Glowing Summer Skin Tips by An Ex Skincare Specialist

Summer is the time for bare fresh faces catching the glow of golden hour. But that’s not always an easily obtainable feat. Getting your skin to the best place it can be is difficult and results in a lot of work in building up a good routine. But I thought I’d share a few routine tips to help you get your skincare goals.

First up let’s talk spots. The majority of us do get spots whether it’s just around our menstrual cycle or all year long. But one of the first things you can do to combat them is to work out why you’re getting spots in certain areas.

Forehead – These ones can come from basic things such as sweat build up or having your head over your head a lot but also can relate to your diet. Any spots on your forehead can mean you’re eating too much red meat or saturated fats or even drinking too much alcohol. Having a bit of drinking detox and eating some more fresh veg can help to combat this.

Cheeks – I find cheek spots a nightmare they’re a pain in the arse to try and cover up properly too. These guys can all be down to having too much meat, sugar or dairy products in your diet. So it may be time for having a little mix up and cutting down on the lockdown snacks. It’s also probably a good sign to clean not only your make up brushed but also your phone if you’re holding it up to your face a lot!

Jawline – This can all stem from eating a lot of overly processed foods. Sometimes picking the easy options of ready meals and takeaways can lead to your large intestine getting a bit clogged up and that’s where these flare ups happen.

Chin – This is one of the most common places to get spots. I know this is a place where I have always suffered with spots on; but there is a simple answer to this. It’s all about the dreaded hormones. Basically you’re prone to get spots here at various points in your menstrual cycle or when you’re having a hormonal flare up.

One other important thing I’ve learnt from speaking to doctors is that the area of your brain that deals with stress is directly linked to your skin. Meaning when you’re dealing with stress sometimes it will show up on your skin in various ways including with spots. One way to treat spots is to use products with either tea tree (this has antibacterial and antiseptic properties so cleans the skin and keeps it that way) or charcoal (so deeply cleansing it really reaches into your pores and yanks all the dirt out).

So building your routine up is the next step you need to take. I’m going to break it down into products that suit the three different skin types : dry, oily and combination:

CLEANSER

Dry – I will stand by my 9 to 5 cleanser from Lush for this one. The use of almond oil in this one provides the skin with a vitamin E boost as well as hydration and a lovely softness.

Oily – Pure Active Anti Blackhead Charcoal Gel Wash by Garnier is my recommendation for cleansing oily skin. The Salicylic Acid in this product will help to soak up any kind of extra shine.

Combination – Garnier Micellar Water for Combination Skin; your skin contains an oil called sebum and this product helps to remove any excess sebum to give your skin more of a matte feel while keeping any necessary oils that help your skin.



TONER

Dry – L’Oreal Paris Fine Flowers Toner for Dry/Sensitive Skin is the freshest feeling toner. It contains extracts of rose and jasmine. Rose flower works in skincare to soothe the skin and reduce redness and Jasmine has moisturising properties.

Oily – Pixi Glow Tonic Exfoliating Toner this little drugstore gem contains aloe vera which is great for healing skin and leaving you feeling fresh. The exfoliating component of this will help take excess oil off the skin and leave you with a gentle glow.

Combination – Breath Of Fresh Air Toner from Lush is my personal favourite; packed with rose absolute and seaweed extract it works to balance the skin and leaves you feeling refreshed.



MOISTURISER

Dry – I cannot praise L’Oreal Hydra Genius enough; this moisturiser changed my life and I’ve never known my skin to be in such good glowing condition until I started using this product. The aloe vera in it is great at keeping my skin hydrated all day and soothing any redness.

Oily – Imperialis by Lush is a fab moisturiser for looking after skin that is a bit more oily. It is a really light cream that disappears quite quickly. It is packed full of herbs to help restore and nourish the skin.

Combination – Cetaphil Daily Hydrating Lotion provides the skin with hydration that aims to last all day and comes highly recommended by dermatologists.

EXFOLIATORS
A once a week treat for your skin to get rid of any dead skin or nastiness on it.

Dry – Simple Kind to Skin Smoothing Facial Scrub packed full of Vitamin E cleanse skin and help leave you glowing. The natural exfoliant is rice granules that give a gentle scrub on the skin without damaging it.

Oily – Pure Active Intensive Blackhead Exfoliating Face Scrub from Garnier works to give a deep cleanse that cleans out all the pores and giving you the scrub of your life.

Combination – L’Oreal Paris Smooth Sugar Clear Kiwi Face and Lip Scrub is used to help leave the skin clean and purified and reduces the appearance of pores. The use of sugar as a natural scrub and peppermint oil to help stimulate the skin.



FACE MASKS
These are great to give your skin that extra boost. But these are only to be used once a week so not to wear your skin out too much and give it just a little extra TLC instead.

Dry – Garnier Moisture Bomb Chamomile Hydrating Face Sheet Mask. This is my choice for sure; leaves my skin feeling ridiculously soft and smooth and gives me that effect for the rest of the week. Chamomile works to soothe and calm the skin as well.

Oily – Revolution Skincare Pink Clay Detoxifying Face Mask; this pot works to absorb oils in the skin and the seaweed and witch hazel get to work on moisturising and soothing the rest of the skin. Leaving you with a healthy complexion.

Combination -  Don’t Look At Me Lush face mask comes in the boldest bright blue colour and works to scrub the skin as well as locking in moisture leaves your skin refreshed and ready to go.



Skincare is so important especially as a form of self care and building up a routine can help relax your brain as well as leaving you with beautifully looked after skin. Let me know how you get on with my recommendations and if you have any skincare questions drop me a DM!