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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

On My Skincare Shelf: Current Routine and Favorites

Our tiny Manhattan bathroom has minimal storage, so we make as much use as we can out of our medicine cabinet, also known as Monika's Secret Skincare Stash (our family was beyond surprised to learn there's stuff hidden behind the mirror, lol - there's no such thing as medicine cabinets in Poland, folks!). I thought it'd be fun to share what I'm reaching for skincare-wise these days; there's a lot of products to get through so this is more of a show-and-tell than mini-reviews, but I've linked previous reviews where possible and if you have specific questions, just let me know in the comments. Alrighty then!
Are you surprised that my stuff occupies three out of four shelves in the medicine cabinet? I'm not showing you Mr's shelf because really, unused colognes and beard scissors aren't that exciting. I've also skipped a couple haircare products on the bottom shelf for the sake of brevity. Sorry these photos are all at an angle and thus in various stages of out-of-focus-ness; kinda hard to take shots of a mirrored cabinet without putting yourself in the frame. Anyway, let's work our way from the bottom to the top:
The bottom has some random things like cotton squares, my deodorant, contant lens case and a cup with q-tips, nail scissors, Tweezerman tweezers, spot treatments (Aesop Control and Paula's Choice BHA 9) and LiLash. Next to that from right to left, I have some more treatment skincare that I reach for a couple times a week rather than every day: Dr. Wu Intensive Renewal Mandelic Acid I use once a week at night, TATCHA Gold Camellia Beauty Oil* I sometimes layer under my night cream for added moisture, and Coral Actives 5% Benzoyl Peroxide serum for spots again. Also, an Epic Blend More Moisture Unflavored Lip Balm* - still really liking their balms!

On the middle shelf resides the bulk of my everyday skincare routine. I line it up sort of in the order of usage from left to right, starting with cleansing and toning products on the left. For my morning cleanse, I use the MyChelle Apple Brightening Cleanser, and for the evening cleanse, the Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm, preceded by the Avene Micellar Lotion if I'm wearing make-up that day. For acid toning, I use the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads in the morning, the Peter Thomas Roth Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads in the evening and always follow both with a spritz of rose hydrosol, here decanted into a clear spray bottle.
I pat in my eye cream right after toning my face and before serums and moisturizers: right now I'm using the ever so popular Kiehl's Avocado Eye Treatment. At night, I like to go for a more targeted serum and apply Murad's Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lighening Serum, and in the morning, the more hydrating and soothing Jurlique Herbal Recovery Advanced Serum*; although I do find now that it tends to roll under my moisturizers. You probably know all about my thoughts on the Andalou Naturals Probiotic + C Renewal Cream if you've read my previous post, but if I need some added SPF protection, I've just started using the Canmake Easy & Fast Make Gel (sic), which is basically a moisturizer, sunscreen and make-up primer all in one.
I tend to keep things I only use occasionally on the very top shelf, like my collection of Aura Cacia essential oils, which I sometimes use in my bath or in DIY skincare, but mostly in a little oil burner for scenting our apartment. My favorites are Cardamom, Vetiver, Bergamot and Ylang-ylang, and for some reason, the Jasmine Absolute in jojoba oil turned out to be a complete let-down.
On the right of that same shelf I store my scrubs and masks. I only use a physical scrub about once a week, and I try to do my masks about twice a week - I'll often scrub first and then apply a clay mask or a moisturizing one for better performance. The two scrubs I'm rotating are the Reviva Microdermabrasion Pomegranate Scrub and Andalou Naturals Lemon Sugar Facial Scrub. For clay masks, I use either the Andalou Naturals Blue Geranium Creamy Clay Mask or a Ghassoul clay mask with rose oil my parents brought me from their trip to Morocco. I also still love the Dermalogica Gentle Cream Exfoliant and like to use it before applying the Dr. Wu Mandelic Acid serum, and when my skin is feeling dehydrated, I reach for the Avene Soothing Moisture Mask; unfortunately both of these are almost used up, so I'm on the lookout for some new replacements.

