My 4 Step Cleaning Routine

Photo credit: J.RyanRoberts

Step 1:Exfoliate- Twice a week, I exfoliate first thing in the morning. This helps to dislodge and remove the dead skin cells, dirt and excess oil build up out of your pores, off the surface of the epidermis and disintegrates white heads. After exfoliating, your skin will feel smoother and dewy, not flaky and dry. Once you have opened your pores, blood flow to your facial capillaries( beneath the epidermis), will give you a more radiant appearance.

One of my favorites is Sukiface Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser - 1 oz $15

According to Suki, you can use this product daily. It all depends on how red your skin is after you use it. My skin isn't that sensitve, so I've found I can exfoliate every other day with it. Depending on how sensitive your skin is I would try once of twice a week to start off with.

What I love about this product is how it deep cleanses my skin with at first this tiny sandy feeling, that turns into this soft later. It also has this incredible lemony smell, leaving my skin feeling perfectly clean. 

Ingredients
organic non-gmo rice flour (oryza sativa), natural sugar (sucrose), organic saponified olive oil (potassium olivate), organic calendula (calendula officinalis), chamomile (anthemis nobilis), lavender (lavandula angustifolia), lemongrass (cymbopogon citratus), orange peel (citrus senensis) & seaweed (algae) extracts, aroma (pure premium steam distilled essential oil & limonene)

*You can also use a small amount of Vitamin E oil or Argan oil on your face before you exfoliate, to give your sensitive skin a buffing layer.*


Step 2 Tone- After exfoliating, to refresh my face, I mist it with Naturopathica Lavender Honey Balancing Mist-$28 . I absolutely love anything with lavender and honey. Put the two ingredients together and my skin is in heaven. The lavender is a soothing, mildly antiseptic, water-based solution created when essential that oils are steam distilled, and the honey is a natural humectant, that calms and hydrates with antioxidant and mild antiseptic qualities. Together they help to balance the skin.

loe Barbadenis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice*, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Water*, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Candida Bombicola, Glucose, Methyl Rapeseedate Ferment, Potassium Sorbate, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Oil*, Lavandin Grosso (Lavandin) Flower Oil*, Mel/Honey/Miel*, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside *Ingredient from organic farming 99.99% 

Step 3 Moisturize: Once the toner has been absorbed into my skin, living in Arizona, I mostly look for either moisturizers or tinted moisturizers with SPF 30 in them. My go to moisturizer right now  Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Cream, 1-Fluid Ounce $20. 

When I try out a product what I am looking for is a product that doesn't have any added fragrance of course, but a product that does smell nice and for me, one of my favorite scents is almond, and this product does have a slight almond scent. Living in Arizona, my skin can get very easily dehydrated, and even though this slightly thick cream, went on a little greasy, it didn't take long for my skin to absorb it. My skin does feel much softer and smoother with it. I've been using it for about a week now with no problems. For someone with oily prone skin, I would not recommend this, but if you're like me and have skin more on the drier side, you will love how this makes your face feel.

Water (Aqua), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Hydrolyzed Beeswax, Prunus Domestica (Plum) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Xanthan Gum, Lactic Acid.

Step 4: Put on Tinted Moisturizer- On my trip to Seattle to visit my daughter, we ventured into Ulta, because she loves color and she wanted to  check out all of the new colored eye liners. For me I was on the search for a new Spring tinted moisturizer, and I came upon 

Juice Beauty SPF 30 Tinted Mineral Moisturizer, 2 Ounce -$20

You can imagine living in Arizona, when it comes to putting on sunscreen I have OCD. I put it on all year round. For my complexion, I tend to have a pale rosy complexion, and I what I always end up with is in the exact words my husband uses, looking "oranger than a pumpkin", so I can't tell you how many times I've been disappointed with shades of foundations and coverups. Except for Juice Beauty, after I put this on, my skin was perfect and glowing. It also has a sweet apple smell. Another one I consider a keeper.

Titanium Dioxide 10%.
Inactive Ingredients: Juices Of Pyrus Malus (Apple) Juice,* Vitis Vinifera (White Grape) Juice,* Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Juice* & Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice,* Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract,* Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract,* Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Sodium PCA, Hyaluronic Acid, Phospholipids, Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Allantoin, Cera Alba (Beeswax),* Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C), Mica & Iron Oxides (Mineral Tints), Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Citrus Aurantium (Petitgrain), Cinnamomum Camphora (Ho Wood) & Citrus Reticulata (Mandarin) Pure Essential Oils. *Certified Organic By A USDA Approved Agency.