Your Summer Skincare Bucket List
Because, sure, it's extremely important, but summer is not only about SPF, SPF and more SPF…
When we talk of summer skincare, the first thing that always springs to mind is sunscreen. And rightly so. Protecting your skin from that fire ball in the great big sky is one of the most important things you can do for the health of not only your skin, but your entire body. The hard truth is that the sun is accountable for between 80 and 90 percent of external skin aging (ouch!). And not only does it break down important proteins in your skin (hello collagen and elastin), accelerating wrinkles and dark spots but, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, UV radiation is the number one cause of skin cancers. In fact, around 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to the sun.
Scary stuff, right?
Knowing how to protect your skin from the damaging rays of the sun is an important skincare lesson. Feel like you’re not quite on the ball? Well, we’re not going to go into it today because all you need to know is right here. Instead, we're here to talk about everything else involved in summer skincare because warm weather brings a whole slew of other challenges for your skin.
Thankfully, there are many ways to up your summer skincare game to ensure your complexion stays looking fabulous all the way through fall…
1. Level Up Your Cleansing Routine
Why: Hot, steamy days mean one thing: sweat. You have between two and four million sweat glands all over your body, a large number of which are found on your forehead on cheeks. This means your cleansing game needs to be on point to ensure your pores are kept clean and clear.
How: Gel or foam face washes that contain deep cleaning ingredients like activated charcoal, tea tree oil or salicylic acid are great for the summer months. We’re currently in love with our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser which is refreshing and leaves your skin super clean. Cleanse your face every morning and more importantly, every night (when you’ll be at your sweatiest!) using lukewarm, never hot water. And make sure you get right into your hairline as this area is particularly prone to breakouts in the summer.
PS: Cleansing your body every evening is also super important if you’ve been slathered in sunscreen all day.
2. Avoid Pore-Clogging Ingredients
Why: While we’re on the topic of clogged pores, it’s not just sweat you need to worry about in the summer. Excess oils, dirt, debris, sunscreen and makeup can also get jammed in your pores, leading to breakouts on your face and body.
How: Again, regular cleansing is key, but to help keep your pores clear in the first place, try to also use non-comedogenic products across your entire skincare routine.
'Non-comedogenic’ is the term used for ingredients that are unlikely to block your pores. Rich butters and heavy oils, for example, are awesome for locking moisture into your skin and protecting your barrier function. But, they are not non-comedogenic. Far from it. Instead, look for lighter moisturizing ingredients like jojoba oil and shea butter, as well as hydrating gems such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid. You’ll find all of these in our awesome Retinol Moisturizer. And yes, contrary to popular belief you CAN use retinol in the summer.
3. Exfoliate (In Moderation)
Why: Another way to keep summer breakouts at bay is to exfoliate more often than normal. Exfoliation increases cellular turnover and rids your skin of dead skin cells which are not something your pores want to deal with on top of everything else.
How: Over-exfoliating your skin is never wise and it’s one of the biggest issues derms have to deal with. However, if you’re going to up your game, now’s the time to do it. Just tread carefully. Think two or three times a week rather than every day and switch out harsh scrubs containing skin-damaging fruit shells or nut pieces for a gentler product like Ocean Minerals Super Toner which contains naturally exfoliating glycolic acid.
4. Make Friends With Antioxidants
Why: The sun is one of the leading causes of free radicals in the skin. And as innocent as they sound, free radicals have zero redeeming qualities. They’re basically unstable molecules that damage your skin by trying to bind themselves to important proteins and DNA. This causes a process called oxidative stress which weakens collagen and elastin and ages you up in no time. The good news? Antioxidants to the rescue! These little skincare geniuses bind themselves to free radicals, preventing them from damaging all the good stuff in your skin.
How: Antioxidants are awesome all year, but they’re especially important in the summer when you spend more time in the great outdoors. If you’re looking for the cream of the crop we recommend bringing out the big guns, namely vitamins C and E. This antioxidant double act not only reduces oxidative stress, but helps prevent dark spots, reduces the appearance of fine lines and works hard to boost collagen production. Apply just a few drops of Vitamin C Facial Serum every morning after cleansing and before moisturizing to get your daily quota.
