my 5-step beauty routine

A beauty routine is something highly personal. There is no one-fit-for-all or set rules to go by. Instead, it usually requires years of trial and error – especially if you have sensitive or problematic skin – to find a routine and products that have the effect they are supposed to. In my late teens and early twenties, my “routine” was a drug-store make-up removing milk paired with a random moisturizer. Whatever was around was good enough. Or so I thought. Looking back, it seems weird how simple it was. I remember always having dry skin but also accepting is as just that without giving it more thought. Fast forward 10 years and all of a sudden I get compliments for my skin. Not only the freckles (which I personally love), but also the “glow”. To me personally, I have good skin in the sense that I usually never break out, but I would never consider it great skin. Why? Because it can get so itchy, red and sensitive that I want to tear my entire face off due to my eczema. Of course, those are not the days that you will see me babbling away on Insta Stories or taking one selfie after the other.

Most days, I am very happy with my skin nowadays, but other days (today, for instance) my skin can not take a drop of make-up and I hide under a baseball cap and sunglasses. It has taken a lot of effort to listen to my body, try to understand how my skin reacts to certain things and to create a beauty routine that works for me personally (most of the time).

What’s my point? While I receive a lot of questions about said routine – and of course, I am happy to share the according steps and products with you – I also want to point out that the things that work for me, might not be your holy grail. Some days, they don’t even do the job for me. There is a lot of money that can be spent on beauty products with the hopes of radiant skin, but at the end of the day, every person, every skin and every result is different.

BE BEAUTIFUL.

Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.

My 5-Step Beauty Routine

1. cleanse: For over 2 years now, I have only used micellar water to cleanse my skin. Anything that requires water simply dries out my skin unnecessarily. My go-to brands are La Roche-Posay (first micellar water I ever used and loved), Caudalie and Origins.
2. serum: With dry and sensitive skin, I have found that certain serums or remedies have a very calming effect on my skin. The Bobbi Brown remedies No.86 and No.80 work wonders for me, as does the Dior Capture Youth “redness soother” or Biotherm’s Aquasource Aura Concentrate. During the cold Winter months, my skin also does really well with the Bobbi Brown Nourishing Extra Milk.
3. moisturizer: For me personally, I need a certain thickness (extra moisture) to the cream. However, heavy, too oily substances don’t work. It is hard to describe but when I feel a cream or moisturizer for the first time, I instantly know if it will work for me or not. Favorites this past year have been the Creme de la Mer (goodbye money!) and Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Cream. During the Summer months a slightly lighter, gel-like texture also works for me.
4. roller: A few weeks back, I got a jade roller and have been loving it. My sensitive skin has always loved cooling. When I was a little girl, my dad would stick my favorite pillow into the fridge before bedtime on days that my skin was bad. I keep the jade roller in the fridge and use it post-moisturizer for 3-5 minutes. The “massage” helps reduce puffiness and the cooling effect gets rid of redness and calms my skin. I have no idea if my jade roller is good or not, I simply googled and purchased it online.
5. inner beauty: This “step” may sounds weird to some, but the older I get, the more I believe in the saying “you are what you eat”. When I don’t drink enough water one day, it instantly shows the next day with more dryness. When I drink a lot of alcohol my skin is more sensitive the next day. Over all, I lead a very healthy diet and try to exclude any processed foods. Recently, I also added dietary supplements by The Beauty Chef as part of my beauty routine. It may be my imagination, but I do feel like I actually see an improvement. Smaller pores, more “glow” and hydration. Overall, just a more even-looking complexion. Every morning, I drink 15ml of the “collagen” mix with 1 tsp of the “glow” in 700ml water. (The instructions call for 200-300ml but I prefer mine with more water). In the afternoon I then drink 15ml of the “hydrate” with 500ml of water.