Everyone has his or her own tips and tricks for getting
great skin, so of course I have to add my own two-scents.
The most obvious and easiest step I take on a daily basis is
to drink water. In the past, I’ve had to convince others that one 8 oz. glass of
water is does not constitute as your allotted water portion for the day. There
is some formula for how much water a person should drink each day. For me, I
try to listen to my body. On a typical day I try to drink about 80 to 85 ounces
of water a day. That’s about 10 full glasses of water. It seems like a lot but
in reality does wonders for my skin, let alone other aspects of my health.
Sometimes I’ll notice my skin is a little more dry than normal or that my skin
appears off in color or ashy. My rule of thumb is to up my water intake to
about 128 ounces, which is about 1 gallon of water.
Now let’s address actual products. The first product I use
regardless of it being day or night is a simple facial wash. Currently I am
using Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Wash. There is not really anything special
about it other than to remove unwanted dirt and oils. This is the portion of my
routine that changes frequently. I have yet to find a “holy grail” of face
soaps. In the end this soap simply does the job.
The second product I use is L’Oreal’s Hydrafresh Toner.
After washing my face, I will use a cotton ball or pad and run a light layer of
this toner all over my face and neck. I love the way this product works.
Sometimes face soap is not enough to remove unwanted oils and dirt. This toner
really does the trick. My face feels its most cleanest after using this
product. Don’t worry though! I will be adding all the right moisture and oils
back in to my skin shortly. This product creates a clean slate to apply the rest
of my routine.
The third product is my go to moisturizer and one of my
favorite products. I moisturize with Garnier’s Moisture Rescue Refreshing
Gel-Cream. I have repurchased this product already. After trying countless
moisturizers I finally found one that works for my skin. Now as you know,
moisturizers are typically cream based. In the past, my oily skin did not like
this. I’ve heard that oily skin can come about because of lack of proper
moisturizer. Unfortunately, I have inherited the “oily-skin-no-matter-what-I-do”
gene. When Garnier released a drugstore gel moisturizer I held my breath hoping
that the product would be good. I cannot tell you how ecstatic I was to finally
have a moisturizer that did not grease up my face to ridiculously high levels
within 4 hours of my day. Another great perk is that is smells amazing! That’s
important when you are placing anything so close to your nose.
The fourth step is technically a makeup product. However, I
don’t really see it as that. I use L’Oreal’s Youth Code BB Cream in light. If I
were to truly use it as a makeup product I’d throw in concealer and powder to
set it amongst other things. The BB itself works great as a secondary
moisturizer and adds a tiny bit of coverage but not much. I also use it to help
with some of the redness in my face. Again, this product smells great, which is
surprising given it is part foundation and they typically don’t have a great
scent. I omit this step for my nighttime
routine.
The fifth product I use day or night is Mario Badescu Facial
Spray (with aloe, herbs and rosewater). The spray is the newest addition to my
routine. This is probably the best 7 dollars I’ve ever spent. The Mario Badescu
line itself is of a higher quality and you can find it at Ulta and Sephora. I can’t
get over how this product smells and feels on my face. Both are sublime.
Typically I’d spray this right after my moisturizer step if I did not plan on
wearing any makeup. If I was going to wear make up, this step would come after
applying makeup to set it. It works great as a setting spray. It is also
suggested that it could be used as a spray to help with dry hair (though I have
not tried that).
The final product, and probably the most important and most
versatile product I own is Vermont’s Original Bag Balm. So technically,
TECHNICALLY, this product is not inherently a beauty product. However, I’ve
used this product since I was a kid and my mom and her mom use this product as
well. It costs about 7 to 8 dollars and comes with 10 ounces of product. Once
you buy one tin, you won’t need to repurchase again for many years! Apparently
the product was originally created for chapped cow utters so it is made to
whither extreme ‘chappiness’ (that’s not a word, but for the sake of this blog
we’ll go with it). I typically use this for my lips in times of dire need.
Usually I need this product during the cold weather seasons more than any
other. Unlike some of the other products I’ve talked about, this does not smell
great. In fact it has a very medicinal scent. It’s not intolerable, but it
could bother some. If your lips are dry or chapped, one layer of this overnight
will most definitely heal them. I’ve known others to use it on dry elbows and
hands, though it’s a bit greasy and sticky for that. In the past, when I’ve had
a cold and had to blow my nose a lot, I would also use this on the outside of
my nose (and a little on the inside) to help soothe the chapped skin.