5. Don’t Stop Believin'... In Moisturizer
Why: Moisturizing may feel counter-intuitive in the warmer months when your skin feels sweatier and oilier than normal. But here’s the thing, natural oils and sweat do not keep your skin hydrated and moisturized. In fact, the summer heat can dehydrate your skin which will make your skin produce even more oil than normal. And that’s what we call a vicious beauty circle. Thankfully, the solution is simple: continue to moisturize to hydrate your skin, promote cellular turnover and protect your skin's important barrier function.
How: Choose lighter products that won’t clog your pores or make your skin feel heavy and sticky, and look out for moisturizers that are high on humectants. Humectants are ingredients like aloe, hyaluronic acid and glycerin which draw water to the surface of your skin to help keep it hydrated. Try Hyaluronic Facial Serum each night before bed, followed by Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream to moisturize and recharge your skin while you sleep.
Finally, of course, you should continue to apply a daily broad spectrum SPF30 to any exposed skin.
But we hope that goes without saying by now...
More About This Article
Georgia Gould
Georgia is an award-winning beauty writer who has been in the business for over 20 years. British-born, she began her career as a magazine beauty editor in London before moving to San Francisco, CA in 2012 where she now continues her love as a freelance writer and editor. As well as her editorial work, Georgia has created content for many high-profile beauty brands, including Clarins, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Simple and TRESemmé. Her passions include retinol (obviously), golfing, skiing and walking her beloved Schnauzer, Dave.
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We love skincare technology and exciting new ingredients but sometimes, even we have to admit, the old beauty tricks are the best.
As you get older you soon realize that mom/grandma/your Auntie May was right about a lot of things. Their stingy toilet paper rationing might have been questionable (what was that all all about?) and their ‘fun meter’ was often way out of whack (according to you, of course!), but when it came to looking after their skin, they may have been on to something.
Back in the day, skincare was much more straightforward. There were no Botox or laser facials to be had and the closest they got to a treatment serum was some kind of cooking oil found in their kitchen cupboards. However, there’s a lot to be said for the simpler things in life. Don’t get us wrong, we’re all about innovative ingredients and ground breaking skincare technology, but certain, old-school skincare tricks have been passed down through generations for a reason. They work.
Read on for five of our favorite vintage beauty hacks you’d be wise to add to your skincare routine.
1. Sleeping On Silk
Ten years ago we bet you didn’t give a damn what kind of pillowcase you slept on. Surely it made zero difference to your skin, right? Well, actually, it kinda does. And if the onslaught of satin and silk pillowcases currently available are anything to go by, (not to mention the number of TikTok videos there are about them) it seems this trusted beauty trick has made a welcome return.
So what’s the deal here? Well, according to The Sleep Foundation regular cotton, linen or flannel pillowcases have a slightly rough surface which causes friction against your skin. This means that if you tend to toss and turn throughout the night you’re likely to crush and fold your skin into your pillowcase, causing creases which could eventually become permanently etched in. Go for a silk pillowcase, however, and the smooth, slippery surface allows your skin to glide over it with much less friction and, fingers crossed, fewer lines and wrinkles as a result. Silk is also believed to absorb less moisture from your skin than cotton which helps to keep your skin and hair better hydrated while you sleep. So there's that.
A few problems, however: silk pillowcases a) are pricey, b) often require hand-washing (yawn!) and c) are not vegan-friendly since silk comes from silkworm cocoons. The good news is that satin pillowcases can offer just-as-good benefits for your skin (and hair) and are budget-, vegan- and washing machine-friendly.
