Monday, April 15, 2013

My Skincare Routine (and hello, SPRING!!!)

Happy spring, y'all!!

CDBP bought me pretty spring flowers!!!!

It's 70 and sunny here today, and I'm listening to the birds chirp and the neighbor kids play as I type this. I started a new and exciting job today, it smells gorgeous outside, and I'm in the best mood I've been in in a while. What a day!!

I thought I'd take some time today to share my skincare routine with you guys. I had very oily skin all the way until the end of college, when my face suddenly started freaking out and became dry, flaky, and super sensitive. It took me about 3-6 months to really figure out what my skin had become and how to deal with it. I have found that if I use products that are too heavy I'll still break out, but oil-free moisture no longer cuts it in my world. It was a balancing act, but I'll show you guys what I use after the jump!

Morning Routine


I wash my face in the shower in the morning. If I'm going to exfoliate, it's probably going to be now - it's buys me a couple of extra minutes in the warm shower before I have to face the day!

I alternate using Lush's Ultrabland and Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Cream Cleanser. If I'm using the cream cleanser, I'm also using my Clarisonic. My poor Clarisonic - a bottle of nail polish remover broke open in my checked luggage on a plane last year. For those of you who didn't take chemistry: acetone degrades plastic. The brush still works fine... the handle just looks really wonky from where things stuck to it after the remover got to it. I love my Clarisonic. It's too much for me to use every day, but it works nicely to keep my skin clear and exfoliated.

About once every week or two, I'll use a little bit of Ocean Salt from Lush to either scrub off Ultrabland or on it's own for an extra-scrubby experience. It's drying, but man does it get my skin smooth and flake free. I always use lots of moisture after this. Mixing it with Ultrabland definitely makes it less harsh.

I have very fair skin, so using SPF daily is a must. I mix a little bit of my Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture with SPF 15 and the Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Day Lotion together for my daily moisturizer. I find that just using the Day Lotion is too much, and my skin gets oily and clogged. I also use a dab of my Revive Eye Cream under my eyes - I never put eye cream on my lids if I'm going to be following it up with makeup. Talk about crease city!

Night Routine


My biggest concern at night is "taking the day off." I hate going to bed feeling like I still have makeup residue on my face - and can literally count on one hand the number of times I've fallen asleep with makeup on. I have been using Maybelline's The Flash Clean Makeup Removing Lotion as my primary makeup remover. I wet my face, apply a dollop of product, and rub it into every nook and cranny on my face. I then wipe it off with a damp washcloth. I find the washcloth to be necessary - the product won't dissolve off my face with water and my hands alone. If I'm feeling lazy, my cleansing stops here. If I'm willing to put an extra minute into my face, I'll grab a tiny bit of Ultrabland and massage it into my face before also wiping it off with a damp washcloth. Using both removes every last trace of makeup from my face without stripping my skin. I love that my face never feels "tight" after washing it anymore - a big difference from all those acne cleansers I used for years!

I usually still have a tiny smudge of eye makeup left under my lash line. I'll dip a Q-Tip into Neutrogena's Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover and run it alone my lash line to get the last bits of mascara and liner residue off. This may sound silly, but I definitely prefer the Johnson & Johnson brand cotton swabs to the "Q-Tip brand" ones. The J&J ones have a plastic stick (no getting soggy from liquid product) and less fluff (no fuzzies getting caught in your eyes and lashes).

I also mix moisturizers at night. I first apply my Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture for Combination Skin. I then take just the teensiest bit of La Mer, rub it between my fingers, and pat it onto my skin. I find that already having a layer of moisture down helps me to use less since I spread the La Mer more easily along my skin. I know, I know, La Mer costs more than a kidney on the black market. I didn't pay for this - my mom had an unused tub of it and wasn't planning on using it so it was gifted to me when my skin first started flipping out. I have made this thing last for nearly a year and I still have a lot left. I don't plan on repurchasing it, but I'll miss it when it's gone. It smells amazing and feels super luxurious - maybe one day I'll have the money... *sigh* I finish things off by patting in my Revive Eye Cream around the whole eye area.

What products do you use in your skincare routine? And seriously, is anyone else as pumped about spring as I am? I don't know that I've ever been so relieved to see green grass and hear birds chirping in the morning. Feel free to freak out about warm weather with me in the comments below! :D

XOXO Samantha

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