Now I haven’t really revealed my age until now. I think a few of you know that I am in my late 20s, but when you get to this ripe old age, it is less easy to hide!! UNLESS you have an amazing, trusty skincare routine that will help you fake it till you make it!!
This post is not about make-up; this is purely about skin care. So, if you’re interested in my skincare regime, and how I keep my skin looking hydrated, glowy and youthful at 28 years young, just keep reading...
Step 1 – Morning routine
I actually don’t do a huge amount in the way of skincare in the mornings – mainly because I hate mornings and want to stay in bed for as long as possible until I HAVE to get ready.
So, if you’re like me and don’t want long-winded skincare regimes in the early hours, here’s my advice: if you do nothing else, make sure you MOISTURISE!! It’s the single most important step in my mind, to ensuring that your face and décolletage doesn’t start heading south or to wrinkle-ville anytime soon. By locking in that moisture your skin will be hydrated and supple.
My go-to products for the morning are:
- The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid & Vitamin B5: This is the first step in my routine – just a drop or two on my face before applying face cream. If you didn’t already know, Hyaluronic Acid attracts up to 1000x its molecular weight in water, so it is a real thirst quencher for your skin. Vitamin B5 offers lasting hydration and visible plumping of the skin. And all of this for an itsy bitsy price-tag of £5.90 (in most UK stockists), who wouldn’t want that?!
- The Body Shop Vitamin E Gel Moisture Cream: it’s super affordable, lightweight and SO moisturising. I have combination skin, so don’t like anything too thick in the mornings before make-up but at the same time I need moisture, so this is the perfect choice.
- The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution: If I'm not in too much of a rush, and if I have particularly breaking-out skin, I use the Ordinary Salicylic Acid solution. You can actually use anything that contains salicylic acid for similar results, I just use this one as it’s always been my go-to. The purpose of this is to target blemishes and gently exfoliate the skin. Be careful with this one, you don’t want to lather it all over your face as it could be too much for a daily regime - I use it mainly on problem areas such as my chin and jawline in the week leading up to my period. It’s a lifesaver!! ** This should be used before face creams.**
Now obviously this isn’t a skincare step (or even a necessary step) for a lot of people, but I also like to use a hydrating primer before I move on to makeup. Depending on the occasion, and what I'm doing that day, I often use a primer as the final step to help my skin prepare for a face-full and keep it looking glowy and radiant. One that I have used for many years in the Too Faced Hangover Primer – it just ticks all the boxes! And it smells DELICIOUS. If you like coconut scented products, you’ll LOVE this.
Step 2 – evening routine
So, after a long day at work, I like to get my face clean and fresh as quickly as possible. I don’t sit around all evening with make-up on; I just want it off!! So before I do anything else, I take my make-up off in a few simple steps. Eye make-up comes off gently with various different products – they interchange often, then I move onto my face.
First off, I use basic make-up remover wipes – any brand will do, this is just the first step to get the majority of product off my skin. However, in my experience, wipes do not get everything off at allllll!! So, then I use a mixture of products to get my face back to clean and fresh......
If I shower in the evening, I use one of the following cleansers as the next step:
- The Body Shop Vitamin E Gentle Facial Wash: just lather it up and wash your face! It is gentle, soft, thorough and leaves your face squeaky clean.
- The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash: this I use more infrequently. I love this for giving my face a real cleanse, because it removes impurities and excess oil, and literally leaves my face so mattified that no blemish would last a minute on that skin!! I typically use this once a week, or if my skin is particularly blemished. Oh, and it’s 100% vegan too!
- The Body Shop Drops of Light Pure Clarifying Foam Wash: sometimes I like to use this to brighten my complexion. It comes out as a white, gel-consistency that foams up when lathered with water, and leaves my skin feeling (literally) squeaky clean. It’s packed with red algae and vitamin C which helps to brighten up the skin and leaves my skin looking glowy and luminous.
- Toner: I typically match the toner to the cleanser that I have used as I personally find that’s what gives the best results. Yep, I have one of each cleanser and one of each toner too!! Other toners I have found to be amazing are:
- Pixi Beauty Glow Tonic: infused with Glycolic Acid (a classic holy grail ingredient in toners as it gently exfoliates leaving your skin looking brighter, and helps with anti-aging too!)
- The Ordinary Glycolic Acid Solution Toner: for obvious reasons, plus the price point is unbeatable!
However, if I have showered in the morning, I use a different cleansing concoction since I don’t shower twice a day (!!). On those days, I use The Body Shop Vitamin E Cream Cleanser and the same toner.
Once my face is clean, I get on with the rest of my evening. The rest of my night-time skincare routine starts again just before I go to bed. I tend to mix up the products I use, but some of the staples for pretty much every night are (in this order):
- The Ordinary EUK 134 0.1% – this is a strong concentration of the antioxidant, which basically dilutes free radicals and protects your skin against skin-damaging elements naturally floating around in the atmosphere. This also helps with anti-ageing. ** One thing to note – this absolutely cannot be used in conjunction with acids, so I tend to use this after I have cleansed and toned my skin, so there are a few hours between using the EUK 134 and any other serums or creams. **
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 10 + Zinc Serum – this is a delightful little cocktail! So the Niacinamide helps with blemish control as it controls sebum production, and helps lock in moisture. Zinc helps damaged skin to recover and encourages the production of elastin and collagen – I'll have a large helping of that then thank you!!
- Pixi Collagen & Retinol Serum – this is a recent addition to my skincare routine, but one that I love and will definitely stick with. The collagen and retinol help to give back the natural plumpness and elasticity in the skin which, again, yes please! Plus it is packaging GOALS and I have decided I now want to buy every single Pixi product so that I can take the best SHELFIES!!
- Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream – I use this as a night cream. This is basically described as a shot of protein powder for your skin LOL. It is packed with 9 signal peptides, and it helps skin to stay firm, hydrated and maintains collagen. This is a bit thicker than some of the other creams I have used in the past, so it’s great for a night mask as it soaks into the skin during the night, so I wake up with a face like a baby’s bum! This is a bit of the pricier side though so, when I am too poor to spend £57 on a face cream, I use alternatives. One of my favourites is:
- The Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask – this is literally ‘bouncy.’ It applies to my face like a smooth, bouncy cream and then replaces itself if the container back to the original shape. It’s super hydrating and a great alternative night cream. It makes my skin feel smooth, plump and full when I wake up in the morning.
Occasionally, I finish up my skincare with a spritz of a face mist, especially in the Summer, when it is so refreshing to feel the cool mist on your face - I like the Mario Badescu Lavender face mist, it’s just so dreamy! For my body, I sometimes use the Lush ‘Sleepy’ cream too too – I mean I'm sure you know all about that one but, if you’ve not tried it yet, get yourself down to Lush now as it is the most delicious smelling product I have ever tried, and I feel you must experience it too!
Hopefully this isn't too overwhelming... I must admit, I never used to be much of a skincare fanatic - I just thought it was all super pricey, not that necessary and basically just a gimmick. It was only in my mid 20s that I realised I needed to start taking better care of my skin, before it started showing signs of ageing like it has now (sob, sob). Skincare doesn’t have to break the bank, though. The Body Shop and The Ordinary in particular have some amazing products at really affordable prices – you could stock right up and only be £20-40 down! And they last for agessss too.
Let’s stay youthful as long as we can! If our face says we’re young, why can’t we act like it too?! 😉
