I believe in many things; that your favorite sandwich tells a lot about you (mine is BLT for those wondering), that “positive vibes only” is a whole lot of fair-weather bullshit, and that taking care of your skin is basic care for everyone. Your skin is your largest organ; treat it as you would any other part of your body. You wouldn’t let your cardiovascular system go uncared for, so why would you let your integumentary system?
I will be the first to admit that all things considered, I am genetically #blessed with “good” skin. I rarely develop blemishes (and those that are tend to be either reactive to something I have worn or due to my bad habit of touching my face when frustrated), I generally don’t have a lot of discoloration, no acne, and the actual worst of it is some persistent redness.
I didn’t develop a skincare routine until I was 23, but even before this, my years of being a teenage hermit did me some good in the fact that I rarely exposed myself to sun and kept out of skin cancer and photo-aging’s way. But as I am now (said in Wayne’s voice from Wayne’s World) a little bit older and a little bit wiser, I do have a skincare routine set in place that I will eventually expand upon. It is not much of a routine, but it exists.
Today, though, are what I’ve gone through thus far this summer, now that I have a few things.
As I said before, I don’t have a particularly extensive routine and I generally don’t follow the Korean Beauty line of using 10-11 products in a given night. However, when I do use is tried and true for me and my dry, reactive skin. None of what I say here should be taken as a comprehensive review, but I’ll share what these products do for me and what role they fill in my skincare routine.
Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm – Facial Cleanser
- I tend to use two cleansers to remove makeup or to clean my face. This particular one serves as my cleanser for removing facial makeup. I use a little bit of the Shiseido cotton rounds and swirl it in the tub (usually at the ends rather than the center), wet it, and begin to remove my makeup. I find this is not particularly drying and does a great job at not irritating my skin but doing the job in which it was intended when purchased.
The Ordinary Lactic Acid 5% + HA 2% – Chemical Exfoliant
- As a lizard woman, it is important for me to have a heat rock to digest, but also a chemical exfoliant to keep my flaky skin at bay. I prefer lactic acid to glycolic acid because it is much gentler and is much more effective at reducing my redness. I also tend to prefer a chemical exfoliant over a physical exfoliant out of concern for micro-tears in the skin and the simple fact it’s much easier to deal with; I just use the dropper (not my favorite method) onto a cotton round and lightly press into the skin and let it sink in for 20 minutes before moving on.
belif The True Cream – Moisturizing Bomb – Night Moisturizer
- There are many things I generally do to keep the scale-skin at bay; I use a chemical exfoliant, I use moisturizer, I (sometimes) use oils, I use a nourishing primer, I use a water-based foundation. While all these things are nice, this is the only product that has really made a difference in my skin’s moisture levels (well, that, and actually drinking water.) I use it at night-time because it is a thicker cream, but once it’s on the skin, I don’t personally find it to be particularly heavy.
At some point, I will be doing a more thorough review on each of these products. All three of these are staples of mine and it certainly won’t be the last you hear of them from me.
Yours ’til Niagara Falls,
Jupiter Gimlet