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As promised, today I’m going to share some of my favorite skincare products. Let’s start with cleansers.

Kinerase Gentle Daily Cleanser

One of my favorites that I’ve been using for years is the Kinerase Gentle Daily Cleanser. What I like about this one is that, as the name suggests, it’s gentle. It foams up nicely and cleans well but it doesn’t make my skin feel dry or tight afterwards, nor does it leave any sort of residue behind. It isn’t as inexpensive as what you’d find at the drug store but it also isn’t the most expensive out there. Also, a little bit goes a long way so the bottle seems to last forever; 1-2 pumps seems to be plenty for me.

My mom (Hi, Mom!) used to be fairly anti-makeup and skincare until I managed to introduce her to Kinerase. She was full of excuses: I don’t need it. My skin is too sensitive. The scents are too strong. I’m just fine with my bar of soap. That is, until she gave it a try. Hello, New Best Friend! She loved it. She moved on from there at some point, but it was an excellent gateway drug if I do say so myself. Not only did it cater to her sensitive skin, it’s practically free of any scent and left her skin feeling good rather than just okay. That’s the goal.

Josie Maran Argan Cleansing Oil

Another cleanser that I use on a daily basis is Josie Maran’s Argan Cleansing Oil. The idea of a cleansing oil sounded a little risky to me at first since I obviously don’t want a shiny, greasy face or a breakout catastrophe. However, when I considered the idea behind most makeup removers, the key for getting it all off is oil. So why buy a makeup remover to get my waterproof mascara off and a separate cleanser? After reading a bunch of rave reviews and sampling MAC’s Cleanse Off Oil, which I also liked, I decided to give it a go. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding – WINNER! It gets my mascara off, cleans out my pores very well, and gives me that extra bit of moisture that I need at night or during the day during the winter months. By “extra bit of moisture” I don’t mean that it leaves me feeling oily by any means, it just leaves a little behind after you rinse. No breakouts, no shiny greasiness, no complaints.

Here is what Sephora’s product description says about it:

“This product is ideal for all skin types. An effective natural cleanser, argan oil restores the skin’s natural moisture and pH balance. It is produced from the argan tree in the semideserts of Morocco. Rich in vitamin E and essential fatty acids, this organically grown ingredient is known to prevent skin dehydration, inflammation, hyperpigmentation, and excess production of sebum.”

What I tend to do is use the Kinerase cleanser in the morning and the cleansing oil at night, and this seems to work well for me. However, I’ve also used just one or the other for periods of time and that’s worked well, too. One of the reasons I especially like using the Kinerase regularly is that it lathers – a must for using my Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleansing System (which I like to use once a day). The cleansing oil doesn’t create any lather, only a slight milkiness, so the bristles of the Clarisonic are a little too harsh if I use that with it.

Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleansing System

The Clarisonic device was something I had on my covet list for quite some time and I’m so glad that I eventually gave in and bought it. While a couple minutes of cleansing using your fingertips works well, I never seemed to be able to achieve the goal of completely cleaned out pores. With mine being slightly large, this was pretty annoying. Maybe this is a problem I could have addressed every so often with a facial, but I was and still am generally unwilling to spend the money on them. While the relaxation and deep-clean is great and all (I’ve had two or three in my lifetime), I just don’t see them as worth the money. I didn’t see any long-term results nor did I enjoy the esthetician constantly trying to push new products and services. One day, one of them talked me into doing a peel. Ummmm, no thanks. NEVER AGAIN. I’ll maintain my skin myself thankyouverymuch.

Well, I think that’s probably enough for today, but tomorrow I’m going to share my favorite moisturizers and skin treatments. Happy almost Friday!

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I was never much of a skincare or makeup fanatic when I was growing up (high school and earlier) and I’m not sure why as that was certainly a time when I could have used a little help. I mean, I had a unibrow and very short hair. Without a more feminine haircut, a little makeup would have been huuuugely helpful, but hey, hindsight’s 20-20, eh?

At some point, probably a year or two into college, a friend of mine introduced me to Sephora. I had walked by it plenty of times on the 3rd Street Promenade down in Santa Monica but I had never gone in. I remember seeing what looked like a bunch of colorful body washes in the window display and just never though much of it. Maybe it was the starving student budget that had kept me away, who knows, but after I had been formally introduced, there was simply no going back.

I can hear angels singing in my head as I think of the rows and rows of every brand and type of makeup, skincare products, and grooming tools a girl could ever need. While I’m all for buying the drugstore variety of whatever I can get away with, there are just some things that call for a better product. Face washes and facial moisturizers, for example. I think I tried just about every kind out there and while I may have loved the creaminess and tingle of Neutrogena Deep-Clean, everything I tried seemed to anger my skin. But at Sephora I was able to find not only cleansers and moisturizers that worked well, I could find ones that worked even better than well.

You see, now it’s turned into a vicious (and thoroughly enjoyable) cycle. I find a cleanser I love, I use it for quite some time – maybe 6 months, maybe a year – and then I spot a new one that I feel the need to try out. And if it’s not a winner I can return it, but if it is a winner, it’s my new go-to for a while. And every now again I go back to some of the tried and true oldies for a while, but eventually the skincare fanatic in me has to find the next great thing.

I used to do this just with mascaras and I do tend to switch those up every now and again, but the cleansers – the relentless hope for clear, happy, healthy skin that doesn’t require much make up – tend to be my most exciting finds.

As much as I love makeup and have fun with it, my everyday goal is to use as few products as possible to look put-together and fresh. The usual routine involves cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, a little blush, maybe a touch of a highlighting cream to highlight my brow-bones, mascara, a dash of setting powder to minimize pores and keep the unwanted shine away and finally a nice lipstick or gloss. But even then, that takes a decent amount of time out of every day and a chunk of change from the wallet, so if I’m going to spend the time and money the products had better be fantastic.

So tomorrow I’m going to share my current favorites along with some of the tried and true oldies. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get some suggestions back for new ones to try? Yes? You know you want to! (Hi, my name is Cathleen and I’m an addict.)

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