Essentials: Skincare

** On a personal note this week: When there's too much bad sh*t in short time

This is 4th post in the 'Essentials' series (previous Essentials: Nails, Essentials: Fashion and Essentials: Make-up) and, on the contrary of how often I've been writing them, I actually love to write these. These posts also help me realize what I actually want and need. I always emphasize how I have a small room with very little storage space so I need to take a look of what I really need to make my routine full.

Let's pretend I know a lot about skincare. Let's pretend I'm so good at keeping my skin in place that I can actually share some advice on the topic. I definitely know what to do to keep my skin great, but I often forget or I'm just too lazy for it. However, I'll write down my essentials. Also, reviews to some of my favorites here are in the photo descriptions.
Note: Even though I feature a lot of L'Oreal products, this is not a sponsored post. I wish it was though...

review: Review: Nivea blue collection for face cleansing
review: Nivea face care

My favorite feeling is when I touch my face and it's all smooth and clean and soft. The number one product that makes it like that is a cleansing gel of any kind. Whether I wear make-up that day or not, I like to clean my face and massage it with a cleanser. I sometimes massage it in with just my hands and sometimes I use my device described in the post SkinPro cleansing device.

review: L'Oreal Smooth sugars nourish scrub (chocolate)
review: L'Oreal Smooth sugars glow scrub (grapes)
review: L'Oreal Smooth sugars clear scrub (kiwi)

I have a pretty textured skin so I like to use a peeling quite often. Whether it's a chemical one, which I only used few times in my life, or a real scrub, these always leave my skin smooth. They remove all dead skin and clean my face. Chemical ones should do the same with changes in the skin cells which I don't know enough about to talk about it.

Since I use all mattifying products, my skin tends to get a bit dry after each step. That's why I like to use a toner afterwards. Toners are lightweight extra step that remove the last single impurity on my face and gives back some moisture. They also have a cooling effect which is especially nice in the morning when I need to wake up.

review: Nivea Urban skin moisturizer

Last product I would say is essential is a moisturizer or some cream. Sure, my face may be smooth and glowy for some time, but for it to be soft, I definitely need a moisturizer on daily basis. I also use mattifying moisturizers so I can just wear them while going out (you can read about my simplest routine in my post A real no-makeup makeup routine | My daily "make-up"). I tend to choose richer ones for night and some light, water-based for the day.

Some other products you might need:

• serums
• facial masks
• sheet masks
• oils

review: L'Oreal pure clay anti-blemish mask (the blue one)
review: Review: L'Oreal Pure clay exfo mask (the red one)
review: Review: L'Oreal Pure clay purify mask (green one)

Related posts:

My skincare routine (morning + night)

Winter skin care routine

My shower routine

What are your skincare essentials? What's your routine?