Friday, March 18, 2016

My Bedtime Skincare Routine

I was preferring to have just one skincare routine twice a day, morning and bedtime, the only difference being moisturizer with sunscreen in the morning and moisturizer without sunscreen a.k.a. night cream at bedtime, but either once I got that down I thought I could level up, or it's been SO DRY this winter I thought my skin could use some intensive care, or I guess both.

1. Floss and brush teeth.

Floss and brush my teeth before I wash my face so I can wash off any toothpaste that gets my face.

2. Take out contacts.

My hands are pretty clean after I've brushed my teeth, or at least I've run them under water because I just scoop the water from the faucet with my hands to rinse my teeth.

Okay, now the fun stuff:

my bedtime skincare products

3. Oil clean face.

So I've been oil cleaning my face with coconut oil, just the tip of a spoon of coconut oil massaged to melt all over my face. So, I'm getting a little lymphatic massage in, uh, whatever that is. Then I soak a washcloth or handtowel, squeeze it out, heat it in the microwave for 45 seconds, and very carefully hold it to my face. As the towel cools, I can press it to my face.

I bought a bottle of rose hip oil that I'm excited to try here, too. Eeee.

5. Mist with toner.

The second part of this is I spray my face with a DIY toner that I made with Tazo Zen tea and apple cider vinegar and put into a spray bottle that I keep in the fridge. I heat the towel again and steam my face again.

And that's it! I'm left with just a little protective layer of coconut oil on my skin that I sleep in.

YMMV!

Apply serum, if I were applying serum.

Okay, I tried the Good Genes! Nora found me a trial-size on Amazon that's "only" $40. It was okay. Not $105 okay, but I'm not sorry I tried it. I was having some trouble with blemishes, and it smoothed those out. But, it's used up now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6. Apply moisturizer.

I tried the Aveeno Ultra-Calming Intensive Night Cream, and I didn't like the texture compared to the Aveeno Positively Radiant Intensive Night Cream. So now I have switched to everything radiant (but I don't like the radiant day moisturizer as much as the ultra-calming day moisturizer. I mean, I don't dislike it enough to not finish it; but I'm going to switch back. That means I'm going to be radiant at night and ultra-calm during the day, why am I so backward.)

7. Turn on humidifier.

Last but not least, I turn on my bedside humidifier, and I put in a few drops of some lavender essential oil that Biggie got me as a present.

So this is as much a hygiene routine as it is a sleep routine. I mean, right? 1) It gets me clean. But then 2) the best routines become rituals, and rituals are what? Carriers of meaning, communicators. It sends signals to my brain that time to sleep is approaching. Like I said, I was sleeping like a champ in February—and actually my hygiene routine fell apart a little along with my sleep last week, methinks some other rough beast is moving its slow thighs in the vicinity, don't you. But what I really like is if I get depressed and ungroomed these days, my teeth. always. get brushed. And flossed actually, truly this is a golden age.