5 Ways To Make Your Facial Serum Work Better
Investing in an awesome face serum is all well and good, but if you don’t use it properly you could miss out on all of its important benefits.
Having the knowledge of when, how and why to use a specific skincare product is golden. Granted, some are pretty self-explanatory. Cleanser? Easy, you use it twice daily to, well, cleanse your face and get rid of any debris that’s built-up over the past 8-12 hours. Moisturizer? Also, a fairly simple concept that comes at the end of your routine and helps seal moisture into your skin.
But what about serums? Touted by everyone from beauty influencers to dermatologists as the key to youthful, healthy skin, face serums sound easy enough, but know this – there’s a definite right and wrong way to use them. Apply yours like a skincare pro and you’ll see some incredible results after regular, continued use. Use it incorrectly, however, and you may as well have saved your money for those new Chloé shades you’ve been eyeing up all spring.
Serums are created to specifically target your most annoying skin concerns. They have a smaller molecular structure than moisturizers which means they’re able to penetrate much deeper and quicker into your skin. They also contain high concentrations of active ingredients like retinol, peptides, hyaluronic acid or vitamin C. All good stuff, right? You’re not kidding. In fact, this super powered combination of quick delivery AND awesome ingredients means that facial serums are among the most important products in your skincare routine.
But only if you use them properly.
Of course, the most important thing to do before using any new skincare formulation is to a) read the instructions thoroughly so you know what you’re dealing with, and b) patch test your product first. Patch testing is crucial when dealing with serums because their potency can lead to skin irritation if not handled with caution. Simply apply a small amount of serum to a discreet area of your skin (behind your ears is a great spot) and leave it for 24-48 hours to check for a reaction. See nothing? Feel nothing? Then you should be good to go.
Then, follow our guide for expert serum application. Honestly, we abide by these rules every single day – morning and night.
1. Always Work On Clean Skin
This feels a bit like a moot point but you’d be surprised by how many people think they can just shove on their skincare products without first cleansing their face and neck. Such a crazy mistake. You simply have to get rid of debris from the surface of your skin before applying any type of skincare product that’s formulated to penetrate the top layers of your skin. Otherwise it’ll have to work extra hard to even reach your skin if it has a blanket of sweat, sebum, dirt and makeup to wade through.
The tricks for great cleansing are to avoid hot water, be thorough but never heavy-handed, and always choose gentle ingredients tailored for your skin type. If you have dry skin, for example, go for our fabulous Soothing Cleansing Milk which combines rice and oat milks for thorough, but kind-to-skin cleansing. If you’re mega oily, however, you might be better off with Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser which is a great product for balancing excess sebum and detoxifying troubled skin – without drying it out, of course. Massage your product all over your skin (neck included) then rinse thoroughly and pat with a clean face towel.
2. Don’t Use Too Much…
… which begs the question, exactly how much is too much?
Most serums will give you a guide as to the correct amount to use for each application, but the general rule of thumb is that a pea-sized amount or a few drops should be plenty. Remember, serums are super concentrated and they smooth on your skin very easily, so a thin, even coating will deliver plenty of the good stuff to your complexion. Any more, is just going to be a waste.
3. Try Applying Your Serum To Damp Skin
Damp skin is more permeable than dry skin and therefore more receptive to active skincare ingredients. This is why we love to apply our serum straight away after cleansing or toning while the skin is still ever so slightly damp.
Apply a couple of drops to your hand as quickly as you can, then press rather than rub your serum onto your face using clean hands. And don’t worry about massaging it in, either. All you need to do is gently tap your skin all over to ensure you cover all areas of your face.
4. Exfoliate First
Getting rid of build-up and dead skin cells is a great way to ensure your serum has nothing getting in its the way. You want your skin to absorb and penetrate the skin deeper down where all the good stuff happens; not to sit on top, trying to contend with all those dead skin cells that, quite frankly, shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
If you’re a scrub kinda person, try our new Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub which is the ideal way to prepare your skin to take on all those awesome actives in your serum. Not a big fan of face scrubs? No problem, we also have a fabulous chemical exfoliant that contains glycolic and salicylic acids plus a whole host of other skin reviving ingredients to accelerate cell turnover and boost the results from your favorite face serum. 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant is its name and rejuvenating your skin is its game!
5. Finish With Moisturizer
No matter how hydrating a serum is, you must always apply moisturizer afterwards. Hark back to when we talked about all those small molecules that make up a serum’s structure, giving it a thin, silky-smooth texture. Well, this is because serums don’t contain ingredients like occlusives or emollients which are important for creating a moisture-sealing layer over the surface of your skin. That’s where your ‘actual’ moisturizer comes to the forefront.
Moisturizers are thicker than serums which makes them super important for locking your serum and all of its ingredients into your skin. So, do not miss this important step.
And sunscreen. But that goes without saying, right? RIGHT?
