Unready Realness: A Night Routine

So what do you do when the day is over? You take it off your face properly! 

I'm sure when you get home, the first thing you do is take off your work clothes, hop into the shower and prepare to relax.  However, did you ever stop to think about properly removing all junk from your face? Below is a breakdown of a night routine. This is not the gospel, but merely a suggestion based on my personal experience. 

If you wear false lashes, they should be removed. Hopefully, you will be able to reuse them for a later day. The eye makeup will need to be removed, if you wear eye liner, mascara and eye shadows, it will needs to go. Using a good eye makeup remover is key. It should be gentle enough to not burn your eyes and remove the makeup. In the event that you don’t want to spend money on a specific eye makeup remover and you don’t really have on anything super tough and waterproof, try a micellar water. You can use that on your face...consider it a 2-in-1 product of sorts. 

Next, is the step I like to call a pre-cleanse. For this step, it's just to help make it easier to remove the day away. It doesn't matter if you wear makeup or not because the main goal is to make sure your face is completely clean. You can use makeup wipes (my favorite are the ones by Neutrogena in the purple pack), micellar water or even cold cream. Getting that first layer of debris, SPF, and sweat 

Now, the main event! The double cleanse is here. Step one, use your favorite oil-based cleanser to wash your face. Apply the oil cleanser onto a dry face using dry hands. Granted, your hands need to be clean in order to clean your face. Simply message the skin with the cleanser and slowly add water. The water will cause the oil to turn into a milky emulsion. Just continue to wash your face until your face is all milky and wash away with warm water. Step two is the grand finale of the double cleanse. A good water-based cleanser will be used to get the face really clean. With your face still damp apply the cleanser and work it into the skin. Rinse with warm water and witness the cleanest skin you've ever seen.  

Since your skin is clean, focus on preparing your skin for your active ingredients, such as serums. One way to due this would be to use a toner. Another option is to apply an essence after the toner. Personally, if I'm in the mood for some smooth skin, I would recommend exfoliating. This is something that should be done 2-3 times a week, depending on your skin. There are so many physical exfoliators out, you just have to find the best one for you and your skin. After that step, then I normally use a hydrating toner and essence. If I want to chemically exfoliate, I use an acid toner and then an essence. 

Either way you slice the pie, the canvas has to be clean, hence the pre cleanse and double cleanse and the old skin cells must be removed to reveal better and supple skin, thus the exfoliation. Once the new skin is present, the pH must be rebalanced, thus the toner. In order to get the most out of your products, the essence, in theory, helps them penetrate the skin better. 

Now, we have to come to the meat and potatoes of the night time routine: Serums. This can also be considered the treatment step. Serums are concentrated formulas used to help targeted concerns. The serum used will be based upon your concern. There are plenty of serums for wrinkles, acne, hydration, you name it! 

Finally, use a moisturizer. Again, the best results from the moisturizer will be based upon your skin type. If you have normal skin, a traditional moisturizer would be fine. If you have oily skin, reach for something gel based. 

This routine may seem like a lot, and to a degree, its more than the previously mention 3 step routine. However, the glow in the morning will be glorious!