In all honesty, I have never been great at taking care of my skin. Sometimes I moisturize, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I wash my face before bed and in the mornings, sometimes I don’t wash it for weeks. However, I ALWAYS take off my makeup at the end of the day/before bed. I can’t stand the feeling of going to bed with mascara or foundation on or the thought of waking up looking like a shacker/drag queen. (No offense intended if you are either, just not my personal style!)

Anyways, that’s all changed since I had a baby. Two things that changed were 1. I developed more dark spots/melasma, bags, & wrinkles since becoming pregnant Warner and 2. The NICU at children’s hospital gave me extremely dry skin. Like super flaky, foundation looked crusty, dry…. Ever since then, I’ve done a face routine, like, 68% of the time. I know that’s a high D, but it’s WAY better than what I did before & my skin has actually improved SO much. Plus, I’m typically one to shoot for improvement, not perfection- it’s much more attainable for my kind-of-lazy personality!

Anywho, without further ado (I googled “ado” & this is the correct spelling, if anyone is about to look it up), here is my D+ skin care routine!

First, the one thing I have always & will always do 100% of the time: use makeup wipes to take off my makeup! I wear makeup maaaaybeee once a week at this point, but that shit is coming off at bedtime! I grew up using Equate brand makeup wipes because I was a poor college girl, but NOW that I’m almost 28, I’ve upgraded to these Neutragena “night calming” Ultra Soft Nourishing Towelettes because I’m very fancy. I typically use one for my eye makeup & one for the rest of my face because I hate when mascara smears all over the place. These don’t burn, the smell lovely, & they get the makeup off- you need them.


Second, if I have the energy to do the rest of the routine, I wash my face with Neutragena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser. This was recommended to me by my dermatologist before Jordan & I got married and I’ve used it ever since. It’s never caused any weird reactions & it’s cheap; so I stick to what I know. If my Clarisonic is charged, I use that. If not, I use my hands. I do LOVE the Clarisonic & how soft it makes my face feel & I get so much joy out of looking at the brush go from clean white to kind of dirty brown as it takes all the extra makeup, dirt, & oil off. For those that have a Clarisonic; can you name anything more heartbreaking than when you’re in the shower and you put face-wash on the brush, hold it up to your face, & press the power button only to have it buzz three times alerting you that it’s not charged? Neither can I.


I moisturize, regardless of whether or not I wash my face or not, almost every morning and night. My face looks much glow-ier & plump since I’ve started! My baby sis loves Origins, so when I started experiencing super dry skin in Little Rock, I went to the Origins counter at the mall. The gal recommended the Origins “Drink Up Intensive” night mask & the rest is history. I put it on ALL THE TIME, even under my primer/makeup. It smells delicious, it’s WAY hydrating, & has completely improved the look of my skin, especially in these harsh winter months.


BONUS:
These next two steps are bonus steps that I do 35%ish of the time, but have seen results from & if I do them, I do before I moisturize.

While perusing through one of the Nordstrom Rack Mega Clearance sales a few months ago, I came across a microneedler. I added it to my cart & googled before & after pics from those that had used them before. There seemed to be decent results, so I purchased. The idea is that the hundreds of little needles with will puncture the skin, causing your body to react by producing more collagen to heal the needle pricks. It’s supposed to be useful for acne scarring, wrinkles, pore size, etc.


I love it! I have a very expressive forehead, so I needle the hell out of it & I truly think it has lessened my deep forehead wrinkles. I wish I wasn’t such a baby & could needle the crows feet around my eyes more, but it hurts & I love myself too much to hurt my sweet little eyes on purpose.


The other newish product I really like it & just stumbled upon is this OZNaturals Hyaluronic Acid Serum. It’s advertised as “cold pressed” & they say this “allows the active ingredients to remain fresh and highly potent as intended” on their page. I have absolutely no clue if that is true or if it matters, but it sounds really nice, so I bought it & use it. Its full of Vitamin C & supposedly helps with skin elasticity & wrinkles, plus it’s in a glass bottle with a dropped tube & feels really ornate. I realize ornate-ness has nothing to do with skincare, but it makes me feel like a Queen, so I’m probz gonna keep using it.

Here are some of the products I mentioned, as well as some others I have tried & liked, but don’t use religiously, or even 68% of the time!

Okay, that’s all, folks. If you have any really fancy, but cheap, products you think I’d like, send them my way!

XoXo Love & Sass,
Sarah