My Current Skincare Routine - Evening

This is part two on my skincare routine,which will cover my evening routine. You can read about my morning routine here, but for a quick recap about my skin, I have oily, acne-prone skin.

Evening Routine:

Confession: I'm lazy. I know I should probably remove the bulk on my eye makeup with an eye makeup remover before I wash my face, but I don't. Instead. I wait and wash my face in the shower. I remove what remains with an eye makeup remover after I get out of the shower and I'm sporting what my fiance and I fondly refer to as my Courtney Love look.

For a while now, I've been using a backlog of facial cleansers that I'd accumulated. The backlog is nearly gone, and I plan on going back to using Silk Natural's Kiss Foaming Cleanser with their foaming bottle. I talk more about this cleanser in my morning routine post, so I don't plan to repeat myself here. Instead, I will mention that this cleanser does a pretty good job at removing makeup. I may have to take care of some waterproof eye makeup (particularly eye liner) after my shower, but it removes everything else easily.

After I get out of the shower and make sure that all of my eye makeup is gone, I use my eye cream. Just like with my morning routine, I apply my eye cream before my acne treatment because I don't want to have to wash my hands between my acne treatment and my eye cream to prevent getting said acne treatment in my eyes (remember, I'm lazy). As mentioned, my eye cream will be changing after my current one is gone. It is primarily in the picture above to signify that I use an eye cream. I'm looking for recommendations if you have any.

My evening acne treatment is Neutrogena's On-the-Spot Acne Treatment 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. I would love to cut benzoyl peroxide out of my routine. I tried to cut it out a few years ago, but my skin freaked out, and I stuck it back in. I'm glad that I've gotten down to only using it at night though. I've read that 2.5% is really all you need for treatment, and a higher concentration can have the tendency to irritate skin. This BP cream is the only one I can find in the drugstore with this low of a concentration, so I stick with it.

My night moisturizer is relatively new too. I picked up the Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Moisturizer - Night back in the fall because I wanted to add retinol into my routine. Retinol is, of course, a good anti-aging ingredient, and I've read that it can be good for acne as well. If you haven't used it before though, take it slow. When I first got it, after a few night my skin was burning slightly because retinol is strong stuff. I stopped using it for a few days, and then I started using it every other night for a week or two. After my skin adjusted, I was able to start using it every night. I haven't noticed any major differences in my skin, but I know that retinol is good for it, so I plan on sticking with this for the time being.

Extras:

I regularly use an exfoliator on my skin when I'm in the shower. I LOVE Kate Somerville's ExfoliKate, but it is expensive, so I've been using this sparingly since I got it over the summer. The .5 oz size retails for $19. I have a feeling I will end up repurchasing when I run out though. It's a strong exfoliator, so I typically only use this about once a week. Other days, I might grab for the Giovanni D:Tox Purifying Facial Scrub. This is intended to be used daily, and I do use it most days. It is likely this I will pick this one up again as well.

Face Masks

I don't use face masks regularly, but I have a bunch on hand. I don't love any of them. When I do use them, I use a makeup remover wipe to get the bulk of my makeup off, put on the mask, let it sit for the required amount of time, and then remove it in the shower. I like doing it this way because it is easier to get the entire mask off in the shower. I hate having little green flecks left on my skin from a mask that I used.

What are your must have skincare items? Are there any that you feel are good enough to splurge on (like ExfoliKate)?

My Current Skincare Routine - Morning

I had one of my real life friends request a post about this because we have very similar skin types (oily, acne-prone skin). I don't have a perfect system down yet. However, I think my routine is pretty good. I don't get breakouts as much as a used to, which makes me happy.

Morning routine:

I start out by washing my face with Kiss Foaming Cleanser from Silk Naturals. I do as they suggest and use their foaming bottle and dilute the cleanser. They suggest a 30% cleanser to 70% water ratio. Warning: Because of the part of the foaming bottle that sticks down into the bottle itself, you need to use less cleanser than you think to get the right proportions without overflowing the bottle (maybe that's just my issue though...). Next time I have to mix, I think I'm going to put the water in first, then the cleanser. I love that this cleanser is really gentle. I also like that it is so light on the skin when using the foaming bottle. I use a washcloth to wipe the cleanser off my face, and this doesn't gunk up the washcloth. I usually use the same washcloth for several days before switching, and I couldn't do that with a heavier, thicker cleanser. The foaming bottle also makes the 4 oz bottle last a LONG time.

