Morning Skincare Routine: Acne-Prone & Normal Skin Types

My morning skincare routine is perfect those with acne-prone or normal skin—along with anyone struggling with “maskne” right now! I’ll take you step-by-step through each product, telling you what it does and why I personally love it. Be sure to watch the below video for tips on how to apply each of these products as well!

Let’s jump into it.

By: Kaitlyn Hunter, FNP

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Step 1: Cleanser

The first step in my morning skincare routine is cleanser. I use “Oxygen Infusion Wash” from SkinBetter. I love this cleanser for its salicylic acid. By wearing a mask, I’m getting a lot of congestion down on the lower half of the face, and salicylic acid is the one ingredient that penetrates really deep into the pores to scoop everything out. So it gets the oil, the dirt, the grime, everything out.

It’s an airless pump, so I just do one pump on my face. At night, I do a double cleanse, but in the mornings,  I just do one pump. The reason I love SkinBetter products is that the entire line is fragrance, dye, paraben, and gluten-free, along with being vegan and non-comedogenic. So, it’s very safe for many skin types!

Step 2: Vitamin C

After my cleanser, I always put a Vitamin C serum on. My go-to again is “Alto Defense” by SkinBetter. This product has Vitamin C, plus 18 other antioxidants. Some Vitamin Cs that you get from over-the-counter or from cosmetic lines will only have Vitamin C in it, but there’s an advantage to this one. You get a lot more antioxidant coverage.

Vitamin C fights off all the free radicals (check out my sunscreen blog where I break down its benefits!). While at work I’m not exposed to UV rays, I am still by windows and very much exposed to HEV light, which is blue light from electronics. This helps to protect against these rays!

Now, this product is yellow (I did mention that the whole entire line is dye-free). It has a little bit of turmeric in it, which is what’s changing the color of the serum—not some artificial dye. With SkinBetter products, you don’t have to spend a lot of time massaging these into the skin. They’re meant to be layered very quickly. So apply a little of your product, let it dry for a couple seconds, and then move on to the next one.

Step 3: Eye Cream

The third step in my morning skincare routine is eye cream. I like to do my eye cream after my Vitamin C serum, but you can make it the first product that you put on after you wash your face. You could even put this on after your moisturizer, before your sunscreen—essentially, where this goes in your routine is flexible. The thing with eye cream is that when you apply it, all you need is just a little bit, about the size of a grain of rice.

I will dab it in between both index fingers, and then rub onto the lower and the upper eyelid. Make sure to check out the video above (or click here) to see exactly what I mean!

Right now I’m using “Renew Eye Gel” from EltaMd and I love it!

Step 4: Toner

Okay, fourth in line is a toner and I use “Even Tone” by SkinBetter. This is actually a treatment serum and it can be used as your moisturizer. I have melasma, so this is a wonderful product for melasma, along with other brown and/or red hyperpigmentation.

Hydrocodone is a popular ingredient that can treat melasma, but you can’t use it when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. I am in neither of those categories, but it’s just a safer alternative. “Even Tone” from SkinBetter is wonderful.

My melasma is just basically on my temples and around my eyes. So, to save this product, that I don’t blow through a little bit faster, I will just spot treat this on the areas that I have the hyperpigmentation.

Step 5: Moisturizer

Now onto my moisturizer! I use “Trio” from SkinBetter. This is one of their newer moisturizers. It’s been out for over a year now and it is by far my favorite. It also happens to be the top–selling moisturizer in our med spa.

This moisturizer repairs the surface of your skin, and brings a ton of hydration to the top layers of your skin. It has two different forms of hyaluronic acid. One is your basic sodium hyaluronate, and the other is like a suped-up version of it. It also has salicylic acid. So, it’s going to help make sure that your pores do not get bogged down by all this hyaluronic acid.

It’s going to be another great product in addition to my cleanser to help keep my pores clean, keep the congestion down, and prevent the formation of blackheads. It also will balance the hydration level of your skin. So if you feel like you are oily in certain spots, but you’re dry in others, it will help balance all of that.

You end up with a nice dewy finish! In the winter, I typically will do two pumps of this in the morning, and then one pump at night. I do use this during the summer, but during those months I will just stick to one pump.

Step 6: SPF

Okay, last step—sunscreen, arguably the most important step. I personally love tinted sunscreens. My two go-to options are “Intellishade TruPhysical” by Revision Skincare and “UV Elements” by EltaMD.

The difference between these two is that “UV Elements” is a bit more sheer and lightweight. It still gives you that kind of almost naked sensation on your skin, like you don’t have a whole lot of coverage on. If you are not used to wearing makeup, it’s a great option. I use this when I’m running errands during the week or if I’m going to be out in the sun, sweating a lot.

When I do want more coverage, if I’m going to an event or out to eat, I will use “Intellishade” by Revision Skincare. This coverage is more moderate, so it’s actually going to cover up imperfections or uneven skin tone on the face. It still is not going to be full coverage, like a fake liquid foundation, but I don’t want that on my skin—I want my skin to breathe. This is my go-to in that event!

Click here to check out my blog on sunscreen where I breakdown the difference between chemical and physical SPF!

Bonus Tinted Product: If I’m experiencing any pesky breakouts, I’ll use my “Correct and Conceal Stick” by ZO. This would go on just before my SPF This is a concealer stick that’s tinted, so it will cover my pimples and breakouts all day long. What’s great though, is that it also has 2% salicylic acid. Sometimes in the past, I would always feel bad about covering up a pimple. With this stick I don’t because I’m covering it up, but it’s also being treated all day long.

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If you’re looking to start fresh with a new morning skincare routine or struggling to find the right products for your skin type, schedule a FREE skincare consult with us! Give us a call at (513)-791-9474 ext. 2 and we’ll be happy to set that up.