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![5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts]()
No idea why you’re getting an influx of acne right now? Many lifestyle habits can trigger your breakouts – and sometimes they’re found in the most unsuspecting places.
As you know, acne is caused by one thing and one thing alone: an excess of sebum that causes your pores to become blocked with oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other impurities. Eating too much chocolate doesn’t give you pimples. Neither does moisturizer. Sure, they can trigger breakouts if you’re genetically susceptible to them, but acne isn’t caused by uncleanliness, a poor diet or crummy skincare routine. It’s caused by blocked pores. End of.
OK, so this begs the question: why bother trying to cure them if your breakouts are totally out of your control? Well, here’s the thing. You can’t change your genes, that’s for certain. However, what you can do is keep acne-triggering factors under control to help lessen the blow. Sleeping well, reducing emotional stress and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; all these things are important for maintaining balanced sebum and therefore reducing the likelihood of you breaking out week after week.
But there are also some less obvious reasons why you face might be suffering with regular breakouts. So if you’ve already dispensed with things like smoking, poor cleansing and too much exfoliation, but you’re still getting pimples on the reg, it might be time to look at some of the more unexpected areas of your life.
On that note, read on for five slightly more unusual causes for your breakouts.
1. Your Pillowcase
Getting enough beauty sleep is crucial for the health of your skin, but if you’re sleeping on a dirty pillowcase for a solid eight hours every night dirt and bacteria is inevitably going to build up and irritate your pores. This is especially true if you sleep on a synthetic pillowcase because man-made fibers don’t absorb sweat as effectively as natural fibres like cotton or linen.
The answer? Go natural all the way, for starters. Also, cleanse and moisturize your skin before bed to reduce the amount of grime getting on your pillowcase. Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ is a great acne-fighting cleanser that balances and clarifies your pores. Follow this with Retinol Moisturizer to lightly hydrate and moisturize your skin while boosting cellular turnover to keep your pores free of dead skin cells.
Finally, wash your pillowcase every three or four days. And ditto, your face towel. Old, dirty towels that are used by the whole family for drying their hands and who-knows-what-else are another breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Do you really want to be swiping this all over your freshly cleansed skin? Thought not. So, invest in a couple of cotton face towels for you and you alone and wash them every other day.
2. Your Makeup & Hair Products
Your skincare routine might be spot on, but what about your makeup and hair products? Rich hair conditioners, for example, are notorious for containing heavy ingredients like cocoa butter and coconut oil which, granted, are incredible for moisturizing your precious locks, but are not so great for acne-prone skin. Of course, we know you’re not smothering your face with conditioner but still, it can settle on your face when you rinse your hair so always cleanse your skin after, never before conditioning.
Makeup can similarly clog up your pores, especially if you use formulations that contain oil. So don’t do that. Instead, look out for noncomedogenic products (this means they’re less likely to block pores) and use powder rather than liquid formulations whenever possible.
3. Your Workout Routine
Do you love to get a good sweat on when you’re working out? High fives to you. However, allow all that sweat and grime to sit on your skin and your pores are going to clog up quicker than your instructor can say ‘hit the floor for ten push-ups.’
Cleanse your skin thoroughly and swiftly after exercising (the longer you leave your skin doused in sweat and grimy workout gear, the more bacteria is likely to breed), and always use a mild but effective cleanser that helps to detoxify your skin without drying it out. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a goodie as it harnesses the powers of coconut-derived activated charcoal which destroys skin-smothering impurities to offer a deep, gently purifying clean every time.
4. Your Winter Cover-Ups
Any fabric that rubs against your skin can lead to unwanted issues in the long-term. Remember how face masks were causing ‘maskne’ back in the pandemic? This was all due to friction from the mask combining with the obvious culprits of sweat, dirt, oil, bacteria and humidity which caused dryness, irritation and pimples.
Thankfully, for most of us, the days of having to wear a mask 24/7 are over. However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter and like to wrap yourself up in woollen hats and thick, heavy scarves, these can cause similar problems, trapping sweat and increasing friction around your chin, jaw, neck and forehead.
To help reduce breakouts caused by beanies, scarves (and even turtleneck sweaters), avoid synthetic fabrics and launder your winter cover-ups regularly. Weekly, at least.
5. Your Laundry Detergent
Speaking of laundry, your choice of detergent is also imperative. Just like your beauty routine, certain ingredients in your laundry detergent can be super irritating – especially if you have extremely sensitive or acne-prone skin. Fragrance, for example, can be a real Debbie Downer, as can harsh dyes, essentials oils, strong surfactants and preservatives.
To reduce the likelihood of your laundry detergent triggering those pesky breakouts, first up, choose liquid over powder detergents. Why? Because these leave behind less residue on your clothes and fabrics (who knew?!). Also, never use more detergent than is recommended on the label, avoid fabric softeners and try double rinsing your laundry after washing to remove as much residue as possible.
5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts
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