My Skincare Routine
The one thing that I care about the most on my body is my skin. I am often asked “what do you use on your skin?” “Can you recommend some products to treat my dark spots?” and the list goes on. It’s sometimes hard for me to really answer because my mind immediately goes to an old quote my esthetician told me, “Your outside appearance is really a reflection of what’s on the inside”. Now I am not about to go all “politically correct” on y’all BUT the saying is true! It took me a while to really grasp that concept because I was trying to treat the problematic areas on my skin without listening to my body and paying attention to how my skin reacted when I ate certain things. With a lot of trial & error, ingredient studying and dietary changes, I was able to bring the glow back into my skin flawlessly, sooooo let’s get into the details of my routine.
First things first, determining your skin type is important. Oily, Combination, Dry, Normal or Sensitive are the most common skin types. I have dry to combination skin as the winter months suck all of the moisture out of me. Cerave has a great tool to help you determine your skin type. What type of Skin do I have?
Knowing your skin type helps you determine which products to use that will give you the best results. Once I determined my skin type, I took pictures of my face AFTER washing it with just water and wrote down my “concern” areas. Dark circles, hyperpigmentation and dullness were my top three. From there I did a good ole search on the web for the best ingredients that targeted my “concern” areas. If you’re a visual person like me, the tables below made all of the information I had read, more digestible.
Now I was ready to SHOP. For skin care that is! I literally went on sephora.com and ulta.com and looked for the top-rated products based off the ingredient list I created. I tried SEVERAL brands and I mean SEVERAL before landing on my top favorites who, by the pictures above, got my skin all the way together! For two years straight, I have used the below products and I’m going to continue to stick beside them until my skin tells me to move on. (Remember your body/skin talks to you so listen!)
Products I use and highly recommend:
Cleanser: Kiehls Cucumber Herbal cleanser (winter) Kiehl's Calendula Deep Cleansing Face wash (summer)
Toner: Paula's Choice skin perfecting 2 BHA Liquid Exfoliant
Serum: Clarins Double Serum Firming & Soothing anti-aging Concentrate
Eye Cream: Sunday Riley Auto Correct Brightening + Depuffing eye cream
Moisturizer: Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream
Sunscreen( Wear this everyday. Every single day!): Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen
Bonus- Face oil (Vitamin C): Sunday Riley C.E.O Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric face oil
Not many articles touched on this but exfoliating your skin helps to remove dead skin tissues which also helps with reviving your skin’s natural glow. Dermalogica’s daily Microfoliant is a fantastic product which can be used daily to start and reduced as needed. This exfoliant is also great at minimizing your pores. I have to give a separate callout to sunscreen because it literally is the key to treating dark spots. So if you are experiencing dark spots, apply sunscreen two times a day everyday and it will help eliminate those spots. Trust me, it really does.
One more callout, the biggest thing that transformed my skin was eliminating dairy-which was causing me some major issues. I know, I know- I said I wasn’t going to preach about it BUT many skin concerns such as breakouts and sensitivity are due to our bodies reacting to the foods we are eating. Taking a food sensitivity test is another great way to give you an idea of what your body disagrees with. That way, you can be intentional with your process of elimination and whatever skincare products you use will yield you better results.
Now that you are on the road to flawless skin, the type of items you use to apply your skincare products are essential as well. Here are just a few:
Cotton balls
Your fingers!
Okay friend, you ready to Glow-up now?! I hope this helped you feel more confident in revamping or even starting your skincare journey. Let me know what you think in the comments and follow me for more tips here and on Instagram. Until next time, peace!
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Meya T.
