Finding My Skin Care Routine

This post is dedicated to my wonderful sister F.B. who asked me about my skin care routine last week. She is facing the similar difficulties I used to have before I found the right products.
I am presenting here what helped me but everybody has different skin and what worked on me might not be useful for others.

1. My Skin Type

I have sensible, normal skin which is on the dry side. In winter I suffer more from dryness then in the summer months. My skin color is light and it is quite even without breakouts. My skin has the tendency to look 'tired' which I am always trying to work against. I'm also in constant fight against milia but I get it under control these days.
In the summer my skin gets a nice tan but as my skin is fair it always needs to get sun protection otherwise I get burned which looks bad and hurts.

Stuff that did not work for me:

- Make up remover tissues --> wonderful idea but caused me terrible dry skin under the eyes (I tried Nivea, Bebe and Neutrogena).

- Cleansers which are used with water --> so refreshing but I end up with dry skin (I tried Clinique the Liquid Facial Soap, Jan Marini (the C-ESTA Cleansing Gel), Biotherm (do not remember which one but it was a blue tube with a gel) and Weleda Almond soothing Cleansing Lotion (this one did not dry my skin but I did not really get my face clean from makeup.)

- Rich creams mainly against dry or sensitive skin --> feel lovely but I can use those only very sporadically when needed. Otherwise I get breakouts.

2. What helped me

I do not have an obvious problematic skin and so it took me a while until I went to consult an esthetician. I always thought that everything will be okay but I was getting more and more annoyed every morning when I saw that my face was always having 'something' either dry areas or spots or it was itching for no reason.

The first time with an esthetician I was explained that I have a dry skin which is very sensible. That means that I can not use rich products aimed against dry skin because they might be 'too much' for my sensitive skin. This is true as it explained why my tries to work against dry skin always failed and caused other troubles instead.
I was also explained that the milia (white points that sit in the skin) I was experiencing sporadically is caused by very dry skin. She promised it would come out once I would start exfoliating on a regular basis.

The products she recommended me at that time were:

• Pythomer Accept Cream.
• Pythomer Vegetal Exfoliant.

Both products did not cause me any problems and my skin started to get better. Also the milia disappeared.

Even though the products caused me no problem I felt that my face was not really nourished. After using the recommended products for about a year I was ready to try something more nourishing. I knew if I would fail I could always go back to the products I used before.

I went to a consultation and I was recommended a a few products from Jan Marini which should help getting over my dry feeling without causing other damage.

• C-ESTA Cleansing Gel
• Transformation Cream
• Skin Zyme
• Physical Protectant tinted sunscreen SPF 45

As mentioned above the cleansing gel from Jan Marini was not meant for me. It really gave me a dry feeling after every usage and after two weeks I abandoned it. The exfoliation product and the face cream were fine. I used them up for about half a year and had absolutely no complains.

About the tinted sunscreen I have to say that I had the feeling I was rubbing sand in my face when using it. I do not know why but there was something in the texture that scratched me when I applied it. But I could not detect anything when I took a close look at the cream.

Jan Marini is not very accessible in Israel and also not in Europe as far as saw. I wanted to look out for alternative which I could purchase more easily. As those items are products of daily use I did not want to be completely depending on online stores.

So it came that I was walking into a drugstore. I was looking around and then my eyes fell on the DECLÉOR counter. I have heard many wonderful things about the brand and its products.

I spoke to the sales associate and she took a lot of time as she analyzed my face being dry but not having any troubles. She recommended me the series for normal skin called Hydra Floral. She said it is moisturizing enough and I should try this before trying the products for dry skin,

The products I prchased were the following:

• Aroma Cleanse Soothing Micellar Water
• Aromessence Neroli Essential Serum which is a face oil
• Hydra Floral 24h Hydration Activating Light Cream
• Hydra Floral Eye Cream - It seems to be discontinued.

I have started using the products and I fell in love. I enjoyed getting up cleansing and moisturizing my face. It made me feel wonderful.
I needed to get used to the idea of a face oil but once I learned how to apply it correctly I started missing it when I did not have it around. The key here was to use two tiny drops warm them in the hands and apply the oil carefully to the face.

After using up the above products I wanted to try the DECLÉOR series for sensible skin. So I ended up purchasing:

• Aromessence Rose d'Orient soothing serum
• Harmony Calm Soothing Milky Cream
• Harmony Calm Relaxing Milky Gel for eyes
• Rose d'Orient soothing Night Balm

Now I am using the products for sensible skin for half a year and I am really happy! Everything goes together perfectly. No more dry or red skin! I truly found my holy grail!

I added DECLÉOR Pythopeel which is a great exfoliator. I use it every two or every three days and it is great against dry skin. At first Pythopeel is quite strange as it applies like a mask and then you rub it off after it dries down. The rubbing does the exfoliation. Once you finished you rinse off the product with water.

Summing up my current daily routine.

Morning:

1. Cleanse with Aroma Cleanse Soothing Micellar Water
2. Apply Aromessence Rose d'Orient soothing serum
3. Harmony Calm Soothing Milky Cream
4. Harmony Calm Relaxing Milky Gel for eyes

Evening:

1. Cleanse with Aroma Cleanse Soothing Micellar Water
2. Use Pythopeel exfoliation every two or three nights.
3. Apply Aromessence Rose d'Orient soothing serum
4. Harmony Calm Relaxing Milky Gel for eyes
5. Rose d'Orient soothing Night Balm

3. A few tips:

1. Consultation - Find out your skin type (listen to your own experience, if you feel somebody makes wrong conclusions)
2. Trial and Error - Try to get testers before purchasing full size. Some companies also offer travel sets at lower cost.
3. Adjust - Make adjustments on the way, if you see something does not perform the way you would like.
4. Remember which product families worked - If you know that makeup remover tissues cause you problems do not focus on finding some that suit you. Try different formulas.
5. Stay with products you like - Keep the things that work well!
6. Be aware of allergies!- If you are allergic to certain food you might be allergic if the ingredient is in a cream.

I hope this helps and gives all of you inspiration finding skin care products suitable to you. This is a very individual process and I can not stress enough that what works for me might not work as well for everybody else.
It took me around two years to really find products that I like, that make me feel good and that are accessible for me.

Currently I am testing a few skin care products from l'Occitane and I will share my thoughts in a few weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!