Last week we talked about the importance of your night time skin care routine, now that we got that under our belts we can talk about the equally important morning routine! Its another opportunity to create the perfect canvas for our daily makeup or leave our skin looking young and fresh if we are skipping the makeup.
Ok so I start with my Clinique Sonic Brush and I'm currently in love with the Tarte Knockout Cleanser. This cleanser is especially great if I've done a super sweaty workout prior to face washing, my face just feels so clean and fresh after. I will have a whole cleanser post in the near future, so stay tune! This is a perfect start to whatever the day has in store and regardless of how much or little makeup I plan to wear.
Next up, clarifying lotion or toner. My go to is the Clinique Clarifying Lotion, exfoliates and really cleans those pores. Lately I've been mixing things up with Sunday Riley's Martian Mattifying Melting Water-Gel Toner. I love the Sunday Riley toner when I have a really special makeup look planned, or I'm going to be somewhere I might want to keep my skin looking smooth and matte. I do find that the Martian can be a little drying especially around my nose so I don't use it at night and don't use it every day. I will tell you it leaves my face looking so good when I use it!
Next up more Clinique goodness, the Turnaround Serum might be one of my favorite products ever. This leaves my face looking super smooth, I definitely feel that my skin looks younger, which I certainly appreciated now that I'm getting older. Typically I buy this two bottles at a time!
Don't forget to moisturize, just as important in the morning as it is at night! I use a few different things for my face depending on the day, the activity or what I feel my skin needs. Living in Florida and spending a lot of time outdoors I became obsessed with Origins Matte Moisturizer. It really keeps my face from looking shiny and sweaty for long periods of time. I also absolutely adore the Clinique ID system. You'll see that I currently have two different bottles of this because the super cool thing is you pick the moisturizer base of your choice and then you pick the concentrate cartridge based on your skins needs. So for me I have the orange one that energizes fatigued skin and the blue one that minimizes pores and smooths complexions. For both I use the Dramatically Different Jelly because it is so light and not greasy at all.
I have gone through lots of under eye cream promising to reduce dark circles and just droopy tired under eye skin and I haven't had much luck. Recently an old friend from high school sent me a goody bag of Mary Kay products including the Time Wise Eye Cream and I have found love! My dark circles are visibly lighter and my eyes are less puffy and tired looking - and trust me it's not because I'm getting more sleep! I am placing an order with my friend Dayna for a full size tube of this magic cream and any other goodies she can recommend!
My current Primer of choice is the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer. I just love the smooth surface it creates for applying makeup and my makeup doesn't crease or clump at all throughout the day, even on days I'm taking a mask on and off!
On days when I know I'll be out in the sun for a long time, like the beach or a theme park I add another layer of mattefying and sunscreen to my face. I have several to choose from but right now I'm super in love with the Supergoop Matte Screen. I will often use this instead of my primer and occasionally will use it all by itself if I'm going for a run or something like that.
Once I get through all these great products I'm ready to put on makeup! I'm saving concealer and eye shadow primer for another post as they can be lengthy all on their own. I would love to hear your go to beauty routine in the mornings. Please share your favorite moisturizer in the comments below. (Because I know you all moisturize right?!?!)
As a reminder the links I post are to the places I typically purchase these products from and I get nothing for posting them, I'm simply sharing products I love. Dayna is a Mary Kay consultant and the link I shared takes you to her page. She was super generous in sending goodies my way and I will continue to share the stuff I absolutely love! I'm open to suggestions so feel free to share things you have tried or are curious about.