Hey, you don’t need a 10-step skincare routine, and you don’t need to keep ordering shit from Sephora. I used to struggle quite a lot with cystic acne (2021 was a rough year for my skin-and in general tbh). And I don’t know if it was me cutting out all the toxic relationships from my life or the products I used that helped me clear my skin. Perhaps both. But since I can’t make a list of all the people you should drop from your life, I’ll settle for sharing my skincare routine with you.
By the way, I have combination skin. T-zone leans toward being shiny as fuck, as in, “Wow! Your skin is glowing😍” which is a very kind way of letting me know I’m getting oily and need to go blot my face. And graciously, the rest of my skin tends to be fairly normal.
My Morning Skincare Routine
- step 1 (this is going to be soo brave of me to admit): I don’t wash my face in the morning. And fine! You can call me a rat for that! But listen! Ever since I stopped washing my face in the morning, my skin stopped breaking out and started clearing up. I don’t know! I don’t know! Perhaps it’s not great to strip your skin of its natural oils too often by over-washing it! If I do happen to wake up feeling extra filthy (which is extremely rare considering I do my skincare routine every night and am immediately off to either read or do my nightly phone scrolling until I grow sick of myself and pass out), thennn I will splash my face with some water. No cleanser.
- Ok actual first step. Apply tretinoin (mine is .025%). I get mine from Nurx. You need a prescription, but you can get that on the Nurx website. From what I remember, you fill out this questionnaire and upload photos of your skin. And then a dermatologist reviews it all, prescribes it, and then your order is placed. It’s 1 tube, which is a 3 month supply. Every 3 months, they automatically send you a new tube. It’s like $90 I think, but it has replaced all the other millions of products I used to put on my face. And it lasts a looong time! I’m still on my first tube-it’s not even close to being empty, and I’ve been using it for 6 months. You only need the teeniest tiniest amount. It doesn’t need to be slathered on to work. Honestly this is what made the biggest difference for my skin:’)
- Step 2: Apply Vitamin C. I use this one from SkinCeuticals https://www.skinceuticals.com/skincare/vitamin-c-serums/c-e-ferulic-with-15-l-ascorbic-acid/S17.html I have some hyperpigmentation on my cheeks from the cystic acne I used to have, and it has helped fade those darks spots tremendouslyyy. Plus I heard somewhere that topical Vitamin C helps prevent premature aging of the skin? A nice little bonus, so thanks for that.
- Step 3: Apply SPF Moisturizer. I use this one https://amzn.to/3lEhqpH it’s only $13 and it has worked better than all the $50 ones I used to use. SPF is so important! I never get sunburns, so my skin can handle the sun pretty well, but the sun can be so incredibly damaging to your skin. Plus it ages you like crazy! Not saying aging is bad, but I’m never like damn I can’t wait to have wrinkles😍 ya know? Also, I mentioned before that I have an oily t-zone, and this moisturizer has helped reduce that oiliness. Like if I don’t use it, that area will get oily as hell in 2 hours. But this product almost…neutralizes it? It makes that area more matte-but not matte as in dry. It somehow makes my skin normal without drying out the areas of my face that don’t get oily. Like it makes all of my skin normal. Also it’s oil-free and non-comedogenic, so it doesn’t clog your pores. I used to use the Cetaphil one, but I found that this one does a way better job at controlling my oiliness.
- Step 4: Apply tinted Sunscreen. This one is my FAVORITE https://amzn.to/42tGIri !!! I don’t wear foundation, because I hate how it feels and I think it makes me look…blank and bumpy? Like it emphasizes any texture I might have, and it doesn’t make my skin look like skin. So I use tinted sunscreen instead. I love how natural it looks. I’ve tried the one from Goop, but the color somehow applied blotchy and uneven. It looked like some areas had more tint than others. But the EltaMD one I linked blends in sooo seamlessly. It literally just looks like my skin, but evens out the hyperpigmentation on my face. Plus SPF 40!!
- And that’s all I do for skincare in the morning. It’s soo short and simple. Before this, I used to have a sticky note stuck to my mirror, with my written out skincare routine in order to remember all the steps. And my skin was still being rude and breaking out! After I simplified my routine to just these steps/products, I stopped getting those bad breakouts and my skin began clearing up.
My Evening Skincare Routine
- Step 1: Ok now, I wash my face. I double-cleanse by first washing off my makeup with either micellar water on a microfiber towel or with a cleansing balm. And then I go in with my cleanser. I use this one https://amzn.to/3lulsB9 best cleanser I’ve ever used. Makes my skin clean as fuck without drying it out or irritating it.
- Step 2: Apply Tretinoin again (explanation above)
- Step 3: Apply Vitamin C again (explanation above)
- Step 4: Slather my face in a night cream. I use this one https://amzn.to/3Z93MbX I’ve been using it for like a year and a half and it’s never let me down. Hydrates like crazy without making my skin feel clogged and gross. And the hydration actually lasts. I use night cream, because it’s more intense than regular moisturizer, so it keeps my skin hydrated (how many times can I say hydrate?) throughout the night.
- Step 5: Apply oil. This is only sometimes. I tend to do this more in the winter/colder months when my skin feels like it needs some extra moisture. I use the one called “Superberry Hydrate” from Youth to the People. Good shit.
- And that’s it! Off to bed! Thank fcking gawd
It’s nice having a simple skincare routine that you don’t resent. For a while, my Tiktok “For You” page was filled with people constantly trying to convince me that I NEEDED whatever product they were holding. But I promise you don’t need a million skincare products in your routine. You’ll do well with just a few really really great ones that are more effective than all of those gimmicky products combined.
Ok that’s all! I know this isn’t my usual type of post, but I figured I wanted my blog to be more than just my usual brain vomit:)