2. The Magic Of Olive Oil
Olive oil has long been used to benefit the skin and hair thanks to its high antioxidant and fatty acid content. As you know, antioxidants are super important for neutralizing the collagen-crushing effects of environmental aggressors like the sun and pollution. And fatty acids? Well, they’re excellent for fortifying your skin’s barrier function and helping to moisturize at a surface level. So put them together in one kitchen cupboard ingredient and it’s no wonder your mother couldn’t get enough of this stuff, often slapping it on before bed to reduce dryness and ‘feed’ the skin through the night.
Olive oil isn’t for everyone, however. Because it sits on top of your skin it can be fabulous for dealing with dryness and dehydration. It’s also great for removing makeup and can be an incredible treatment for people with eczema. But if you have oily or acne-prone skin this layer of oil can clog your pores and exacerbate breakouts.
If you sit in the latter camp and don’t fancy slapping pure olive oil all over your face, we get that. And boy do we have the ideal solution. Say hello to Vitamin C Super Serum+ which contains olive oil squalane. Nice.
3. Witch Hazel To Tone
Ask any older relative who’s been consistently into looking after their skin and most will tell you that, in days gone by, they’d often reach for witch hazel as a post-cleansing toning treatment.
Witch hazel is harvested from the bark and leaves of the witch hazel plant, a small tree that grows wild in Asia and the east coast of North America. It’s a natural astringent and full of anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antioxidant compounds which is why many households ensure they always have a bottle at hand to topically treat a variety of ailments from hemorrhoids and dandruff to bug bites and acne. As a sidenote, it also makes for a pretty effective house cleaner! But we digress…
Although it’s wonderfully healing and great for balancing oily skin, witch hazel can be pretty potent in its purest form. Instead, enjoy its benefits while taking care of your complexion with our Ocean Minerals Daily Face Super Toner which combines this awesome tonic with other powerhouses like vitamin C and glycolic acid.
4. Nice, Ice Baby
We hate to break it to all you Tiktokers out there, but skin icing is not new! Hollywood makeup artists have long raved about the benefits of running ice cubes over the face to reduce puffiness and get skin glowing. It’s a trick that’s been passed down for decades.
When you think about it, the concept of applying cold water or ice to brighten, tone, smooth and depuff your complexion makes sense. After all, cold temperatures constrict your capillaries which stimulates blood circulation, encouraging oxygen and nutrients to flood to the surface. However, you need to know how to do this properly because freezing cold temperatures can also cause redness, irritation and dehydration if not dealt with carefully.
For starters, you should never apply actual ice cubes straight to your skin because they can strip the skin of natural oils, killing your skin’s barrier function and even causing ices burns which is no fun. Instead, wrap ice cubes in a soft handkerchief or cloth and gently work them in circular motions over your skin for five minutes max. Oh, and always work on clean skin – we love to cleanse first with our Soothing Cleansing Milk.
Even better? Invest in some ice globes which are glass or metal wands with balls on the ends that are kept in the fridge or freezer and awesome for massaging the skin. These give you all the benefits of the frigid temps, without all that melty mess.
5. The Classic Eye Depuffer
While we’re on the subject of cold things, hands up if you remember your mom or older sister lying on their bed with either cold teabags, potatoes or slices of cucumbers on their eyes? Classic. But this age-old beauty tricks is not to be knocked.
The concept of popping a couple of cold things over your eyes for 10 minutes is similar to placing ice cubes on your skin – cold temperatures make your blood vessels contract which reduces puffiness, tiredness and dark circles. The light pressure also helps drain excess fluid. Plus who can knock the stress-relieving benefits of lying down and enjoying a bit of me-time once in a while?
What you use is totally up to you but slices of cucumber are great because they have a high water content which helps to boosts moisture under the eyes. Potatoes, on the other hand contain skin-brightening enzymes. And cold tea bags? Well, depending on the type of tea used, you can help tackle all manner of eye issues. Chamomile is soothing and great for calming redness while lavender tea may help relieve dryness. Green and black teas contain caffeine so they should be your go-tos for tightening the skin and reducing under eye bags.
We also like to finish this kind of treatment with a little eye cream just to really drive the eye-loving point home! Try Peptide Eye Gel if you’re looking for a good all-rounder.
