Ok, so fountain of youth may be a little dramatic of a claim. But to be fair, getting a skincare routine that works for you as early as possible doesn’t exactly hurt the aging process either.
As a teenager I couldn’t have had a second thought about skincare outside of washing my face in the shower and maybe putting on some lotion if my face felt a little dry. I was one who was blessed with pretty, for lack of a better word, awesome skin as a teenager. It was mostly blemish free, and bounced back from everything I threw at it. Heading into my early twenties it soon became a reality that this was not always going to be the case, and that reality set in quick and in a hurry.
Early in my twenties I began to get blemishes from things I had never considered before, lots of texture across my forehead, as well as wrinkles that began to set in. When the wrinkles on your face don’t go away after your “pillow face” goes away in the morning, it can be a cause for a mild (or maybe not so mild) freak out.
Luckily I was smart enough to pay attention and begin searching out a skincare regimen that worked for me and my skin. Below, I will go through the steps I use to take care of my biggest organ and hopefully share some things that may help you on your own personal trial and error journey.
Before I begin, a disclaimer that seems a little silly to me, but “better safe than sorry” mother always says, right? Right. I am not a doctor of any variation, skin, surgeon, family, or even psyche. None of the above. I am not a professional in any field other than possibly drinking coffee and sleeping in, if many years of experience count you as a professional in those particular fields. I am not telling you to do any of this, and I am not saying my way is the best, I am simply sharing a piece of my day with you. Now! On to the routine!
First and foremost, I always, always, ALWAYS try to get my skincare in every single day, at least once a day. Even if it is a shortened version, with only the most necessary steps. I try to never go to sleep with my makeup on. I say try, because none of us are perfect. After removing my makeup with a makeup removing wipe, I wash my face with my Mario Badescu Glycolic Foaming Cleanser. This cleanser is gentle, natural, and really seems to get the job done always leaving my feeling squeaky clean at the end. It has a pleasant natural scent to it that is not over bearing, and I really have no complaints. Next I move onto an optional step for me, the face mask. Pictured above the Nip+Fab Bee Sting Lifting Mask is a good option for firming up the skin and giving it some bounce back. This mask is a little much for those with sensitive skin however. Some other masks I use that may be more suited to sensitive skin are from the Freeman Beauty range, and I really can’t recommend their WIDE range of masks more. After a little relaxing face mask, I jump into using my Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Daily Cleansing Pads. Now these little pads I cannot leave out of my routine, they are my saving grace when it comes to resurfacing all of the aforementioned texture on my forehead. I had tried everything to try to get rid of that texture, nothing else had worked. Until I stumbled upon these, and the rest is smooth forehead history.
I then follow those up with a toner, this Mario Badescu Seaweed Cleansing Lotion is a gem when it comes to that. It smells wonderful and clean, and helps with the stripped feeling I get after the last few steps. I squirt some onto a cotton round and wipe all over my face to restore the PH balance in my skin. The exfoliating cotton rounds pictured above are my favorite. The quilted cotton side is great for toner, and the exfoliating side works wonderfully with a micellar water and even works to help ease the pain of removing any sort of glitter polish. Anything that will help with a glitter nail polish is a divine gift, and we all know it. Once the toner sinks into my face, I then move onto my serum. I generally switch between a vitamin C serum to lighten skin discoloration and the Medyskin Pure Hydration Hyaluronic Serum. This serum helps to pump some moisture back into my skin, I do not have fully dry skin but rather dry to normal, so it also does not turn me into a grease ball, which I am also thankful for. It just leaves my skin plump, hydrated and looking 16 again. Ok, maybe not 16, but it definitely looks more youthful.
Another thing I have sworn by to keep my face looking a little more youthful is the regular use of an eye cream. Now, I also have a strange habit of not only using eye cream around the tender skin of my eyes, but also to put a layer on and around the edges of my lips while I’m at it. I do have a reason for it, just trust me here. One of the quickest ways to identify an aging face other than the obvious wrinkle based red flags, lies with the edges of the lips. The color begins to fade from the edges of your lips as you age, they look less full and less youthfull in the process. To aid in this process I put eye cream around these ages to keep collagen in that area and to reduce the fading process as well. Worst case scenario, my lips get an extra layer of moisture that no other lip balm can hold a candle to. The one I am using at the moment is the Lanoline Age-Defying Eye Cream with added benefits from Manuka honey, Kiwifruit seed oil and Vitamin-E. I then move onto something that maybe isn’t necessary, but to be honest I like the promise of fuller lashes, because I’m a girl who loves the look of false lashes, but hates putting them on. I know I am not alone on that one. I found this Sculpt Lash Revive Lengthening Serum, and I figured I would give it a try. I can let you know the progress, let me know in the comments if that’s something you would be interested in. Nearly done now, I use my Simple Protecting Moisturizer with SPF 15. I particularly like this one because it has an SPF in it, not a high one, but one none the less.
Last but certainly not least I have my two face finishing products in this arduous skincare routine that I SWEAR looks a lot longer in text format than it actually takes to complete. I cannot resist a refreshing spray of my Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs, and Rosewater. It is incredibly refreshing and it smells like ROSES, how could I resist, really? Following that, another rose scented favorite my Smith’s Rosebud Salve. This is a balm like no other, it stays put, makes my lips feel as soft as rose petals (see what I did there?), and again, smells like ROSES.
That was a long one, but hopefully full of lots of information that maybe you can apply to your own skincare routine. Maybe you discovered some new products or saw one you already use.
Let me know in the comments what your favorite part of your routine is, I would really like to know! Let’s have a conversation and try to find the best of the best together!
Wishing you the most beautiful of days!
xo- Danielle
Danielle Lillie 