My Current Natural Skin Sare Routine

     One of my first posts on this blog was about WHY I adopted a natural skin care routine. If you recall, I used the term "Winter Freakout". There are two times in the year my skin changes it's habits... when it warms up, I feel like a grease ball, this is typically, the easier one to deal with. Change my cleanser, and use my combo spf lotion or my oil free stuff. The worse of the two though is the Winter, and it hits when the weather is at it's worst. Well, believe me, it's been at it's worst. This is the point when I need to reassess what I'm doing, and what I need to improve on. Last week this time, my face was comparable to sandpaper... and I was pretty grossed out... this combined with stress has resulted in dry skin with breakouts...lovely right? Well I've been tweaking this week and and actually happy with the results, and thought I'd share them with you. Let me start off by saying, I'm not a dermatologist, I'm a radio announcer...I put this routine together, after my own personal research and knowing what I was looking for for MY skin. However, I'm rather pleased with the results. I'm not saying it will work for you, I'm just happy with the results for MY skin.

     Ok since you kept reading, I'm also quite pleased to say, that I've been able to support local businesses with my routine this year, in particular, two of my favorites.

     I WAS doing oil cleansing, and in the summer, this works wonders for me... but in the winter, I ALWAYS add too much of the carrier oil, and it dries me out. So because I can't get the solution fight for me, I'm pretty well going the way of actual cleansers for now. Because dry skin has been an issue for me not just on my face (but REALLY bad on my face, I'd recently gone to the Feel Good Store (LOVE this store, doesn't matter who is working, I end up n there longer than I mean to because we always get to chatting). I got The Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Soap

This is a soap I was using because it's for very dry skin, and this is also good for the face...plus soap generally lasts forever.  

     There are literally 3 different ways this routine could go, the factors are generally time, how dry my skin is, and if I have a zit. 

     If I have a zit I use Apple cider vinegar, mixed with lemon juice and diluted with water. When I heard of this method, I was cautioned that you NEED to dilute, or it can actually BURN your skin. This has worked for me. In the past I used tea tree oil, and it's not really working for me anymore, but my husband seems to prefer Tea tree oil cleansers, so again, what works for one, doesn't work for all. 

     If I have 20 min I can sit and chill, I'll use Manuka honey on my face. I've used Honey on my face in the past, and it can be a lovely sticky mess... I would typically have to use a cleanser on my face to get it off. I've heard all this awesome stuff about specifically Manuka honey, so I have it a shot. I actually bought it a while back at the Corn Crib.

     I find if you use warm water it actually comes off easily. My experience with this, is it fades acne scars, it's good on blemishes too, and it is nourishing to the skin, I REALLY like using it. 

     If my skin is REALLY dry and I don't think my later steps will cover it, I use avocado oil on my face. I've heard people raving about olive oil, and have used it, but for me, I've found that avocado works best for me. I'll also use it if I'm exfoliating. This is maybe my favorite new find for exfoliating, and I found this at the Feel Good store too. I'd heard of people using powders for exfoliating and found this Rocky Mountain Face polish and bought it on a whim. This actually not the one I bought, but the one I could find a pic of. I got the coconut vanilla one, because those are my favorite scents. I mix a tiny bit with a tiny bit of avocado oil... and it smells like a barbecued cookie (because the oil smells like bbq). 

 

     The next step would be serum. Yeah, after oil, serum too, I'm THAT dry. I'm using the Sibu serum, because it has great reviews online, AND has Sea buckthorne. Sea buckthorne is credited with a TON of benefits for the skin, anti oxidants, vitamins E& A, it is moisturizing good for skin conditions like eczema, and rosacea... the list goes on. 

     

 

     At this point I wrap it up with a moisturizer, and eye cream. My SPF Day moisturizer is Kimberly Sayer, and it's SPF 30. I got SUPER lucky and found it on amazon, for like $20, because generally they're gouging you on there for this product. The one I got is for combo skin (which I usually have). A youtuber I like (actually the one who introduced me to a more natural approach to skin care) talked this product up, so I gave it a shot and was not disappointed. My night moisturizer is Analou 1000 roses. I love it, it actually reminds me a bit of the first night cream I ever used, but not quite as heavy. It's light, has a great scent, it for sensitive skin and I wake up really liking the result. My eye cream I'm currently using is the Burt's Bees radiance eye cream. I've used other eye creams from this company, but found them kind of greasy. this one has less of an oily feel like the others, and is more fluffy...if that makes any sense. A little goes a long way and I really like it. 

    So some lip balm and that's about it for my facial skin care. The title of this is my CURRENT routine... because I like to try new products. there very well may be another post like this in the future but currently, this is what I'm doing.