Anti-Aging5 Centuries-Old Skincare Tricks That Are Just As Good Today
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Sad, sluggish skin getting on your nerves? Then it’s time to hit the refresh button.
When your skin looks kinda cruddy, it’s often your lifestyle habits that are to blame. Hungover skin? Never pretty. Stressed skin? Ditto.
The truth is, booze, sugar, smoking and stress all play their part in below par skin. For starters, sugar-laden booze and sweet edible treats expose your body to way too much glucose than it really needs. And this does nothing for your skin’s precious levels of collagen and elastin, creating advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which kill your radiant, youthful complexion and leave you with dull, dry skin that ages you up faster than you can say ‘pass the Rocky Road’.
Stress is a similar complexion killer, causing unnecessary spikes in cortisol, the stress hormone (which says it all, right?). An overload of cortisol in your system leads to all manner of skin issues including inflammation, excessively oily skin, blocked pores and hey presto, acne breakouts.
And don’t even get us started on smoking which, after baking in the sun all day, is probably one of the worse things you can do for your skin, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients, and literally suffocating your skin with over 7,000 collagen-destroying chemicals. Eesh!
Of course, reducing the amount of sugar you eat, cutting down on alcohol, not smoking and minimizing your exposure to stressful situations are all great ways to get your skin back on track. But they’re not always easy – especially the stress part! So, if you want to give your complexion a simpler and slightly more speedy detox it’s worth looking at your skincare routine.
Full disclosure: it’s not medically possible to get rid of your body’s toxins through your skin. However, keeping your skin clean and well moisturized will go a long way to ridding its surface of pollutants, impurities and dead skin cells. And this is vital in order to create a brighter, calmer and more hydrated, aka healthy, complexion.
Here are a few things you can do to help detoxify your skin for the new year...
1. Double Cleanse Before Bed
We don’t believe double cleansing is necessary on a regular basis, but when your skin looks like it needs an extra nudge in the right direction, it can be a very effective way to purge every last scrap of makeup, dirt, oil, sweat and debris. Plus, deep cleaning your skin helps create the ideal base on which to apply the rest of your skincare formulations so they’re able to function at a much higher level. Win-win.
To set yourself up for double cleansing success, you’re going to need two different formulations. The first should be an oil-based makeup remover to cut through makeup, sunscreen, sebum and anything else that’s, well, oily. Then you’ll need a water-based gel, cream or foam cleanser to wash away all the pollutants you can’t see, while helping to address any particular concerns you may have.
The cleansers you choose will obviously depend on your skin type but our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is awesome for deep cleaning and detoxifying your skin. Use this after removing your makeup and you won’t regret it.
2. Steam Clean Skin Once A Week
In ‘ye olden days’, regularly steaming your skin was a given. And frankly, we should all start embracing mom’s favorite skin detox trick. Although, scratch the ‘all’. If you suffer with dryness or sensitivities like eczema or rosacea you might want to give this a miss because super-hot temperatures cause the blood vessels in your skin to dilate which can lead to further redness and flushing. Probably not what you were in the market for...
For the rest of you, however, steaming is a great way to boost blood flow, soften rough skin and deep clean your pores by loosening trapped oil and dirt. Hello clearer, brighter skin.
To nail the perfect steam clean, fill your sink or a large bowl with hot (although not boiling) water. Then cover your head with a clean towel and hover your face about 12 inches above the water for 10 minutes. You could even add some fresh herbs or essential oils like chamomile, lavender or rosemary to the water to decongest or soothe your skin.
After the 10 minutes is up, gently pat your face dry with the towel, then spritz Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner all over to cool, calm and whisk away those loosened impurities.
3. Don’t Forget To Regularly Exfoliate
Who doesn’t love to exfoliate their skin every now and again? Exfoliating helps boost sluggish cell turnover to encourage dead skin cells to hop it, rather than sticking around at the surface where they clog up your pores and make your skin look dull and pimply.
