Cleanse: Cleansing the skin is extremely important to keeping a fresh face. Skipping cleansing or even sleeping with your makeup on (you better not!) is one of the biggest skin crimes a person can make! Dirty skin causes painful red breakouts, dark ugly blackheads, and a dull appearance. I recommend using a gentle cream cleanser at night and a cleanser with micro beads in the morning. The gentle cleanser will take off any left over makeup while cleaning out pores and hydrating the skin so you are prepped and ready for your beauty sleep. Once you wake up, your skin cells have regenerated, so going in with a micro-bead cleanser really sloughs off those dead skin cells revealing fresh cleaned skin. Some people can handle using an abrasive cleanser morning and night, but for people with dry, sensitive, or acne treated skin, using a gentle cleanser to avoid irritation and inflammation. Adding cleansing into your routine will make SUCH a difference in the way your skin feels and of course how it looks.

Exfoliating: I can't stress enough the importance of exfoliating, especially during the winter. Skin is dry, dead, and needs to be removed! Whenever you exfoliate, whether it be your face, body, or even lips, you are sloughing off dead skin and letting your radiant skin shine. You’re also giving your moisturizer or serum a better chance at penetrating the skin! When you don't exfoliate, skin build up, flakes, and even clogs your pores (yikes!). The trick here is not to overdo it. Exfoliating too much will irritate your skin and may even cause breakouts. It is recommended to exfoliate twice a week to achieve silky skin. Exfoliating your lips will get rid of rough, callous, dead skin while hydrating for a soft pout.

Moisturizing: Moisturizing is the third step of your clean skin regimen. It is the key to hydrated and healthy skin (and more h2o intake!) and really helps prep any canvas for the perfect makeup application. Without moisture, skinlooks dull, thirsty, and can even break out! I know you guys say ‘But my skin is oily! I can’t wear moisturizer!’ That’s not true! When you skip moisturizer, your skin produces double the normal oil amount to compensate for thirsty skin, and excess oil causes acne. They make a ton of moisturizers for oily skin so I don’t want to hear that excuse! If you are not using retinol or topical acne before bed, apply a thick layer of moisturizer that’ll really hydrate your skin over night. When you wake up, cleanse, exfoliate and then apply your moisturizer. For daytime, try a moisturizer with SPF in it (two in one!) and let it sink in for around 10-20 minutes before applying makeup. Don’t forget your neck, elbows, and knees- they tend to get really dry no matter what season it is.