Everything in moderation made simple and easy, right?
Simplicity is key even when it comes to beauty products for our face.
So I’m almost embarassed to share my daily beauty routine because it’s literally CRAZY SIMPLE.
Did I mention CRAZY CHEAP?
And CRAZY EASY?
OKAY, so let’s start with the face. Our faces are pretty freaking important if you ask me. We look at ourselves everyday, multiple times. We worry about other people looking at us and seeing dry, flaking skin or large oily pores with zits. Stop me if I’m wrong!
Trust me when I say, looking in the mirror when you have a red bump or two or three, dry skin and flush cheeks, can be super annoying. Eeewww… and it’s happened to me plenty. I’m a dancer, remember? I look in the mirror for a living. And I’ve definitely been disappointed multiple times with what I saw.
SO I’ve spent YEARS trying to find the perfect cream, the perfect cleanser and the perfect toner. I’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on expensive creams and masks, facials and serums. (SSSHH- Anton definitely does not need to know this one LOL). And you know what? NONE of them work as well as what I have been using over the past few years. Yep, NONE. And my skin has never been CLEARER!
CLEAR SKIN in a nutshell?
Start with CLEANING UP YOUR DIET.
Yes, you heard me. Get rid of any crappy processed foods you have lying around the house. Throw out the sweets and replace them with mega amounts of fruits, veggies and lean protein. It’s amazing because the moment I did this, my face started to GLOW.
Not that I ever ate a bunch of processed, crappy, zero nutrition foods. My mother almost NEVER let us. We had to beg for white bread when I was in grade school seeing other kids eat it. And you know what? I was DENIED every time. To this day I’ve never had Wonder bread. And Twinkies? Forget about it. Mom let us try some one summer and that ended at lightning speed LOL.
So, speaking of carbs, I really began majorly limiting my bread and sugar intake when I stopped competing profesionally and wasn’t dancing so much. I had to cut out A LOT of extra carbs or prepare to pack on a few extra pounds. Now, I rarely eat dessert, and bread I save for those special occasions when we go out to a great place with awesome sourdough or french bread, my two favorites!
Post competitive “dance eating” and carb cutting I really noticed an improvement in my skin. Less breakouts and redness. Less dry skin. The surface looked prettier!
SO…
What do I use for a cleanser and toner?
NOTHING but purified or bottled water!
WHAT?!
CRAZY again, right?
TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. Of course the beauty industry will want to eat me alive for saying this. But I have not used a cleanser or toner in my daily beauty regimen in like 6 years. My French client told me her French beautician says not to. And another client of mine who dated a French aesthetician told me she said not to. So I blame the French on this one, LOL! Well, many French women I know have pretty fantastic skin so I thought what the heck, I’ll try it. I tried it, I liked it and I’ve never looked back! SIMPLE EASY AND FREE cleansing and toning with good water is ALL YOU NEED.
I love to use the Clarisonic I bought a few years back. I will put a squeeze or two of fresh, organic lemon juice on the brush twice a week or even every other week to help exfoliate and get the brush moving softer on my skin. The acid in the lemon juice helps the exfoliation process. You can even put a squeeze of lemon all over your face in the morning and leave it on throughout the day for further exfoliation:) .
OH- did I mention the Clarisonic is really amazing. It’s like you’re giving yourself a facial. Put a good glycolic acid on afterwards if you want to peel away an extra layer of skin and you will be GLOWING in no time!
Creams…
So when did I switch from MEGA EXPENSIVE CREAMS like Elemis and some other ones I cannot even pronounce?! Well, pretty much when I decided to start SAVING MONEY. I’ve never been a huge fan of facials, so cutting those out was easy, especially with my Clarisonic. I now continue to limit myself to one heavy duty fruit acid peel a year, performed by my wonderful Russian aesthetician, Yulia.
Thank God for Yulia because she taught me to use AQUAPHOR on my skin post peel. (For those of you who do not know what aquaphor is, it’s an ointment used on burns. Well, peels burn layers of skin off your face, so you can see why it would help! (I know, I know, it’s NOT organic. But everything in moderation, RIGHT?!)
One day a few months after my peel, I noticed my face was all dry and I’d run out of cream. I had the aquaphor in my car so I thought, “why not put some on my face this one time?” Well… it felt so good I started using it several times a month. A month later my clients were coming up to me asking what I was doing to my skin because it looked so good. They couldn’t believe I use Aquaphor on my face. I really couldn’t believe it either, haha.
SO this got me thinking. Hmmm… if aquaphor can work for under $10 a container, I might as well try some of the less expensive, organic creams at CVS or Pharmaca. SO I DID. And I’m here to tell you that they work. In fact, these creams work just as well if not better than the expensive ones! I SWEAR. I PROMISE. And I don’t even stick with the same ones. Sometimes I change it up. My skin is still looking better than ever.
The one of two creams I really do like to use several times a week is The Body Deli’s night repair cream. Check them out if you want all natural, organic ingredients you can literally EAT if you wanted to. They’re a small business (which I LOVE to support) in Desert Hot Springs California and offer shipping to anywhere in the world. Btw, their chapsticks are the bomb! And make great gift ideas!
My other can’t-live-without-cream? A STRONG glycolic or salycilic acid. I don’t have a brand preference, in fact, I change it up a lot. These are a bit more expensive but I use them SPARINGLY so the cost long term isn’t bad. It’s TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Follow a simple regimen like mine (always for your skin type) and your skin will be glowing in no time!
- Cleanse and tone your skin with purified water.
- If your skin is feeling super dry, grab some Aquaphor and apply it.
- Squeeze some lemon on your clean hands and spread evenly over your face in the morning for a gentle exfoliation.
- Find an organic day face cream at CVS or your local pharmacy that is right for your skin type. Make sure it has SUNSCREEN and keep some in your car incase you need it. Apply every morning.
- Find a night cream with an acid your beautician recommends for your skin type. Whether it’s glycolic, salycilic or retinol, whichever one works for you. I like to apply it every other day at night before my Body Deli night cream. This may be OVERKILL but that’s just me. Find the regimen that works for YOU.
- Give yourself a mini facial once a week or several times a month with a Clarisonic. Available online, at Neiman’s or Bloomingdales.
- Pick a strong peel to do once a year, preferably in winter months when you can hide from the sun! I feel like this is yearly, mandatory maintenance to peel away the layers of skin damage and old skin so new skin can grow and continue to rejuvenate!
What do YOU guys think? CRAZY? I warned you afterall haha. Who has the time and money for all of those expensive creams and beauty treatments?! Definitely NOT ME. As you all will soon discover, I’m into fast, simple, everything-in-moderation fixes as a part of my mode de vie fit!
xx Shanna
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