Winter skincare routine

I thought I’d share with you my skincare routine during these cold Canadian winter months (yes, it’s April and we’re still in the negative degrees over here). My skin has been very, very dry this winter and I’m still trying to figure out which products are the best at healing it but so far the ones that I’m using are doing a pretty good job.

Cleansing

The Origins Checks and Balances face wash is my ride or die face wash. I have never used a face wash that I liked as much as this one. It’s the perfect texture, it’s the perfect scent, it’s the perfect amount of foam and it’s a perfect cleanser overall. I have repurchased this product 4 times so far and I don’t have any plans to switch to a different product any time soon. My skin loves it in both the colder and hotter weather.

I use Farmacy’s Green Clean cleansing balm on either my lazy days or on days where I got so much makeup caked on my face that just my regular cleanser won’t do. This product does a great job at literally melting all of your makeup off, including waterproof eye makeup! I just heat up the product in my fingers and rub until I look like a terrifying clown that’s been crying for a week straight. Then I just proceed to wash off with water and my Origins cleanser. On lazy days where I’m wearing minimal makeup, if any, I’ll just wipe it off my face with a dampened face cloth and call it a day.

Treatments

I religiously exfoliate my face during winter and lately Ole Henriksen’s Transforming Walnut Scrub has been my go-to. It’s made of crushed walnuts so it’s SUPER scrubby, which I LOVE. If you’re not into hard exfoliators, this isn’t for you because you can literally scrub off an entire layer of skin with this guy.

So I started experiencing with acid. No not drugs – relax mom. AHAs, BHAs, HAs and any other combination of the letters A and H are dominating the headlines of all skincare blogs I follow so I started reading up on their benefits, how to use them, etc. and decided to try some out for myself. Enter The Ordinary. Their lactic acid has been AMAZEBALLS for my skin. I bought the 5% and not the 10% because I thought that the 10% would literally burn my face off lmao. I have a lot to learn. Anyhow, all that to say is that I use this guy every other day before bed and when I wake up in the morning, my face is smooth like a baby’s bottom. Disclaimer: I’ve never seen or touched a baby’s bottom but I’m told it’s quite soft.

Finally, I use rosehip oil on weekends because it evens out my skintone. I only use it on weekends because it’s so rich so I just slather it on in the morning and just let it sink in throughout my day without doing any other routine steps to my face.

Toners

I started the winter period using only DECEIM’s Hylamide Hydra-Density Mist but I didn’t find it hydrating enough so I turned to Fresh’s Rose toner, for an extra boost. I now use the rose toner on a cotton pad after every cleansing, except if I plan on doing a mask. In the case I plan on masking, I will cleanse, spritz my face with the hydra mist, mask, and THEN use the rose toner to remove any maks leftovers (if needed – e.g. clay mask). Note about the rose toner: it will make you feel boujee AF.

Serum & Moisturizer

Because I worked in skincare for so many years, I have it ingrained in my brain that a moisturizer is only as good as the serum you applied before it. I CANNOT use a moisturizer without a good serum. Caudalie’s S.O.S. Thirst Quenching Serum has been a life saver for me this winter. I have never used up a bottle of a product as fast as I did this one. I’m actually out of it as I’m writing this post. It’s also perfect when paired with Origins’ Ginzing moisturizer. I got Ginzing for the amazing Vitamin C benefits that help with my dull winter skin by making it brighter and smoother. But because the moisturizer is gel based, it doesn’t moisturize as much as a cream based moisturizer (wut?) but that’s totally fine because of Caudalie’s serum.

Masks

I mean, do I even need to say that I love masking? Who DOESN’T love masking is my question. And although it’s terrible for the environment and I feel super guilty about it, I LOVE sheet masks. Note to beauty companies: can you make eco-friendly sheet masks that are biodegradable or something so that we can look fab while also not contributing to global warming? This picture only has some of my favourites. I think I’ll do a separate post about mask review because I’ve tried so many at this point, I think I have enough expertise in the subject matter. Words of advice: do yourself a favour and change your life for the better by purchasing Ole Henriksen’s Hygge HydraClay mask and the Skyn Iceland eye patches. Oh. My. LORD. First of all. I have never had something so soothing, calming and – believe it or not, HOMEY – on my face, as the Hygge mask. Every time I put this on, for some reason I feel like I am a kid again, just hanging out, chillaxing on my grandmother’s farm back in Croatia. And the eye patches? Hoooooney. Pull an all nighter one day and go straight to work but pop these on while you’re getting ready and before you go out the door, remove them and witness the witchcraft that completely erased your dark circles in 20 minutes. I can’t even.

Another notable mention: Too Cool For School’s Egg Cream sheet mask. This is one of my ultimate favourite moisturizing sheet masks. I just ran out of them and thus couldn’t take a picture.

So there you go! It’s not a very complex routine, but it works for me and I stick to it. I should say that I only do this entire routine at night. In the morning, I seldom do anything. If I’m still feeling a bit dry, I’ll smear on some Glossier Priming Moisturizer before applying makeup. I don’t do any cleansing because I noticed that doing so throws off my skins Ph for the rest of the day and then I get oily in weird spots and stuff so I just leave it alone and it’s worked for me so far. Besides, how dirty do you get in your sleep?Also, notice that I don’t have an eye cream, so yes, you can scold me for that. Heck, I’m scolding myself. However, in the time it took me to write this post, I think I found an eye cream that works for me, so stay tuned for an updated routine that I do in the spring time.