As an esthetician, I understand that skincare routines and skincare in general can be super confusing. There are SO many products, so many skincare lines, so many people giving information, and so many new things all the time. I know that this can feel defeating and confusing when you’re just trying to have the healthiest, most radiant skin possible. But I’m here to help! I always aim to share digestible, helpful information that makes it easy to implement new products or routines.

This blog is to help you understand and create a high-quality, purposeful, basic skincare routine for yourself that you are happy with (and that your skin is happy with) and a routine that is easy to build upon.

What Is the Correct Order for a Skincare Routine?

scrub me secret: my blog post about skincare product layering dives a little deeper into why we layer skincare items as we do. Read it here!

Cleanser
Optional exfoliation (1-3x a week)
Toner
Serum (thinest to thickest)
Optional retinol
Moisturizer
Sunscreen (AM only)

The Most Important Steps of a Skincare Routine

These 4 steps are the foundational parts of a great skincare routine. Using a cleanser, one that is right for your skin type and contains good ingredients, is an important first step. Toner balances skin, delivers important ingredients, and preps skin best for moisturizer. Moisturizer rounds everything out by providing your skin with essential hydration and nourishing nutrients. And SPF for protection against sun damage and cancers.

scrub me secret: Based on my skincare knowledge and experience treating clients since 2010, a toner is often the missing piece of a skincare routine that helps you really accomplish your goals of clean, even, healthy skin. I think for a long time, information about toners was not properly presented, leaving people unsure of how they were actually helpful. There have also been a lot of advancements in toner formulations and ingredients over the last couple of decades; there are now more products and more helpful ones.

Cleanse: Using a well-formulated cleanser

Cleansing with the right cleanser should remove surface debris from your skin and help break down and clear away some debris in your pores without stripping all your important oils or unbalancing your skin.

Always dampen your face before cleanser and then take your time making little circles all over your face and neck area, working the product into all areas (avoiding eyes). Don’t forget or skip over places like around your nose, chin crease, all along your jawline, and sides of your face. Those are areas people commonly spend a little less time cleansing, or they skip it completely.

We want to avoid cleansers with sulfates, parfume/fragrance, Propylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, formaldehyde-releasing agents, and other known irritants. My blog post about how to properly read an ingredient label has a ton more helpful information like this.

scrub me secret: It’s not JUST about your cleanser. It’s about how you cleanse your skin. Start with clean hands, and massage the cleanser into your skin for almost a full minute. Apply medium-firm pressure and work around your face and neck consciously, making sure to get every square centimeter clean.

3 Facial Cleansers for Any Skin Type

These 3 facial cleansers have esthetician-approved ingredients (ingredients approved by me 😉) and are able to get skin clean without unbalancing or over-drying. Perfect for all skin types, from dry and sensitive to oily and resilient.

Josh Rosebrook Moisture Cleanse

A cleanser that foams up super gently and keeps your skin’s barrier intact.

PCA Facial Wash

A gel-to-foam facial wash that gives your skin a deep clean without stripping important oils.

Herbivore Tremella Jelly Cleanser

Another gentle, hydrating facial cleanser that gets your skin clean and removes debris without unbalancing the barrier.

Toner or Essence: No AHAs or BHAs over 2%

When used daily, after cleansing and before moisturizer, a toner helps your skin to be more balanced, even, and healthy by allowing your other products to work better while also delivering small molecules of important ingredients deep into the layers of your skin.

Toners have made A LOT of progress over the past decade; no longer are our options limited to witch hazel items, no shade to that ingredient, but we have ingredient combinations now that are so much more dynamic and benefit our skin so much more. Sometimes I feel like toner is seen as an “oil clearing” or extra skin-cleaning step, or as an unnecessary add-on to your skincare routine. And both of those ideas are simply not true!

A toner is meant to balance your skin and feed it specific nutrients that will help achieve your goals and help your other skincare items work best. Most of us want to feed our skin some hydration + healing ingredients post-cleanser and before moisturizer, which will help your moisturizer work best. Oily/congested skin types will benefit from a toner with a small amount of BHA or AHA; it will prep your skin to better absorb moisturizer.

Liquid products with percentages of AHAs and BHAs over 2% are considered treatment fluids and not toners, because they cannot be used daily, and they actually don’t balance the skin; they exfoliate. In my blog “Toners vs Treatment Fluids,” I cover this topic.

2 Toner Options + 1 Hydrating Face Mist

A hydrating face mist or a hydrosol mist essentially is a hydrating toner. Just packaged up a little differently, in mist form! I love using a hydrating mist after cleansing as a hydrating toner and then I’ll mist my face throughout the day if it feels like it needs a little refresh. You can mist over other skincare, tinted moisturizer, or makeup.

Ology Essentials CBD Toner

A hydrating and anti-inflammatory toner. Great for dry, dehydrated, sensitive, and acneic skin types.

Josh Rosebrook Daily Acid Toner

A toner that contains fruit acids that contain a low concentration of AHAs and BHAs. This toner is great for congested or oily skin and is gentle enough to use daily without over-exfoliating your skin.

