My Basic Morning Skin Care.

Hello!

I've been trying to think of something to post for a couple weeks now, and just decided to go back to the basics.

My morning skin routine.

Now skin care is the most crucial part of good looking skin.
It seems obvious right?
But it's amazing how much we take it for granted.

Whether it's not drinking enough water to keep it hydrated,
laying on the make-up,
not WASHING said make-up off, (a dastardly mistake we make more often than we would like to admit, right?)
or even just not putting on sunscreen when we go out.

It may seem like little things that you're doing, but they add up.
Day after day, month after month, year after year.
It's important to create and maintain healthy routines, and not just for our skin!

I'm going to show you the extremely easy steps I take every morning in my small attempt to take better care of myself.

This is my face before my routine, aside from washing, which I do right after my shower.
I'm not going to try hide my spots and scars because they're there, and the reason for my routine is to try and make it so they aren't!
Hopefully several months down the track I can do an updated one of these and show you how my skin has improved from a daily routine.

(As you can see, I dyed my hair purple several weeks ago. I really should have taken pictures to show you the process, but it'll have to wait for another time! Also I apologise profusely. The downfalls of colourful dye is that it washes out so so so quickly, as you can see in my roots. My hair also grows very fast so you can see the roots coming through.. *sigh* Here's a picture of it when I first did it. )

First thing is first.
Washing the face.
Like I said, I generally do that right after my shower, but I'll show you the face wash I use.

It's the same one from my haul a few weeks ago, from The Face Shop. 

I don't always use this one, but it's my every day wash. 

A couple times a week I will use an exfoliating one, such as St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub, and at night I tend to use an oil cleanser, such as Softymo. 

Next up is a toner. 

I use one of two toners, either a witch hazel, (any brand will do, I personally have not noticed a difference between the higher end brands and drug store brands) or sake. 

(I know a lot of people are going to freak out here because sake is an alcohol and therefor drying, but my skin is never ever dry after I use this, in fact it's quite the opposite. It's extremely soft and almost tacky to the touch for hours. I'm no expert, but in my experience, sake is one of my favourite toners, also the Kojic acid actually works very quickly to lighten scars caused by blemishes.)

The next thing I use is a serum. 

An eye serum would be best, but I make do with this. 

I try not to use it every day, simply because it is anti-ageing, and if your skin is already relatively youthful, anti-ageing products can be counter-productive. 

I don't use it over my whole face, but more under my eyes (but not too close, I don't want to get any of the product in them!) the tops of my cheeks, and work it in a little lower.




Last but definitely not least is my moisturiser.
It's really important to find a daytime moisturiser that includes sunscreen, unless you want to apply that separately, which I find leaves me sticky and blah.
Most moisturisers will contain sunscreen, but it's best to find a natural moisturiser/sunscreen, because non-natural sunscreens are full of chemicals and can instead cause cancer and other problems.

 I think the smartest thing in purchasing skin, or any, products, is to buy things that are as naturally and as simply made as possible.
If we're using 20 products a day, but 15 of them contain chemicals that are known for creating other problems that may lead to the destroying of the very thing it's meant to help, I think it's extremely counter-productive.
When possible, homemade is always best!

Here's my face after the routine.
Aside from the lighting change, nothing really changed, but I promise you, day after day of a healthy skin routine, and you will definitely notice differences.
Even if you only go so far as washing your face every morning and night, as long as you are keeping a strict routine of it, there's no way you won't see improvements.
(Unless of course you're using something incompatible for your skin! Such as a cleanser for oily skin when you already have naturally dry skin. Always research what products will be best for your skin type.)


What is your basic skin care routine?
Do you use more products or less?