An Updated Skincare Routine | Winter 2019-2020

One of my goals this year is to stick to a more consistent skincare routine and work on using products up. My skin is always happiest when I’m not constantly switching around the products I’m using, but it’s also sometimes too exciting and too much fun to try new things. I think my skin has settled into as dry as it’s going to be for the winter, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk through what I’m using now. Maybe having it written down like this will force me to stick to it for the rest of the winter, too.

This was taken at the end of the day when most of my foundation had worn off, so you can see the condition of my skin - some redness and old acne marks but a hydrated glow

My main goal with skincare is to keep my skin hydrated and nourished. I’m prone to both dehydration and dryness, so I’m always trying to combat that. I’m lucky in that I don’t have much skin texture (except for my chin - home to constant hormonal acne), so I like to maintain that with gentle exfoliation throughout the week. My hormonal acne is from the birth control pill I take, so while nothing has really helped to get rid of breakouts, I’m always looking for something to heal them faster and lighten the marks they leave.

Morning

Cleanse: In the winter, I don’t really need a full cleanse in the morning. I’ll massage a bit of the Bioderma Hydrabio Milk* onto my skin while it’s dry to dissolve any dirt/sweat/excess skincare from the night before, and I’ll rinse with cool water. That’s it!

Tone: I’ve been trying to pack in as much hydration as possible, so every morning I do a quick combination of the Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner* and the Black Tea Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence.* I’ll do two layers of the toner and then one of the essence. The Rose Toner is incredibly soothing and helps diminish redness, and the essence is amazingly hydrating and gives a beautiful dewy glow.

Treat: I love using a Vitamin C serum in the morning - they help brighten my skin, even out my skintone, and over time they help fade my dark acne marks. Right now I’m testing the Allies of Skin 35% Vitamin C Collagen Rebuilding Serum.* It’s a waterless formula (to ensure stability) that contains 25% Ethylated L-Ascorbic Acid and 10% Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate. So far, it’s been working well for me. I like that it has the consistency of a lightweight oil, and I’ve already been noticing some brightening effects after only a few weeks of use. I also like to use a hydrating serum in the morning to keep my skin happy throughout the day. The Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum has been my favorite for years. It’s light but still really hydrating - “thirst-quenching” is the perfect name for it. The Bioderma Hydrabio Serum* is another favorite, but I recently ran out!

Eyes: I’ve finally been converted into a daily eye cream wearer and don’t go a day without applying one. In the mornings I really love Glossier Bubblewrap. It’s simple and does the job: it’s hydrating, not heavy, and wears well under makeup.

Moisturize: Moisturizers are normally where I change my routine up the most. For the most part, I’ve been sticking to a combination of the Paula’s Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer plus a few drops of their Moisture Renewal Oil Booster. I had been waking up to super dry and tight skin recently, and this combo is rich and nourishing without making me greasy throughout the day.

Protect: There’s no point in spending all my money on skincare if I’m not going to protect my skin with a daily sunscreen. My favorite, and the one I’ve actually been able to stick to using every day, is the Krave Beauty Beet Shield. It has a lightweight lotion texture that sinks into my skin easily, doesn’t pill over all my other layers of skincare, and wears well underneath makeup. It’s perfect!

Night

Double Cleanse: I may not feel the need for a thorough cleanse in the morning, but I can’t sleep at night if I haven’t done a full double cleanse to remove all makeup, SPF, and general grime from the day. I’ve been first going in with the Dermalogica Precleanse,* massaging it into dry skin, and rinsing with a washcloth to make sure everything has been removed. I’m almost done with my bottle and have the Caudalie Makeup-Removing Cleansing Oil on deck. Then for a second cleanse, I want something gentle that will cleanse my skin without stripping it - the Holifrog Tashmoo Water Lily Nourishing Milky Wash* is perfect for this.

Treat: I like to use my AHA/BHA liquids directly after cleansing. I cycle through two products - I’ll use the Deviant Skincare Gentle Resurfacing Liquid* one night, then the Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid the next night, and then the third night I’ll take a night off from any actives. And then I start the rotation again with the GRL. This combination of AHA and BHA has been great for my skin - the AHAs keep it smooth while the BHA helps to tone down and heal breakouts. Both products are phenomenal and are things I’d like to keep in my rotation for a long time.

