Saving Face: An exhaustive guide to my skincare routine…
Welcome to Potions 101.
Being complimented on my skin is way up there on the list of nice things someone can say to make my day. It’s always great to be complimented, but for me, it feels like confirmation that the hard work I put into my skin has paid off.
Hard work? Yes. My acne-prone skin started acting up in my freshman year of college, and it took one visit to the dermatologist to get me hooked on skincare—and send me down a path toward beauty writing. At the time, I didn’t even know I was supposed to wash my face beyond the water that ran down it in the shower—it feels obvious now but I grew up with a mom who has had a total of one blemish her entire life so I knew just as much as she did about skincare: nothing.
My routine now looks like a puzzle of ifs, ands, and buts: If I use a certain product or ingredient or tool, I may not use another… or I might add one—but not if there’s something that could interfere. It gets… complicated. I also constantly receive new products to try so my routine is constantly evolving (though I do try to keep it as consistent as possible).
I don’t want to jinx it, but my skin is the best it’s ever looked—and I promise it’s not just me deciding that. I’ve been very kindly complimented at almost every editor event, my friends have commented on it, people have DMed me, and a few have asked what I’m doing. If I stopped to answer in the moment, we’d be there for a long time. So here we are: an exhaustive guide to everything I’m doing to my face.
Before we get into it: Please know that most of the products and treatments I mention have been kindly gifted for editorial consideration. Many of them are expensive, an absolute privilege I don’t take for granted. And if any part of this seems excessive, well, it is… as much as it is my job, beauty is also my hobby. But none of this is prescriptive, and most importantly, it’s not the only way to care for your skin.
First, my skincare ground rules…
I leave two minutes between each layer of my skincare routine. Here’s why.
I air-dry my face; I never dry it with a towel. This was a big game-changer for me when I first got into skincare and was dealing with consistent breakouts. I started thinking about how much bacteria must sit on the towel hanging in my bathroom. It’s objectively a clean towel, but it’s still sitting in the bathroom all day and I’m more precious about my face than I am my body.
I ice my face a lot, especially in the summer. Remember: Acne is a result of inflammation.
I change my pillowcases (silk only!) often. Change your actual bed sheets whenever you want (maximum two weeks, if you ask me), but you should change your pillowcases more often. Even if you wash your face well every night, they’re still collecting dust, dead skin cells, and traces of the products you apply at night.
I don’t use dirty makeup brushes. I will admit that washing makeup brushes is at the top of my Things I Hate To Do list—it’s so tedious and why I have about 60 of them sitting unwashed on my vanity—but I only use a brush once before washing it (read: setting it aside with my other dirty brushes).
Other key notes:
I take 150mg of spironolactone daily.
I don’t have an exact cadence, but I get invited in for regular facials—see my essential guide to facialists. Most recently, I saw Monica Dawidowic, and I’m seeing Crystal Green in April.
In November, I was doing facial acupuncture—said to reduce inflammation, stimulate collagen production, and tone facial muscles—every Sunday at WTHN. One to two sessions a month are recommended after a regular weekly series; I went back in February and March.
Once or twice a year, I get Botox in my forehead and eyes. I used to get it in my masseters, but my derm had me stop because while Botox does help with my enemy TMJ (and makes your face appear slimmer), there’s the possibility that you might start jowling.
My LED mask is the only device I actually use every single night. It has both red and blue light, plus cooling pads to depuff your eyes. I go through phases with other tools and devices: Medicube Booster PRO, Ziip Halo, Retrouve x Ställe gua sha, Stacked high frequency, Beautology cryo sticks, Chantecaille roller [discontinued].
Now on to the rest…
Morning:
I don’t use a cleanser in the mornings mostly because I don’t want to splash my face with water over my sink in the morning (I would rather get in the shower at that point) so I lightly wipe my face with a big cotton pad—a discovery from C.O. Bigelow—and micellar water. In an alternate universe I only use Bioderma, but I live in this reality where Bioderma is twice, sometimes three times, as much as Garnier so Garnier it is. Then I’ll usually do a spritz of hypochlorous acid—either from S’Eau Prima or Magic Molecule—but I ran out of both bottles, so I’ve been going straight into the soothing, hydrating, and antibacterial Aunu mānuka essence unless I start with my prescription 15% azelaic acid gel, which lightly exfoliates but also reduces inflammation and kills bacteria.
Now it’s time for serums:
Vitamin C: Lenox and Sixteenth preservationist is so creamy that I can use it as a two-in-one in the summer and skip moisturizer.
Growth factors: I’ve been intrigued by growth factors since I interviewed Knockout Beauty founder Cayli Cavaco Reck and she told me people kept asking her if she got Botox just one week after starting Epi.logic’s master plan serum. I requested a bottle for myself shortly after—it’s excellent. I was most recently using Dr. Diamond’s Metacine (I wrote about it here!), but I ran out and grabbed the bottle of Neocutis bio serum firm I had in my closet. In the summer, I like the Bioeffect day serum (Use code DAISE for 19% off) because it doubles as a gel moisturizer in the NYC humidity.