Beauty (Part One) Skincare

Hello friends!

There's so much I want to write about...

So much going on out here at our farmhouse...

But! I promised you a beauty series, so...

First things first!

I'm hoping to make this a 3-part series that includes hair, makeup, and skincare. 

Just like always, I'll insert my usual disclaimer,

Remember,

I'm an expert at big, fat nothing!!!

So I'll just be speaking here from my own experience. 

I've battled with my skin throughout my life. I've struggled with eczema and acne on and off through the years. I've finally settled into a skincare routine that is working for me, so I'm sticking to it!!! I'll use this post to 1. Show you what products I use, and 2. Give you a few non-product tips to help keep your skin clear.

This is me in my skin. I'm not makeup-free but I am foundation-free in this photo:

               

A couple of years ago, my skin had gotten so bad, that Micah bought me a Clarisonic, and the Rodan and Fields Redefine regimen for Christmas that year. It changed my life and my skin! I don't ever want to live without either of these products!

I still faithfully use both. 

You may not know that Dr. Rodan and Dr. Fields are the dermatology team who created Proactive years ago. They revolutionized the acne industry with that product-line and Proactive became a household name. Ten years ago they set out to do the same thing to the anti-aging industry with their Redefine line. 

This is the Clarisonic that Micah bought for me. It's the Mia 2:

             

I still use the same one but I change out the heads every three months.

           

I'll start by showing you my nighttime routine. I use the Clarisonic every night with this Arbonne cleanser:

           

The reason for this is because there is not a single product in the R&F line that lathers, (and that has always really bothered me!)

Dear Rodan and Fields CEO,

Give us something that lathers!!!

They probably have some scientific reason why not, so... I use the FC5 purifying cleanser. I use this with my Clarisonic to remove makeup and all of the oil, dirt, and sweat from the day. 

Two nights a week I take a break from the Clarisonic, and exfoliate instead, using the Microdermabrasion paste from R&F:

         

This is the.best.ever. exfoliant!!! Arbonne's a great product line, (I used their products for over a decade before switching to Rodan and Fields) but their exfoliant's got nothin' on this!!!

When I'm finished with the either the Clarisonic or the exfoliant, I follow up with these products:

         

Ok, hang on! I've got to explain this! I've been tweaking my R&F routine for two years now, and have settled on this. A blend of the Redefine and Unblemish. A regimen custom-made by me!

(Hey, it's working for me... Leave me alone! Haha!)

The Redefine alone was leaving me too greasy. The Unblemish alone was too potent, (it's for people with active acne, which I currently don't have) so I use the Unblemish toner, then the Redefine eye cream, then I cocktail the Unblemish treatment together with the nighttime Redefine cream at the end.

Ok, so I've officially exposed myself as a skincare lunatic.....

I'm just getting ramped up, folks!!!

In the morning, I do this: (brace yourself!) 

Yep. That's the face of a skincare lunatic! I do this every morning, too! Once you pick yourself up off the floor from all of your laughing at me, you should know, I haven't had eczema or an acne breakout in 2 years! So, THERE! 

(The mask only stays on for a few minutes, calm down!!!)

These are the morning products:

           

Once I rinse off the mask I use the toner, then the eye cream, then the morning treatment (it has SPF in it).

One of the best tips I can offer you is to not use too much. A little bit goes a long way. I remember from my hair dressing days, that people would have a tendency to think, well, if 2 pumps is good, then 5 must be better! A bottle of conditioning serum would say, apply a dime-sized amount, and I would find out that my client was using a palm-full! 

More isn't better. For my morning treatment I use this much:

          

That's for my entire face and neck. I apply my nighttime and morning creams with wet fingertips so that it is equally distributed. 

What you just read here is my personal skincare routine. This is what I do EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Which leads me nicely into the second part of this post. I have five skincare tips that I can share with you that I do myself, and that I believe really help with keeping my skin clear. I hope you can benefit from these! Here we go...

