my summer skincare routine

Hey girls! Hope you all are having a good day! For today's post, I decided to talk about my summer skincare routine. I probably should have done it earlier than this because summer is almost already over (ahhhhh so sad), but these past few weeks I've just finally perfected it...so better late than never, right?

So for my skincare product, I tend to go for simple, natural, and inexpensive. Especially during summer, I don't want to have to put a ton of products on when I'd rather be spending my time doing other things! And then I love natural things that don't have tons of ingredients in them, just because it's easier for me to know what's in it and figure out if it's actually good for me! And as for inexpensive, who wants to spend all their money on something fancy if something that's cheaper works just as well!

Ok, let's get right into the products now!

Step 1. First I wash my face with black african soap (I use the soap at night, and just use water in the mornings generally). This soap is sort of a weird texture to hold without it getting almost melty, so what I did is I just got an old EOS lip balm container and put a chunk in (oh and btw, this stuff lasts forever!! I've had it for months and you can't even tell I've used any). When I wash my face, I just rub it all over, although I sometimes rub it onto my hand first and then scrub that onto my face because the texture of the soap can be a little grainy/abrasive feeling sometimes if it has small chunks in it.

After I've washed that off really well, I dry my face and do...

Step 2. I use the Thayers witch hazel (lavender) next, as toner. I put it all over my face, but I make sure it is especially concentrated near any areas on my skin that are redder/more acne prone than others (like forehead, nose, chin). I feel like this, in combination with the african black soap has majorly helped clear up my skin!!

Step 3. Ok so for moisturizer, what I've been using for the past month is actually the Sun Bum Cool Down/After Sun Moisturizing Lotion! I used it everyday in Hawaii, and it made my face feel amazing. Even though I got sunburned a few times, I never peeled because I was using this stuff! After I got back from my trip, I realized I hadn't broken out at all so far (I think a lot of lotions/sunscreens can tend to do that) so I decided to keep on using it. I've been using it for several weeks now and it hasn't effected my skin badly at all! And I feel like my face has never been more soft and moisturized! It's definitely a surprising product to use, but I 100% recommend it!

Step 4. Next, I use castor oil. I've read that castor oil is supposed to make your eyelashes/eyebrows grow thicker/faster, so I put it on my eyelashes, and then also rub a bunch around my eyes as an intense moisturizer. I also occasionally use this on small dry patches on my skin just because it's so concentrated and thick!

Step 5. If I have any zits or problem spots, I apply tea tree essential oil. I personally don't dilute it with any carrier oils, but my skin also isn't extremely sensitive (as in burning sensations) to essential oils. I definitely do notice though that if the area I apply it to isn't kept moisturized, it tends to be dried out for a few days. So, use this carefully and make sure you know how much of it your skin can take!

Step 6. This step should really be inserted multiple times in between the other steps because I apply chapstick so often while I'm getting ready! I'm not very picky with my brand of chapstick, and I like to use different kinds for different purposes (ones that intensely moisturize, smell good, or have SPF, etc.) but most recently I've just been using some EOS ones. But that's mostly just because I ran out of Burt's Bees and haven't gotten more yet lol!

And that's basically it! This has been working great for me for a couple months now, so we'll see if it continues to work even into colder/drier weather :)

I hope this was helpful to some of you! In my opinion, everyone's skin (plus diets, hormones, sensitivity, etc) is different, so maybe this whole routine won't work for you perfectly, but maybe one or two things out of the list will if you add them to your own routine along with your fave products!

Let me know in the comments if you've used any of these products before, or what some of your top faves are in your own routine! Or, if you think you've been able to perfect your whole entire skincare routine, the #groupchat forum is a great place for you to post about that and share it with others!

Have an amazing day! 💕🍉🌺