Getting Unready with Alyssa

You know what my favorite part of the day is? It’s not getting all glammed up for work, or finishing my classes for the day. It’s not my morning tea or my lunch break. My favorite part of the day is when I arrive home, change into comfy clothes, and take off my makeup.

That’s right. My favorite part of the day is getting unready.

Taking my makeup off used to be such a hassle. I tried to use micellar water or tea tree oil makeup removing wipes, but my eyes would always feel raw after from scrubbing my makeup off. Many of you probably know that feeling. When I tried Clinique’s take the day off cleansing oil, I immediately fell in love! The oil cleanser made it feel like my makeup just dissolved away because when wiping my face off with my wash cloth, barely any makeup would show up on it! Neat right?

That is my step one: taking my makeup off with the oil cleanser. Then onto step two. My skin is dry combination, so I use Clinique’s mild liquid facial soap. After washing my face with this, it feels so clean it actually shines! Then comes the most important step. Step three: moisturizing. Now I could talk about this forever. Moisturizing is insanely important but I used to just skip this step because I thought it would make my skin oily. What I didn’t know was that my skin was producing oils because my skin was dry from not moisturizing, making this is the most important step.

The question is, how do you find a moisturizer that you really love? I tried some that I absolutely hated, which lead me to trying new ones I absolutely love. What brand? Clinique of course, with a hint of MONAT as well. Clinique makes a moisture surge hydration moisturizer that is my absolute favorite, but truthfully, it’s expensive and I don’t always have the money to buy it. The next best solution was a creation of my own. Here’s what it is. Take Clinique’s dramatically different hydrating jelly and add a little MONAT Rejuveniqe oil intensive. The combination leaves my skin feeling so healthy and hydrated. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds weird adding an oil to your moisturizer when you are trying to avoid oily skin, but for me, the oil helps lock in the moisturizer. When I use this combination before bed, it leaves my skin glowing in the morning upon waking up. The oil has also helped with acne scars and red spots, which a lot of people have.

All those steps are great if you’re just trying to keep your skin glowing and hydrated, but when a blemish pops up unexpectantly, you will need an acne treatment. My go to acne treatment: Clinique’s clinical clearing gel. Make sure to still use moisturizer with this gel because it is so powerful that it will dry your skin out if you do not moisturize with it. Lesson learned on that one.

Now you’re probably thinking I am completely bias toward Clinique since that is basically all I use. You would be right. However, I tried so many brands before falling in love with this one: Neutrogena, Biore, Proactive, Clean and Clear (which worked great till they changed the formula and it gave me hives), Panoxl, and Cetaphil. Those brands had products that worked for the most part, but never gave me the feeling of loving my skin. Clinique and MONAT have given me so much confidence in my skin. My skin tone evened out and it is super healthy now.

I couldn’t be more confident in my skin and that is why getting unready at the end of the night is my favorite part of the day.

If you want any advice on how to find a product to fit perfectly in your routine, I’d love to help! I want all of you to feel just as confident in your skin as I do.