1. Faithfulness

There has never been a night in my adult life that I haven't gone to bed without washing my face first. There has also never been a time in my life since about my early teen years, that I haven't used some sort of skincare regimen. So this is just a part of my life. I never go without. I never skip a day. 

Before you think I may be exaggerating, I'll tell you a little story that made me realize just how committed to skin care I really am. A couple of winters ago I fell ill with one of the worst stomach flu's I've ever had in my life. 

It was New Year's Eve, and we had plans to take the kids over to my brother and sister-in-law's for a party. I had become so sick that Micah had to go to the party with the kids alone, and I stayed home. I literally spent the entire evening on the cold bathroom floor. I never moved for the whole duration of the evening. I physically couldn't move. I think it was around six hours. 

When Micah arrived home, he had to pick me up. I was that sick! He was going to carry me to bed, but I had to wash my face first! (I'm totally serious!) I was so weak and sick that Micah literally had to hold me up at the sink so that I could wash my face. 

I remember he said, "Can't you skip it tonight?" And I said, "I've never skipped a night of washing my face in my entire life, and I have no plans to start now!" Hahaha!

So maybe that's a bit extreme, but my point in telling you this is that faithfulness to a good quality regimen is key, and I've never given myself any excuses. 

2. Clean Pillowcases and Towels

I am very careful about what touches my face. I think all those years of having such terrible skin traumatized me, and now I'm extremely careful! If I had naturally nice skin, as some people do, I wouldn't bother with this, but I make sure that I dry my face with a fresh towel every time. I am not comfortable using a towel on my face that someone else has used first.

Another practice that I have done for several years now, is to switch out my pillow case for a fresh one every night. The reason for this is because we spend so many hours with our heads on a pillow case, and I've read that we shed a lot of oil and dead skin cells through the night. That thought bothers me, so even though I only wash my bedding once a week, I make sure I have a clean pillow case every night. That way I'm not re-contaminating my face with the previous nights' gross-ness! Yuck.

Speaking of sleeping at night...

3. Don't sleep on your stomach

Sleeping on your stomach is so bad for your skin!!! It will give you wrinkles, and in my case (as well as other acne-prone people) a bad breakout. 

Several years ago my mother gave me some motherly advice and told me to train myself to sleep on my back. This is extremely good advice! She said she wishes she had trained herself to sleep on her back when she was younger. Once a wrinkle forms, there's no getting rid of it! I plan to prolong the process as best as I can! 

4. Don't touch your face

Again, I am extremely careful about what touches my face! I try to never touch my face, I wash my hands well before washing my face, and I don't let my children touch my face. I'm always shocked when I see a mother allowing her baby or toddler to touch her face. I think, if that were me I'd wake up tomorrow with a breakout for sure! 

I wish my skin was a little more laid back, but it's just not. It's fussy and it's the type of skin that holds a grudge. What I mean is, once I get a blemish to heal up, it leaves behind a scar that actually takes months to fade away. So you may be tempted to think that I have a lot of unnecessary habits, but to me it's necessary to keep my skin under control. 

All of this is worth it to me. 

I have one last tip for you...

5. Drink a lot of water

In my opinion and in my own personal experience, this is the most important of my five skincare tips. 

I'm a coffee drinker in the mornings, but around 9:00 or 10:00am I switch to ice water and I drink that for the rest of the day. I keep a glass out on my kitchen counter and just keep refilling it over and over throughout the day.

I don't drink alcohol, or soda; I've never smoked, and I rarely consume greasy foods. I think all of those things contribute to whether you have healthy or unhealthy skin.

I love what Rodan and Fields has done for my skin. My face is in better condition now, in my thirties, than it ever was in my twenties! I really appreciate that I can go foundation-free:

              

If you're interested in more information about the Rodan and Fields products, you are welcome to contact me. My email is courtneydowns83@gmail.com or you can leave a comment below. I love hearing from you, so if you have any questions just ask! :) :)

Love to you all! xo...

~ Courtney