10 Ways To Show Your Skin Some Self-Love
Showing your skin love isn’t about overly expensive skincare products and complicated routines, it’s about being positive, listening to what your skin needs and reacting with kind. Here’s how to get on that…
Remember when you learnt in school that your skin is your body’s largest organ? Well, your teachers weren’t lying. The average adult human has around 22 square feet of skin which, even though it’s only a few millimeters thick at its thickest point, weighs around 8 lbs.
That’s a lot of skin right there.
If you’re here, we imagine you’re already into practicing good skincare habits. We bet you already cleanse like a pro, apply moisturizer vigilantly and rarely leave the house without slapping on your broad-spectrum SPF. Good work.
That being said, it’s easy to forget that skin sometimes needs a little extra love and attention. Whether the weather has been taking its toll, work has gotten on top of you or certain hormonal changes are happening in your life, understanding your skin’s needs and adapting your habits is crucial for making the most of your skin and encouraging a healthy glow.
In the market for giving your skin a little added TLC right now? Then read on for 10 proven skincare practices and lifestyle habits for showing your skin just how much you care.
1. Get To Know Your Skin Better
Before going any further, remember that your skin is totally unique to you so understanding when it’s feeling good and when it needs help is crucial if you’re striving for healthier-looking skin. Knowing your skin type (normal, oily, dry or combination) is the first step, but there are plenty of other factors at work here – your age, environment, lifestyle, diet, they all play their part and dictate how you should adapt your habits to suit.
Action Stations: To understand your skin better, cleanse your face with a gentle cleanser like Soothing Cleansing Milk, pat it dry, then look in the mirror without applying any other skincare products. Feel your skin and look at all the various areas of your face and neck to see what’s going on right now. Once you know this, you can think about what you can do to help.
2. Concentrate On The Good Stuff
It’s easy to reel off the things you don’t like about your skin – crow’s feet, breakouts, a sagging jawline – but when was the last time you thought about the stuff you do like? Being positive about your skin is crucial, not only for your mental wellness, but also for your skin itself. How so? Because when you know what you like about your skin you can accentuate and highlight these areas.
Action Stations: Do you have the smoothest forehead, like, ever? Then pull your hair back and flaunt it. OK, maybe you have the odd wrinkle or two, but good news, your complexion is fairly even in tone. Then don’t be afraid to go foundation-free. Show off your good bits, people, it’s very liberating. Plus, it stops you sweating over the other, 'not so great' stuff.
3. Boost Your Glow With Antioxidants
Facial serums are to skin what red lipstick and stunning earrings are to an outfit – the true icing on the cake. You see, serums have a smaller molecular structure than creams and lotions so they’re able to truly penetrate your skin and target your concerns.
Depending on what these are, we have a whole collection of plant-powered serums packed with ingredients to help hydrate, plump, firm, smooth and boost radiance.
Action Stations: Our bestselling serum, year after year is the OG, Vitamin C Facial Serum. Packed with skin-loving sodium ascorbyl phosphate (a gentle form of vitamin C skin loves), as well as soothing vitamin E and hydrating powerhouses hyaluronic acid and aloe, it’s the bee’s knees for great skin. Apply a few drops to your face and neck after toning and before moisturizing for better-looking, incredible-feeling skin in both the short- and long-term.
4. Take Compliments… And Return The Favor
Hands up if you’re terrible at receiving compliments? You’re not alone. But the thing is, people say nice things because they genuinely like or appreciate something about you and want to let you know about it order to make you feel good.
Action Stations: Next time someone tells you how great your skin is looking, smile and enjoy the compliment. They wouldn’t say it if they didn’t mean it. Plus, you’ll feel so much better than if you shrugged it off. Similarly, whenever your friends look good, let them know. Share the love!
5. Don’t Skip One Of The Best Skin Tonics Around
Toning used to be a vital part of any skin enthusiast’s all-important three-step skincare routine. Ask anyone older than 30 and they'll you that, back in the day, skincare was strictly about cleansing, toning and moisturizing. Then the world realized that most toners on the market were stripping the skin of essential nutrients and oils, and were, honestly, doing the skin much good at all.
Not so, any more. These days, toners are often the exact product your skin has been looking for, helping to increase hydration while cooling, reducing redness, calming irritation, firming, the list goes on.
