Beauty Saturday: Skincare Edit
Hello hello, this is Beauty Saturday. For this skincare edit I wanted to show the products I've been loving the-most. My skin journey has been a little wild to be honest. It started with that weird annoying acne when you are a teenager to a completely clear skin when I was 18. Happiest thing that can happen to someone right?
Then, adult acne came.
When I first moved here, for some reason my skin started to react and break out. Adult acne is commonly due to several reasons like an imbalance in your hormone levels, stress, and some hair and skin care products. I tried a lot of products on and off to reduce the breakouts, I switched my diet to a all natural ingredients, no sugar, reduced dairy, and even tried vitamins for the skin, all these unsuccessfully. The breakouts were-there.
So I decided to educate myself about it.
Having a clean diet influences a lot if you have acne prone skin. Decreasing inflammatory foods such as nuts and dairy really helps to improve the overall appearance of your body, and your skin. But using the right products, and giving your skin what it needs will clear your skin super fast.
Let's talk about my routine:
Everything starts before going to bed. I cannot stress enough the importance of removing your makeup and cleansing your face before going to sleep. During the night, your body renews itself, assimilating everything it had the day before. Cleansing your face allows you to remove all the toxins accumulated from the day, unclog your pores and refresh your skin during the night. I like to use micellar waters to remove my makeup and prepare the skin before using the cleanser.
The next morning I do the same thing, use a cleansing water in a cotton pad and wash my face with a simple antibacterial cleanser. I realized that the simplest the cleanser is, the better my skin reacts to it. After that, I follow up with a toner. Why toner? Easy. Toners are great for eliminating toxins and traces of dirt and grime the cleanser couldn't remove. Using toner is amazing for people with acne-prone skin, oily skin or to extra cleanse after wearing makeup or other heavy products like sunscreen. Benefits? It shrinks your pores, gives your skin pH balance, it adds a layer of protection, it moisturizes, refreshes skin and most importantly (at least for me), it prevents dark spots. Something you have to take into account though, is looking for a toner that is alcohol free. The reason is because alcohol strips down the essential oils your skin produces, creating dry patches on your face, and it darkens hyper pigmentation or any scarring from acne or other.
Long story short, I LOVE toners.
Lets keep moving. After the toner I like to apply Vitamin C serums. Vitamin C itself is amazing for your skin, but besides that, serums penetrate deeper in your pores, absorbing all the benefits from these. To be honest, this is one of the things that I can say there was a before and after in my skin using a Vitamin C serum. It stimulate collagen production, and this can prevent wrinkles, brightens your skin, provides UV protection and shrinks your pores. Two words:
Baby-face. Believe me!
Now its time for Sunscreen. There are countless of articles explaining WHY the use of sunscreen in your face is so important. They go from preventing wrinkles and hyper pigmentation, to preventing skin cancer.
COUNTLESS of benefits.
If you would make me choose which product to keep, it would be Sunscreen.
Last, moisturizer. Obsessed with moisturizer. I l-o-v-e it. The reason? Simple, it prevents flaking and dullness, allows my makeup to look great and flawless, and it feels so good in general. So quick recap:
Cleanser-toner-vitamin C serum- sunscreen- moisturizer.
Tips and tricks?
- Exfoliate your skin, but not everyday. Sensitive, oily, normal or dry, your face is one of the most delicate parts of your body and exposing your skin to harsh exfoliators and products dries it even more and strips out all the natural oils it produce. Use a gentile exfoliator two days a week to deeply cleanse your pores, but don't overuse it.
- Buy a cleansing brush. This works as a exfoliator as well, but in a more subtle way. You can use it with a foam cleanser, or the regular gel cleanser. It allows you to penetrate deeper into your pores, cleansing them and removing bacteria that causes inflammation and acne.
- Thermal and Rose waters: These are great to locking the moisture in your skin. They refreshens and provide a smooth surface in your face, facilitating makeup.
That is it! It is all about listening to your body, and understanding what it is asking you. Treat your skin as if its the most delicate thing you have, because it is! You will find a list of my favorite products bellow. Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Xoxo,
Esther