Exfoliation is pretty important all-year long, especially as you get older when your natural rate of cell turnover slows down. But if your skin is feeling more yucksville than normal, it’s more important than ever.
Chemical exfoliation is probably the most skin-friendly way to exfoliate as it reduces any friction caused from scrubbing away at your skin. Look for glycolic acid and salicylic acid which are two of the best chemical exfoliators found in skincare. Our new AHA/BHA/PHA Liquid Exfoliant contains this dynamite blend, along with skin-brightening vitamin C and gluconolactone, a super-soothing exfoliating acid that also helps hydrate sad-looking skin.
4. Try Skin Cycling
One of the latest beauty trends to storm TikTok is skin cycling. And while we generally steer clear of faddish skincare whims, this one has real legs – especially for skin that needs a bit of a kick up the butt.
The brainchild of New York dermatologist, Dr. Whitney Bowe, skin cycling is a great way to enhance your night time routine without overloading your skin with too much, all at once. The basic concept is that you exfoliate one night, apply retinol the next, then give your skin two days off by applying moisturizer only. Then you repeat the whole process. Of course, you cleanse and tone as normal every night, but by spacing out your exfoliation and retinol application you reduce irritation or flare-ups. And by giving your skin two ‘recovery’ days you also allow your skin’s super-important barrier function time to heal and rebuild itself.
It's pretty smart when you think about it. Plus, it's a great way to decongest blocked pores while boosting skin turnover and helping to rebuild valuable collagen and elastin.
5. Hydrate, Hydrate & Hydrate Some More
Chronic dehydration is one of the most common side-effects of stressed out, over-indulged skin which makes rehydration imperative. Of course, drinking plenty of sugar-free fluids like water and caffeine-free tea is a great way to go, but your skin will actually benefit way more from topical hydration.
Ensure your skincare routine is literally overflowing with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin and aloe vera. These are all humectants which act like water magnets, drawing in moisture like little skincare sponges. Your best bet is to layer up a hydrating serum with a kick-ass moisturizer for the ultimate hydration. We love the combination of Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum and Vitamin C Brightening Moisturizer which gives you the added skin-loving benefits of vitamins C and E plus green tea and jojoba oil.
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Fine lines and wrinkles are totally natural, but if you want to lessen their impact, you might want to take a look at some of these seemingly innocent lifestyle habits.
We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve warned you about the perils of the sun and its effect on the number and intensity of your wrinkles. Ditto for stress, smoking and a lack of sleep. But while these things are up there as the most common culprits of aging skin – the sun being the number one offender, of course – there are plenty of other everyday lifestyle habits you probably didn’t realize were affecting the rate at which your skin aged.
Obsessed with your Stanley water bottle right now? Well, for one thing, who isn’t? But for another, you might want to rethink that whole drinking-from-a-straw situation once you’ve read the rest of this article. You have been warned…
Drinking From A Straw
One of the main reasons smoking is so bad for your skin (toxic chemicals aside) is the repetitive motion of puckering up your lips. How so? Well, this repeated action contracts a ring of muscle around the mouth area called the orbicularis oris muscle. Over time, this causes your skin to lose elasticity. And you know those lines you see when you purse your lips? Instead of going away after you relax your mouth, they start to become permanently etched in.
Same thing happens if you drink through a straw all day long.
What To Do: As much as we know you love your Stanley Quencher try not to drink out of it 24/7. At home, switch it out for a regular glass and when you’re out and about go for a water bottle that doesn’t have a straw. Oh, and if you get offered a straw when you next order a gin and tonic in a bar, say no. Those fine lines around your lips – as well as the environment – will be forever grateful.
Your Smartphone
What would we do without our digital devices? They are pretty much everything in today’s modern world. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. However, your smartphone, in particular, plays a huge part in the health of your skin. For one thing, constantly looking down while texting, gaming, emailing and browsing can accelerate the formation of creases or bands around the circumference of your neck, aka ‘tech neck.’ Similarly, squinting and frowning at your phone can add even more lines and wrinkles both on your forehead and around your eyes.
