Our cheat sheet gives you a great overview of the best skincare regimen, complete with explanations to help you remember exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing. 

If you cleanse, tone and moisturize every day, you’ll be well on your way to beautiful skin! But to get a skincare regime specific to your skin type, Y’OUR offers personalized skin care products that are simple and effective and formulated just for you!

Step 1: Cleanse

Before bed, your skincare routine should begin with a nice cleanse. You’ll want to use the gentlest cleanser your skin type will respond to, in order to prevent stripping it of necessary oils and healthy bacteria. Take the skin quiz to find out what the most effective cleanser for Y’OUR skin type will be. 

Cleansing will help remove any impurities collected over the day, including makeup, oils, sweat and pollutants—and also prepares your skin for the next steps. Cleansing also brings blood to the surface, which moves toxins from the cells and brings fresh nutrients, making you look fresh and healthy. 

As for the morning, a bit of water splashing works well for most people. Just slap some water on your face and move on to the next step. If you want to wash with a proper cleanser in the AM, please use a gentle cleanser, to avoid over-stripping your skin of all the good stuff!

How to Cleanse:

This probably seems like a no-brainer, but there is actually a best practice for how to wash that face! The secret: think of it as a face massage. Use little circular strokes moving up the face—from the lips and chin up the cheeks to the temples. 

Remember, part of the point of cleansing is activating the blood flow to the surface of the skin—even massaging your skin this way without a cleanser would be beneficial! You’ll likely want to spend a little extra time lathering your cleanser in your T-zone, as oil and impurities tend to accumulate there.

Rinse with warm water. Use a clean, dry towel to pat dry (no rubbing!). 

Step 1 ½ : Exfoliate

Exfoliation is not necessary every time you wash and definitely not for every skin type. Some people might only want to exfoliate a couple times a month, while others benefit from exfoliating more often. Therefore, exfoliation is step 1 ½ --applicable when and where needed. And, if you’re using Y’OUR Customized Skincare Regimen, you don’t have to worry about this added step, as it’s combined with your regular cleansing regimen.

Exfoliation is great for removing residue and excess dead skin cells that are being pushed out by the epidermis. It will help prevent your pores from getting clogged by all that extra material that can lead to black heads, pimples and other skin problems. 

Not everyone needs a toner and exfoliator. For example, if your skin exfoliates well naturally, you wouldn’t need an exfoliator. If your skin is overall balanced, you wouldn’t need a toner.

For those of you whose skin is not an efficient self-exfoliator, you’ll want to exfoliate more often.  For those who have dry or sensitive skin, you may want to hold off exfoliating too often, as it can cause tiny rips in your epidermis when over-used, leading to a whole other set of problems. Some skincare products, like Y’OUR Personalized Skincare Regimen, includes exfoliating and toning ingredients if your skin needs it.  And did you know that not all exfoliating facewashes will have those visible beads or scrubs. While beads and scrubs are effective at exfoliating, they can create mini tear on your skin, making your skin more vulnerable to bacteria attack. That is why the exfoliating ingredients we choose in Y’OUR Skincare are ones that remove the bind between dead skin and new skin, allowing dead skin to shred naturally rather than forcing it to scrub off.

To find out what is right for you take our skin quiz. 

How to Exfoliate:

There’s no need to put muscle into your exfoliation process! A gentle, circular scrubbing motion will do just fine. Take it easy, and don’t rip your skin. Rinse with warm water and pat dry. 

Step 2: Tone

Toning is a feel-good step. Whether you’re using a spray toner right on your face or squirting it onto a cotton pad for soft patting—toners usually smell nice and feel refreshing. But what’s the point of toning? 

Skin toners actually do a lot for your skin. There are different kinds of toners—some that will specialize in one of the actions listed below, and some that specialize in others. To find out the perfect toner for your skin type, take the Skin Quiz. It will determine not only the best toner for you, but an entire skincare regime special to your skin type.

• Balances your pH: One of the most important benefits of a toner is its ability to balance your skin’s PH. Washing your skin usually leaves it slightly alkaline, but skin is at its optimal, radiant glow when it has a 5.5pH, which is slightly acidic. When the skin’s pH becomes too alkaline, it becomes vulnerable to bacteria and infection. Toners are therefore typically slightly acidic to bring your skin back to a healthy pH. 

• Cleansing: Toners are also cleansing. They remove excess oil and will also remove minerals like chlorine, which are present in the tap water. In fact, you can even opt to just use a toner instead of a full-on cleanser at appropriate times—such as when you are on the go, just want to remove some excess oil, or have dry skin and don’t want to dry it out with a full wash.
• Pore Tightening: Toners tone (crazy right?), just like how you work out your abs to tone or tighten them. The pore shrinking quality of toners is beneficial for the obvious reason that it refines the evidence of large gaping holes in your skin. But it’s also great because the tighter your pores, the more impervious they are to dirt, impurities and all those environmental contaminants that are floating around trying to give you pimples and other infections. Therefore, you can think of toning as a means of both improving your complexion and providing added protection.
• Draws Moisture: Many toners are humectants, which means they attract moisture to the skin. That’s why you always want to tone before you moisturize, as toning will help to make your moisturizer more effective. 
• Refreshing: We mentioned how refreshing toners are, but it’s worth mentioning again. Toners are nice to use if for no other reason than they feel good! They are cooling and refreshing and feel like a giant exhale. 

How to Apply Toner:

Step 3: Serum

If you want to use a serum, this is the right time—after toning and before applying your moisturizer. There are plenty of serums out there, all with different aims, such as skin brightening or moisturizing. They are concentrated skin food and will be either water based or oil based depending on the purpose. Oil based serums, for example, are usually made up of infused oils, extracts and essential oils that nourish the skin.  Water based serums absorb quickly into the skin, making them very effective. 

How to Apply Serum:

Step 4: Moisturize

Now for the clincher. Your personal moisturizer! Moisturizer does 2 things: it helps trap water in your skin, keeping it moist and supple, and it creates a protective barrier between your skin and the environment. 

To ensure maximum water retention, you want to be sure to apply your moisturizer immediately after toning while your skin is still damp. By applying to damp skin, your moisturizer will pull in all that residual moisture, thus hydrating your skin deep down, and preventing the rapid evaporation of water from your skin which will leave it dry. If you applied a serum, your moisturizer helps trap the healing benefits of that as well.

Now, whether you want an oil-based moisturizer or a water-based one (or one with both!) will depend on your skin type. Water-based moisturizers are pros at pulling water into your skin, while oil-based moisturizers are spectacular at preventing moisture loss. You can read our article here on how to pick a moisturizer for your skin type, or skip straight to the skin quiz to find out what skin regimen will leave your skin succulent. 

In addition to your face and neck moisturizer, this is also the phase in which you will want to apply your eye cream. 

How to Apply Your Moisturizer:

Step 5: Sunscreen!

SPF is strictly a morning skin routine step, but it is ESSENTIAL! Even if you skip all the other steps, be sure to apply your SPF every single day. It will save your skin. Read our article on the importance of protecting your skin with sunscreen here. Sunscreen in your daily skincare is so important that we include it in Y’OUR Customized Skincare Regimen day cream – a moisturizer and sunscreen in one product. 

Too many steps? Get Y’OUR Customized Skincare Regimen – we combine steps in the perfect blend of products to match your skintype, environment, and skincare needs.

Skincare Checklist Specifics

This is a general overview of the basics for your skincare checklist. To find out the particulars for your skin type, pop over to the skin quiz and get a personalized skin routine built especially for you! The right skincare routine will lead to bright, healthy and glowing skin!