I’m going to give you a not-so-brief rundown of my skincare routine. No one asked for this per se, but I do get questions about clean skincare. Also, I love to read people’s makeup and skincare routines, and in its heyday Into the Gloss (a blog that chronicled famous and famous-ish peoples’ beauty and skincare routines) was a real favorite. Okay, enough justification, if you’re interested keep reading, if not idk get back on Tiktok or something!
As someone who’s always taken for granted that I look young, when I started looking LESS young I started experimenting with my skincare routine. Now listen, aging is a privilege, we’re in a toxic culture, the fact that I think I enjoy beauty and skincare is probably a symptom of how badly the patriarchy has gotten me, yada yada. If you want to read a critical look at beauty culture I recommend Jessica DeFino’s The Review of Beauty.
Anyways! I want to feel good and look good. Also, with zero judgment I do not want to get Botox or fillers (for now), and I generally don’t spend my money on facials or cosmetic dermatology. I save it for supplements and overpriced paleo granola.
Therefore, I'm willing to spend a bit more on skincare and medical devices, but I want to be smart about it. Also, I want my skincare to be as clean as possible. There are various definitions of clean, but I define it as skincare where there is a degree of transparency about the ingredients and they avoid the most toxic/ endocrine-disrupting ingredients. There's a lot to consider! I love shopping at Credo beauty because the salespeople have good recommendations, they have a great return policy, and the products all pass fairly rigorous standards. However, a lot of these brands are also sold at Sephora or Amazon.
I have skin that's a bit dry, especially in NY winter, a bit reactive but probably not diagnosable as sensitive, and not acne prone unless I use a moisturizer that is too thick, my hormones are off, or I go cheese-crazy.
Here’s my basic routine. First, I love an oil cleanser. My favorites are from Tata Harper and Mara. I am currently using Mara’s because it's a bit less expensive. While in Paris (flex), I tried Violette's Boum Boum milk. If you don't know about her (why would you!), she's a trendy makeup artist on Instagram with her own makeup and skincare line. The Boum Boum milk is supposed to be a calming toner/ serum/ moisturizer in one and I have been surprised by how much I love it. I bought the small size three months ago and am only halfway through.
For serums, my holy grail is Vintner's Daughter and I also like Le Prunier (so does Chrissy Teigen, and I honestly find her annoying but you can’t fault her skin!). I only use Vintner's when I'm feeling flush. Currently I'm using Trilogy Rosehip oil, which is pretty cheap as far as natural serums go and allegedly Kate Middleton uses it. (Thinking of her / thoughts and prayers/ if good enough for a princess etc.).
If I need more moisture I really like Is Clinical’s moisturizer. It’s not ‘clean’ skincare, but that’s OK! Nobody’s perfect.
Once or twice a week I use Is Clinical’s peel pads which I think are terrific. If I’m noticing fine lines on my forehead it’s often because my skin is dehydrated, and a facialist once taught me that using a chemical exfoliant like this will get rid of dead skin cells so that my moisturizer can actually penetrate. Using a peel pad, serum, and then moisturizer means that my skin looks way better and fine lines are noticeably reduced.
I believe in Vitamin C in theory, but I don't currently have one that works for me. Vitamin C it’s pretty unstable, and you should be using it on dry skin and then letting it dry for 30 minutes before putting on anything else which is annoying.
Last thing- devices! I think LED and microcurrent solve a lot of woes, but only buy a device if you’re actually going to them. Microcurrent is supposed to tone your face and lift muscles through tiny shocks. I think it works if you use it daily, or close to that. People love the Nuface. I have a Ziip, which is also a microcurrent device, however I rarely use it because I hate the feeling of the gel and light electric shocks and never did it consistently enough for to see a big difference.
However, I love my LED mask! I bought the CurrentBody. The science behind LED or low-level light therapy is that it emits photons that photoactivate cells, allowing them to do a better job at repairing themselves. At least, this is my sense of it as someone whose last science class was in Spanish and loosely discussed natural disasters.
Proponents of LED notice better skin texture, reduced acne, improved radiance and elasticity, and reduced wrinkles and fine lines – they’re a bit of a cure all. Scalp LED masks are becoming popular for hair loss. If you’re interested in LED this blog has a good explainer of how to choose one along with discount codes. If you have money to throw at it I’d check out the Lyma laser—it’s very expensive but the results seem incredible.
I do believe that my skin looks subtly better when I’m using it, although I wouldn’t say that an outside observer would notice this. However, I also really enjoy using my mask! I find the red light very relaxing, and actually want to use it more often than you’re supposed to (once a day for ten minutes is the recommendation, and I don’t go over because it can dry out your skin.) Initially, I found the light very bright and used the tiny enclosed goggles, but now I either try to meditate with my legs up the wall or watch TV while wearing it.
The end for now! Of course I play with other things (gua sha, ice rollers, etc.), but these are the essentials. If you have any clean skincare questions let me know, and if anyone cares I can talk about makeup at some point.
From earthquake shaking New York,
Alex
what you’ll look like if you use boum boum milk, guaranteed
wearing my LED, only scaring my dog a little bit
I'm almost "there" in buying a LED mask. But I'm still over the fence.