Your digital devices also emit something called high-energy visible (HEV) or blue light which studies suggest are just as damaging to your skin as UV light. Blue light not only has the potential to disrupt your skin’s natural barrier function but it can promote inflammation, encourage discoloration and accelerate collagen damage which is a one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles.
What To Do: Use your phone less (ha, if only it were that easy!) and always hold it upright so your head isn’t looking down all the time.
You must also try our awesome Longevity skincare range. This collection of three healthy aging products contains lingonberry stems cells which have been shown to help protect your skin from blue light damage.
The Way You Sleep
Getting lots of quality sleep is majorly important for the state of your skin, but skincare experts also agree that the way in which you sleep carries just as much weight on your skin’s aging process. Sleeping on one side, for example, causes creasing on that same side of your face which can increase your chances of developing fine lines on one side more than the other. Similarly, sleeping on your front and smushing your face into your pillow every night creates repeated pressure on your entire face – a sure-fire way to invite fine lines and wrinkles to do their worst.
What To Do: A silk pillowcase can help reduce friction, but your best bet is to change your sleep position so you sleep on your back with your head slightly raised. This avoids repetitive face-to-pillow contact and stops excess fluids from pooling under your eyes which helps stop dark circles and puffiness. Extra bonus right there.
Forgetting To Wear Sunglasses
Squinting is another one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes as it causes your periocular muscles to repeatedly contract. And if you continue to do this day after day you will soon see exactly what we mean when those cute lines around your eyes turn into deep crevices that just won’t go away. Squinting also contributes to those annoying vertical lines between your eyebrows – glabellar lines or 11s – making it a real no-no if you care about aging skin.
What To Do: Wear shades whenever you go outside – even if it’s bright but not particularly sunny. This’ll immediately stop you squinting and will also protect the skin around your eyes from those damaging UV rays. And if you find yourself squinting at your computer or the TV? Well, it might be time for an eye test. Just saying.
Finally, to help keep the skin around your eyes moisturized and youthful-looking, apply an eye cream morning and night. Try our Peptide Eye Gel which helps support collagen production to minimize premature aging.
Allergies
Do you find yourself continually rubbing the skin around your eyes during the allergy season? This happens when your body’s defense system reacts to an allergen it feels threatened by. Mast cells in your eyes then release chemicals like histamine to try and get rid of these allergens which causes your eyes to become red, watery and itchy.
Allergy triggers can come from many things, including airborne pollen and pet hair, but the worst thing you can do for your skin is to vigorously scrub away at your eyes. This seriously upsets your collagen supplies, thinning your skin, wearing it down and inviting lines around your eyes to do their worst.
What To Do: If your eyes are constantly itching, the most important plan of action is to find out why, so talk to your doctor if symptoms persist. In the meantime, try eye drops and if you can't help but rub your eyes, reduce damage by using just the pads of your ring fingers rather than your whole hand. This will help reduce pressure and friction.
Swimming
We hate to knock any form of exercise but swimming in chlorinated water can be pretty harsh on your skin (and your hair for that matter!). Chlorine is great for sanitizing water and eliminating any contaminants that may otherwise cause infection and illness. But it’s not ideal for your delicate skin. In fact it’s a natural irritant that strips natural oils and moisture from your skin’s protective barrier. This is OK in small doses but if you swim every day and don’t protect your skin, this can potentially cause dryness and dehydration. And two things wrinkles love in order to thrive are dryness and dehydration.
What To Do: A pre-swim shower is a great way to reduce chlorine damage because if your skin is already wet, it will absorb less chlorinated water. Smart huh? Of course, you should also shower immediately after swimming and moisturize all over to replace lost sebum and hydration.
When it comes to your face, apply Vitamin C Facial Serum to fully cleansed skin after swimming. Vitamin C helps neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine. Follow with moisturizer and you should be good.
