These days I’m really into healthy skin and minimal makeup. My face is at its best with a super simple routine; the more I experiment with products the more aggravated my combination-dry sensitive skin becomes. When it’s angry, it rebels in the worst ways: flakiness, redness, and cystic acne breakouts that leave discoloration behind for weeks.
So for now, I’m skipping the harsh chemicals and anti-aging formulas in favor of gentle, natural products… with high hopes that lots of moisturizer and SPF will guarantee good skin for the long-haul. It worked for my grandmother, so fingers crossed.
Keep reading for a long-winded breakdown of my current short-list routine!
1. CLEANSE & EXFOLIATE
- Aubrey Organics Facial Cleansing Cream – (recently repackaged) I’m really lazy about washing my face at night. I love this gentle cream cleanser — which I stumbled upon in a local health store — because I can massage a handful of it right onto my dry skin at the end of the day and quickly dissolve every speck of makeup, sunscreen, and oil. I remove it with a warm clean washcloth or a Simone France cleansing cloth. It leaves my skin clean, soft and lightly hydrated; on the nights I’m really not feeling it (which is most nights) I can skip moisturizer all together and crawl straight into bed.
- Alba Botanica Good & Clean Toxin Release Scrub – Most mornings I skip washing my face; I splash it with cool water and go right to moisturizer. But a few times a week, I exfoliate with this gentle natural scrub while I’m in the shower and it keeps any dryness or flakiness at bay.
2. MOISTURIZE
- Sweet Almond Oil – I’m all about organic oils for cosmetic purposes; I could and should write a separate blog post about all the oils I use on the daily from head-to-toe. Sweet almond oil is really light and non-comodogenic, so it absorbs quickly and doesn’t clog pores. I use a few drops on my face and neck, morning and night before applying moisturizer.
- Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè – I first read about this multi-tasker on my beauty bible, Into the Gloss, and found it for half-off on Hautelook shortly after. It’s a triple-threat — primer, moisturizer and makeup remover — and I slather it on over the sweet almond oil in the morning. It keeps my skin moisturized and glowy all day under tinted moisturizer or SPF.
3. TREAT & PAMPER
- Simone France Complexion Perfection & Instant Radiance Masks – I try to make time once a week for a mask treatment, but it doesn’t always happen. Simone France masks are my favorite; both of these are tightening and give pores a deep cleansing, but Instant Radiance has salicylic acid and citric acid that really gets in there for extra exfoliation. I love using these just before applying makeup for a special occasion, they really prep the skin and make it a bright and smooth canvas for foundation and powders.
What do you think?