For a girl with sensitive skin, perfecting a skin routine is the stuff of nightmares.
If a product is even slightly too fragrant, I will break out.
The same thing happens when I use 16,578 different products on my face in the space of a week.
Unfortunately, I had to learn this lesson the hard way.
Working in an office where beauty products are in surplus, it’s easy to get… overexcited. And my skin paid a very pimply price.
At first, I was confused. How could my skin be so bad when it was bombarded with so many good products? The answer came when Leigh Campbell interviewed Bronwyn McCahon on the You Beauty podcast.
Bronwyn mentioned that when she stripped back her beauty routine, her skin became the best it had ever been.
Listen to the full interview with Bronwyn McCahon below. To ensure you never miss an episode, subscribe to You Beauty here for free. It’s a blast.
From that moment on, I got real with myself.
I needed to strip back my skincare. I had to ditch my deliciously fragrant cleanser infused with mandarin, and go back to my trusty Cetaphil.
I had to bid farewell to the six different serums I was alternating between each night. It was excessive, and deep down I knew it.
I’m not saying it was easy. I’m also not saying my skin is by any means perfect, but it is certainly a lot clearer than when it was subject to beauty product suffocation.
The current skincare routine for my sensitive, oily skin is now as follows:
Every morning: Cetaphil cleanser (the one for oily skin) applied with a Foreo cleansing brush, Essano Rosehip Oil, sunscreen.
Every alternate night: Cetaphil cleanser as above, Alpha H Liquid Gold (sleep without rinsing).
Every other alternate night: Cetaphil cleanser as above, Essano Rosehip Oil, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate.
Once a week I’ll also chuck on whatever sheet mask is on special at Priceline, too.
Excuse me while I bid farewell to deliciously fragrant products.
Disclaimer: I am wearing tinted moisturiser, mascara, and eyebrow pencil in the photo in this piece. That is not my face when I wake up.