Your Skin and You: Skin Care Routine

Ever been into a store and see rows and rows of products? There's usually a lot of skin care products for every line. Not all of the stores display the products in the order that they would be applied to the skin. There are so many products out there; so how do you know which one goes first? The recommended process is this:

Boosting Essence
The boosting essence or what I call the "toner for the toner", is a light weight watery liquid that is used first in the skin care process. The boosting essence usually contains more ingredients than the toner. It is used to help the toner penetrate the skin cell layers better. This is a rather new addition to the skin care line as most skin care routines begin with the toner. I usually only see the boosting essence in two-three skin care lines out of like twenty skin care lines. 

Toner (a.k.a. Skin Booster)
The toner, sometimes even called the skin booster, contains slightly more alcohol than the boosting essence. The alcohol content is actually used for cleansing the remnants of beauty product that are not removed from washing your face. The toner helps the skin absorb more moisturizer and is used to purify the skin of left over face wash, make up, and etc. that are not completely removed in the cleansing process. 

Ampoule
Ampoule is a light weight moisturizer that usually comes in a bottle with a dropper. This moisturizer is very light and thin in comparison to the other ones. 

Emulsion or Essence (a.k.a. Serum)
There are two different types of thicker moisturizer. They both exists but the order you have to use it depends on the consistency. As a general rule of thumb, the lighter one goes on first. The thicker lotion would go on after the lighter one. Occasionally, some skin care lines have thicker emulsions and some skin care lines have thicker essences (also known as serums). For example: If the essence is thicker, you would use the emulsion first then the essence. If the emulsion is thicker, the essence would be applied on the skin first then the emulsion. 

Eye Cream
Eye creams are cream created specifically for the eye area. This cream goes on before the face cream and can be applied all around the eyes. The consistency of the eye cream should be thicker than the emulsion and the essence but not as thick as the face cream. 

Cream
The cream or face cream has the thickest consistency of all of the moisturizers. The purpose of this is to provide the skin with the most moisture. In all skin care lines, the cream is usually the last to be applied onto the skin. 

Personally, I think using the everything listed above is over the top. However, if you do own all of these, this is the "recommended" steps for skin care line. Generally, whatever is lighter goes on first while whatever is thicker ends up on the skin last. You don't have to purchase everything in a skin care routine especially if you are just beginning to use skin care products. As always, everything is up to your preference. You don't have stick this routine and you definitely don't have to purchase everything in the skin care line. What is best for your skin may not be best for another person's. Hope this helped with understanding the skin care routine and good luck my pretties!

- Jessica