It’s been a while since I’ve written about my skincare routine as opposed to single products or range reviews, but today I’ll be chatting about some changes I’ve made to my routine over the past few months.
It seems as if it’s a daily occurrence that we are being told this is bad for you, this miracle ingredient isn’t so great after all, and product XYZ is pointless, sorry that we raved about it as a “must-have skincare step” for so many years.
Ditched Micellar Water, face wipes and cotton pads
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not totally insane. I’ve still got a heft amount of these 3 products in my stash but I’ve gone from using them daily to using them when only necessary.
While the user-friendly and efficiency of these are life-changing, the pulling motion caused on the skin is also life-changing. In the wrinkle area, that is.
I try my hardest to NOT pull or tug at the delicate skin on my face and therefore have nixxed these as much as possible. Of course I’m sure there will be a few tipsy evenings (in the very far future) where I’ll reach for these. After all, removing makeup while tugging your skin is better than not removing it at all! And we all know the likelihood of that happening after a night out…
Incorporating exfoliation pads into routine
This is a step I’ve been doing for years, but not religiously. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been really loyal to exfoliation pads (currently on my 3rd tub of skinderm’s pads and they’re just so great). I’ve noticed major differences and even my pigmentation on my forehead has improved.
Keeping everything in one place
Okay. This. This this this. You may picture a beauty blogger’s bathroom area as a cornucopia of curated products. Instead, my makeup and skincare is strewn between my beauty room (where it’s all meant to live), our en-suite bathroom (where I brush my teeth in the morning), our bedroom (where “unopened press drops” live), the lounge (if I’m taking blog photos), and the second bathroom (where I actually carry out my skincare routine).
This obviously results in no rhyme or reason in my routine whatsoever. When someone would enquire “Rayne, your skin is GLOWING. What do you use?”. I no longer respond awkwardly that it must be pregnancy glow. Now I can actually recall what I used as I didn’t just slap any number of fabulous products into my face as I made my way through the house.
I tend to be a bath girl. So I’ve moved 80% of my skincare to the main bathroom so when I hop out the bath everything is present and accounted for and lined up like an Instagram photo. I know this sounds OBVIOUS but really, it isn’t. How many of us don’t use a particular product because it’s in another room or you can’t locate it?
Toner – that old hat?
Remember how our mom’s / grandmother’s always used toner? I truly used to think it was a “mature women” item until I learnt of the great benefits and basically drowned myself in Clarins Toning Lotion for two years. I haven’t used this since about 2014 and I can still clearly recall the scent. Divine.
After I’d spent my 21 olds’ life savings on my umpteenth bottle, the beauty world was notified that actually, sorry for the previous info, toner is not necessary.
I’m not going to list the why’s and why nots, but the main reasons I’ve incorporated toner back into my skincare routine is because it is a simple step, one I enjoy very much, and I think the pros outweigh the cons. In fact, the main con is that it’s unnecessary. It’s not doing anything harmful. So I feel I may as well use it anyway seeing as I love it.
I no longer use my beloved Clarins ever since I accidentally lay my GHD down against my last bottle and burnt a giant hole into the bottom of it. Bye-bye R450 worth of toner. Maybe that so-called divine scent should remind me of unhappiness rather than loveliness…
Anyway. I’m currently using the Mamonde Rose Water Toner. Rose Water has countless divine properties such as calming and plumping up the skin. My main reason for keeping toner alive is that I truly feel it allows the products that follow to absorb and penetrate the skin to their full potential. So while I don’t buy into the “toner closes pores” rigmarole, I still find it is a great addition when I follow it up with an essence or similar.
I’m going to stop this post here. I feel as if I could go on forever. But I’m currently lying in the bath at 5.57 AM on Sunday and Chris is probably wondering what had happened to me.
EDIT: This pregnancy insomnia sucks. But at least it’s allowed me to be more frequent with my posting!
EDIT EDIT: Chris, in fact, was not wondering where I was. He had no idea his wonderful support system and baby mama was up for hours with terrible round ligament pains caused by his childd growing away in a wonderful environment.
Men.
Rayne XX
