My current (mostly natural) skincare routine

Since last summer, I've been gradually phasing out most of the products I had previously been using on my face with all the harsh chemicals in them, and replacing them with gentler and more natural products. I have dry, acne prone skin, which had always made it difficult for me to find the right stuff to use on my face. Either I would find something that helped with the acne, but made my face drier, or I would find something that would help with the dryness, but either made me break out more, or didn't help my already existing acne. And on top of that, being in my mid-20's now, I am becoming more concerned about aging, especially with all the stress that I go through in school, including all nighters at least once a week, it has really taken a toll on my skin and overall appearance. I also find that in the past few years, whenever I do break out, I tend to scar, and the scars don't heal like they used to. So in my search for a better skincare routine more suitable for my skin, I turned towards the natural route.

Here is a list of all the products that I currently use on my face:

- Wedderspoon Premium Raw Manuka Active 16+ Honey

- Tarte Maracuja Oil

- Fushi Organic Jojoba Oil

- Thayers Lavender Witch Hazel Toner

- Ombrelle SPF 60 Face Ultra-Fluid Lotion

- Delon+ Premium Cotton Rounds

- Shu Uemura Anti-Oxy Skin Refining Cleansing Oil (Green)

- Rice flour

- Oatmeal

- Clarisonic

(I will probably do separate, more in depth posts about most of these later.)

Starting off in the morning...

I don't really wash my face with anything in the morning - just splash it with water - while I'm in the shower. After I get out of the shower, I apply Thayers Lavender Witch Hazel Toner with a cotton pad. I like to use the Delon ones because of the mesh layer for a little bit of exfoliation. Also I just happened to have picked a huge package of them from Costco, so I've been using them forever and still haven't run out. After the toner, I apply a mix of Tarte's Maracuja Oil, and Fushi's Jojoba Oil. I'm not going to go into too much detail about these oils right now, but I will try to do another post later about them. I have a separate eyedropper bottle that I premix the oils in, and I'll just put 2-3 drops on my fingers, rub them together and then massage onto my face. After that I'll put my sunscreen on, and makeup if I'm wearing any, and that's it for the morning!

Night time is when everything gets a little more fun! But also, takes a lot more time.

If I wore makeup that day, I'll start by taking all my makeup off using Shu Uemura's Anti-Oxy Skin Refining Cleansing Oil. I just put a pump of it in my hands and rub them together then gently rub it all over my face and eyes to take everything off. Then I'll rinse all of that off and dry my face. I keep a jar of a mixture of ground oatmeal and rice flour in the bathroom, and a small jar of manuka honey that I portion out of the original container so it doesn't get contaminated. I'll then put about half a tablespoon of the ground oatmeal/rice flour mixture, and a teaspoon of manuka honey in a little dish (I don't actually measure any of this, I just do it by eye...), add some water and mix until it's at my preferred consistency, and apply onto my face using a foundation brush. Or just my fingers. I'll also talk about this more in another post later. And then I let it sit on my face while I floss and brush my teeth, and make my breakfast for the next day (Refrigerator oatmeal!) After that, I rinse it all off, pat my face dry, apply toner and oil to moisturize. Once a week, I will also use my Clarisonic, I don't use it with anything really, just water. Just to exfoliate. And that's it!