Tone: Next I like to go in with a toner for some extra hydration. At night I really love the Laneige Cream Skin Toner. It’s thin and milky, but it leaves the skin feeling like you’ve applied a moisturizer. It’s perfect for layering on winter nights.

Treat (again): After toning I like to go in with more hydrating or moisturizing serums. In winter I love using the Krave Beauty Great Barrier Relief here. It tones down my redness over time and keeps my skin strong and nourished.

Eyes: Again, I’m finally dedicated to eye creams. At night I go for something rich. The Fresh Creme Ancienne Eye Cream* is my favorite. It’s pricey, but I would definitely repurchase. It has almost a balm/salve texture, so it feels beautifully luxe on dry undereyes.

Moisturize: Again, I like using a combination of moisturizer and oil, and usually mix them together. My favorite combo to use at night lately has been the Caudalie Vinosource SOS Cream* mixed with a few drops of the Deviant Skincare Facial Oil.* They both really moisturize my skin and help create a barrier to last through the night. I always end my routine with a sleeping mask in the winter, too, to further ensure my skin stays moisturized all night. My favorite is the Belif Aqua Bomb Sleeping Mask. It feels light and jellylike but it really hydrates and keeps all the other products sealed in.

Masks: I don’t mask anywhere near as often as I used to, but I like to use one every now and then when my skin needs a pick-me-up. Moisturizing masks like the Korres Hydra-Biome Mask or the Caudalie Moisturizing Mask are my most-used because I like to apply them before getting in the showera few nights per week. They’re both quite cooling on the skin, and they keep my skin from drying out from the hot water. If my skin is breaking out, I always reach for the Fresh Umbrian Clay Purifying Mask.* It helps to draw everything to the surface, but it isn’t as drying as some other clay masks I’ve tried. And if my skin is just feeling “blah” - dull, stressed, etc - I’ll use either the Fresh Lotus Rescue Mask* (probably my favorite mask by Fresh) or their Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask.* Both leave my skin feeling firmer, brighter, and glowier immediately.

What are your favorite skincare products?

Products marked with an asterisk (*) have been gifted by the brand, but all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

The December Edit

I said back in October when I wanted to get back into blogging that I wanted to do these kinds of monthly posts where I recap some standouts. December was a good month - I finally started feeling better after mourning Lilo for most of November, I got a chance to try out some new recipes, and I tried a whole lot of beauty products.

Feeling Like Myself Again

The most important thing of the month. Starting my new job at the end of October really kickstarted me feeling better and helped my mental health, and then my cat Lilo suddenly passed away at the beginning of November. It put me in a slump, and I was having a really hard time healing. Now two months out, I still miss her more than ever and will still sometimes tear up when I think about her or talk about her, but I really feel like I’ve done a lot of healing. I’m still grieving, but I’m starting to get back into a routine that feels normal. I’m back on track to feeling like myself, and the best version of myself.

New & Noteworthy Beauty Products

I’ve tried quite a few new beauty products lately - I’m happy with my everyday products, but I’m always tempted to try new things! The first thing, and I warned you I would talk about these over and over, are the Dior Lip Glow Oils. I really fell in love with this new launch. The original Lip Glow balms are some of my favorite lip products, so I’m really happy that the Oils are just as beautiful. They have a lovely formula - it’s quite thick but leaves the lips feeling pillowy, and it feels like a nourishing lip treatment. They subtly tint the lips like the originals do, so they’re perfect for an everyday, fresh look. Another lip product launch I recently fell for is the YSL Water Lip Stain - they feel so lightweight and watery going onto the lips, and they do leave a lasting stain. If you layer it up, you get a slightly glossy finish. I have the shade 613 Cascade Bordeaux, and it’s a beautiful wine/berry flush shade.

