SKINCARE 101 – How to build a skincare routine

Happy Thursday!

One of my favorite beauty, fashion, cinema, and lifestyle bloggers MADEMOISELLE O’LANTERN wrote this blog post, which I wanted to share as it is invaluable advice for anyone unsure on how to build a skincare routine.

Hello my lovely pumpkins! Today, I am sharing with you how to build a skincare routine in a very effective way. This is my first skincare post and the reason why I want to start publishing more skincare blogposts is because a good skincare routine transforms into a good makeup base routine. For me, skincare and makeup come hand in hand and if you have the tendency to wear lots of makeup then I think having a good skincare routine is a must. Now, I am not a dermatologist, scientist or chemist so basically, I am not a skincare expert but I did do a lot of research before building MY own skincare routine and I wanted to share with you what I know about it.

How to build a skincare routine

Get to know your skin type

The first thing that you have to do before starting with a skincare routine is of course knowing what is your skin type. Because, depending on what type your skin is, you’ll choose specific products . For instance, if you have an oily skin type then you would have to go with water-based/oil-free products.

In their website, Tatcha shared how to determine your skin type. One of the methods is to wash your face with a mild-cleanser, pat dry and wait an hour to see how your skin reacts. If your skin feels tight, you have a dry skin. If your skin feels very greasy, you have an oily skin type. If your t-zone has noticeable shine but the rest of your face feels normal then you have a combination skin. If your skin feels normal, then you have a normal skin type.

What are your skin concerns

Your skincare routine is supposed to change according to your skin concerns. Is your skin feeling dull? dry? Are you breaking out? are your pores too large? One of the most important things before starting with a skincare routine is of course to know what your skin needs. Once you have found what kind of skin type you have, try to spot your concerns and choose your products accordingly. Of course, your skin concerns could be directly related to your skin type. For instance, when you have an oily skin type, your pores will be larger and that could be your concern, large pores. On top of that, large pores and excess of sebum can lead to acne. Acne is another concern.

I will publish a post where I tackle each skin concern and which product/ingredient I recommend for this concern. Again, I am not a dermatologist or scientist but with lots of research and experience, I built my skincare knowledge.

Cleanser, moisturizer, SPF

A basic skincare routine starts with three products: a cleanser, a moisturizer and a sunscreen. A cleanser will allow you to get rid of any impurities, dirt and makeup left on your skin. It will allow you to have a clean skin ready to apply the next products. I plan on writing a detailed post on cleansers but meanwhile, you should know that when choosing a cleanser you should take in consideration your skin type. If you have dry skin, try to find a gentle cleanser like a milk cleanser. If you have oily skin, you can use a harsher cleanser.

Make sure the cleanser with which you wash your face is not too drying.

A moisturizer will allow you to keep your face hydrated and plumped. NEVER skip the moisturizer even if you have oily skin. Choose a moisturizer that is appropriate for your skin type. Again, I will write a detailed post on moisturizers, stay tuned for that!

Like the cleanser, you can choose a moisturizer that targets your skin concern. I like to choose moisturizers that keep my face hydrated and bright so that targets dullness and dryness.

Sunscreen is the last step in this quick and easy routine but is a must. UVA/UVB rays cause early signs of aging and dark spots. Two things you want to avoid and can if you wear sunscreen.

Toner, Serum, Eye cream, Oil

Once you have established yourself the basic products in your skincare routine, you can start incorporating toners, serums and eye creams. They are not must-have products but they make a huge difference, in my opinion and I wouldn’t go a day without them.

Toners are ideal to bring back balance and moisture to your skin. It allows your next product to sink in better into your skin and they always come after cleansers.

Order your skincare products according to their consistency. Watery products should come first since they sink in better into your skin, then comes heavier products: serums, then creams and finally oils.

Serums are more specific. They come after toners or essence and target specific concerns hence why I recommend to use serums to treat a specific skin concern. I personally use serums to treat my acne and it is advice-able to use not more than two serums at once. But, you can easily switch up serums every once in a while.

At night, I like to use oils instead of moisturizers because they are heavier. Moreover, since at night, the skin goes into replenishing mode then I’d rather apply something that will allow my skin to look glowy and moisturized in the morning.  There are different kinds of oils and a lot of them can be used for oily skin. You just have to find the right one for your skin type.

Remember, you have an oily skin because of the lack of hydration. If you don’t keep your skin hydrated, your skin will produce more oil to keep it hydrated.

Clay masks, sheet masks

Masks are pure luxury in my opinion. They are not must-haves in a routine, they are just ideal if you feel like pampering yourself but I do feel like some masks can do wonders to your skin. For example, I love clay masks to purify my skin, clean my pores super well, in a way even cleansers can’t. Usually, masks that you need to remove with water afterwards, should come after cleansers [not before, after] and sheet masks should come after toners. Sheet masks are great because compared to other products, you have to let the product sit on your skin for over 10 minutes which allows your skin to absorb the product better.

Over-night masks should come at the end of your routine.

Ingredients

In order to know which product will work on you and which won’t, you need to learn more about ingredients and how each can help with your skin concern. After you have spotted your concern you need to choose which product to include in your routine. In order to that, you need to know what is inside the product your are using.

I intend to publish a blogpost on how to treat common skin concerns so stay tuned for that post. Meanwhile, I will share with you some of my tips.

Tips – how to build a skincare routine

One tip that I learned from @ymorbeauty is that the ingredients on a product are listed in order of how active they are. So if they are listed first, they have the highest percentage and that’s how you can know if a product will work on you. If a product claims to have vitamin C, but is listed at the end, it means it barely has any and it would have no effect on your skin.

Another thing I learned from “Spill” is that any ingredient listed after “Phenoxyethano” has less than 1%.

Don’t use many products with the same active ingredient. Two products with the same active ingredient is fine, the rest try to find complementary products. For example, if you are using a cleanser and a serum for acne, use a toner and moisturizer to replenish your skin.

Beauty Within also explained some common mistakes people may do while choosing products. Some products can’t be used together because the ingredients can’t go together. For instance, using Glycolic Acid and Salicylic Acid [like I used to do] is a no because it will over dry your skin [like it happened to me]. The trick is too really learn which ingredient works best with which ingredient. Now with internet, it is easy to know. On top of that, brands make it easier for you by creating sets and collection of products that can be used together. I personally choose each product alone so it’s harder for me and I need to always do extra research.

That’s it for today and how to build a skincare routine. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you did, don’t forget to give it a ‘like’ and to follow Mademoiselle O’Lantern.

xx

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Feature photo credit: ecocult.com