My six step every day skincare routine.
It generally takes around 15 minutes, although if I have time to luxuriate and layer extra products I will. There’s nothing quite like a bit of me time, especially when it comes to skincare.
First I Cleanse using a gentle cream or gel cleanser. There are many that I love using, like Neutrogena Hydro Boost Cleanser, Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel, Clinique Take Day Off Cleansing Balm, and Origins Cleansing Jelly. The shared feature of all of these products is that they are gentle, hydrating, and don’t strip my skin.
Then I use a very gentle (there’s a theme here) micellar water as I like my skin to feel super clean. The gentlest ones are the market, in my opinion, are Nivea MicellAIR Skin Breathe Water and Avene Micellar Lotion.
After cleansing I apply Eye Cream. I like thin, lightweight eye creams, that depuff, hydrate, and work to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. I particularly like eye creams with cooling applicators, like Brighten-i from The Inkey List and Retinol Eye Cream from Kate Somerville.
Next up is a Vitamin C Serum to hydrate and brighten my skin, reduce the appearance of scarring and pigmentation, encourage cell regeneration, balance skin tone, along with many other benefits.
I rotate around a couple of different Vitamin C Serums; Sunday Riley C.E.O Rapid Flash Brightening Serum, The Inkey List Vitamin C, and SkinCeuticals Phfloretin CF.
About a minute or so after applying my Vitamin C Serum, I move on to a Hydrating Serum, like Hyaluronic Acid from The Inkey List, or H.A Intensifier from SkinCeuticals.
The benefits of using hyaluronic acid in your skincare routine are wide-ranging. Think of it like a big drink of water for your skin. It’s a humectant which means it helps regulate moisture in the skin; resulting in ongoing hydration throughout the day. It plumps and protects, improves elasticity, it’s non-irritating, soothing, and by helping main moisture levels in the skin, it can add volume and improve firmness, too!
After this, it’s on to moisturiser. I use moisturiser to seal everything in, to keep the moisture that my serums have added to my skin in place. I’m particularly careful about always making sure I use moisturiser after Hyaluronic Acid as it draws moisture to the surface of the skin, and can sometimes exacerbate skin if it’s dry or dehydrated.
My favourite moisturisers right now are from Avene, Clinique, and Kate Somerville.
I like to press all of these products; serums and moisturisers, into my skin – and not rub, as it ensures even distribution, helps with blood circulation, and most importantly, doesn’t pull or drag my skin.
It’s important to note, in any skincare routine, that products should always be applied thinnest to thickest. Allowing the thinnest products to sink in first, layer by layer. The final layer – the thickest; moisturiser, acts as a sealant. This approach can also stop your makeup or SPF from ‘pilling’ (balling up, essentially) on your skin.
The last step in my skincare routine is SPF. Something I never, ever skip. I use SPF50 every day after moisturiser, to protect my skin from UVA and UVB rays, to prevent pigmentation, to stop premature aging, to lower the risk of skin cancer, among many other benefits.
If you’re not sure you should wearing sunscreen, ask yourself this. Is it pitch black outside? No? Then you should be wearing sunscreen 🙂
My favourite SPFs are thin and lightweight, and work beautifully under makeup. I love B.Protect SPF50 from Avene, SkinCeuticals Ultra Facial Defense SPF50, and Chanel UV Essential Gel-Creme.
And there we have it.
A simple, effective skincare routine can change how your skin looks and feels in a matter of weeks (and it can change how you feel about yourself, too). I highly recommend you start building one for yourself, if you haven’t done so already.
Watch my skincare routine step by step here.
Some of the products I use day to day:
