Taking care of your skin does not require as much time as you think. We might get drown in the huge number of products offered in the market whenever we wish to take care of our skin. Even the beauty applications and the website reviews are not always of help to us. We have prepared a guide with the three key essential products of any skincare routine to help you navigate the world of beauty towards your most efficient skincare routine, while making sure it does not require a lot of time investment and is sure to be beneficial for your skin. 

The first key step of any skincare routine is to cleanse your skin 

Clean skin is one of the most important steps of your skincare routine. Air and water pollution, sebum produced by the skin, make up and other factors prevent fresh active ingredients from getting deeper into skin cells. Think about your face as a masterpiece and cleansing as a preparation of the canvas. This is why cleansing your skin in the morning is important as you prepare your skin for all the ingredients you will apply afterwards.  Many people think that you should only clean your face in the evening as during the night there is no way your skin can become “dirty”. That is not true. It doesn’t matter how clean you keep your bed and your living space, dust, dead skin cells and pollen will accumulate on your sheets as well as the residue of cleaning products used to wash them. Also, your skin’s natural activity is to produce sebum – skin oil. Every person’s skin produces it in different amount, and it can vary throughout a year depending on multiple factors: weather, pollution, stress. Its main purpose is to protect our skin and to reduce the water loss of our skin. On top of all that, the rest of your evening skincare routine (if you have one) applied the night before will just prevent your fresh morning cream to act up to its maximum capacity if you apply it without cleansing your face first.  The same can be said about the importance of cleaning your skin in the evening: firstly, you need to take off all the pollution and stress your skin has accumulated during the day. Secondly, you are taking off the makeup, SPF and beauty products that you applied in the morning to prepare your skin for your evening routine. Night beauty products are usually more concentrated in active ingredients, so you want to make sure that they have the perfect conditions to make your skin even more beautiful than it already is! 

Why do we need a toner? 

A lot of people skip this step of skincare routine; however, it is an essential milestone for any skincare routine. We all live in regions with different water chemical structure and quality, which will ultimately affect our skin significantly. A toner allows us to rebalance and unify the skin pH. (pH stands for "potential hydrogen," with "potential" meaning "power." It measures how acidic or alkaline something is—like your skin. Each person's skin has its own pH level, and balancing it is key to achieving healthy skin.) It also has smaller size molecules in comparison to moisturizers or serums, so it builds a better transition between skin cells and active ingredients. Think about it as a bridge that helps all the good ingredients to penetrate your skin on a deeper level.  

Hydration and Protection 

The next step after preparing your skin (cleansed and built the transition with a toner) is hydration and protection from sun exposure. The easiest product to use and fastest to apply is a moisturizer with SPF, alternatively, you can use two separate products: a moisturizer/hydrating cream and a Sun Filter. This step(s) will accompany your skin throughout the day by keeping it protected, hydrated and nourished. If you choose a moisturizer with active ingredients, the benefit to your skin will depend on the ingredients you have chosen (anti-ageing, sebum control, reduced imperfections, plump and glow effect and many more). The cleanser and toner are essential to make this step work, as you will perceive the results much faster. They have prepared your canvas, and now, you are ready to paint. We should build our routine to get the maximum benefits from the products. It is also an investment into our skin health and beauty in the long term.  Regarding Sun Filters, sun exposure is the main reason for the premature aging of the skin. You should protect your skin everyday even if it is raining/snowing or cloudy. Most of the sun rays are not visible to our eyes so even if we do not see the sun, it is still there. You can follow our ultimate guide to SPF to choose the correct protection. The general rule is to use an SPF not lower than 30 and reapply it after contact with water.  To wrap up your routine on a good note in the evening, use a night cream instead of a moisturizer with SPF. A night cream is a more concentrated version of a day cream or moisturizer, with a higher percentage of active ingredients. Instead of protecting your skin from the sun, it helps reduce water loss while you sleep, keeping your skin healthy and hydrated. These are the three basic steps that you should have in your skincare routine. They are the core necessities that you can complement with other beauty products such as serum, eye cream, exfoliator, oil, mask, eye patches or others if you have extra time or desire to treat yourself.  

Basic skincare routine tips: 

• Choose a gentle cleanser that does not over dry your skin and respects the microbiome of your skin 

• If you wear a lot of makeup and foundation, look into cleansers that contain oils, as oil helps to melt the makeup off your skin 

• Choose a toner that responds to your skin concerns – hydrating for dry and sensitive skin, anti-aging for mature skin, mattifying for oily skin 

• Easiest and fastest to apply is a Moisturizer with SPF 

• SPF should be of at least 30 and increased to 50 according to sun activity, time of the year and your skin tolerance to the Sun 

• Choose a good thick night cream or night mask to restore your skin water balance while you are sleeping