My latest skin care regimen

Things change, skin changes, and I get influenced by bloggers and YouTubers who are the Boss Of Me. Having fallen under the spell of Caroline Hirons, I have upgraded my regimen. As she so succinctly puts it: "It's your face." This is what I'm doing these days--with the most important changes in bold. The things pictured are what I'm actually using, an assortment of low-, high-, and insanely-high-end products.

Morning

1. First thing in the a.m.--cleanse with a wipe or Micellar water. That's enough to remove any mascara smudges, the vestiges of my evening treatment, and whatever oil I've built up. (The Vichy is probably the best alternative I've found to Bioderma's iconic Sensibio water, which used to be impossible to find in the States, but is now available at BeautyLish.)

2. Five drops of Vitamin C serum over my face and neck, with the remainder rubbed into my hands. This one is a 15 percent solution with a little Vitamin E added. (Link is to Amazon, and if you buy it I might get money. I never have, but it could happen. Someday.)

After working out and/or in the shower

1. Cleanse with my Clarisonic Mia, using the sensitive skin brush head. I've mentioned before how I love the Clarisonic + Cetaphil combination, but I had this tube of cleanser

sitting around, and it turns out I like it. It seems gentle, but its skin-brightening claims are absolute rubbish. It's crazy expensive, and I wouldn't buy it again.

2. Five drops of Vitamin C serum.

3. Pat on a miniscule amount of Amore Pacific eye cream.

4. Either BB cream, tinted moisturizer with SPF, or Estee Lauder moisturizer with SPF 25.

5. On goes the makeup.

Evening

1. Double cleanse almost EVERY DAY because unless I'm bed with the flu, I'm usually wearing either some kind of spackle or sunscreen. First step is SKII facial cleansing oil. It's a little heavier than my first and best-beloved facial cleansing oil, a Shiseido product I bought at a Japanese supermarket for $16, but it's doing the job. One pump or two on dry skin followed by about a minute of light facial massage, then a scoop of water, which emulsifies the oil into a milky fluid, then rinse clean with running water from the tap, not the sink.

2. Pat face dry-ish. Then I use the Clarisonic + Chanel combination. The almost dry face means the foam stays where I want it to be and doesn't get into my eyes or dribble down my neck. Then I splash my face clean using running water and one hand. Not two in that way you see in the commercials.

No.

I used to do that until I realized that some nights I used a little Micellar water and called it quits simply because I was unwilling to douse everything in sight--including me and my nightwear of choice--with pints and pints of water. My XXX-Large Boston Red Sox World Series Champions t-shirt deserves better than that. And so does my face. So don't do as I did; rinse with clear water. Just don't splash it all over the place.

3. Apply Estee Lauder night crappe in the brown bottle because hyaluronic acid. P.S. When I want to look especially beautiful, I also apply it under makeup--it leaves skin dewy and plump.

4. A tiny bit of Amore Pacific eye cream all over the eye area and even over the browbone because apparently it migrates while you sleep.

5. Some other cream all over my face. Sometimes it's an oil,

sometimes it's Estee Lauder's Swiss Performing Extract,

sometimes it's a sample (how they get $450/jar for Guerlain's Orchidée Imperial cream continues to elude me) and lately it's been Amore Pacific's cream

because it's unbelievably slippy and a tiny amount cover the whole face and if you read my last post, you'll know that I'm currently in love with the line and just bought a ton of it. (Except I just checked out the price for the full size of this and holy $#!+.)

6. Something for my neck. Usually the oil or Swiss Performing Extract, because they're easier to spread.

Final Thoughts

Admittedly, this takes a bit of time. But I find that it's worth it. As dear Caroline says, "It's your face." And don't you notice that whenever you lavish care on something, it has a way of thanking you? I mean, except children, of course.

P.S. If you've read this far, you'll probably enjoy Caroline Hiron's posts on cleansing, eye cream, and top tips for great skin.