My Summer Skincare Essentials

Okay, so a really long time ago, I had shared my experience with Skinesiology on Instagram and asked my small community if they were interested in learning more about my actual skincare routine. I got a good handful of responses saying that yup, the tea is needed on how I get my skin to look the way that it does.

This year has been a year where I’ve tried to lessen the amount of in-store, pharmacy or drugstore, products I buy for my skin to make way for products that are more organic and truly nourishing for me. It’s been moments of baby steps and taking giant leaps but I’m happy with the products that I have managed to incorporate into my daily routine now (especially since this year, makeup took quite the backseat).

A change in season also severely impacted the summer skincare essentials I am currently using. During the winter, I had been using a gentle cleanser from a local pharmacy brand. This worked like a charm then but as soon as spring reared its head, my skin started to dry up and I had to ditch the cleanser ASAP. So, with hydration becoming a priority for me and my skin, here are the products that have given me the glow up I have right now this summer.

Cleansing Face Wash

I have gone through my fair share of facial bar soaps, cleansers, foamers – the works. My personal favourites have been soaps and cleansers just because of how soft and clean my skin always feels after using these products. It feels like I have a clean surface to work with after the outer layer of dirt has been washed away, and I can use other products for a deeper clean.

This summer, I have been trying out the Woolworths Moisturising Chamomile Soap Bar. Because my skin was so dry once spring arrived, I needed a moisturisng product that was going to cleanse my skin while giving it the moisture it needs.

There is no fancy story as to how I came about this particular bar soap; I was literally grocery shopping around the end of August, saw this bar soap in the aisle, and picked it up immediately because I simply saw the words ‘moisturising’ on the packaging (shout out to the product marketing team for that one!). I’ve been using this bar soap for almost two months now and I have been happy with the results so far. This isn’t an extraordinary bar soap – it really just does the job of moisturising my skin and leaving it to feel as soft as it should. For R9.99, I’m also not mad at the price and find it really affordable.

Post-Cleanse Treatment

Right after getting the surface of my skin as clean as I can, I jump into a post-cleanse treatment that works to clean my skin deeper. In essence, a deep cleansing treatment.

I keep this part of my routine to either a gentle exfoliator or a clay mask. I find that for my normal-combination skin, this is a perfect post-cleanse treatment to ensure that my skin really feels cleansed and refreshed from the surface and deep within.

For the removal of dead skin, and to help brighten the appearance of my face, I enjoy using the Naturals Beauty Essentials Collection Lotion Enzyme Exfoliator because my goodness, the glow up is real with this little exfoliator! You only need to use this about 3 times a week (I usually go with twice a week) and you can already start seeing results after the first use because of how it contains enzymes found in both Pineapple and Papaya Extract. It’s these enzymes that work towards gently exfoliating your skin while removing impurities to reveal a more radiant look to your skin.

Twice a week, I also take the time to deeply cleanse my face with a clay-based mask, and my favourite to use is the Skinesiology Purifying Deep Cleansing Mask. With a unique blend of clays (such as Cape White and Kalahari red clay), this mask has been infused with organic buchu a number of extracts (including Malachite extract) to purify the skin while drawing out impurities. I’m a major fan of the philosophy behind the Skinesiology brand so including it into my skincare routine for my overall beauty regime has been the most welcome change I have made.

Micellar Water

Other than H20, this type of water has been doing fantastic wonders for my skin. As a multipurpose skincare product, micellar water has become an absolute must-have in my overall skincare routine and has continued to show amazing results on my skin no matter the season.

Made from purified water and moisturisers, like glycerin, micellar water contains all the compounds and mild surfactants needed to not only tone the face but to also gently remove dirt and makeup.

Admittedly, I’ve jumped from micellar water to toner but I’ve made my way back to micellar water again purely because of how positively my skin responded to it as the season changed from winter to spring. In particular, the micellar water from Bioderma has been one of the top micellar waters I have used in my skincare journey. As much as I like to explore different toners and micellar waters, there is always that one I go back to, and this is it for me.

Day Cream and Face Mist

These days, when it comes to my day creams, I like them to be infused with some SPF while having a medium-thick texture to provide good coverage and maximum hydration. In this regard, I have been pretty loyal to the Justine Time Reversal A-Firm Day Cream for almost a year now and couldn’t be happier with this choice.

While this is a product better known for its anti-ageing properties, I particularly love it for how smooth my skin looks and feels after application. I never look oily when I apply this but instead, I look moisturised, something I noticed all the more after my skin became severely dry around the start of spring.

Introducing a face mist to my skincare routine was new for me this year but so necessary because of how dry my skin was. It was severely lacking moisture and no matter how many litres of water I drank, there really was no change to the dry, cracking appearance. So I needed to enlist the help of a product that was hydrating enough but also not too invasive for my skin. I wasn’t ready to buy a product drenched with hyaluronic acid; I wanted to ease my skin into a proper hydrating product.

I came across this The Body Shop Rose Dewy Glow Face Mist and I really haven’t looked back since. It’s light and small enough to carry with me in my handbag just about anywhere, so I can quickly mist my face whenever it feels dry.

This little face mist packs all the necessary punches to have my skin feeling instantly refreshed while leaving my face looking dewy and illuminated, and is well worth having in your own summer skincare routine.

Sheet Mask

This is another “use once or twice” a week treatment on the days where I either just need some self-care or when my skin needs the self-care. This is where serum masks come in.

One thing I have noticed about my choice of sheet masks is that I need them to have more than one purpose – the primary being to hydrate my skin. But I’m quite flexible in what I’d like the other benefit of using a sheet mask is. I have, however, settled on how I like sheet masks that brighten my overall skin tone, and there is no other brand I love to help make that happen than the serum masks from Pond’s.

I have shared my thoughts and review on the serum masks that Pond’s produces and out of all of them, the Skin Brightening Serum Mask remains a firm favourite. Two things that are important to me this summer when it comes to my skin – hydration and radiance. I have tried to ensure that my routine for this season focuses on these two aspects, and when it comes to radiance, this Pond’s mask really knocks it out of the park for me. With ingredients such as Niacinamide, Vitamin E and Sea Daffodil, the glow up is most certainly real when it comes to my face.

So there you have it – the very latest in what I am currently using this summer when it comes to the essentials that I need to keep my skin looking and feeling hydrated and glowing like the sunrays. Responding to the needs of my skin really helped it go from dry and flaky to fly and moisturised, and I would encourage you to pay attention to the way your own skin reacts during a change of season. React as soon as you can and trust me, you and your skin will be grateful!

P.S.: Want more skincare advice? Read this post for my Top 5 Skincare Tips.