Let me start off by saying you do not need all these steps in your routine! The way I like to approach skin care and really everything in my life is with intention. I check in with myself and ask “what do I need?” or specifically in this case, “what does my skin need?” Because if you listen to what every skincare brand and influencer says you need, you will have 1,000,000 products, bankrupt and overwhelmed with not knowing what to do with all the sh*t you have.
My suggestion for the order of importance if you are just starting is to invest in..
- Cleanser, moisturizer
- Cleanser, toner, moisturizer
- Cleanser, toner, eye cream, moisturizer
- Cleanser, toner, eye cream, serum, moisturizer
- Cleanser, toner, eye cream, serum, moisturizer, oil
- Cleanser, toner, essence, eye cream, serum, moisturizer, oil
Another thing to note is you may never get to routine #6. I personally don’t use an essence because I don’t feel like I need to and I just started to incorporate an oil into my routine.
Cleanser: I think most people know what this is, but it is the product you use to wash your face!
Toner: A toner helps add hydration to the surface of the skin and can help remove any remaining residues that the cleanser missed.
Essence: An essence is water based solution that has active ingredients in it to help the skin add moisture to the face.
Eye Cream: A formulation that is made for the delicacy of the skin under and around your eye. You also have the same sensitive skin on your upper lip, so feel free to use your eye cream there too! (Pro tip: apply your eye cream with your ring fingers. Your ring finger is the least dextrous and will be the most gentle)
Serum: Serums are the powerhouse product in your routine. Serums have ingredients that penetrate the skin the deepest.
Moisturizer: Moisturizers penetrate the skin barrier but also have residual, surface level hydration.
Oil: Oils really don’t penetrate the skin barrier and stay surface level, trapping in all the hydration you just added onto your skin.
Notice with these steps that after cleaning & prepping the skin, you use your products in order of the steps that penetrate the skin the deepest to surface level, so that you are getting the most bang for your buck with your products and you will see the best results that way!