Josh Rosebrook Hydration Mist

A hydrating mist that delivers tiny molecules of water and hydrating molecules to your skin’s surface, allowing it to soak it up.

Moisturizer: One that actually does something for your skin

We all want a moisturizer that keeps our skin hydrated and moisturized without causing breakouts or congestion, that’s the BARE MINIMUM. What you should also look for is a moisturizer with specific ingredients that help treat your specific skin or goals. Moisturizer should always be used after cleansing, toner, and optional serums in the PM. If you have a hydrating daytime SPF, you don’t necessarily have to use this product underneath in the AM.

Dry skin? Look for ingredients like tremella, hyaluronic acid, and beta-glucan

Sensitive skin? Look for CBD, aloe, and marshmallow root

Breakout-prone skin? Look for salicylic acid and willowbark

Want to prevent aging? Look for bio-retinols and peptides

scrub me secret: does everyone need a moisturizer, even those with oily or congested skin? Yes!! A moisturizer is a key component of our skincare routine. Nourish your skin with the moisture and hydration it needs to function correctly. If you skip this step, oily skin will feel the need to produce extra oils to make up for the face that it feels stripped of nourishment. Dry skin will look dull, older, and feel uncomfortable.

3 Moisturizers I LOVE - Lightweight Gel to Rich Cream

Peach & Lily Water-Gel Moisturizer

A very lightweight gel hydrator that delivers soothing hydration while drying matte.

Kinship Supermello

Another lightweight hydrator! This one is ever-so slightly creamier than the water-gel from Peach and Lily. It contains marshmallow root, which is great for reducing inflammation and adding hydration.

Wildling Moonbounce Bioretinol Moisturizer

A creamy, moisturizing bio-retinol cream that helps even skin-tone and support firm and plump skin. One of my favorites!

SPF - Always during the day

Even without daily sun exposure, skin faces harm that SPF can prevent. UV rays slip through car and home windows. HEV light from devices sparks pigment spots and speeds up aging. Daily SPF blocks this HEV light too. So, yes, of course, SPF is needed on sunny days, but it is also important every other day as well. No skincare routine is complete without an SPF.

Visit my shopping guide for other sun protection items I like, hats, and UPF clothes and such 😊

scrub me secret: don’t forget to reapply if you’re out in the sun for over 2 hours! After 2 hours of direct sun exposure, SPF oxidizes and becomes less effective. This goes for all SPFs 25-100.

A Hydrating SPF, a Super Lightweight SPF, and My Personal Favorite

PCA Hydrator Plus SPF 30

A daytime facial lotion that also contains SPF 30. I’ve been using this one on myself and my facial clients for over a decade.

BYOMA Gel-Cream SPF 30

A super light-weight gel SPF that dries matte and feels like nothing is on your skin.

Innis Free Mineral SPF 45

I love this mineral blend! It feels like a soothing, moisturizing cream and doesn’t pill or leave a white cast.

Optional Add-Ons for an Advanced Skincare Routine

Once you have your cleanser, toner, moisturizer, SPF routine down, you’re ready to add on! These are some of my suggestions for when you’re ready to add more to your skincare routine.

scrub me secret: I don’t recommend adding too much too fast, add 1-2 new products at a time to avoid stressing your skin out. Add something, give it a month or so, and then add something else if you really want.

Serums:

A serum is a product with smaller molecules and more potent ingredients. You would use a serum after toner and before moisturizer.

Vitamin C - A daytime serum that gives your skin another layer of protection underneath your SPF. It helps your skin stay strong and healthy while adding benefits that help keep your complexion even. Visit my vitamin C shopping guide here!

Peptide - A peptide serum helps to strengthen and rebuild collagen and elastin by both sending signals to your skin cells to renew these important proteins, as well as providing your skin with essential nutrients. A peptide serum is great for keeping skin smooth and firm.

Hydration - Hydrating serum is great for those who live in dry climates or have a very dry skin type. Hydrating serums add ingredients to the skin that give it extra hydration and deeply lock it in. Hydrating serum pairs really well with hydrating toner.

Eye Cream - An eye cream is a great addition if you want to target dry skin or fine lines around your eyes. An eye cream should be applied by lightly patting a small amount around your eye area using your middle or ring fingers. I like Well People eye cream for hydration and Herbivore bio retinol eye cream for preventing and reducing wrinkles.

LED Therapy:

LED is scientifically proven to work to improve the overall health of our skin and diminish acne. I love LED therapy for treating stubborn acne, healing acne scars, and helping skin age well by keeping collagen and elastin alive.

scrub me secret: I have a few blog posts about LED that tell you how to shop for the best at-home devices and how to get the most benefit out of your home device.

At-Home Facial Massage:

I LOVE face massage and swear by it for preventing signs of aging and keeping skin radiant and healthy. Incorporating face massage into your weekly skincare routine will support the overall health of your skin from the inside out.

I have a couple of great tutorials you can begin with:

Guided face massage using just your hands

Beginner Gua Sha face massage tutorial

Monthly facials or bi-monthly facials are another key part of a perfect skincare routine. This blog post here gives more info on that subject!

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Skincare Routine Order: The Most Important Steps for Clear, Healthy Skin