Because a super complicated skincare routine could be doing your skin more harm than good.
If you haven’t yet heard, skin is all about minimalism right now – or skinimalism, if you will. Void of long-winded, hour-long stints in the bathroom, this pared down approach to looking after your skin simply and seamlessly gained momentum post-pandemic… and it literally has not gone away.
And we love that.
We truly believe that skincare should be neither complicated nor challenging. It should be streamlined and easy. It should be a joy and, most importantly, it should be effective without over-stimulating your skin.
Feel like your routine has become too much for your skin to deal with (not to mention your overflowing bathroom cabinet!)? Then here’s how to take it back to basics. And all without compromising on results.
The 5 Rules Of A Simple Skincare Routine
1. Nail The Basics
The most important element of an effective skincare regime is clean, moisturized skin. Too often we get bogged down with the more glamorous side of skincare but if your skin has not been cleansed properly or cared for with a gentle moisturizer, you can forget the rest.
When it comes to clean skin, we bow to the idea of gentle cleansing. This means it’s away with harsh sulfates and parabens in favor of soothing ingredients and plant-powered formulas. It's all about looking for kind-to-skin products that care for and help replenish your barrier function without stripping away all the important stuff from the surface of the skin. Sure, you want to effectively remove pollution, sunscreen, dead skin cells, makeup and excess sebum to help keep your pores clear, but you don’t want to upset the finely tuned balance of your skin. That’s just crazy talk.
We have an entire range of gentle cleansing formulations to suit all skin types but for the most skin-nurturing of all, try our new Soothing Cleansing Milk which has been expertly crafted with oat and rice milk to nourish and care for your skin as you cleanse.
To nail your moisturizing routine, again, look for gentle products that work perfectly with your complexion. Your ideal moisturizer should boost and preserve natural hydration while leaving your skin feeling comfortable, soft, smooth and balanced. Ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, glycerin and aloe vera are ideal for increasing the water content at the skin’s surface, while shea butter and botanical oils help seal in moisture and leave your skin feeling ready to face the day… or night.
2. Don’t Skip Eye Cream
The skin around your eyes is drier, thinner and way more delicate than the rest of your face which often makes it the first place to show the visible signs of tiredness, dullness, fine lines and wrinkles. This means that, sure, your regular moisturizer is ‘OK’ for your eyes, but oftentimes the richness of ingredients in moisturizers can be a tad heavy for this fragile area which can exacerbate puffiness.
Also, wouldn’t you rather do better for your eyes?
Well, this is where quality eye creams come to the rescue. More than regular moisturizers, eye treatments are formulated specifically to target issues around the eyes like dark circles, lines and puffy skin. Ingredients such as peptides, plant stem cells, vitamin B5 and hyaluronic acid are awesome for fighting premature aging around the eyes while others like licorice extract have been proven to help improve puffiness and under eye circles.
It might seem like extra fluff you just don’t need in your skincare regime, but we can’t stress enough how important an eye care product is. And it takes literally seconds to apply. Simply dot a small amount (no more than a pea size) around your eye area and dab it into the skin gently with your ring fingers. Using your ring, rather than your forefingers, ensures you use less pressure, helping to preserve the delicate skin and reduce friction and premature lines.
3. Embrace Products That Offer That Little Bit More
Instead of arming yourself with a multitude of potent face treatments that might overload and aggravate your skin when applied together, it’s much wiser to look out for multi-use products that offer your skin a number of benefits in one. Formulated with due diligence by those that know skin way better than you (sorry, not sorry), these treatments can help exfoliate, protect, hydrate, brighten AND nourish your skin with just one application. And there’s much to be said for that when you’re honing down your routine.
Our NEW Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum, for example, is a fantastic all-round good guy. Inspired by oral multivitamins and packed with no less than 11 plant-derived vitamins, minerals and electrolytes, this all-in-one serum is the first of its kind and uniquely created to give your skin all the vital nutrition it needs. We’re talking vitamins B3, B5, C, D, E, F and K, as well as zinc, magnesium, calcium and potassium, all of which work in harmony to improve texture, tone, strength and suppleness. Why would you ever need anything more?
4. Know That Sunscreen Is Non-Negotiable
We have a confession. When we said the most important elements of great skincare were cleanser and moisturizer, we were lying. Because there’s another product that is just as vital. And it’s not open for discussion. We’re talking about sunscreen.
Sunscreen might be an extra step you really do not want to be bothered with – especially when you’re trying to scale back – but without it you put your skin at great risk of developing some form of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US and research shows that the majority of melanoma cases (the most serious form) can be attributed to exposure to UV radiation. In fact, regular use of sunscreen can lower your risk by around 50 percent.
If that’s not enough to make you vigilant about protecting your skin from the sun, here’s another scary stat. The sun is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all external skin aging. And that includes everything from fine lines and wrinkles to sagging skin, poor texture, uneven skin tone and dark spots. The problem is that UV rays create nasty free radicals in your skin which have a field day breaking down collagen, elastin, DNA and generally damaging the entire structure of your skin.
Yes, sunscreen might seem like a skincare step too far but, on the contrary, it’s vital for helping to protect your skin from photodamage. Apply a broad-spectrum formulation with an SPF of at least 30 every day without fail to ensure you’re protected from both UVA and UVB radiation. Try SPF30 Mineral Sunscreen With Vitamin C which is super lightweight but can even double as a moisturizer depending on your skin type!
5. Try A Little Skin Cycling
Overloading your skin with too many actives is a common mistake in many skincare routines. And it’s a big one. Yes, powerful ingredients are great for encouraging healthier skin, but too much of a good thing can overstimulate your skin’s protective barrier function, leading to dryness, redness, irritation and breakouts. Not cool.
To get the benefits of potentially sensitizing ingredients and products (hi there retinol and exfoliation) with fewer side effects, try skin cycling. This ‘trend’ became viral last year but is actually something many derms have been practising for years. And it concentrates on your nighttime skincare regime.
The idea is that you exfoliate one night, apply a retinol treatment like Retinol Facial Serum the next, then you give your skin a break by having a couple of evenings of repair time in which you cleanse and moisturize only. Then you continue this on repeat.
Alternating exfoliation with your retinol treatment helps encourage healthier skin turnover and improved collagen supplies without upsetting your skin. It’s a very easy concept. But a super effective one.
And ideal for a simpler skincare life.
