Thursday, February 10, 2022

Beauty: Our Skincare Routines.

 It's been quite a while since we posted our skincare routines, so here you go:

Adrien:

The last beauty routine I posted was in 2020, a few weeks after the world shut down. Before that, it was in 2019! A lot has changed, as you can imagine. My face is still crazy reactive but I'm also seeing changes in my skin that only retinol can tackle, so recently I signed up for a trial set of products from Agency, Curology's aging line. (With my own money! This is not a sponsored product and there's no referral link.) 


Now, my skin doesn't do well with a ton of products (or change) so before I signed up for Agency I'd simplified things a lot:

Evenings: A double cleanse with DHC cleansing oil and Cerave hydrating cleanser, my beloved Skinceuticals Phyto serum (more on that in a minute) topped with my Avene moisturizer. For actives I was using Differin twice a week and The Ordinary's Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% maybe once a week. My evening eye cream is Fig.1 Pro-Retinol Eye Cream, which I talked about recently.

Mornings: I rinse my face with warm water and apply Phyto, Avene moisturizer and my favorite Japanese sunscreen. My morning eye cream is Clinique Repairwear Anti-Gravity, a recently purchase which I freaking love. It brightens without any kind of annoying shimmer and plays well under concealer. 

I am going to do a separate review of the Agency trial because I have a lot to say about it but so far, I'm really impressed. Tretinoin is the shit, you guys, and the cream oil cleanser is really good. More on that soon - I want to wait until I get the full sized products. 



Other than Tret, my favorite product is the Skinceuticals Phyto Corrective Gel. It's expensive, but a little goes a long way. I bought it in September and just finished the bottle, so I got five months of daily use from one bottle! I love this stuff - it's soothing and moisturizing and when I have an allergic flare-up it's one of the few things I can put on my face that actually feels good.

Marianne:

Okay, I feel like I have to give a disclosure before I get into this, in only the way someone can feel preemptively defensive about their VERY EXPENSIVE face cream. I know. I KNOW. How on earth could I possibly justify a skin cream that costs $280 for a mere 50ml? Well, the sad truth is it freaking changed my skin unlike anything else I have tried in all my almost-45 years. Yes, friends, I hate to say it but the Augustinus Bader Rich Cream is worth the hype. 

My skin is glowing, my pores smaller, skin texture and color is even, and it’s all because of this stupid cream. Have you ever tried something expensive and kind of hoped it wouldn’t be good? I did, and the joke's on me because now I’m a fan for life. If you want to try it I would advise starting with the 15ml bottle, which lasts me about 5 weeks. But I warned you, okay? 

Other than this ridiculous cream (oh, and I have a 15ml bottle of the regular cream to try when it warms up, in case the rich cream is too heavy in the summer. So. That’s going to end well.), my skincare is pretty simple. 

Evening: I double cleanse with DHC cleansing oil and then non-foaming Cerave face wash. I apply a layer of The Ordinary Niacinamide and then a little Differin on my chin where I do still get the occasional hormonal pimple. I am currently very into this weird carrot eye stick, so I swipe that under each eye, and then the Bader. Usually 3 pumps will do. I let that soak in and then top with a layer of The Ordinary Rosehip Oil to seal everything in. I truly look like a glazed donut by the time I leave the bathroom. 

Morning: In the morning I’ll splash a little water on my face, pat in one pump of the Bader if I feel dry and another swipe of the carrot eye stick, and that’s it! SO LOW MAINTENANCE.

That's it! Let us know what you think and what's working for you right now.

3 comments:

  1. YESSSSS!! I have been waiting for this! Super interested in all of the products y'all have listed. Question: have you ever considered getting rid of water in your routines? I switched to using only micellar water for any cleansing/rinsing a few years ago, and my skin definitely became less reactive. (I have used LaRoche Posay and Garnier- the LaRoche is my fave, but Garnier is fine.) Maybe sounds weird, but also possibly worth considering?

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  2. Well even these pretty streamlined and low maintenance routines show me that my own is, well, super lazy recently. It's not like my skin is perfect or anything, just that I've not really had much inclination to do anything beyond the very, very basic. Like I just wash my face once a day with Cerave and then use some Cerave lotion - and that is the entirety of it. But! I'm very intrigued by the Phyto Corrective gel so I'm going to see if that helps my sometimes tender skin.

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  3. I had gotten lazy about my skincare regimen, but recently restarted it in earnest. I'm mostly a Paula's Choice gal, with a little Clinique thrown in. At night I double cleanse using Clinique's Take Off the Day balm and some old L'Oreal non-foaming cleanser I'm trying to use up. It's not drying, so I like that about it. After that I alternate between PC's 8% AHA gel and PC's Dark Spot Eraser. I either follow that up with Cerave lotion or Cerave mixed with PC's 1% retinol. I'm working my way up to being able to use the 1% retinol by itself (which I've done before), but I'm not there yet. In the morning, I rinse my face in the shower and then apply PC's toner, followed by PC's 2% BHA exfoliating liquid, then PC's Intensive Wrinkle Retinol Repair serum, a heavy Clinique moisturizer (my skin is SO dry), and then PC's SPF50 sunscreen.

    God, that looks like a lot, but my skin looks the best it's looked in ages.

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