And there you have it! Pretty excessive, huh? My mum just recently told me she only washes her face at night and often doesn't apply even a moisturizer, much less two types of toners, serums, treatments and all that jazz. Is your medicine cabinet as filled with skincare as mine? Does your routine tend to be short and sweet or long and elaborate?

Disclaimer: Products marked with an asterix (*) are press samples I received from the brands' PRs for review consideration. I purchased all the other products myself, or they were a kind gift from friends/family or a Gift With Purchase. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Clearly, this post shows exactly what I am using myself in my everyday skincare routine, which means I like all of these products enough to keep reaching for them. Thank you for reading!

22 comments:

  1. I feel like such an underachiever whenever I read other people's skincare posts! I use four products daily: cleanser, SPF moisturizer, regular moisturizer and eye cream. Sometimes sheet masks when I have them around, sometimes an exfoliating product (though I'm between exfoliators right now). Skincare is so expensive in general that I don't feel comfortable experimenting with new products that might not work. Plus, I have pretty unproblematic skin as is, so I just stick to what I know.

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    1. I often suspect that if I had beautiful skin (like yours or my mom's!) I would never have gotten not only into skincare, but make-up as well. But, it being a huge pain in the butt and very high-maintenance, my skincare routine and the number of products are probably quite ridiculous to most, and I rarely skip out on it because I'm terrified of the consequences (breakouts! breakouts! breakouts! and... dry patches too!). Yeah, I'm not too happy with the cost of it either, but... a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

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  2. OOH! Monika, you have such a pristine and shiny set of shelves! I feel positively slovenly thinking about my skincare stuff! :)
    You do have quite an assortment of things, but i know you are always swapping things in and out. I have something like a 10-step AM/PM routine, so I don't think you are excessive at all. ;)

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    1. Belly, I'll admit it, I did clean up before shooting photos. Nobody likes to look at dusty shelves with a sprinkling of beard trimmings (thanks husband! I like for the day when I find a black hair in my moisturizer or something). The thought of your routine makes me feel more normal, so thank you :)

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  3. So my parent's house (well, I will get out of there...actually I will get out of the farm of Texas in a few days so let's see) doesn't have a medicine cabinet so there is nothing to stuff inside. Anyway, I am always worried about humidity and heat interfering with my skincare items so I don't keep any actual skincare inside the bathroom. My routine has been more than boring as of late (Sana cleanser + rosehip oil) but my skin has been quite clear thanks to the two (occasionally I pore-purge with scrub or clay mask but very occasionally...

    I even ditch the sunscreen because lazy...Ok, my mom got me some Japanese sunscreen (along with canmake goodies) from HK but the freaking delivery company returned it because they said cosmetics are flammable!!!! (You mean my cream blush/powder blush will spontaneously combust in the death of winter?)

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    1. I keep some things sometimes on my bedside table, but I'm far too lazy to keep the bulk of my products away from the bathroom! I don't keep anything in the shower though. Your skin always look beautiful in photos!

      That's an awful story about your parcel being returned!!! Oh the joys of international shipping, huh? Reminds me of the looks USPS people always give you when you try to ship a package that says 'cosmetics' in the description, they immediately think you're trying to smuggle perfume. Which is why I've started using the self-help kiosks as much as I can!

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  4. lots of things? eh seems normal to me lol. i tend to have a whole brevy of items on the go as well since i want to have everything i need for whatever skin situation arises.
    i haven't throught to buy essential oils for the bath before! i never really knew what ppl did with those little bottles whenever i went to the health food store. but now i do!
    after reading about mandolin oil from Kate the Drivellar, I've been curious to try that out (and her whole skin regime actually). i hope i remember after i'm done my array of current items (which might just take forever...)

    jenn

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    1. Oh Jenn, the standards of a beauty blogger, hahah. We need to have every product for every possible situation!
      I like some of these essential oils in the bath but I have to be careful because I get an allergic reaction from the citrus ones, lol. Did you mean mandelic acid? That serum is a great find, and not very expensive!

