“Healthy skin begins the moment you start to take care of yourself.” —Anonymous

Healthy, natural, as well as radiant skin is something we can include as one of the most statement-making accessories in our exterior presentation. The questions begin though when we don’t know what is worth investing in and how much is too much and just unnecessary.

Alongside the food we eat, the exercise we regularly partake in and the healthy management of stress in our lives, how we care for our skin regarding the products we use and the practices we take regarding protection and hydration can have a powerful effect on our visage that we present to the world each and everyday for the rest of our lives. And thus how we feel when we go about her daily routine.

Over the past few years I have been focused on two goals when it comes to my own skincare regime: ensuring I am investing and purchasing products that deliver on their promises, and only using the products I need for the results I want. In other words a simple approach, but no simpler, and a dependable results so I know my money is being well spent on this regular and on-going personal expenditure.

Exploring products either to save money or improve the results, I have stepped away from items I once used to see if it would be worth doing so. In some instances, as I will share, I have found new products I love, but I have also confirmed the first product was worth using and paying for as the results stood out from their competitors even if I had to pay a bit more.

Below I am sharing what I have promised I would share, my detailed skincare routine that after much experimenting as well as conferencing with experts in the skincare profession. Be sure to tune in to the audio edition as along with sharing the products (as listed below), I also share why I use them and where to find them for the most savings.

~Be sure to listen to the audio version as I share detailed reasons and findings of why I use the products listed below and how I came to decide on each one.

Daily

1.Hydrate with conscious fluid intake choices

It will no doubt be known that drinking water frequently and regularly throughout our days is a simple, yet powerfully beneficial effect for our skin. From having a full water bottle in my vehicle at all times, bringing a glass of water to bed each night, or drinking water as my drink of choice along with tea throughout the day has become a habit I don’t even think about anymore. And it was upon living in Bend, Oregon, high desert country, that I immediately noticed that if I didn’t stay hydrated, my throat and thus skin felt scratchy, so it has been a priority to always have water with me.

2. Humidifier at night

While utilized throughout the winter and sometimes during the summer, turning on a humidifier at night makes a noticeable difference due to the dry climate where I live. Now, this will not be something everyone will need as it will depend on the moisture in the air where you live, but if you too live in a dry climate, this simple addition will make a positive difference, and you will immediately see it in your skin when you wake up – a bit more plump and radiant. A lovely way to begin the day. 🙂

3. Wearing hats and sunglasses (primarily hats) when outside (gardening and walking)

Something I should have begun doing long ago, but now thankfully I am, is wearing a hat whenever I am outside. As someone who is typically outside in the morning or evening as to avoid the direct sunlight, I still wear a baseball cap when walking the dogs, a straw or grass wide-brimmed hat when I am pottering in the garden, and when I head to the farmers’ market which is open during the middle of the day, I make sure to grab my Panama straw hat with a 6-7″ brim.

My hats now have become a fun accessory that not only is needed for functionality and protecting my skin and eyes but share a bit of my style and personality as well.

Of course, I still apply sunscreen even if I am wearing a hat, but if you are new to hat-wearing, it really can be a fun new way to play with your style.

Daily Morning Skincare Routine

1.Micellar water or Savon Olive de Marseille

Upon waking up in the morning, the first skincare task I tend to is wiping my face, neck and décolletage with micellar water. And because I cleansed well my face before going to bed at night, this gentle refresh is all that I choose to do. I know many skincare experts recommend cleansing twice, but now there has been much pushback on this approach, stating that it is either unnecessary or even too harsh, stripping the skin of necessary oils it needs. Either way, the best decision is what your skin needs, and this will change as we grow older and also how we care for our skin with the other approaches we apply and practice. One idea is to ask your esthetician what they would recommend for your skin if you see them regularly and they know your skin well. As someone who used to cleanse twice, I have found I no longer need to do so, and this gentle approach in the morning works best.

The micellar water I have used for about seven years is Bioderma’s which is also a makeup remover and quite gentle. If I am not taking a shower in the morning, I will use this. If I am taking a shower, I will use the least expensive product in my skincare routine – Savon Olive de Marseille, an all-natural soap from France that is the only soap I use (no more body washes) and it cleanses well my skin without drying it. I have using it since I learned about the qualities of this soap about five years ago, and will purchase a handful of the cube soaps all at once that will last a few years (shipped from France), and the shipping is more than the soaps themselves. Highly worth the wait for them to arrive and your skin will thank you.