I’ve also been trying to keep my skin happy through the winter weather and indulgent food choices. I’ve been using the new Deviant Skincare Gentle Resurfacing Liquid a few nights a week, and I’m really happy with it so far. It really is quite gentle like the name says - I don’t experience any tingling or stinging, but it leaves my skin super smooth in the morning. I’ve noticed my pores have been appearing smaller and less blocked as well, so I’m excited to keep using this consistently. My skin has been pretty dehydrated and dry from the cold weather and from the heating inside, so I’ve been layering up lightweight hydrating products as well as heavier ones with oils. Two Paula’s Choice moisturizers have really been working for me - the Water-Infusing Electrolyte Moisturizer and the Omega+ Complex Moisturizer. The Electrolyte Moisturizer is more lightweight, has a whipped texture, and really feels like giving your skin a glass of water. The Omega+ Moisturizer is a little richer and feels really comforting on my skin. I’ve been doing the Electrolyte in the morning and the Omega+ at night mostly, or I’ve even mixed them together a few times when I felt my skin could benefit from both formulas at once.

Cooking

This was a very cookie-heavy month. I made cookies for two different Christmas parties and used four different recipes to much success. Of course I went with some showstoppers from Bon Appetit - for a small Christmas Eve party at my parents’ house I made the Obscenely Chocolately Chocolate Cookies, and for my bigger family Christmas party this past Sunday I made the Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were both hits, especially the toffee ones. I’ll definitely be making those again and again! I also made my dad’s signature cookies, which are an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe with butterscotch chips added in, and I also made some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies with coconut flour for a few family members who either have Celiac or are gluten-sensitive. They had more of a cake-y texture, but they were still pretty good!

Watching/Listening Etc

December was a busy month, but I still found time to watch a lot of movies and start some shows. Brett and I love the Witcher video games (we’ve played through Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt twice now), so we were super excited to watch the new Witcher Netflix series based on the same books. We still haven’t finished it (we’ve been on opposite work schedules this month), but it’s great so far. I also finally got the chance to watch JUDY, the movie starring Renee Zellweger about Judy Garland’s final London concerts. It was such a sad movie for me to watch - I grew up really loving Judy Garland movies, listening to her music, and reading everything about her I could. I knew she had a sad life, but it was hard to see it portrayed in JUDY. I think they did a great job, though - I liked how every time something happened that would maybe make her an unlikeable character, they would flash back to her childhood at MGM in the 1930s and show them treating her in some horrible way that led to how she was behaving at her London shows in the 1960s. The ending was particularly poignant. I think Renee Zellweger was great, too - I’ve watched a lot of footage of Judy Garland from the ‘60s, and she really nailed her mannerisms.

When I wasn’t listening to Christmas music in December, I was listening to Harry Styles’s new album Fine Line. I love it just as much as his first album and enjoy it all the way through. I think my favorite songs from it right now are Canyon Moon and Golden. My best friend also got me into MUNA and Shura, so I’ve been listening to them a lot, too. I got back into Shura because of her song princess leia - they tweeted it on the anniversary of Carrie Fisher’s death, and it reminded me how much I like the song and their album that came out last year.

The last thing for this section is a new video game Brett and I have been playing - we really love playing the Lego video games because they’re 2-player, not too hard for me so I don’t get frustrated, and they have some really fun puzzles to solve to get through each level. Brett found out they released the Harry Potter Lego games for the Nintendo Switch recently, so he got me both Years 1-4 and Years 5-7 for Christmas! We’ve been playing it nonstop and have just started the Order of the Phoenix levels.

December was a great month, and I’m hoping it’s a sign for how good 2020 will be, too. Happy New Year!

2019 Highlights + 2020 Goals

2019 was possibly the worst year of my life, so I can’t wait for a fresh start and have high hopes for 2020.

I won’t go into too much detail on why 2019 was so bad, but basically I dealt with more loss and grief than I ever have in my life (of course ending the year with the unexpected passing of my beloved sweet baby Lilo), and my mental health was probably the worst it’s ever been this year (half from grief and half from being in a toxic working environment). But anyway, I’m in a much better headspace now and instead of feeling negative about this year as a whole, I wanted to point out the high points and also list some goals I have for the coming year.

