Want to Make the Best of Your Skin Care Products? Here’s how!

So you just bought some new skin care products and after a month of use you may be wondering just why you bought them in the first place, ‘they aren’t exactly doing what it said on the box’ comes to mind. But before dissing your new products, there may be another reason they aren’t living up to their promises. It could be down to the way in which you are using them! So the question remains; how exactly do we make our skin products more effective?

Exfoliate First!

Think of the surface layer of your skin (otherwise known as the epidermis) as a barrier. You have to remove this obstacle in order to get the maximum absorption from your products and reap the benefits that you desire. This barrier however is not totally solid, so go easy on the scrubbing; we aren’t trying to peel our skin off! 
Basic cleansers will clear up pores by removing oil and dirt, but if you want to prepare your skin for maximum absorption you will need a grainy scrub or a buffing/microdermabrasion tool. 
A skin brush such as the Clarisonic or a personal microdermabrasion tool like the Glo-Me or PMD will do just the trick, working to deeply exfoliate the skin. Just make sure to only use these tools on bare skin after a thorough cleansing.

The Glo-Me and PMD specifically aim to peel off the excess dull, dry layer of skin enveloping our faces, to reveal a new soft and dewy layer beneath. Applying a moisturizing lotion to the face after such a treatment will help you reap the highest benefits from that skin care product as it can now fully penetrate the skin up to 20 times better! These two nifty devices will simultaneously increase blood flow to the surface of the skin, hence stimulating the production of collagen and elastin.  Make-up application following these steps will result in a smooth application and ultimately leave the skin looking its best.

Stay in Order!

It’s no use splashing the cash on the latest moisturizers and what-not if you are clueless on the application process. If you want to make the most of your products you need to apply them in the correct order! Like many things in life your skin operates on a first-come-first-serve basis. Simply put, whichever product is applied first will penetrate best. Be it fighting acne, wrinkles or whatever it is your skin needs, the most active ingredients should be applied first.  If you are fighting two problems (say acne and wrinkles) apply one to the nude skin in the morning and the latter to bare skin at night. This way you can get the best of both worlds. After treatment lotions are in place, a general rule of thumb is that products should be applied from thinnest (such as serums) to thickest (moisturizing day cream, sunscreen, night cream etc.).  One exception however is with retinoids; be aware that retinoids can irritate sensitive skin if applied first – You have been warned.

Give Your Products Some Shut Eye

Most of us tend to keep our products in the bathroom or maybe even on our window sills. Antioxidants and plant extracts particularly do far better and last much longer when not exposed to direct sunlight. Keep your products in a cool dark place to reap the best effects – they need some shut-eye too!

That’s all for now, let us know in the comment section below if you have any extra tips!