Learn more about how I use this classic all-natural French cleansing staple and the shop I purchase mine from.

Made with 100% vegetable-based ingredients and at least 72% olive oil, all natural ingredients (sodium olivate – aqua – glycerin – sodium chloride – sodium hydroxide).

Shop here, here or here.

2. Serum for hydration

Searching for a product with Hyaluronic Acid and hyaluronic acid in varying weights (high and low) as this allows the slow-release hydration provided in HA to penetrate to different levels of your dermis, I began using Dr. Sturm’s Super Anti-Aging Serum and immediately loved it, but the price is a bit steep. So after using it for a year, I decided to try other serums that promised the same results and claimed to have varying weights of HA.

After about 18 months, I discovered, Dr. Sturm’s serum indeed was worth its price tag, and when I set up an auto-replenishment subscription, I am able to save a little money with each purchase.

Applying before my moisturizer after I cleanse my face in the morning, I only use a small drop and apply only in the morning as I don’t need all day hydration at night (the humidifier helps with this), but do throughout the day. This means it takes about three months to go through a 30 ml bottle (as seen below).

As is shared in more detail in the audio version of this episode as well as in this detailed post, hyaluronic acid reduces visible signs of irritation, nourishes skin immediately but continually throughout the day as it slowly releases moisture, and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Dr. Sturm’s Super Anti-Aging Serum

3. Moisturize

Having learned about La Mer’s original creme decades ago, I had always been curious if the chatter and praise was worth it. However, as I shared originally back in 2017 after I first tried this moisturizer, it really does do wonders for the skin. I will note that it is most beneficial for dry skin, and as I live in a very dry climate, I needed exactly what it was offering.

Comprised of La Mer’s “Youth Generating Miracle Broth™ this cell-renewing elixir floods skin with energy is crafted with a blend of sea kelp, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, Miracle Broth™ undergoes 3–4 months of fermentation and exposure to light and sound waves, maximizing its energetic potential.”

Now I share all of that from the brand’s website, but the key is what does it give and provide my skin? And each time I have stepped away from this product trying to save money, my skin doesn’t look nearly as youthful, hydrated or radiant. It just doesn’t. So I return and have been regularly using it in the morning and the evening (due to our dry climate), and my skin looks as good as I hope it can.

The good news is that you can often find it on sale somewhere. Whether on ECosmetics or BlueMercury and sometimes at Nordstrom during their anniversary sales, so you really don’t have to pay full price ever. I haven’t for the past couple of years.

La Mer Creme de La Mer (original)

4. Sunscreen

As someone who had a tough time with clear skin during my teenage years, I became very hesitant to apply thick products that would likely clog my pores, and often that was the only form in which the sunscreen would be available. Of course, I know much more about skincare now, and thankfully being able to find quality products that will perform as we need without the side-effects we don’t want (break-outs) is much easier.

Specifically claiming to be a sunscreen to protect acne prone skin with its light-weight formula, EltaMD UV Clear feels super light on the skin, and after having used for nearly two years, I now always have it handy as my go-to sunscreen both here at home and when I travel. I have used others that I still love and continue recommend (La Roche Posey’s for example), but EltaMD’s, in comparison feels the best on my skin, and I have yet to have a breakout even after wearing it outside where I will work up a sweat (gardening or running). The cost is about $50, and this one bottle will last all summer and about six months or so in full, so not a bad price for the quality of protection and length of use available with each purchase.

EltaMD UV Clear Face Sunscreen, SPF 46

Daily Night Skincare Routine

1. Cleansing with Cleansing Balm

Elemis Cleansing Balm

Collagen is the natural protein that supports the body’s connective tissues as well as our skin, muscles and bones, and it begins to decrease as early as our mid-twenties. So unless we regenerate it or add it to our body, we begin to see the effects in sagging skin, stiff joints and loss of muscle mass.

As it pertains to skincare, there is not a cream or lotion containing collagen that has been proven to actually be able to penetrate below the skin (where it needs to go). Rather, you would want to take collagen supplements or regenerate collagen by gently damaging the skin (as will be discussed in the last item on today’s list), so that it is encouraged to generate more collagen to repair itself. As well, applying products with hyaluronic acid (as shared in the anti-aging serum above) will help promote collagen production.

Other modes of stimulating collagen production are retinol (see below the product I use), light therapy, vitamin C, and ginseng as well as aloe vera gel to heal scars.

