Bed Time Blues

Dear BGND,

Whew! The election is finally over and I stayed up WAAY too late watching all the results coming in. Well, when I got up off the couch to wash my face and go to bed I once again lamented my late-night routine confusion! I never know exactly what I should be doing when it comes to my skin care before bed. What order should I apply things? Is serum really necessary? Do I use one eye cream in the morning and a different one at night? HELP! When I crawl into bed I want to drift off into blissful sleep, not toss and turn because I am not quite sure if I did things correctly!

Tired in Tennessee

Dear Tired in Tennessee,

Fear not my friend. Your night time routine should be something you look forward to, not something you cringe away from because you are lost and confused amongst row after row of product and cleanser. The best way to think of your night time routine is that you are getting (hopefully) a blissful 7-8 hours of uninterrupted time for your skin to breathe, recoup and absorb whatever you want it to. Think about the morning...you wash and prep your face and then bam! The minute you step outside the house you are faced with so many things trying to destroy all your hard work, from pesky weather and UVA/UVB rays to the nasty things that float around in our air that we don't even know about- and they all land on and in your pores! Well the lovely night holds no such barriers to skin success. What you put on your skin sinks in for hours and when you wake up you are infinitely better than when you hit the sack if you have done things correctly. So Tired in Tennessee, here is my step by step breakdown of what your nighttime skin care routine should be.

1) Remove Eye makeup

The skin around your eyes is the most delicate on the face and the easiest to wrinkle/show signs of age, so it is all the more important to take good care of it. The first step to that is to use a proper eye makeup remover that will gently cleanse the eye area and get you ready for your facial cleanser. Do not rely on your facial cleanser to clean the eye area. Nine times out of ten, your facial cleanser is NOT appropriate for your eye skin and you will do damage trying to wrestle eye makeup off with the wrong product (or even worse, you will go to bed with residual eye makeup on and that will do nothing but clog and damage your pores and delicate eye area).

2)Cleanse

This is of course very personal to your skin type. The one thing that is true for all is that you should use your "serious" cleanser at night. This is the time to use the heavy duty cleanser that is right for you, whether that be something to fight acne or to even skin tone. Either way, those good ingredients will continue to work all night long. Many people in fact do not need more than a gently cream cleanse in the am, so this is their one and only true deep clean.

3) Serum/Concentrate

This is the most skipped step and in BGND's humble opinion, one of the most vital. Serum is your one true chance to get all the active ingredients you want directly onto fresh skin when they will work their best and for their longest. There are many, many serums out there so you have plenty of chance to find exactly the anti-agers you want and what will work best for your skin. But whatever you do, go out and find a serum you like and stick with it. It will help with fine wrinkles, it will seal moisture in and it WILL make a difference in the health and glow of your skin.

4) Eye cream

Just like serum, there are many many eye creams out there and there is one that will work for you. It should go on after serum and before your moisturizer.

5) Night Cream

Don't think that the lotion you use during the day is the one you should use at night. Like I have said many times during this post...nighttime is your chance to get the heavy lifting done. Pick your serious arsenal and make it work for you. This includes an anti-aging, moisturizing night cream that will work for you while you rest.

Well Tired in Tennessee, hopefully this breakdown helps you.

Remove Eye makeup

Cleanse

Apply Serum (include neck and upper chest area)

Eye Cream

Night Cream (include neck and upper chest area)

5 steps and you are done!

No more restless nights for you and rock that new skin!!

Keep looking fabulous,
BGND