My Super Simple (and Not Expensive) Skincare Routine
The most sure-fire way to lose me is to make something overly complicated, and skincare is absolutely no exception. I will never forgive the internet for that whole “twelve step nightly beauty routine” era that involved not only a dozen products but the tools to apply/remove/spread/heat/cool them. I am proud to say that when that was trending, as excited as I always am to learn about and even purchase new products, you would not catch me doing more than three steps, four if you count taking off my eye makeup.
via Giphy
Later, when we found out that the multi-product routine was just another marketing ploy to get us to buy more products by making us think we needed more products, which in turn stripped our skin, clogged our pores, and then literally made us need more products (or intervention from a dermatologist with a prescription pad), we learned that what your skin needs is, essentially, room to breathe. And for me, that could not be more my speed.
I need to preface this recommendation by saying that I luckily have relatively well-behaved skin. I am tempted to attribute that to a lifetime of simple skincare, save for the time in high school when I put apple-scented, bright lip gloss onto a patch of dry skin on my face every night for a month and thought that would be a viable treatment. I can’t speak as a dermatologist, but I have reason to believe that paring down your products and focusing on some key ingredients like retinol, BHA, AHA and Vitamin C, while also avoiding chemicals and toxins, will get you pretty far.
Followers of this blog KNOW I consult EWG.org/SkinDeep before buying or using anything. It is a database that breaks down the ingredients and rates them from 1-10 in terms of toxicity, and has been vital to me in my quest to quite literally clean up.
Here is my super simple daily Skincare Routine and all the products I use daily. It’s more or less 6 steps, the bulk of which take place in the morning with a quick re-up at night to remove makeup and moisturize.
MORNING:
1.) Cleanser - Bluemercury M-61 Perfect Cleanse
2. Toner - Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant
BONUS: Special Treat Toner, 2x/week - Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA/BHA Pore-Tightening Toner (40% right now!)
3.) Exfoliant - Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Lotion Exfoliant. It tingles ever so slightly, which makes me feel like it works, and it provides a little bit of light moisturizing action, too. I use this before using a moisturizer.
Okay, now here’s where it gets really unsexy but really effective…
4.) Moisturizer - Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin. This is the most no-frills you can get, and guess what: It was recommended to me by my dermatologist. Not only is it $15 (!!!) and derm-recommended, it has a nearly perfect score of “1” on EWG.org/skindeep. (A truly perfect score is EWG Verified, which means they fully sign off on the clean-ness of its ingredients, but for me personally, a 1, 2 and even up to 4 flies, depending on what the 4 is for - if it’s for things like fragrance or possibly allergens, I typically let it slide.)
NIGHT:
I admit, I get very lazy at night. Sometimes I have to give myself a pep talk to remove my makeup, but at the recommendation of an aesthetician during a hydrafacial recently, I decided to not only remove my makeup, but also focus on moisturizing.
5.) Makeup Remover - Ponds Cold Cream. Forgive me for this one guys. I use this because my grandma used this all her life and she looked amazing. It’s not exactly clean, but it’s definitely cheap, effective, and multi-use - it is so moisturizing that I feel like it addresses eye wrinkles as well.
I’d like to try a cleansing oil, so stay tuned for a review on that soon.
I use these Reusable Cotton Rounds from Paula’s Choice, and I just bought a bunch of washclothes from Amazon that I plan to use for a warm (NOT hot) wash before bed when I start Step 6.
6.) Moisturizer! I have a couple options here. Some nights I just use my trusty Vanicream. Once a week I use a Pipette Overnight Brightening Mask, which I learned about from Hilaria Baldwin of all people, and it’s EWG Verified, their highest rating.
I am about to start using a face oil, which I have never done before! I am going to try this 2-3 nights a week to start, and it may become a nightly thing. I did lots of research and already selected a product and will be testing it and reviewing it here on Untouchable! It’s Furtuna Skin Due Alberi Biphase Moisturizing Oil, also EWG Verified and currently on sale at Anthropologie! This would go perfectly with a quick, 10 second facial sculpting/lymphatic drainage massage that I learned from one of my favorite Insta accounts, Liz Heit.
Other than that, I have started using a silk pillowcase. I alternate between two, the Slip pillowcase and one from Kitsch. I am going to do a full review on the Kitsch ones, which is actually my favorite of the two.
So, there you have it! I’ll link everything below as well so you can browse. What do you think? Easy enough? Have you tried any of these and loved them? Comment below, I love to talk beauty products!
