Steps To Beauty

I know a lot of people paralyzed by what they should do as a skin care routine. Clinique did a great job with the Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize campaign. So good that you would be amazed at the amazement that a lot of my clients have when I say you don't necessarily need to tone. The paralysis comes from too many products out there and too many opinions. You have to do this! Your skin is lost without this!

Well here's one more opinion to add to the mix: It's all about finding the right products that fit your skin type and lifestyle. After years of buying tons of products that I didn't love, I found MakeupAlley.com for product reviews. But nothing replaces going to a facialist that you trust and getting product recommendations. There are other fabulous reasons to go to a facialist (relaxation, therapy, extractions, professional only treatments) but the number one reason to go is so you can get put on a skin care routine.

Here's the article from the New York Times on the new steps for skin care regimens that inspired this post.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/fashion/new-steps-for-skin-care-regimens-skin-deep.html?src=recg

The one thing I like about this article is the emphasis on more skin care products and less foundation. Foundation/Concealer really only needs to be used on parts of your face that skin care products can't really correct or haven't corrected yet. The worst is if you have problem skin and you cover up the problems by shellacing on more foundation. Then your skin care problems will never be solved because you aren't allowing your skin to breathe!

A deeply cynical person (like myself) would scoff at new steps being added by a manufacturer since they want to sell more products. But what isn't cynical about changing up your routine is figuring out what you really need to do and why. Learn about the ingredients that work on your skin and buy only those products, no more.

For example, here's my skin care routine right now (it's a bit colder so I've changed it up from summer when my skin is oiler). The most important thing is the ingredients. You don't have to buy these particular brands, athough I've tried several Glycolic toners, cleanser and moisturizers and these are the ones that are the best.

AM

1. Wash with lukewarm water
2. Glycolic toner on the oily/congested parts (nose and jaw for me) [SkinCeuticals LHA Toner]
3. Moisturizer or Lavender toner if my skin feels tight after the Glycolic toner (which it usually doesn't) [Dermalogica Multi-Activ Toner or Nia24 Skin Stregthening Complex]
4. SPF
5. Concealer/Cover-up (dual action so conceals and heals) [ABBE End-Zit]
6. Powder [Estee Lauder Translucent]

PM

1. Wash with Glycolic cleanser [Revision Brightening Cleanser]
2. Glycolic moisturizer (if I'm feeling dry) or Retionol Treatment [Topix Glycolix Elite 10% or Topix Replenix Retionol x5]