Guest Post! 6 Skincare Tips from Beauty Made Simple!

Hi everyone! My name’s Jackie and my blog is called Beauty Made Simple. Before I get started, I want to thank K from A Thing of Beauty for letting me write a guest post!

I’ve struggled with acne for years now, and I had to try many different products before I got to a skincare routine that worked for me. Keeping your skin healthy takes time and effort, but if you’re struggling, there are lots of things you can do to help get your skin back in tip-top shape. Here are the top 6 things that helped me along the way!

1.      Know your skin type.    

Knowing your skin type is the first step to knowing how to treat whatever skin issues you’re having. On a normal day, when you’re not wearing makeup, check in every once in awhile and see how your skin reacts. Does it become oily as the day goes on? Is it dry and tight? Or does it not do anything at all? When you do wear makeup, does your skin melt it off so that you can only wear it for half a day, or does the foundation cling to dry patches? Asking yourself questions like these will help you figure out if your skin is oily, normal, dry, or combination. Clinique and other websites also have online quizzes that can help you figure this out.

2.      Find a skincare routine that works for you.

This takes practice. The first skincare routine you try will likely not be the one that ends up working for you. I started out with Noxzema, which didn’t do much. Then my doctor prescribed me a cream with benzoyl peroxide, but it was mixed wrong at my pharmacy and became ineffective over time. Then I tried Proactiv, and it calmed down my breakouts considerably, but made my skin dull. It was only recently that I started combining the Clinique 3-Step Skincare System and my Clarisonic Mia to get the best results for my combination skin.

                                                                 

                                                                   

3.      Be consistent.

Once you’ve started a skincare routine, be consistent in your use of it. Whether you choose to do it once a day or twice a day, make taking care of your skin a priority. You also won’t be able to properly figure out if a product is working for you unless you’re using it regularly, so if you’ve only been using what you’ve picked out sporadically and it’s not working for you, don’t assume it’s the product’s fault. Use it every day for 2-4 weeks and then decide if it’s time to move on to something else.

4.      Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize.

This is the key to good skincare. Most popular skincare systems follow this formula by including a cleanser, a toner, and a moisturizer. The cleanser removes excess dirt and oil, the toner acts as an astringent, cleaning out your pores and fighting your acne. The moisturizer rebalances the pH levels in your skin and gives back the natural moisture in your skin that your cleanser may have taken away. Even if you have oily skin, it’s important to moisturize. Often your skin is producing excess oil because it’s dehydrated.

5.      Remove ALL of your makeup each night.

Often we think we’ve gotten off most of our makeup when we wash our faces at night, when in reality we’ve left quite a bit of it on our skin. That little bit that’s left behind can clog your pores and cause more acne. To properly remove my makeup, I like to use makeup removal wipes before cleansing. CVS makes the cheapest ones I can find at around $4 and they work great! It removes both eye and face makeup, so I get almost everything off in one fell swoop. After that, I cleanse with my Clinique face wash and my Clarisonic, and that removes the rest of my makeup. Don’t have a Clarisonic and don’t want to blow $100 on one? No problem! Just make sure your cleanser is either an exfoliating cleanser, which will deep clean your skin and get off everything, or make sure that it says somewhere on the packaging that it’s designed to remove makeup – many cleansers are not meant to remove makeup and as a result, won’t get everything off on their own. 

                                                                                                                                    

6.      Use a facial mask.

Using a facial mask at least once a week can really help remove the dirt and oil that gets trapped in your pores, especially if you wear makeup often. If you have dry skin, look for a moisturizing sheet mask. If you have oily skin, look for a clay mask. My favorite is the Queen Helene Mint Julep mask. It shrinks my pores and helps breakouts go away faster. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope these tips help! Be sure to check out my blog, I do lots of product reviews on both drugstore and high end makeup and skincare!