Fashion Friday: Summer (Re)Freshed Face

Every now and again on Fashion Friday, we talk about beauty products instead of fashion.  Well, beauty products have been dominating a conversation with me and two of my best girlfriends this past week. 

One of them, committed to Re-Fresh her Face, is part of a closed FB group with beauty bloggers.  She sent us a “quickie” video from one of the bloggers on how to wash your face.  It has SEVEN steps.  That’s right ladies, SEVEN.

So I decided for today’s Fashion Friday to tackle how to have a (Re)Freshed Face.

If you are a working mom, or a working woman, or a mom who is working raising your kids, then I have a question for you: Do you have time for SEVEN steps at night?

I just do not. 

Here are Nicole’s (the blogger’s) steps, echoed by other beauty writers/’experts’:  first wash your face with a balm on dry skin; after wiping it off, then you wash your face with a milk cleanser; then you exfoliate your face and neck – and let it sit a few minutes; next you apply a retin oil and a Vitamin C serum by tapping into your face and neck, don’t forget behind your ears (!); now, towards the end she says, use a hydrating moisturizer; and finally, LAST step, put on a sunscreen (when doing this in the morning).

That’s right, seven steps that you are supposed to do BOTH morning and night!?!?!?

Sorry charlie, not gonna happen in my house.

So first up, how many steps are you doing? Anywhere near seven? And twice daily? 

Let me take you through my routine.  At night, wash my face and throw on some moisturizer.  I’ve used all sorts.  Occasionally I remember to dab on some eye cream too because I do love me some eye creams.  In the morning, I throw a light moisturizer under my makeup (which is powder) and bonus points if it has sunscreen in it. 

So after this extensive conversation with friends, I am willing to admit I might want to alter a few things.  But I am nowhere near getting to a seven step process.

First problem?  Apparently using a foaming face wash.  They say foaming is bad.  No, I do not know who they are but I’m guessing they know a little bit more than me so I’m going to go with “they.”  I hate cleansing balms, too oily and I even have dry skin, so I’ll just start with their milk cleanser recommendation right off the bat.  (Ha, eliminated a step already!)  I did a little research.  Several cleansers got high marks and in a pretty broad spectrum of price brackets – from Avene and Drunk Elephant to Neutrogena and La Roche-Posay.  I bought the La Roche for $15 at Target. 

Next problem?  Failing to apply Vitamin C!  The horror.  Again apparently we’re all bananas if we’re not daily applying some form of Vitamin C to our face.  How I have managed to get into my 40s with nice skin and not use Vitamin C is a beauty miracle.  (Sorry – sarcasm is my first language.)  This is where your skin routine is about to get super expensive. My research uncovered that SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic is far and away the most superior Vitamin C serum on the market.  It has the right blend and the right percent and all sorts of other superior things that apparently I won’t get by rubbing my $10 bottle of store-bought Vitamin C tablets on my skin.  Well, it just so happens that superior comes with a price tag of over $150.   Yep, that’s right.  So I’ll add that to my Christmas wish list (because when you get old and wrinkly, random things like pricey Vitamin C serums are what you ask Santa for), but buy something else.  This little article gives you info on what to look for when you buy a serum.  I ended up buying this Vichy on several “best of” lists for $26 at Target (love me some Target…).  We’ll see.

Final issue: sunscreen.  The beauty ‘experts’ say you cannot get a good moisturizer and sunscreen in one bottle.  Seriously?  Is this right?  Can someone with perfect skin please weigh in on this?  Today, I’m trying my La Roche-Posay Anthelios 50 Mineral Tinted Sunscreen that was well ranked, but I did not add an additional moisturizer.  There are oodles of recommendations, you can review for yourself, but I would love to know what you do?  Is this right?  My little dry face needs to add another morning step of moisturizer BEFORE the sunscreen?  This makes me sad if true because I am one of the most efficient get-readiers you have ever met.  I have to be.  I’ve got triplets and an early departure time for the office. 

So now that I’ve identified my three missteps in skin care, what are yours?  What are your tried and true fixes?  You can see, I’m at most a three step girl.  You’re never going to get me to seven steps.  Sorry honey, you’ll just have to love me all wrinkly at 65 apparently. 

Give me your skin tips and tricks, and if you bump into me this summer, feel free to comment on my glowing skin!  Have a great weekend friends and stay cool.