Action Stations: The great thing about applying toner is that, sure, it might be an extra step in your routine, but if you choose a spritz formulation it'll only add on mere seconds. At most. Try our Ocean Minerals Super Toner after cleansing and before applying serum and your skin will instantly lavish the effects of radiance boosting vitamin C, glycolic acid, ginseng and MSM. All that from one spritz? You better believe it.
6. Watch Out For Changes In Your Skin
When skin is unhappy, it will tell you so. So don’t ignore it. The end. OK, not quite…
Action Stations: Pay attention to changes in texture and tone, increased sensitivity, irritation, breakouts and dry patches. These are all sure-fire signs that your skincare routine might not be cutting it, so adjust yours accordingly. If your skin is feeling irritated, for example, cut back on active ingredients for a bit to give it a chance to reset and ‘breathe’ again.
7. Know That Sleep Time Is Crucial For Your Skin
The term ‘beauty sleep’ didn’t occur by accident. Sleep, is in fact, the single most important time for your skin to repair and rejuvenate itself. When the rest of your body and brain are at rest, blood flow to your skin increases, collagen production amps up, antioxidants get to work and cell turnover picks up speed. Skip your important shut-eye and your skin loses out on all this important stuff. Not cool.
Action Stations: The National Sleep Foundation recommends between seven and nine hours of sleep every night for healthy adults. OK, this might not always be possible, but try to go to bed at the same hour every night to get into a regular pattern. Keep your room at a comfortable (neither too hot nor too cold) temperature and make sure it’s dark and quiet to optimize sleep. Also, make sure you help your skin out as it gets to work overnight. Cleanse before bed, apply a collagen-boosting serum like Rejuvenating Longevity Serum and follow with a rich moisturizer like Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream.
8. Carve Out Some Skin-Love Time
Giving yourself a DIY facial is a fantastic way to spend some quality time in your own company, improving your wellness and your complexion as a result. Facial massage, in particular, boosts circulation and helps lymphatic drainage to significantly improve the appearance of your skin. Not to mention how incredibly healing the power of touch can be.
Action Stations: Put aside 30 minutes each week to pamper your skin. This can be anything from giving yourself a facial massage to relaxing on your bed with a face mask and a couple of cold, used teabags over your eyes. Just remember to lock the door to ensure your kids, housemates or partner leave you well alone while you enjoy some much-needed me-time.
9. Exfoliate: But With Caution
We love skin exfoliation for removing dead skin cells, improving sluggish cell turnover and generally getting your skin’s glow on. However, it’s important to get the sweet spot just right. Too much and you could compromise your skin’s barrier function. Too little and you won’t experience the full benefits.
Of course your sweet spot depends on the strength and tolerance levels of your skin, but the general rule of thumb is that two or three times a week should do it.
Action Stations: There are two primary ways to exfoliate the skin: physical and chemical exfoliation. If you love the feel of a good scrub on your skin (that’s the physical version) try our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub which is fast becoming a favorite. But don’t forget, we also have our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant for all your chemical exfoliating fans. Neither are bad choices. It’s simply up to you how you prefer to keep your skin ticking over.
10. Finally, Celebrate The Improvements
Healthy skin is a journey that requires time, patience and the willingness to adapt your routine and lifestyle as it changes. When you get on top of this, your skin is likely to reward you in the best way possible – looking better, feeling better and consistently behaving better. Big win.
Action Stations: Pat yourself on the back for listening to your skin, reacting positively and seeing results. And keep at it!
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![How To Make Your Facial Serum Work Harder (& Better!)]()
Serums can truly supercharge your skincare routine – especially if you know how to maximize their effectiveness. Here’s how…
We believe your face serum should be one of your most prized skincare possessions. Of course, daily sunscreen is crucial, and yes, your cleanser provides the foundation to everything that follows. But a face serum is the key to targeting everything you love (and maybe don’t love so much) about your skin. Whether you want to improve hydration, deal with breakouts, soften fine lines or brighten tired skin, the right face serum can help fix the lot.
Speaking of the ‘right’ face serum, finding your perfect fit is vital, but let us ask you this: do you feel like you’ve found the one... yet it’s kind of underperforming? Then it’s probably not the serum that’s the issue. Instead, it’s likely the way you’re using it.
So let’s fix that, shall we?
Your Serum Strategy 101
Think of your face serum as the VIP in your skincare routine. Because yes, it's that special. Plus, it’s likely to have cost more than most of your other products, so it’d be foolish not to fuel yourself with the knowledge of how to use it effectively.