3 Of Our Favorite Wrinkle-Busting Skincare Products
Because a little help goes a very long way...1. Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement
Want to keep your skin looking its best for as long as possible? Then you simply have to look after your collagen. And what better way than with this daily supplement that’s literally brimming with clinically-proven, collagen-promoting ingredients like vitamin C, acai and biotin.
2. SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C
Did we mention that the sun is the biggest culprit when it comes to premature skin aging? We did? Yeah, well, we will continue to do so. We will also continue to laud the benefits of daily, broad-spectrum sunscreen for warding off the sun’s damaging UV rays. And this is an absolute must. No arguments.
One of the most effective anti-aging ingredients in skincare, retinol helps stimulate cell turnover and up your skin’s content of quality collagen. This awesome facial serum also contains hydrating hyaluronic acid (take that wrinkles) and vitamin E (same). We love that for you.
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Knowing how to switch things up to get your skin ready for the day as opposed to ready for bed? Life-changing. Well, skin-changing at the very least.
There’s something to be said for nailing a consistent skincare routine. However, it’s not always easy to find your perfect product match. In fact, it requires much nurturing and tweaking – often over many years – to get your routine exactly where you want it. Whether you prefer to keep things basic or like to go all-out with every potion you can get your hands on, skincare is a very personal thing. But there are some fundamentals that every successful regime should abide by.
One of these is the importance of variation. And by this we don’t mean owning 75 moisturizers and just as many facial serums that you switch out more often than your underwear. Because, frankly, this is not the kind of consistency skin strives for. No, by variation we mean having a few different products in your arsenal that are tailored to your skin’s needs as they change from AM to PM.
Often brushed off as marketing hype, morning and night time skincare is, in fact, quite different. Do you really need separate cleansers, toners, eye treatments and exfoliators for morning and night? Absolutely not. These products are important, for sure, but they can definitely remain the same, no matter what time of day they’re being used. However, other products require a little thoughtful adjustment so they’re able to offer exactly what your skin needs as it transitions from day to night.
Never quite sure how to approach your morning and bedtime skincare routines? Then read on for the three most important products you need for each of these skinfluential times of day.
Your Morning Skincare Routine
Life often gets in the way of awesome skin. Things like emotional stress, pollution, the sun, your diet, they all have their own ways of upsetting the health of your skin and throwing things way off whack. This means your morning skincare routine must, most important of all, set your skin up for a daily battle against everything life throws at you.
Morning Skincare Musts
1. Environmental Protection
So, life. As awesome as it is, it batters your skin with daily aggressors that encourage the formation of free radicals. Free radicals are few and far between at night when you’re asleep, but during daylight hours, they can overrun your skin, compromising your collagen supplies, screwing up your elastin and even messing with your DNA. This is seriously bad news for the health of your skin as it can accelerate fine lines and wrinkles as well as other skin peskies like dark spots, sagging, dullness and poor texture and tone.
Keeping your skin protected from free radicals, therefore, should be an absolute priority for your morning routine. And the best way to do this? With an antioxidant facial serum. Unlike other skincare ingredients, antioxidants work hard to neutralize free radicals, allowing your skin to go about its business without the risk of damage from things like the sun and environmental pollution.
Topical antioxidants include the likes of vitamin E, niacinamide and green tea but the real biggie is vitamin C – something we know rather a lot about, here at TruSkin HQ! Universally loved and clinically-proven to nix free radicals in the bud while also brightening the skin, we think of it as a non-negotiable morning essential. You should, too. So try our fan-favorite Vitamin C Facial Serum and get on that, this second.
2. Hydration
As well as to protect itself from the outside world, your skin’s other main job is to keep itself hydrated and moisturised all day so that its barrier function remains in optimum condition. Your skin’s barrier function is what keeps toxins and pollution out and moisture in so it’s vital to moisturize daily to keep it strong and in great working order. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble in the way of dehydration, dryness, breakouts and potential irritation.
