10 Skin Care Tips That Are The Tops

I think in another life I must have been a dermatologist because I LOVE skin care.  Seriously, I get super excited at night to wash my face.  I am not a morning person, or else I’m sure I’d be very excited then too.

There is nothing more exciting to me than when a product starts really working for me and I’m putting together a list of all my favorite skin care products, but I wanted to start with these tips.  Because, honestly, these tips and tricks are just as important as any product you are putting on your face.

Are you excited!?  I AM!  I LOVE SKIN CARE.

1.  Turn off the TV an hour before bed.  Essentially, this is a “get more sleep” tip.  But I know there are some people out there getting as much as they possibly can in.  And then…there are the Night Owls like me.

I have a strict rule where I do not turn the TV on all day until 8pm.  Which I’m surprisingly good at keeping.  But as soon as I turn it on, I immediately get lazy and will watch TV until 1 am.  When my bedtime is supposed to be midnight and my wakeup time is 9 am.  (I know.  I need 8-9 hours of sleep every night or I’m a grump.)  When turn the TV off at 10 or 11 pm, I have plenty of time to do my full skin care routine and read in bed.

When I act like a Lazy Lump, I watch reruns until 1 am and then do a rush job on my face.  And lose an hour of sleep.  So, TV off at least an hour before bed.  I look way younger when I get a full night’s sleep.

2.  “Water, water everywhere, water near and far.”  About ten years ago I was a nanny (best job ever) and we used to read this book on the regular.  It is stuck in my brain.  But yeah, I drink so much water it’s nuts.  I drink a tiny glass before I have my coffee (again, not a morning person and don’t like forcing anything in the morning), then throughout the day I drink anywhere from 4 to 8 giant tumblers of water.

I highly recommend getting a Tervis with a straw or a tumbler from Target.  I call mine my “Baba,” short for “baby bottle,” which I’m sure is very charming for an adult woman.  Water is amazing for your skin.  It is your life force.  Drink mucho, mucho, mucho water.

3.  SPF goes on your lips too.  Get a 3 pack of chapstick with SPF 15 and keep one at home, one in your purse, and one in your car.   Even if you don’t feel your lips burning, the sun is damaging the skin on and around your mouth.  Wearing SPF on your lips will help delay those fine, vertical lines that can form around your mouth that lipstick feathers into.

4.  My *golden* Anti-Aging rule: If you haven’t put your products on your neck, chest and hands, you haven’t done your skin care routine.  At night, I always tone and put my oil on my neck and chest and on my hands right before bed.

In the morning, I always put a matte SPF on my neck, behind my ears (the sun hits there too) and on the back of my neck and chest.  I keep an extra bottle in my car and put SPF on my the back of my hands before I drive.

Man, I wish I had done this is my twenties.  But I just didn’t.  And now my the skin on my chest looks about 10 years older than my face and I have to check regularly for new moles or sun spots.

5.  Exfoliate gently, only once a week, max.

I used to be the Exfoliating Queen!  I thought I was doing such good things for my skin.  Look at all this fresh, new smooth skin every day!  I had a spinning face cleansing brush and faithfully used it twice a day.  My skin was super smooth, but I noticed I couldn’t keep makeup on it.

It was almost as if my skin was eating up the makeup, it would soak it up immediately, as if the foundation were a moisturizer.  It was so odd.  I remember being on set for a hair job and the makeup artist said the same thing.  She couldn’t keep foundation on my face.

That’s when I realized I was way over exfoliating.  Exfoliating too much dries your skin out.  So my skin was constantly dry and over exfoliated for about a year and I started getting lines across my forehead.  Sigh.  Now, I use a konjac sponge, you can read my full post on them {here}.

I use it every other day, once that day.  If I’m wearing super heavy makeup or wearing makeup for 12+ hours, then I’ll use it at night a few days in a row.  It’s so gentle, I’m obsessed.  Once a week, I boil water and pour it in a cup like I would for tea, then dip the konjac sponge in it for 30 seconds to disinfect it.

6.  Wash your sheets, especially your pillowcase, and towels once a week, using unscented detergent.  Scents can irritate sensitive skin.

7.  I always wash my hands before I wash my face.  Just to make sure I’m not getting germs or bacteria on my face.

8.  Your skin care routine is only as good as your makeup.  Your makeup is on your skin all day and/or night (party animals!), so using high quality foundation and face products makes a big difference.  I notice a huge difference in my skin when I use better quality products.

For some reason, most drugstore foundations make my skin feel junked up and burn my skin.  I use Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation or Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk for foundations.  Fancy, but worth it for your skin if you wear foundation every day.

9.  Eat fats.  By accident one week, I gave my skin the best week of it’s life!

Every morning, I ate half of an avocado drizzled in olive oil and lime juice, with freshly ground lemon pepper seasoning on top.  For lunch and dinner I ate salmon.  I’d eat it on it’s own or on top of argula for a salad.

I could not get enough salmon, it was weird!  It was All I Wanted To Eat.

The next week my skin was GLOWING.  It was a very happy accidental discovery.  I’ve been taking fish oil vitamins every morning now, so I don’t make myself sick of salmon, but to keep the glow.  This pic makes me laugh every time I see it.

10. Tap don’t tug – your products on your skin.  Especially your face wash and cleansing oils.  They need a minute to get into the base of your makeup to dissolve it.

Rubbing them around really doesn’t help that happen faster, but if just lightly keep mushing and tapping it into your skin, you will save your skin from unnecessary wear-and-tear.  Then when you feel your makeup loosen from your skin, you can get your circles on to swirl all the makeup off.

In the morning, I gently press and hold (for a half second) my moisturizer into my skin, all over my face.  It feels awesome, like getting a mini facial.

I don’t need to talk about SPF on your face, right??  Because you ARE wearing SPF on your face every. single. gosh. darn. day, right?

Okay, just to be sure:

11.  Wear a moisturizer with a broad spectrum sunscreen at least SPF 20+ or higher every single day please, please, please.  On your face, on your body, on your head where you part your hair.  You will be so happy you did.

Kisses!  Hugs!  Thank you for reading!  Please feel free to share this post on Facebook or pin any of the pics to Pinterest.  You can follow @girlgetglamorous on Instagram for daily pics.

Go Get Glam!