I have dry skin and acne. Wrinkles and blackheads. It is so unfair. But slowly I have developed a skin care regimen of affordable products that clear up my “congestion” (a fancy way of referring to clogged pores) as well as make my thirty-something skin look more youthful.
Here are the new skin care products that are rocking my socks and gracing my face.
Favorite New Cleanser
Bioré Combination Skin Balancing Cleanser $5.50 I love, adore, would marry this cleanser, and would pay three times the insanely low price. This cleanser is gentle on the face, but removes every drop of makeup. It does not leave your skin feeling dry, and claims to retain 90 percent of the skin’s natural moisture.
Favorite New Moisturizer
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel $14.50 Clinique’s beloved yellow moisturizer now comes in gel form for oilier skin. Perfect for a shiny T-zone but cheeks and necks that need hydration and love.
Favorite Crazy-Cool Primer/Perfector
L’Oreal Revitalift Miracle Blur (Oil-Free Version) $20 I have no clue how this works, but this product smooths out lines (even deep forehead and between-the-eye creases!) and fills in pores to give you Botox-ed, Juvedermed looking skin. Really. Use under your foundation or BB cream and you will look like you did seven years ago. It is unreal. The regular version gave me some tiny bumps, so I switched to the oil-free version and I have had no problems.
Favorite At-Home Facial
CVS Skin Effects Glycolic Peel Kit $25 This is an updated version of Dr. Jeffrey Dover’s at-home system for freshening skin and reducing the look of pores, fine lines and improving overall texture. I have used both the older cream version and this new system with treatment pads and both give me the results I used to get after forking over for a facial.
Favorite Serum
H2O+ Oasis 24 Hydrating Booster $32 An oil-free serum to give you an anti-aging boost without starting a pimple party.
Favorite BB Cream
Lumene Vitamin C+ Illuminating Anti-Age BB Cream with SPF 20 $12.50 The texture is the perfect combination of a tinted moisturizer and a luxurious foundation. The colors blend seamlessly with the skin. The best part? This BB cream works to treat your complexion, as well as give you great face.
What are YOUR go-to skin care products? Leave your recs in the comments!
Jessica McFadden writes A Parent in Silver Spring, a website for Washington-area parents looking for fun local activities with their kids. She also writes the lifestyle blog for parents everywhere, A Parent in America, which is filled with style, humor, videos and giveaways.
