My Morning/Night Face Routine

How I Keep My Face Mostly Flaw Free

Okay guys, I’ve been really wanting to do this post for a while, but just haven’t found the right time to do it until now. I’ve finally gotten a really good routine down that has actually been helping keep my acne breakouts to a minimum at least until that lovely time of the month. I can’t escape the breakouts that happen then, but this routine has actually cut it down to only a couple pimples instead of the mountain range that used to happen. I also attribute some of it to my birth control which I’m on religiously. You can read about that in my post about my birth control experience.

With that intro out of the way, let’s get down to my routine.

I don’t always get to do this twice a day, mainly because when I get home from work I’m really tired so I typically just crawl right into bed without thinking about it. But once I’m up, I usually try to do this once on those days. But most days I do it twice. This is also the routine I follow before I start applying makeup so for those wanting to know more about my makeup routine here’s the beginning of it.

So first thing in the morning, I really don’t want to do anything if I am awake but not awake if you get my drift. So to get me up and going, usually I’ll head straight to the bathroom and turn on the hot water. I know they say to splash your face with cold water or something to that affect to get your woken up in the mornings, but no. That just makes me want to sleep again because being cold helps me sleep.

First step is to get the water nice and warm at the sink. Typically I’ll take a washcloth and get it wet so I can start working on the sleep that I haven’t rubbed/picked out of my eyes. TMI TMI, I know but that’s me. I literally will start rubbing it out when I wake up in the morning because I wear 30 Day/Night wear contacts and that stuff just… It is not conducive for contact people!

After I’ve gotten the eyes cleaned of sleep, I get my whole face wet and start in with my e.l.f. Daily Face Cleanser. I just put about a dime to a penny size in the palm of my hand and rub that between my hands before applying to my face and scrubbing it in. I pay more attention to the areas where I get my breakouts as well as where I tend to be oily which is my nose and chin area. Once I feel like I’ve sufficiently gotten that scrubbed into my skin, I rinse my face off and then I dry off with a white towel.

Don’t laugh. I know someone is probably laughing saying it doesn’t matter what color towel you dry your face off with, but let me tell you it really does matter! I never realized it until I started using just white towels, but it really does make a difference. I honestly believe the dyes in color towels can cause acne problems so I’ve started steering clear of colored towels as much as possible.

But as I was saying, I dry my face with a white hand towel but I don’t rub it dry, it’s more of a patting motion. The point of this is to keep your skin just a smidge damp. This is to help when you use your moisturizer! Thank you Lauren Conrad for this tip in your Beauty book.

So I then go in with my e.l.f. Illuminating Eye Cream on my ring finger and just aim for the areas right under my eyes, just where my dark circles have a habit of forming. This cream has been a lifesaver if I’d just use it twice a day like I’m supposed to. I’ve really noticed a difference – especially once I finally started getting at least eight hours of sleep a night. I just gently massage that in under my eyes. It says to do it on the whole eye lid and under-eye area, basically wherever you have the dark spots. I just use it right under my eye because being pale I’m already prone to the dark areas there so it helps deal with that.

Next I take my favorite moisturizer. I’ve used the one that came with my Proactive kit and another that came with BeautiControl kit as well. They both never seemed to really work for me because I already have oil prone skin in my t-zone and I needed one that was basically oil free. I’ve been using the Pond’s Dry Skin Cream. I’ve linked to the Pond’s website, but you can get this stuff at Walmart from about four to eight dollars. This doesn’t include tax, but it depends on the size of the container you get.

I really don’t use much of the moisturizer just because the more you pack on the more likely you’re going to run into the whole oil problem even though it’s made for sensitive skin. So I just dip the tips of my index and middle fingers on one hand – usually my right because I’m right handed – then I start to at my forehead massaging it in with circular motions. I gradually pick up more of the lotion as I go. I have been using it for about maybe four months and I really love the way it makes my skin feel. I can also really tell the difference between when I do use the moisturizer and when I don’t, especially on days when I do full face makeup.

Now I do try to exfoliate my skin at least twice a week. For that I use e.l.f.’s Exfoliating Scrub. I really love it because it’s basically a clay consistency and I always feel like all the dead skin has come off after I’ve washed with it. I always use it first though and then proceed with the rest of my routine.

But there you have it, my morning/night routine for my face that helps me keep my face mostly flawless. Are there any tips or products that yo