You’ve almost finished an entire bottle of serum, and you’re also running low on your moisturizer. Your skin may be looking and feeling okay, but the results leave much to be desired. If you selected the products you’re currently using in confidence, it can be frustrating when you feel as if you’re blowing through your products and seeing minimal results. If you’ve already ruled out the other common skincare mistakes, the problem may be application. Before you go back to the drawing board and look for new products, give these application tips a try.
Wait until product dries on the skin before applying the next
Layering your products incorrectly can decrease the efficacy of the active ingredients. I’ll admit it: Sometimes, I don’t let my serum dry before moving on to my moisturizer, especially on mornings when I use my snooze button more than once. When I neglect to let one product dry before moving on to the next, I end up looking greasy, every time. It never fails. When this happens, it means that the products are not actually penetrating your skin.
Press and pat, instead of rubbing
Another tip is to press and pat your products into skin, as oppose to vigorously rubbing the products. I get it, rubbing feels effective because the product seems to absorb quicker. But in reality, it’s likely absorbing into your hands instead of the skin on your face. Think about it. When you press and pat, you’re assuring maximum absorption, instead of allowing the product to evaporate or melt into your hands. I only recommend rubbing in a small circular motion when you apply excess product–and of course, when cleansing (keep reading).
Use your ring finger or pinky when applying eye cream
The skin around your eyes is super delicate, and it’s usually the first to see signs of aging. It should be handled with care when applying skincare products. Never rub or tug the skin around the eye area, and always use your ring finger or pinky to apply eye creams and serums. Light tapping is the best way to apply these products.
Use a small circular rubbing motion when cleansing, and cleanse for at least 60 seconds
Ever since I took a break from using my Clarisonic, I was doing cleansing all wrong. I started wetting my face and slathering on cleansers that I would rub every which way and rinse off as soon as I achieved a lather. My face was lucky if I spent 10-15 seconds on it. There is some validity behind the 60-second rule that many skin gurus swear by– it takes about this long for cleansers to break up the product buildup on your face. Let me make it make sense for you.
Your face is one of few parts of your body that is constantly exposed to the elements while the rest of you is covered up (unless, you’re like me in the summer). Even still, we take these long, fancy showers and scrub every crevice of our bodies– which have been in clothes most of the day. So why is it that we only spend 10-15 seconds and barely create a lather when washing our faces? It’s time to start loving ourselves more. Life is too short for clogged pores and a dirty face.
Layer oils on top of moisturizers
Beauty oils are great additions to any skincare regimen. However, they must be layered properly to assure that they do not alter the integrity of other products in your regimen. If you’re using on oil, it should be applied on top of your moisturizer. This is how makeup gurus achieve that dewy finish. I recently read that moisturizers cannot penetrate oils, but oils can penetrate moisturizers. So, to get the most out of both products, put the oil on top.
Denim & Lipstick 