Skincare for Busy Mums: The No-Nonsense Guide

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Introduction:

Skincare routines. I know that for lots of people, especially busy Mums, skincare can be either something that they “sort of do but not really” Or it's just something extra that they just don't want to have to think about. But it does not have to be this way!

I am a Beauty Coach and Makeup Artist, and I have always believed skincare is super important. If the base that you're about to put makeup on is good, the makeup looks great,you use less, it lasts longer and looks better. There's so many pluses to it and so often we allow our skin to be dry or dehydrated or just neglected. I know as Mum's it can be hard to keep up some sort of routine for ourselves, but really looking after your skin and making that a priority is actually part of self-care because you might only get a minute to do it, but that minute is really really important because you're looking after You! You're going to help yourself now but also will thank yourself later.

What's a Skincare Routine

So what do I mean by a skincare routine? You might be thinking “Bec, I cannot do a whole skincare routine. I literally have like 2 minutes to myself and I need to do something else with that” Well it doesn't have to be long and if you follow the below 5 steps of Skincare you will be all set. You only have one face, you need to look after it!

Looking after your skin can be really simple, and once you've gotten into a habit of it, you'll find that it's really easy and you'll keep doing it. It's the making of the habit in the first place that's probably the biggest hurdle. Once you've got that you'll keep going.

The Five Steps of Skincare

So what are the five steps of skin care ?

1. Cleansing

The first and probably the most important step really, because you need to cleanse the skin from dirt and impurities. And even if you don't wear makeup, this step is important. I really think that both morning and night cleansing is important. But if you are in a rush, in the morning if you just have time for a splash of water over your face and then your moisturiser that would work as hopefully your makeup or the day sticky hands on your face was removed before you went to bed. Having a cleanser in the shower is the easiest option, I find, because you can easily cleanse your face while you are cleansing the rest of your body. Make sure your cleanser is one that's right for your skin type. Whether it’s Normal, Combination to Oily or Dry make sure you have a cleanser that is right so you are not stripping your face of moisture. If you are not sure of your skin type, you can ask at a beauty salon, chemist or skincare store or I can help, contact me and I will help you decide on the best for you.

2. Toning

The second step is Toning. This is a different step and some people might say you don't need this but once you get into the habit of these steps you would not even think about it. Toning removes any excess oil and dirt, maintains the skin’s PH balance and helps to reduce pores. You can have a separate toner that you just wipe on with a makeup pad or it could even be in your cleanser because there are quite a few now that do numerous things and that's really really handy.

3. Exfoliate

Exfoliation is important for rejuvenating skin. It doesn't have to happen every day, but if you have a chance to exfoliate maybe once a week, your skin will thank you for it. Exfoliation gets rid of the dead skin cells, helps to smooth out the skin and helps the regeneration of cells and blood to the surface. So therefore helping your skin look brighter and better. Exfoliation comes in different ways, you can have a scrub, maybe it's even in your cleanser. There is acid exfoliation so that's just a wipe on a bit like a toner and there are masks. Keep it simple maybe it's just a mask that you do once a week as your little bit of extra self-care time.

4. Moisturising

Moisturising is important! You might be saying but I have oily skin or I don't have time or I just don't like the feel of it. So in those cases, oily skin can still be dehydrated skin, you just need to find the moisturiser that's right for you. 2) You do have time. It doesn't take long to put it on, plus if you get a moisturiser that's really a bit of everything. It could be moisturising your hands, your elbows, and your face all at once. 3) Find a moisturiser that works for your skin type and it won't feel gross on your skin. Sometimes you do have to take a little bit of trial and error to find the right one. But you can talk to the the girls in the shops, you can research. You can talk to someone like me, a beauty coach, but you do need to try some things and once you've found the right one you can stick with it and you don't have to worry about it. What I have found is since being pregnant. My skin is quite dry and never used to be. It was quite normal, combination maybe in summer but really on a whole it was normal and now I feel dry a lot and that includes my whole body. My hands, my legs, everywhere just feels dry so I have had to look at my moisturisers. And don’t forget the rest of your body too. So keep that up

And finally ….

5. Protection

Yes protection. I'm talking about sun protection. Here in Australia it’s very important but wherever you are SPF is super important for keeping your skin safe. UV rays cause pigmentation problems, wrinkles and and of course even skin cancer so protection is so important. A lot of brands have a moisturiser that has SPF in it now, which makes life easier although I do encourage you not to wear it at night, SPF overnight isn't great for your skin but in the day get a moisturiser that has SPF in it or get a CC cream if you want a bit of foundation coverage as well. Alot of them have SPF50 and so pop it on in the morning and you are protected for the majority of the day.

So they are the five steps of skin care. They're not hard and in some cases two or even three steps can merge together depending on your skincare choice.

So how many steps do you do??

I have always told my clients, I don't care what brand of products you use as long as you Cleanse, Moisturise and then Protect. That is all that really matters and if you can start there you'll get used to it. You might then feel like you can add things such as a serum that add that extra burst of moisture, or help with brightness or wrinkles or whatever you want to add. But if you get the basics right, that's the most important thing.

Because down the track, years from now, you will thank yourself for taking care of your face. You have a lot of skin, there is a lot there. I'm not just talking about your face obviously, make sure your body is looked after too. Because you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on your face but the rest of your skin is left seriously wanting. You want to make sure that you looking after your whole body and there's some great products out there that can do a bit of both.

My Favourite Products

The products that I love and that I've been using religiously for a while now are products that you can make a simple routine with and get a lot of benefits. Also as an aside, when I was pregnant I made sure to stick to my routine even more because this is something that I do for myself and it's really important for me and I was able to use almost everything I was already using.

So the real basis of my routine is mainly Alpha-H products. Alpha-H is an Australian company, and I really love their Balancing Cleanser, the Melting Moment Balm Cleanser and their Daily Essential Moisturiser SPF50+. Also I love their Vitamin B Serum and of course the bestselling Liquid Gold which is Glycolic Acid Exfoliation. They are some of my absolute favourites.

I also love Bangn Body. I started using the Firming Lotion when I was pregnant, on my tummy because of I was getting so itchy as it was stretching. It is such a rich beautiful cream with the original Yellow Tube smelling like a tropical holiday! The beauty of this product is that you can use this product anywhere on your body. It's just fabulous so if you want an all-in-one product that makes your life a lot easier, the Bangn Body Firming cream, is one I encourage you to try.

I also love Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Cream. This is one of my staples for just a little bit of luxury on my face. Absolutely beautiful, hydrating and brightening.

And finally MCOBeauty has become one of my absolute favourite brands lately. Well priced, amazing products and available to anyone. They have some fabulous skincare and some new products that are directed to certain types of skin, making this decision easier if you are unsure what you need.

I could continue on, but this is supposed to be easy haha! So these are my favourites. So if you're interested, click through the links and try them out, see whether you enjoy those. If you want to have any questions, please ask me. I'd love to help you out.

Conclusion

So busy Mums, is a skincare routine something you do or will now look at? Just remember whether you do one or not, your face is still going to be there so make sure you look after it. Find a quick and easy routine and you will feel a lot better for it.

If you have any questions or want to let me know your fave products contact me via [email protected] or via socials.