2019 Highlights

A trip to NYC with Fresh | This was definitely a highlight of my year! I’ve only been on one other brand trip, and it was so lovely and inspiring to meet other content creators. We got to have dinner with the founders of Fresh, see the headquarters, get a sneak peek of a new launch (the Rose Sleeping Mask), and have a shopping spree at the Fresh Beauty Kitchen. It was so much fun, and I still look back on the photos I took on that trip (especially of the gorgeous Ludlow Hotel bathroom!) with such fondness. I was also really proud of myself for doing something so independent - normally I would never travel alone and panic about getting places by myself, but I navigated getting to and from and around the city on my own!

Celebrating our First Anniversary | Brett and I had our first wedding anniversary in June. By then it was already shaping up to be an incredibly difficult year, so we spent a nice day together (our town happened to have a “Strawberry Shortcake and Lobster Roll Festival” on our exact anniversary) and really reflected on how much we love each other and how strong we feel as a couple. We also finally ate our wedding cake topper that had been taking up a whole shelf in our freezer too, and it was disgusting.

Bonding with Olive | The first six months after adopting Olive were mostly just me adapting to and figuring out how to own a dog (I grew up with only cats as pets so I had no clue what I was doing). Once I got into a routine I really became aware of how much I love her and what a sweet girl she is. She really is the best dog. Brett went on a work trip at the end of June, leaving me to take care of Olive on my own. We really bonded! I definitely noticed a shift in how well she listened to me after that week and I grew so much more attached to her.

Adopting Copper! | This is probably the biggest highlight of the year. When we came back from our vacation in Maine, we realized we really wanted another dog. We could tell Olive was desperate for a friend. We applied for a little brindle puppy (named Tootle-Lou) on a Saturday night, and Brett was picking him up by Thursday. Copper is a teeny tiny boy who loves to sleep and loves tagging along wherever I go. Brett is Olive’s favorite, and now I’m Copper’s favorite. Training and taking care of him isn’t anywhere near as difficult as Olive was - I think because 1) I’m now used to the amount of work it takes and also know what I’m doing, and 2) he picked up on a lot quickly because Olive is so well-trained. The best part is that they instantly became best friends! They still snuggle together every day and love playing together.

Getting a new job! | Another main highlight of the year. I mentioned my old job was really damaging my mental health, but I was comfortable there, and I also had great friends I worked with who made it a little better. But eventually enough was enough and seeing my friends wasn’t enough to counter how miserable I was. I started looking for a new job in September, and then in October I started my current job. I can’t even tell you how different I feel. I don’t have panic attacks every night and every morning about going to work, I actually look forward to going in, and I actually feel ambitious and confident about my work now. At my old job I never wanted to be noticed, because I was only ever noticed for negative things. Now I’m excited about the possibility of getting promoted and working my way up. I’m treated so much better and with more respect than my old job, and overall I’m so much happier. And I’m still friends with the friends I had at my old job! I wish I had quit my old job sooner. If you’re suffering at a job you hate, here’s a kick from me to start looking for something you love, no matter how comfortable you feel where you are.

2020 Goals

In the new year I hope to keep nuturing and cultivating relationships with my friends. I became really close with two new groups of friends this year, and I’m really excited to grow even closer with them.

I hope to keep developing my skills in the kitchen. This year I really fell in love with cooking and baking. I’m excited to keep learning new things, trying new recipes, and just getting better. Honestly, few things feel better than the appreciation and compliments I get from friends & family when I’ve made something really good!

I will keep working on my mental health. Getting a new job was definitely a step in the right direction, but I know I can still improve. In the new year I’ll be looking into therapy and changing up some medications to help me feel like the best version of myself again.

I will spend less time on my phone. This year I’ve noticed my attention span has gotten so short because I’m constantly switching between social media apps on my phone. I want to find new hobbies, movies, or books to fully immerse myself in and get away from having my phone be like an extension of my arm.

Speaking of hobbies, I hope to find some new ones. I’m always looking for more ways to be creative. Lately I’ve been itching to pick up knitting again - my grandma taught me when I was little and I used to really love it! It would be cool to get to the point where I could make blankets and sweaters instead of just scarves.

I hope to come up with some new, innovative ideas for the blog. Right now it kind of seems like Instagram is dying, and it’s not as satisfying as it used to be, so I’d love to come up with something new and fresh to really fall in love with blogging again.

What do you hope to achieve in the new year?