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  5. I used to have a ton of skincare (but not arranged as well as yours!) but I've been cutting down lately after an awful spate of stress-related breakouts. I couldn't figure out which of the many products I was switching between really worked, and which didn't. So I pared down to - actually, the PTR pads a few times a week - I think that's a great product - and one very moisturizing heavy mask that I can put on for 45 minutes at night and wash off, and it's enough moisture for me. At least now, when it's not absolutely frigid yet.

    I'd like to start reintroducing some things now that my skin mostly calmed down (though for me, that's far from perfect - your skin looks absolutely beautiful, so what you're doing works!) but I'm also nervous to introduce anything. What if it's awful? The trials of skincare, right? :)

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    1. A super simple, paired-down routine when your skin freaks out sounds great - I've done that before too. But I think that now with my abundance of products, I'm slowly starting to balance the amount of acne-combatting exfoliation my skin needs (lots but gentle) with the amount of hydration it craves (more than I usually think). Haha, my skin only looks passable in photos because of lots of concealing! I wholeheartedly agree, I hate spending big bucks on skincare only to realize something is completely not working for me :/

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  6. What a lovely selection of skin care products, impressive Aura Cacia collection!!! (I love their EO, too). I feel I'm lacking in a couple of things on my routine but my skin care has been boringly the same for several years and thankfully it works for me. Btw, Monika, we write back and forth about PC 2% Liquid BHA and how it leaves a sticky film after. Well, I recently tried the Resist 2% BHA Toner (from her "Resist" line) and no sticky film after! Just an idea for sampling in case you are going to place another PC order in the future. (Disc: I'm not in some way or form related to PC -- but I know you already know that)

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    1. Oh, thanks for letting me know about the PC - I'll try the Resist toner next time! Although I'm not sure how soon that will be as I've just ordered the Pixi Glow Tonic when they had their Buy 1 Get 1 promotion, lol. I don't know what it is about PC, but so far none of her products have absolutely vowed me, yet I keep coming back for more...?

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    2. PC is one of those hit-miss brand, some of her products are HG some are so so, some are actually duds! Where did you get the Pixi Glow Tonic from? I've been curious about this as well.

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    3. I just ordered from their website, they have free shipping over $25 and discounts for creating an account/subscribing to their newsletter, so I even saved a little bit :) It was shipped right away and came very quickly!

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  7. Wow!!! You def have great products on those shelves there. I have tried also the Jurlique Herbal Recovery Advanced Serum and I so love it. It really is so hydrating to the skin.

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  8. This looks a very restrained and well-edited bathroom cabinet to me, but then I've been getting into the Korean style skin care routine. Seeing the Emma Hardie balm and the Jurlique serum bring back fond memories...they are both such a joy to use.
    I love your collection of essential oils! I'm guessing they could be a more reasonably priced alternative to Aromatherapy Associates' oils, hmm...

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  9. I love the edit you've got - I don't think it is excessive, if it's working for you then it's nice to have a good stable full of quality products. I need to organise my skincare a little bit better so that I stop switching between products so frequently, I think that is my main problem with skincare (my laziness is also a factor, I must say)

    I recently bought a few new skincare bits on holiday so am looking forward to putting them to the test!

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  10. I have a much more edited collection and I wish it was as neat as yours. I don't have medicine cabinet so it's all stored in drawers in the vanity. I tend not to keep multiples of the same things, so just a cleanser, one moisturizer, one serum. Except for masks and samples. I have a whole apothecary jar full of samples. And I have quite a few masks, that I hardly ever use. I love how you actually use your stash. My stuff mainly just sits there.

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  11. Not excessive at all! hehe. :) I try not to keep everything out at once, so I never quite realize how much skincare I have. I try to only have like.. one or two of each product category out/in use at any given time (like 2 face oils, 2 mini cleansers, etc) I was recently sorting through my stash and definitely had more than I thought! anyway, yours looks very pretty displayed

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  12. Wonderful post keep sharing about skincare. Its such a nice post thanks for sharing here with us.

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  13. With so many products you have on hand, they really deserve to have their own space in your bathroom! Anyway, those products look so amazing! It seems that you have products for every occasion. Haha! I would love want to hear more from you! Thanks for sharing!

    Glenn Lowe @ Knight and Sanders

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