My Skincare Routine

                           What am I doing, to stop my face turning into a raisin?

Nature gives you the face you have at 20. It’s up to you to merit the face you have at 50. – Coco Chanel

So, let me start of by saying the obvious. I am NOT a skin care expert in any way shape or form. In fact if I am to be brutally honest I took appalling care of my skin. Appalling in that I had ZERO skin care routine in place, nothing. Zilch!! All I would do honestly was use my neutrogena make up wipes ( which are my faves for removing makeup by the way) and that was it. I am in my 30’s now, waaaaaay past due a good routine unless I want my skin to dry up and turn into an over ripened fruit with more wrinkles than a sharpei. I can’t go on like this. Which was why one of my ‘New year, new me” vouches was to take care of and develop better skin care habits. What better way to start it off than with a free class from Sephora. I had never taken a class with them before and let me start off by saying it was brilliant. I was so nervous because I didn’t know what to expect but I wanted to learn and see what I should be doing correctly. The teacher was informative and funny and put us all at ease, her name was Sharon and she took us through a routine that would literally make our skins glow by the end and felt like a babies arse! If you are a beauty insider these classes are free to take so keep your eyes out on your emails and on their instagram page for the links to classes that suit you. I will be going through some of the products we used as I did purchase one of them. I just want to mention too that after the class they do not harass you at all to buy the products you use, just to clarify, the option is yours to just do the class and leave or you have the option to buy so don’t feel like if you go you need to spend money. So, next I am going to jump right in and go through my routine with some of my fave products that I am using right now, some are pricey but a lot are drugstore brand and totally affordable. So, here I go.

What Am I Using? And How Am I Using It?

Ok first things first, if you have any makeup on you need to remove it.

Removing Your Makeup. Depending on how much make up you are wearing you can invest also in a good eye makeup remover which I still need to do but have not. I used Clinique Rinse off eye makeup remover in the class since I had a lot on that day and it came off super easy which I liked. It meant there was no harsh rubbing at my eyes and was super quick removing. After that, we used a make up melter balm, there are so many out there right now that are amazing, I had tried the Boscia charcoal one before and I honestly didn’t like it for me personally. I felt it was too heavy.

On the day of the class though I chose to use the IT cosmetics, Bye Bye Makeup melting Balm and I did like it better than the boscia but for now, I am still using wipes to remove my initial Makeup Face. After removing your makeup, your going to Cleanse your face again, this is called double cleansing. I know, I know, why do I have to clean it again, i just got rid of all my makeup, right? Wrong! you would be amazed how much, makeup, dirt, oil and grime is still left on your pretty face. A good cleanser is the start of it all. From what we were told AHA’s ( alpha Hydroxy acids) are great when in your skincare products when you need a glowing complexion, and so, try pick a product with one in it when it comes to cleansing. 

Cleansing. So on the day of class we used a nice one I actually never heard of before called Glow recipe, blueberry cleanser and it was quite nice but for me I have to stick with old faithful which is of course from Pixi beauty. I am a huge fan of Pixi because it is super affordable for people and IT WORKS. I have scrimped and used drugstore brands before and they didn’t work for me because my skin is quite sensitive. I should also mention I have combination skin, my cheeks, forehead and chin often get white oily with some dry patches around my nose at times so Pixi suits me very well since it tends to target all skin types in the products that I use. I am using their Glow Tonic Cleansing Gel right now and it contains Glycolic Acid which is great for renewing your skin to a beautiful fresh face by exfoliating it and brightening. You apply  this to damp skin and what I do is keep a damp wash cloth by me. I apply a small amount to my skin and I use my Foreo Luna Play Plus to massage that into my skin.

I LOVE my Foreo by the way.  The Foreo is a cleansing device, its waterproof and lightweight and  just gives me confidence that my face has been cleaned correctly. There are so many to choose from and vary in price, the ones I really want are quite pricey but I snatched up the Luna play plus from sephora for $49 – a steal.

After cleansing my routine varies. I like to use a mask maybe once or twice a week, so on the nights that I’m going to mask, this is when I would use one. In the class we used a Vitamin C product which was Tatcha’s Voilet C mask and it was DEVINE and on my Wish list for sure. On my normal every day routine I tone at this point. Its also worth mentioning that Pixi has released a Vit-C line, just saying.

Toning. Now, I have two toners I vary between, again from Pixi Beauty. (read my post on their Glow Tonic for more information specific to just these products). I normally just use my Glow tonic but I do like to use the Rose Tonic when I feel my skin is acting up, red and irritated. The rose tonic is perfect for healing purposes  and again helps to brighten your skin revealing your inner glow. I apply this with cotton pads and I also like to bring some down onto my neck too. Thats just me. Toning is going to help your pores tighten up and for me thats needed as I have quite large pores that I do not like.

Serum. After toning, or masking I use the Rose Caviar Essence which is essentially a serum to Hydrate your Skin and this is  seriously one of my faves from their line. I take a small bit and press it into my skin just with my hands and let it absorb. It makes my skin feel so hydrated and it just melts into your face and neck, and it smells so good.

Rose is one of my favorite scents in skin care products. It is full of natural ingredients with antioxidant rich oils  that help refine and tone your skin. In the class we were told about and got to use a Retinol based product, now because I never used before they gave me a retinoid product (Murad retinol youth  renewal serum) which is less harsh and I did like it but I chose a different product to buy which I will talk about next.

Eye Cream. I NEVER used eye cream, EVER!!! At the class we learned how important it is to use eye cream, specially when you start to age. the skin around your eyes are so much thinner and don’t absorb certain products the way the rest of our skin does. sometimes people may notice little white balls beneath the skin under their eyes and its actually moisturizer/product that was absorbed but has nowhere to go now so its vital to use the correct product, and that is why I purchased an eye cream that day, as I  had none. I use the Sunday Riley Auto Correct cream and it goes a long way with only the tiniest amount needed. Apply it with your  ring fingers under the eye and up onto the brow bone to brighten and depute eyes.

Moisturize. So there is two products I like to use in conjunction with the moisturizing topic. I use my Rose Flash balm first which I apply in a thin layer, not rubbing in, just to give me that boost of hydration and glow. It is great for when I feel like I look like a Sham, after a long night with the baby waking up.

Then I apply the Rose Ceramide cream which is so nice, its not as heavy as the flash balm but drenches my skin in hydration and leaves it feeling so soft and smooth.The Teacher also mentioned that your moisturizer   such contain antioxidants which these do.

I lied, there is another   product I like to throw in this section too, but I only use it once a week if I can or if I feel my skin really needs extra nourishing, its the Rose Oil Blend. Just a couple of drops rubbed in only at nighttime for me gives my skin a nice top up.

Glow. My last step is to spritz on my Rose Glow mist only if I am  going out I don’t do this step at bedtime.The mist sets everything I have done trapping in moisture and giving me a nice glow. I also like to use the Hydrating Milky Mist for hydration too.

And Finito!! I do apologize if it seems long but this is my routine now morning and night so that my skin starts to know I love it and doesn’t let me down as i start to age. Living in Florida I need to make sure I also use Sunscreen too to eliminate signs of aging and skin cancer risks. The elements are things that effect our skin daily so we need to be kind to our skin and feed it what it needs. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope that it is helpful in helping you too in creating a better skin routine for yourself.

K. xx