What is “skintuition”?

When a client asks me what my favorite brands are, I always go straight to skincare. Skin is the foundation (pun intended) of all things beauty when it comes to cosmetics. I have a few silly little things I like to say a lot while I’m chatting with a client. I say this often: “Your makeup will only look as good as your skin does.”

If we don’t learn the basics of good skincare, our look will suffer and more importantly, our confidence will too.

Imagine how amazing it would feel to have such beautiful, healthy skin that you don’t even feel the need to wear makeup? This is where my philosophy of teaching “skintuition” comes in.

It’s not complicated. In fact, it is the easiest way to care for your skin from a day to day basis and work towards a healthy, beautiful glow in a few short days.

Things to note:

• Your skin is not the same every day and it does not have the same needs every day. Get into the habit of learning to take a few seconds every morning to determine what your body needs in order to achieve healthy looking skin for the day.

• Your skincare routine is a morning and evening ritual of self care. Gone are the days of pumping St. Ives into the palm of your hand and quickly rubbing it on your face. The sooner you start caring better for your skin, the better. Your 50 year old self is already thanking you for realizing the importance of this.

How to learn “skintuition”?

1. When you get up in the morning and are going through your morning routine (brushing your hair, teeth, etc.), start taking a few seconds to look at your skin up close before you wash it. Does it feel tight and dry? Are your lips parched? If you take your index finger and gently push your cheek upwards, does your skin fold into tiny fine lines or does it stay plump? Do you have dark circles under your eyes or puffy under eyes? Are your pores congested with debris (black dots)? Are you extremely oily?

   These are a lot of questions but you probably have a few directions your skin will go from one day to the next. My skin tends to be normal/dry to dehydrated and very dry to extremely dry and irritated (redness, dry patches and even swelling sometimes because I am very sensitive).

2. Next, once you start practicing taking the time to get to know your skin from day to day, start thinking about introducing what I like to call “grown up skincare” into your self care routine. Below I will list the type of products I recommend for every grown up and will list a few of my favorite products for each category.

• Cleanser: For very dry skin, I recommend a cleansing milk . I LOVE the Quench Cleanse by LimeLife by Alcone. It removes makeup beautifully too which is a big PLUS in my book. Note: this doesn’t actually have milk in it. For normal skin, I recommend Sanitas Lemon Cream Cleanser. If you have Oily skin, I love Sanitas Purifying Clay Cleanser.

• Exfoliant: I am a HUGE fan of chemical exfoliants and there is really just ONE that I recommend for everyone unless you are extremely sensitive. The Sanitas Brightening Peel Pads have transformed my skin and so many others that I have recommend this product to. They are a little pricier but I only recommend using them twice weekly unless you are very oily (in which case I recommend using them every other day). One pad is all you need per use and honestly, you could even cut them in half to get two uses per pad. If you are extremely sensitive to chemical exfoliants, I recommend trying the Sanitas Gentle Refining Mask.

• Serum: for me? This is an evening step. I like to use my yummy active ingredients on my face while I’m fast asleep. Serums are the game changers in skincare. They target your specific goals. Want brighter, younger looking skin? Go for a vitamin C serum. Want to focus on reversing aging? Get a powerful anti-aging serum. Want to re-texturize your skin? Talk to your dermatologist about using a Retinol product. A good serum that will provide results is going to be an investment. There comes a time when that investment is totally worth it.

• Moisturizer: I usually piggy back my moisturizer with my serum (similar active ingredients). I love a good antioxidant moisturizer that protects my skin from free radicals. I also really love this intensive Rose Revival cream. For oily to acne prone skin, I love Eminence Clear Skin Moisturizer.

I want to tell you about my favorite skincare product to use in another post because these are the best products to start with. I know that my recommendations are sometimes on the pricier side but please get in touch with me if you’d like to chat about what might work for you specifically to meet your skincare goals.

Remember, take the time for yourself every day. Your skin deserves that kind of care.

Oh. And…Drink LOTS of water. That is the first step to a youthful glow from the inside!