I use my eye cream next. I don't have one that I love yet, but I'm currently using Sibu Beauty's Sea Buckthorn Age Defying Eye Cream. It is okay. When that is gone, I will be trying something else. The reason I use my eye cream before my acne treatment is so I don't have to wash my hands multiple times while going through my skincare routine. I don't want any residual acne treatment to get into my eyes, so if I used my acne treatment first, I would need to wash my hands before using my eye cream. This way, I just wash my hands at the end of my entire routine.

My acne treatment comes next. I have been using and loving Neutrogena's Acne Stress Control 3-in-1 Hydrating Acne Treatment. The active ingredient is 2% salicylic acid. I like using salicylic acid during the day because I've had a ton of issues in the past with benzoyl peroxide bleaching my clothes, particularly in the warmer months when I have the tendency to sweat. I read a review on this that complains that some of the ingredients actually aren't good for acne-prone skin, but it seems to work really well for me. I've gone through multiple tubes, and have at least one back-up in my bathroom.

Finally, I use a moisturizer with SPF. I've been working my way through deluxe samples that I got in a Sephora SPF kit that they sold over the summer. In the picture is Supergoop's Everyday Face & Body Lotion SPF 30. Honestly, I've only used it a few times. I just stuck it in the picture to signify a moisturizer. I plan on ordering Lavanila's The Healthy Sunscreen SPF 40 soon, which will become my everyday moisturizer. I will continue to use up the deluxe samples that I have on days when I'm not working and just plan on being around the house or running a couple of errands.

As a quick summary, I would recommend the Kiss Foaming Cleanser and the Neutrogena Acne Stress Control 3-in-1 Hydrating Acne Treatment. My eye cream and moisturizer will be switching sometime soon.

Since this post is already quite long, I'm going to wait and do a separate post for my evening skincare routine. I should have it posted within the next few days.

What skincare products do you use in the morning? Do you know of a great eye cream I should check out?

Sephora Haul!

When I saw that Sephora.com had Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette in stock, I had to jump on the opportunity to use a 10% off discount code that I had to snap it up.

I don't plan on reviewing this palette, and I probably won't do swatches either just because the internet is already flooded with both. How many times can you read, "I wish they hadn't included Half Baked again"?

Although I'm not adding a review, I will add another photo of the Naked 2 palette to the millions of them already out there: 

When I make a Sephora order, I always look for something small to throw in my order just because I like getting multiple things (Am I the only one that does that?). Sometimes I convince myself that I shouldn't get them. This time I didn't. My small item was the Chloe & Love, Chloe Minature Duo ($12), which has mini bottles (duh!) of Chloe and Love, Chloe.

I also had quite a few Beauty Insider points that I could cash in, so I got a few more products that way. I got the 100-point perk of a Miss Dior Cherie perfume, and I also got the 500-point perk Philosophy Party Girl set.
 

 From left to right: Love, Chloe; Chloe; and Miss Dior Cherie. All three of them are 5 mL/.17 oz.

The Philosophy Part Girl set included (from left to right): Hope in a Jar (in a tube - lol), Microdelivery Peel (excited to try this!), Purity Cleansing Oil (excited to try this one too!), and Bubbly lip shine (which smells really good, but I can't put my finger on what it smells like - I would assume champagne, but I don't think that's what it is).

These were my three freebie samples. The only one that I actually asked for was Someday by Justin Bieber (Yes, I requested it. No, I'm not a Justin Bieber fan.). I'm still happy to try what I got though. I've been testing a couple of other makeup primers, so I'm glad to give another one a shot, especially one with anti-aging properties, and I'm always on the hunt for a better eye cream.




Are you planning on getting the Naked 2 palette? What, if anything, have you hauled from Sephora recently? Did you take advantage of the extra 20% off sale items code? I was tempted by it, but I resisted.