I share all of this because the product I use (shown just above) for cleansing in the evening has on its label Pro Collagen, but there is no collagen in this product. Rather this claim, when you look closely at the ingredients it does use, removes the pollutants from the skin that could potentially, unnecessarily, reduce collagen, and thus it is named “pro collagen”.

If you have found a product with collagen (in a cream or lotion), often it can cause the price to become quite expensive, and also could harm the skin more than help, so investigate carefully. But the good news is that there are other ways of creating more collagen, and the last item on my list is the one I highly recommend tuning into the audio version for as I walk you through how it regenerates collagen for noticeable effects (positive) on the skin.

2. Micellar Water (to remove eye makeup)

Bioderma Micellar Water, Makeup Remover, Gentle for Skin

3. Retinol serum (3-4 times a week, so every other night)

Be sure to tune in to the audio version as we will talk about what retinol is, the various percentages of retinol to look for in a product and what it does for the skin’s renewal.

Augustus Bader’s Retinol Serum

4. Moisturizer

As shared above, I use the same moisturizer for day as at night due to the dry climate in Bend, Oregon: La Mer Creme de la Mer.

5. Eye Cream

After trying many different eye creams over the years, and having begun using La Mer’s Eye Concentrate about five years ago, and even trying to see if other products could produce the same results (so I stopped using this eye cream and experimented with other, less expensive brands), I returned to the Eye Concentrate because it really does care for the delicate skin around the eyes better than any product I have tried.

The good news is that this small jar lasts about six months when applied once a day in the evening.

La Mer’s Eye Concentrate

6. Lip Balm

A vegan product that provided oodles of hydration for the lips. I have found it works for a long duration throughout the day and is why I apply it on my lips before I go to bed to keep them moisturized through the night (although in Bend, with our dry climate, I may have to reapply in the morning). Tatcha’s Lip Mask also smooths and softens lips reducing or eliminating any dryness or flakiness. Quite a good size of a jar, one will last about 7-9 months depending upon how much I use it. The texture of this product feels good to the touch and is easy (not sticky) to apply.

Tatcha’s The Kissu Lip Mask

Weekly

Scrub/Exfoliate or Peel

The benefit of seeing regularly an esthetician that knows your skin, something we will talk about with the next point below for seasonal/monthly skincare, is that they will know what your skin needs. Case in point, once I began using the cleansing balm for my facial cleanser at night, I stopped using my daily exfoliant. My esthetician immediately noted I need to incorporate some sort of exfoliant, but just not as regularly, so once a week.

I began, with her suggestion, using iS Clinical’s Active Peel System, and only once a week (the package recommends every other day, and that wasn’t necessary for my skin needs). This active peel “helps to improve the appearance of skin tone and texture, resulting in a smooth, hydrated, and more youthful-looking complexion”.

Super simple to use, the first wipe is applied over your clean skin, and left on for three minutes, and then removed with the second wipe which is not then cleaned off but left to remain. You can learn all about the process and ingredients being used with each wipe here on the page for iS Clinical Active Peel Treatment.

My skin immediately feels softer and smoother. I will share that after the first time I used it my skin was a bit pink, but that went away in a couple of hours. Each use thereafter, the pinkness only lasted for about 30 minutes to an hour, but I have highly sensitive skin.

The other exfoliant I do use, and have for over a decade, but now more sparingly, is Éminence’s Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant which I mix into my Marseille Soap cleanser when I take a shower. This is only once or twice a week.

Eminence Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant

Monthly or Seasonally

Professional Facial

As the budget allows, investing in a regular facial with an aesthetician you trust ensures you are taking the best care of your skin to suit its needs. Tune in to the episode to discover all that my own journey with my aesthetician has taught me.

Yearly or Bi-Yearly

Clear + Brilliant Laser Treatment

A long discussion is shared in the audio version sharing why I chose to try this procedure and now recommend it, my experience, the benefits and how often this skincare procedure is part of my skincare routine.

If you have any questions about anything that was discussed in this episode, please do share in the comments’ section below and I am happy to answer.

POSTS/EPISODES from the Archives You Might Enjoy

episode #383, 11 Health & Beauty Secrets for a Better Second Half, as taught by Liz Earle

An Investment Worth Making: Smart Skincare in My 40s (and applicable to all ages) — 11 Items I Use, Love and Recommend

The Benefits of Adding Micellar Water to Your Beauty Routine

Petite Plaisir

Lonely Planet, Netflix

Watch the Trailer:

~Explore all of The Simple Sophisticate podcast episodes here.