We believe daily moisturizing should be about lightweight formulations that you can layer without overloading your skin. Look out for serums that harness ingredients like hyaluronic acid and aloe vera which help to draw moisture into the skin’s top layers. Then follow with a light lotion that locks all that moisture in. We love the winning combination of Niacinamide Facial Serum followed by Firming Collagen Day Lotion which is deeply moisturizing but light enough for everyday wear.
3. And The Most Important Product Of All: SPF
Of course, sunscreen is futile before bed, but your morning skincare routine is nothing without SPF. You just can’t ignore the fact that the sun is the biggest skin ager and responsible for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of external skin aging.
If you want to ward off fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots and sagging skin for as long as humanly possible you need to apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen every morning – rain or shine. Broad-spectrum formulations protect your skin from both UVA and UVB so that’s important to look out for on your product labels. Also, make sure to go with nothing below SPF 30 and stick with mineral formulations that are much kinder to your skin. Our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C checks all those boxes, so no probs there.
Your Bedtime Skincare Routine
As your body and brain go into rest mode, your skin goes into reset mode. Your environment has completely changed and gone are all the elements that have been going at your skin all day long. This makes night time the best time for your skin to heal and rejuvenate itself, ready to do it again tomorrow.
Bedtime Skincare Musts
1. Thorough Cleansing
Cleansing your skin is essential, morning and night, but at night time, after subjecting your skin to a whole day of sweat, makeup, oil, sunscreen, dirt, pollution and, well you get the picture, cleansing is everything.
Your product choices are down to you and your skin type, but always stick with gentle formulations that are free of harsh ingredients like sulfates and parabens. Sure, effective cleansing is important, but you don’t want to strip your skin completely dry or irritate your delicate barrier function. Our current favorite is our Soothing Cleansing Milk but, like we said, the ball is in your court.
When cleansing, take your time to thoroughly massage your skin to remove all traces of daily grime, and use lukewarm (never hot!) water to rinse well.
Double cleansing can also be a good idea before bed – especially if you like to wear a good amount of makeup during the day or are prone to oily skin that feels pretty dirty by the evening. And double cleansing is exactly what it sounds like. First, you use an oil-based cleanser to remove makeup and sunscreen, then you followed this with a water-based formulation to wash away other surface debris and help target your skin type or concerns.
2. Rejuvenation & Repair
Unlike the rest of your body which takes a well-deserved break as you sleep, night time is when your skin gets busy. All the excitement from the day shifts your skin into regeneration mode, repairing damage and preparing it for the next day. During this time blood flow increases, collagen production accelerates, cell turnover doubles and your skin’s natural antioxidant system amps up. It’s like a well-oiled machine that really kicks into gear as the rest of you catches your zzzs.
The products you choose to help all this move along seamlessly are endless, so it’s really a matter of choice. Do you want to help target fine lines and wrinkles as you sleep? Then Retinol Facial Serum might be the one for you. Perhaps you want to concentrate on looking after your collagen? In which case, Smoothing Collagen Serum has your name on it. Then there’s Peptide Facial Serum which strengthens and protects your barrier function to help your skin rejuvenate.
We know they all sound amazing (and that’s because they are!) but try to resist applying more than one at a time. Helping your skin during the overnight regeneration process is great. Overloading it with too many actives? Not so much.
3. Deep Moisturization
Did you know, your skin produces less sebum while you’re asleep? Well, now you do. And hopefully this also makes you better understand the importance of deeper, more intense moisturizing at night.
You might, like us, hate the feeling of heavy creams during the daytime but there’s no better feeling than slathering your face (and neck, of course!) in a beautifully intense moisturizing cream that will nourish your skin and have you waking up with a soft, plump complexion.
Our Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream is perfect for the job. It has that extra sprinkling of vitamin C to add a bit of antioxidant prowess to the party. Plus, it contains aloe to hydrate and our favorite beautifying compound, MSM to soothe, strengthen, firm and revitalize your skin. No effort required.
We love that for you.
Skincare RoutineWhy Your Morning & Bedtime Skincare Routines Should Be Different
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