I have a confession to make: I think I'm loving the fall/winter seasons more than summer. I've loved the beach and the tropics all my life, but since moving to San Diego, I kind of look forward to the cooler season more. I realized the joy of layering clothes when I went to North Carolina with my aunt last year.
I am perpetually cold, so I find getting bundled up for the cold weather more appealing than anything else.It's not as warm around this part of California, which I absolutely love, but the cool breeze the fall/winter seasons bring indicate that the holidays are coming. The only thing that bothers me during this time of the year is my skin. I have combination/oily skin type on my face, and the rest of my body is just consistently dry. I haven't shared my updated skin care routine here on the blog in awhile, and there had been changes to both my routine and products that I use on my skin, so I'm using this as a perfect time to write a new one.
Allow me to break the norm by walking you through my nighttime skin care routine first since it's more extensive than what I normally do in the morning. I've been wearing full-face make-up to work lately because I wanted to commit to using up all products I own.
CLEANSE
As soon as I get home from work, I remove my
I use the cleansing brush twice daily, and I haven't encountered adverse reactions on my skin in doing so. Here's a brief rundown on how I use my cleansing brush for one (1) minute:
- I always start in my forehead and lightly swirl the brush around it (including temples). After 20 seconds, it will beep, indicating that it's time to move on to the next section of my face.
- The part I cleanse for the next 20 seconds is my nose and around my mouth.
- As soon as the brush beeps, I then move on to either side of my cheeks for 10 seconds each.
- The brush will automatically switch off as soon as I cleansed my entire face.
TONE
Shortly after I cleanse, I smooth a small amount of this toner (or this exfoliating one) across my face, neck, and décolletage, adding enough pressure to reach deep into my pores, but not too much so as to pull on the skin. I allow it to sink in for a while, probably a minute or two, before moving on to the next part of my routine.
MOISTURIZE
I just turned 30 last month, and although people say that I still look like someone in her mid-20s, I realized that my skin may no longer be as young and taut as it used to be. Since moving here in San Diego, where the air is drier than in the tropics, I have religiously moisturized my skin. Just because I have combination/oily skin, it doesn't mean that I no longer need to. Keeping one's skin hydrated at all times constitutes to healthy-looking skin, thus you tend to look younger than your real age.
After applying toner onto my skin, I lightly dab on this eye cream around my eye. I love that this lets me fake an 8-hour sleep when I really stayed up late, reading a book or watching YouTube videos in my phone. For the rest of my face, I use three oils in heavy rotation—this concentrate elixir (I just received this and the eye cream in the mail, so I was unable to include them in the photos, which I shot way before I drafted this post), this Maracuja oil, or this brightening oil. Sometimes, I add a thin layer of this face cream on top of everything; oftentimes, I don't.
EXFOLIATE ET AL.
I personally don't feel the need to exfoliate my face further since I use a cleansing brush on a regular basis, but if my skin develops dry and patchy areas, I use this one from the same brand as my facial cleanser. I also use this mask (also from the same brand) every now and then to help draw out skin impurities. I like that I can use that mask even when I'm in a rush since I can leave it for just 60 seconds before rinsing it out.
For the lips, I still use the same lip scrub that I got from my ipsy bag last year, and finish it off with my trusty lip balm.
When my skin is having a blemish party, I just use the following products depending on my skin concern. For those nasty bumps (cystic acne) that hurt more than the usual zit, I apply this buffer lotion overnight, and it wouldn't hurt as much the following morning. When it's the opposite of cystic acne, I just dab every one of them with this drying lotion that works like a charm! Even my husband uses these products if he needs to!
As I have mentioned earlier, my face leans towards combination/oily, but my body is just always dry. Lately, I've been using this body wash that I got from ULTA on a whim, and while I'm not particularly fond of its scent, my skin does feel clean without stripping off whatever's left of its moisture. I do, however, finish my routine off with this in-shower body lotion, which is similar to my favorite wet skin moisturizer, except the latter doesn't require rinsing off before towel-drying. If my skin feels really dry and irritated, I slather my entire body with this holy grail body lotion, which my husband also loves.
This pretty much sums up my updated skin care routine, especially during this fall/winter season. For obvious reasons, I dedicate more time in my evening skin care routine than in the morning because if I do, we're always going to be late for work. It may seem a lot, but they're really just basic steps that address my particular skin concerns. I mean, I'm now in my 30s, so I might as well take better care of my skin, right?
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