It is very important you wash your face and cleansing your skin is the very first step in your skincare routine. It is crucial you get rid of the dirt, oil and makeup from your skin and out of your pores; to rid as much pollution from your skin as possible, to help prevent acne, ageing, and to calm your skin. It’s super important you clean properly so your product gets absorbed properly. It’d be quite difficult for your skin to absorb treatment with all that grime up in there.
Exfoliators are such an under-rated skincare step. Using an exfoliator is really important; it helps to clear out extra grime and dead skin. Once you exfoliate it ultimately allows our skincare products to be used to their fullest capabilities. If there is extra dirt and dead skin blocking our pores, the ingredients won’t be able to penetrate well. It’s like you’re driving down the road where there is a big tree that’s fallen to the ground and you can’t get around. It’s the same with your skincare products if you don’t exfoliate. It is recommended to exfoliate at least twice a week directly after you have cleansed your face to make sure your pathways are clear and dirt free for the next steps in your skincare routine.
Mask/Treatment -Face masks and treatments can help to hydrate and moisturise the skin, refine and de-clog pores, brighten the skin, improve texture, detoxify, energise and exfoliate the skin. They are extremely potent and concentrated, the benefit is it provides your skin with an epic boost of greatness. This step is taken after cleansing and exfoliation, this way your mask/treatment can get into the deeper layers of your skin. This step is done before the rest of the routine as it helps to prep the skin and they do need to be washed off and you don’t wash off our other skincare products.
Toner/Essence -Firstly, what is the difference between toner and essence? They both work as a booster to the skin before the rest of a skincare routine. Toner is used to cleanse and exfoliate your skin while essence is used to add moisture to the deeper layers of your skin. It is recommended you use toner in the morning and use essence in the evening. If you use both, begin with toner then follow with essence as toner will help to clean your skin before your next skincare steps and essence delivers a treatment to your skin.
After your skin has been cleansed and prepped it’s time for some serum. Serums are a super important step in your skincare routine. Some people skip serums thinking they’re an un-important step. The horror, we know. A serums job is to penetrate your skin to advance into the deeper layers of your skin. They’re essentially a potent treatment for your skin.
Eye creams usually have a higher molecular structure than serums but a lower molecular structure then moisturisers. The smaller the molecular structure, the deeper the product penetrates into your skin. The higher the molecular structure the less it penetrates the skin so it remains on your skin surface. With eye cream having a lighter molecular structure means you apply it before moisturiser in your skincare routine – never after!
Sure we hear some people question if eye cream is a necessary step in the skincare routine? By adding eye cream into your skincare routine you are giving your eyes (the most delicate and fast aging part of your face) that extra TLC and prevention it needs.
Moisturiser -Using a moisturiser is an absolute must. In the morning a lighter moisturiser should be used to keep your skin hydrated and preventing grease – Especially since a sunscreen is going to be used (HINT, HINT; don’t forget your SPF). At night time, a richer moisturiser is recommended to help give extra hydration to your skin from the moisture lost throughout the day and give your skin barrier that extra care it needs. Moisturiser keeps the outer layer of your skin hydrated, it also locks in and boost all of the other ingredients used before the moisturiser.
Oils -Believe it or not, face oils don’t actually moisturise your skin as well as we think! Their main purpose is to give your skin an extra layer of protection. That being said face oils are a beautiful way to lock in all of the ingredients and hydration used prior. They also have anti-ageing, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s important that oil is the very last step in your skincare routine as oils can penetrate every other skincare product, but every other skincare product can’t penetrate an oil. Therefore, oil should be used last to ensure all of your other product’s seep into your skin.
Night masks are an incredible weapon when your skin needs that extra “oomff”. Night Masks are immensely hydrating and help to repair your skin barrier and other important skin properties while you sleep. They can be used as a replacement to your moisturiser or as the following step.
Sunscreen, also known as the holy grail of anti-ageing, and your armour against the sun. Sunscreen is always the last step in a morning routine as it is not trying to penetrate the skin. It’s only there for protection.
It is crucial that your sunscreen is SPF 30+ or more, otherwise, you’re letting a higher percentage of UVB rays hit your skin – the higher the SPF the higher percentage of UVB that are blocked. It is also extremely important that you don’t replace sunscreen with any moisturisers, BB creams or foundations that claim to have SPF in them. These do not replace sunscreen. In fact, any product that has SPF mixed in with it will cause the SPF to be diluted. This includes if you mix any oil, serum or makeup into your sunscreen at home.
