The one anti-aging secret I live by…

If you’re one of my friends or even a client of mine. You probably know how passionate I am about skincare. So much do that I’m one to get annoyed with people that I talk to about skincare and they tell me they want to change their skincare regimen and buy all these these products to make their skin better, younger, ect. but they happen to fall asleep with their makeup on every night. Little do they know that it’s all in what they do to their skin before they go to bed.

Ever since I was a little girl I would watch my mom do her makeup daily. Every night before bed I would see her removing her makeup, and as she would remove it she would always say to me in Spanish, “Always remove your makeup and wash it all off, no matter how exhausted you are, because you’ll make a huge mistake if you sleep with it on. Trust me.” 

And that’s exactly what I did. I trusted her. With all her beauty secrets. I started wearing light makeup in 9th grade in high school, things like concealer, blush, mascara, and that was pretty much it. But at night I always washed my face and removed my makeup. I knew it was important. Since then I have always followed that “beauty law”. I’ve come a long way since then and I can say it’s made a huge difference in my skin. 

I do admit there have been a few times in my life where I’ve dozed off and fallen asleep at night with makeup on, but I’d wake up in the middle of the night freaking out because I have makeup on, “like what?!” Then I hurry to the bathroom and cleanse my face and put moisturizer on quickly then go back to sleep. The easiest way I find to do this is to just take a shower at night and wash your face in the shower.

The point I’m trying to make or get to is that not cleansing your skin is literally bad news; 

Or how this dermatologist put it;

“Sleeping in your makeup can result in unnecessary exposure to the free radicals in the environment, which the makeup holds on to," says Dr. Schweiger. "Free radicals cause the breakdown of healthy collagen, which results in fine lines on the skin. Additionally, makeup can clog the pores while you sleep, resulting in the development of acne." 

So yeah you can get clogged pores, which then cause acne. “Um? Yuck!”

What about wrinkles?

Yeah you can get wrinkles too. The reason why is because during the day your skin accumulates oxidative stress; and if you don’t wash and don’t let your skin breathe; it causes premature aging. Basically, you accumulate pollution on your face and you don’t wash it off = premature aging and wrinkles. 

“Um, no thanks. Bye!”

What about mascara?

Same thing, but a little different. If you’re not properly removing your eye makeup, including mascara it can clog your hair follicles on your lashes. Which then can cause styes, small bumps, or even an eye infection.

Foundation is probably one of the worst things you could sleep in because of how much this clogs your pores; which then doesn’t help the skin renewing process, which just isn’t good at all! 

Then ultimately isn’t good for your silk sheets; makeup gets on your pillowcase then gets in your eyes which then can just spread bacteria all over your face which then causes; acne, dullness, and blackheads.

Wash your face at night; no matter how tired you are! It’ll keep your skin clean and young.

My cleansing routine;

Cleansing is of course the first step to my skincare regimen but I’m only going to focus on that for this blog. In the past few years I’ve definitely seen a rise in cleansing the skin in general. Double cleansing to be exact; and like I’ve mentioned in other blogs cleansing is very popular in Korean Skincare and people are all about the hype over there.

My cleansing routine is tweaked periodically at night depending on how much makeup I have on or what my skin needs or where I’m washing my face in that moment. 

Usually a normal cleansing routine consists of me cleansing first with the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser. This has been my favorite cleanser since I can remember. I started using it in 2012, and I honestly haven’t found a cleanser as good as that one. It removes all of my makeup, has no scent, leaves my skin hydrated, and isn’t super expensive either. Another important point is that it doesn’t burn my eyes when I try and get tough mascara off, but I feel like this cleanser is at its best performance when I use warm to hot water to dissolve the mascara. This is my #1 cleanser and I will take it everywhere even when I’m traveling. I go to the Kiehl’s counter and ask them for packets of the cleanser if I’m packing light for a trip. 

If I’m cleansing my skin faster than usual I wash with Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser and then if I still have some residue mascara left on my lashes, I go in with a Simple Cleansing Wipe and lightly, yes, I said lightly, move it back and forth and I’m circular motions along the eyelash line on both eyes. I think both of these methods go well with taking off that hard to get mascara for normal makeup. There are times when I use the face halo for residue on my face. Then in with a toner.

If I have a full eye makeup look with looks of eyeshadow then that’s a different story. 

I will definitely start with a type of cleansing balm or oil. This really depends on my mood but my favorite at the moment is the new La Prairie Cleansing Balm. It melts the makeup like it was never on your face. This is for sure a 2 step double cleansing ritual though. I go in with a micellar water afterwards. After that I tone with a extra large circle cotton pad. Then my skin is prepped for skincare. 

Please remember to follow this amazing beauty law; it’s worth every tiring moment that you don’t feel like taking your makeup off!

JUST TAKE IT OFF! 

Below are the cleansing products I use: 

Happy Cleansing!