Picky’s Skincare Tips

Skincare can be addicting! We all strive for healthy and glowing skin, but with new products hitting the shelves every day and new advice being thrown out on the internet, it can be overwhelming! Whether you’re a minimalist or devour any kind of skincare, one thing stays true: All skin is beautiful! But finding a routine that works for everyone can be a challenge, hopefully our skincare tips can help guide you in the right direction.

1. Don’t Waste A Drop

Our first skincare tip, and a good habit to form, is using every last drop of your skincare! So when you’re applying creams and serums after your cleanser, spread it until there’s nothing left. Start with the face, continue to the neck and then rub any leftovers to the back of the hand. Reason why is this area tends to show the first signs of aging, so don’t neglect them and use up all your product in one go! A win-win.

2. First Exfoliate, Then Hydrate

Everyone loves a good face mask. Whether that’s a serum soaked sheet or creamy concoction. But if you want the most out of your once-in-a-while treatment, then make sure to lay the best foundation for it! Exfoliate first, then hydrate. By exfoliating first, it allows the moisturizing ingredients of your hydrating treatment to penetrate even further. Giving your skin a plumper and smoother complexion!

3. Thinnest to Thickest

The golden rule of skincare: Thinnest to thickest! This allows the thinner products to hit the skin and do their thing without having to fight through a thicker layer. Thicker products can layer on top since they have a deeper penetrating ability!

4. SPF For Life

We don’t care if it’s cloudy, rainy or winter! ALWAYS wear sunscreen! Many people might feel sunscreen is only necessary on sunny days or visits to the beach, but truth is SPF is necessary for protecting the skin everyday. If you’re clueless on what kind of sunscreen is for you, check out our Sunscreen 101 post!

5. Keep it Simple

We love a good skincare fad or fancy ingredient, and sometimes they really can do wonders, but it’s still best to stick with a cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen that you know work for you! Keep a core and simple routine at all times. Also, layering multiple skincare products all at once can actually be harsh on your skin. Resulting in more breakouts and clogged pores.

6. Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Best way to avoid infection and clogged pores? Clean your makeup appliers! Concealer and foundation brushes should be washed once a week. For brushes around the eyes, twice a month is okay, but for other brushes once a month is fine.

7. Vitamins For Your Skin

Of course vitamins are essential for your body, but also for your skin! Topical antioxidants, like serums or creams, can really help repair the skin and add some extra benefits. Best time to apply is after cleansing. This way your skin can soak everything in without having to penetrate through other layers. Some vitamins to look into are vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin B. Checkout our vitamin cheat sheet for more skincare tips.

8. Keep Calm and Moisturize

Keep your skin calm and strengthen the skin barrier by focusing on anti-inflammatory ingredients. These kinds of ingredients can help promote healthy skin while reducing chronic inflammation induced by UV light, pollution, or other skin conditions. For some products with anti-inflammatory qualities, check out our blog post here! Also, with a nice calm skin base to work off of, moisturizer will rest perfectly on top.

9. Treat Yourself With a Massage

A great way to de-puff, but also treat your skin is with a nice facial massage. Best way to do it is with dry skin and massage in circular upward motions. Begin at the base of your neck where your arteries are and slowly massage in gentle upward circles. Move up toward the jaw, sides of the face and then around the eyes. This helps coax nutrients into the tissue. You can reverse this and start by your eyes and work your way down if your prone to breakouts. This is known as a lymphatic drainage massage and can help boost circulation for a clearer complexion.

10. Wash With Care

Over washing your skin can create dryness and this can lead to more wrinkles! As we get older our skin naturally loses the ability to maintain its own moisture, so hydrating your skin is key! Stick to a gentle cleanser that doesn’t strip your skin. If you need help with cleansers you can check out our post here. For hydrating ingredients we have a full post here!

11. Get Your Beauty Sleep  

An understatement, but sleep is crucial for your health and skin! After UV exposure, the second biggest cause of wrinkles is poor sleeping posture. Squishing your face against a pillow actually can iron wrinkles into your skin! Our tip is to position your head so the lower half of your face never even touches the pillow. Also, think about investing in a silk pillowcase. Sleeping on silk can help the skin retain moisture and reduce bed head as well as split ends!

12. Don’t Neglect Your Neck!

For those that are always on their phone or smart device, listen up! Thanks to always having our heads bent at a 45 degree angle, we’re constantly squishing our neck and creating premature folds and wrinkles. This is known as ‘tech neck.’ But there is hope! Keep that neck moisturized and slathered in sunscreen. Not as an afterthought, but thoroughly give it some TLC.

13. Double Cleanse

Wear a lot of makeup? Or constantly exposed to pollution or environmental factors? Whatever the reason, double cleansing is everyone’s best friend. When we follow this two step cleansing routine, it helps to remove makeup and impurities we’ve gathered on our face throughout the day. All you need to do is start with a gentle oil cleanser then a water based cleanser that’s formulated to address your skin concern. Need more information on double cleansing? Check out our full blog post about it here.

14. You’re Unique

Everyone’s skin is unique and reacts differently. The best results come from patience, consistency, and awareness. See how your skin reacts to products with a patch test (learn how to do here) and patience. Results won’t show up overnight, and maybe some products just aren’t meant for our skin. Skincare is a personal journey, so be patient and gentle with your skin. These skincare tips should help guide the way!

Get Personal with Picky

We hope our skincare tips were helpful. And remember, everyone’s skin is beautiful and different! That’s why we’ve created an app to make searching for the perfect match easier with a Mega Search Filter. Filter for ingredients, concerns, attributes and categories. Picky is made for skincare lovers to discover what’s best for their unique skin. Head to the Picky app now to get started. Check out more skincare tips on our blog and don’t forget to follow us on instagram.