit easier! Here’s a list of the ten steps we feel are ideal to any skincare routine!
The first step in any skincare routine should always be a cleanser. When applying any type of skincare product, you always want to start with a clean slate and a fresh face. Your cleanser’s job is to strip away dirt, dead skin, oil and makeup from your skin to clear out your pores and prepare your skin to soak up all the good stuff from the products in the rest of your skincare routine. Think of your cleanser as a giant eraser. It’s equipped to take away all of the mess to make room for the things you really need! You can use your cleanser in the morning right when you wake up, and at night before starting your nightly skin regimen.
Immediately following your cleanser, apply a facial toner. Designed to seal up your pores after being scrubbed clean by your cleanser, your toner acts as a barrier to keep bad stuff from seeping back into the pores you just spent all morning cleaning out. Toners will balance out the pH of your skin, which is basically just a fancy way of saying that toners work in harmony with the natural chemicals in your skin to keep it healthy, bright and beautiful.
While this step isn’t entirely necessary, it’s a great addition to your morning skincare routine if you feel like your skin tends to look a little tired or dull in the morning. Antioxidants help your skin to repair itself, so if you’re prone to acne scarring or dark marks an antioxidant treatment might be exactly what you’ve been looking for. In addition to aiding your skin in it’s natural healing process, antioxidant treatments can also help to boost the production of collagen in your skin, which helps your skin look younger and healthier!
One of the last steps to your morning skincare routine should be a daily moisturizer. Our skin, especially the skin on our faces, sees a lot of wear and tear during the process of our day. All the weather, stress, and even makeup we apply to our faces can dry our skin out, and make our skin look older than it actually is. A daily moisturizer helps lock in water and other essential vitamins and minerals on the top layer of your skin, to keep your skin looking, and feeling, soft all day long!
While this might seem like a silly step to some, it’s very important not to forget to apply sunscreen to your face EVERY day. Yep, you heard us! Even in the winter. While the sun’s rays may not be as strong in the winter, it’s still enough to damage your skin. We’re not saying you have to slather your face with SPF 100 zinc every morning, but adding a moisturizer with a sunscreen or applying an SPF 15 can make a HUGE difference in the appearance of your skin. Not to mention, you’re significantly reducing your chances of getting skin cancer. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get that gorgeous tan you loo forward to every year.
In addition to your cleanser and your toner, one of the first steps in your nightly skincare routine should be applying a facial scrub. Most facial scrubs contain small particles to exfoliate your face, acting as a loofah to collect any dirt or oil that as accumulated on your skin. By the end of the day, no matter how many steps your morning skincare routine is, your skin is always going to be weighed down by dirt and grime and oil it’s come into contact with throughout the duration of your day. Your facial scrub will act sort of like a power washer, and buff away all the stuff we don’t want sticking around on our skin!
The sweet spot for face masks is right around 2 nights a week. While most face masks are too much for our skin to handle every single night of the week, a couple times a week is just enough to give our skin a little pick-me-up! The type of face mask should vary depending on your skin type and your skin concerns, like using a hydrating mask for dry skin or a charcoal mask for skin prone to blackheads. This step is totally up to your discretion. Whatever you feel your skincare routine is most lacking, fill the void with a face mask!
The skin around our eyes is extremely sensitive and delicate, so having a separate product to help protect this area ensures we do not damage or irritate our skin. Eye creams are formulated specifically for the skin directly under our eyes, to help reduce puffiness, wrinkles and dark spots. Apply this product by itself, or apply side by side with your other treatments to save some time!
Skin treatments (retinol, anti-aging, acne treatments, etc.) come in all shapes and sizes, depending on your needs and desires. Your nighttime skincare routine is the perfect time to apply these treatments because it gives your skin plenty of time to soak up all the love from these products without excess dirt and makeup that our skin comes face to face with every day.
There really is no such thing as over-moisturizing, so even if you moisturize during the day it’s still a good idea to do it again at night. Applying a moisturizer at night right before you go to bed allows your skin to create a protective barrier against dirt and harmful substances while you sleep, so you’ll wake up with skin that feels healthier and softer!
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