We all know the steps – cleanse, tone, exfoliate and moisturize. But are you doing it?
Don’t spend time worrying if you’ve let your beauty regimen lapse – start now – brush up on your anti aging skin care and see great results quickly.
Step 1: Cleanse
Number one rule – always take your make up off. Not cleansing properly can strip the skin of natural oils and drag and pull delicate skin causing wrinkles and sagging.
Always use special products that are formulated with high active anti aging ingredients to protect older skin.
You can’t go far wrong if you stick to high end dermatologist based skin care lines like Perricone MD or Murad Skin Care – both of which have lovely cleansers in their anti aging ranges for mature skin.
The worst thing about taking make up off has got to be the eyes. Use a gentle make up remover specially formulated for the eyes.
Two products I particularly like are: Ahava Gentle Eye Make Up Remover and Bliss Lid+Lash Wash. Inexpensive and effective Bliss Lid+Lash is an amazing product – especially if you wear lenses like I do. It’s a fluid gel which dissolves really quickly but never runs into your eyes. It also has a lovely cool feel so eyes never get inflamed and it actually reduces puffiness.
Step 2: Exfoliate
If you want younger looking skin you have to exfoliate to get rid of dead skin cells. The skin sheds dead cells all the time – more as we age – and dead skin cells lie on the surface and block moisture from being absorbed into the skin,
The good news is you don’t need to do this every day – 2 or 3 times a week is enough – and there are some wonderful products around now which get rid of those dead cells with very little fuss and bother.
For a twice weekly salon treatment at home try Philosophy’s best selling Microdelivery Peel Kit – radiantly clean and glowing skin without the salon price.
If you want to slough off your dead skin cells every day try a face polish. Boots (of Boots No7 fame) do a lovely botanical range based on high levels of natural ingredients. Boots Botanicals Organic Smoothing Face Polish is superb – moisturizing and polishing in one go it leaves skin glowing and silky smooth.
For a really self indulgent exfoliating treatment which leaves your skin truly radiant try Susan Sarandon’s favorite beauty product: Tracie Martyn’s Enzyme Exfoliant. Expensive but you only need to use it once a week or so.
Step 3: Tone
Applying toner to your skin was once considered an essential part of your anti aging regimen.
Toners tighten and close the pores so are best suited to skin with plenty of sebum to prevent excess oil. As we get older skin care experts are telling us we may not need a toner at all – especially if skin is dry and fragile. If you want to stick with the toning step – take care over your choice – anything too harsh (alcohol based) will strip skin of moisture and make lines and wrinkles more likely.
Go for a gentle anti aging toner like Murad Hydrating Toner which has a beautiful feel on freshly cleansed skin and is formulated with grapeseed extract, cucumber, vitamin E and vitamin C to protect mature and sensitive skin. Extremely well reviewed on all the skin care sites and forums.
Step 4: Moisturize
After cleansing, exfoliating and toning, apply a good anti aging moisturizer or hydrating cream to nourish and protect the skin. Moisturizing freshened, toned skin in the morning promotes hydration and gives you a great base for make up.
Last thing before you go to bed moisturizer enables the skin to feed and restore itself properly during the crucial night time hours. But you need to pick a good one.
Murad Hydro Dynamic Ultimate Moisture is an ultra rich – almost weightless cream – packed with high strength active ingredients to give long lasting hydration and protect the skin from free radical damage and stimulate collagen production. Highly recommended and it should last many months.
To keep your skin looking younger for longer you will also need a special eye cream – the skin around the eyes is thinner and more prone to wrinkles and damage. Take a look at my article on finding an eye cream that works for some tips and suggestions for the best eye creams around.
When you’ve finished moisturizing – that’s it you’re done. Once you get the routine down to a fine art then you might want to introduce an additional step – just after cleansing and before your moisturizer – apply an anti aging serum to stimulate collagen and boost radiance.
It sounds a lot when you read it but do it regularly and the whole process can be completed in around ten minutes. And when you see your younger looking skin emerging after a few weeks of tender loving care – you’ll be so glad you bothered!
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