A Summer Morning Skin Routine
Beauty routines are like wardrobes, out with the old, in with the new. Like clothes, your products should be switched around per season to meet your skins needs at the time. I completely change my routine for S/S and A/W, today it's all about Summer.
SKIN, HAIR and BODY
3 routines that I change both on the weather and how my skin is feeling. Winter tends to consist of rich cleansing balms, thick night creams, rich body butters and repairing hair masks whereas Summer is full of refreshing and light creams, plenty of Vitamin C and sprays to give me beach hair.
SKIN
The first step of my morning skincare routine is to clean the skin, to remove any oils that built up over night and just give myself a completely clean canvas to work with. I always splash my face with cold water and on days when my skin is looking a little fatigued and lacklustre, I'll use the Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser*. This is a lovely, gentle Vitamin C cleansing exfoliator so is perfect for really waking up my skin, giving it that boost it sometimes needs in morning and unveiling luminosity and radiance. Once I've washed that off with a muslin cloth or a splash of water, I lightly mist my skin with the Caudalie Beauty Elixir, the one beauty product I cannot live without, I actually have one for my bathroom, bedside table and bag. Obsessed. This is just an additional step to prepping the skin for my other products and helps keep it looking dewy and bright.
Up until recently I've been using a fantastic Zelens serum, it was perfect for when I lived in London as it protected my skin from pollution and environmental aggressors but since it's ran out and I'm not currently living in a city, I've added the Vichy Aqualia Serum* in it's place. A deeply hydrating, fortifying and soothing serum that is light, cooling and intensely moisturising. I gently pat two pumps of this onto my face, neck and décolletage each morning post face mist and pre moisturiser. Similarly to my morning cleanser and serum, I look for an eye serum that's going to illuminate, reduce dark circles and hydrate. The Skyn Iceland Brightening Eye Serum is perfect for this, light and cooling upon application and instantly refreshes the eye.
To hydrate the skin further, I'm using the Kat Burki Vitamin C Day Cream. This cream is incredibly luxurious but lightweight and deeply nourishes my skin, improves my skins elasticity and soothes. As the main ingredient is Vitamin C, this intensive cream provides instant radiance, brightening and giving my complexion a healthy glow. I've also been adding two drops of the Clarins Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster to my day cream to add additional radiance and a natural tan to my face. The final step in my morning skincare routine is SPF, vital to keeping skin healthy, protected and youthful and for this, I don't want anything too thick making the Origins Mega-Defence SPF 45* perfect. It holds a featherlight texture and the Cactus Extract strengthens the skin and protects from UV.
HAIR & BODY
If you read my 'Sunday Beauty Serial #1' post, you would have seen I've been using salt sprays to style my hair lately, mentioning Sachajuan as my go-to. This week, I've introduced a new sea mist to my routine, an all natural, organic sea mist from John Masters Organics. The ultra fine mist of natural sea salt gives hair the body and texture you get from being on the beach and the added ingredient of lavender stops my hair from becoming dry and crispy. I spray this onto towel dried hair before leaving to dry naturally.
To hydrate my body in the morning, I need something that is quick to use and light in texture so it absorbs easily into the skin. I picked up the Vaseline Cocoa Radiant Spray Moisturiser recently after seeing it in some beauty features and have been using it each morning since. The spray action makes application incredibly easy, the lightweight formula is perfect for Summer hydration and it's not at all greasy, meaning I can get dressed straight away. If I've got a bit more time in the morning then I will lock in the moisturiser and give my skin some extra hydration with the NARS Monoi Body Glow, a luxurious, skin nourishing oil that makes limbs glow.
SHOP THE POST