Here are the face serum rules we follow to the letter…
When To Use Your Face Serum
The correct order in which to apply ALL of your skincare products matters. A lot. And the general rule of thumb is that you should always work with your products from thin to thick; from water to oil.
This means that cleanser comes first (obvs!), then toner, serum, eye cream and finally moisturizer. If you apply serum after your moisturizer, on the other hand, the rich, slightly heavier nature of moisturizer will block the serum from the surface of your skin. And this will immediately make it less effective. That’s what we call money down the drain.
Serum BEFORE moisturizer, people. Always.
How Much Face Serum Should You Use?
Face serums are super lightweight due to their small molecular structure. This means they’re able to carry a high intensity of concentrated, active ingredients in a relatively thin, slippery formulation. This is crucial because it gives serum the ability to penetrate the skin more effectively than thicker, more viscous formulations like moisturizer and facial oil.
Thanks to their slippery nature, face serums smooth over your skin like a dream – well, a good one does, anyway;). Sure, it’s tempting to smother your face in it because you think your skin will end up reaping more benefits from all those awesome ingredients. But that’s a mistake because, the truth is, your skin can only soak up so much.
A reputable serum will always come with guidelines on how much to use, but a pea-sized amount, or roughly two to three drops, should generally be sufficient for your face and neck. Any more will simply be a waste.
5 Ways To Make Your Face Serum Work Harder
Because it's not just what you apply, but the way in which you apply it...
1. Exfoliate First
If the surface of your skin is clogged up with dead skin cells, your face serum stands no chance of penetrating at a deeper level. And this means it won’t work so well. So make sure you exfoliate regularly to create an easier pathway for your serum to go about its business.
A gentle scrub two or three times a week is a great shout, but if you’re not keen on face scrubs, try a leave-on chemical exfoliant that uses ingredients like glycolic acid and/or salicylic acid to dissolve the ‘glue’ that holds dead skin cells together.
Try: 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant
2. Nail The Damp Skin Technique
Serums are able to penetrate the skin better if your skin has a bit of moisture present at its surface. Why? Because damp skin is more permeable, easy as that.
The trick is to apply a couple of drops to your hand as quickly as you can after cleansing or toning your skin. Then apply serum all over your face and neck using clean hands and light pressing motions. Not only will your skin be more receptive to all those fabulous ingredients but you’ll also lock in a little extra moisture while you’re at it. Win win.
One word of warning, however. If you have sensitive skin, you might actually be better off applying your serum to dry skin to reduce irritation. But play around, see what works best for you.
3. Understand That Your Skin’s Needs Vary From Morning To Night
Just like your entire body, your skin’s needs are very much governed by time. Cell turnover, for example, is at its peak during the night, while you’re asleep. This means that instead of using a sun protective antioxidant serum before bed, it’s much better to encourage repair and regeneration with ingredients like retinol, peptides and growth factors. Sebum production also slows down at night so it's similarly wise to enlist in some help sealing in hydration.
Meanwhile, your levels of cortisol are at their highest when you wake up, so anti-inflammatory serums that contain ingredients like niacinamide and vitamin E are better as part of your morning routine. Skin brightening and awakening ingredients like caffeine and vitamin C are also more beneficial first thing when you’ll be able to maximize – and actually see! – their revitalizing effects. And obviously antioxidants that help to protect your skin from environmental harm are crucial every morning.
Try: Day Night Duo with Vitamin C and Retinol Facial Serums
4. Wait A Hot Minute Before Applying Moisturizer
While it’s great to apply face serum swiftly after cleansing and/or toning, it’s wise to wait 60 seconds or so between your serum and moisturizer. Most serum formulations will sink in super fast but still, giving the formulation a short while to fully absorb and dry helps it to really settle into your skin.
5. Give Your Face Serum Enough Time To Work
Serums aren’t miracle workers that instantly make wrinkles vanish overnight. On the contrary, for real results, you’ll need to consistently apply yours for at least six to eight weeks before you’ll even begin to see their true effects.
Saying that, don’t rush in without patch testing any new formulation first. Then, if you’re good to go, make sure to introduce it slowly into your routine. This will give your skin time to adjust, thereby reducing your chances of irritation. It’ll also stop you from giving up too soon!
Check out our line-up of awesome serums right here. And if you don’t know which one is right for you, here’s a helpful guide.
How To Make Your Facial Serum Work Harder (& Better!)
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