My Dewy Skin Routine and Tips for Redness, Sensitivity and Texture
Flick is Adore Beauty’s Creative Copywriter. She started her writing career covering women’s sports and interviewing musicians and can often be found photographing gigs on the side. She’s no stranger to a rotating skincare cabinet and is currently on the lookout for a skincare routine that caters to redness, sensitivity and texture. She also used to complain when her mum would tell her to wear sunscreen and for that, she'd like to publicly apologise
I’m Flick, Adore’s Copywriter and I have dry, sensitive, red, and clog-prone skin.
When Sadaf (Adore’s lovely Senior Beauty Editor) asked me to write an article about my skincare routine I accepted, and then immediately realised I was going to go overboard.
Not because I have a 20-step routine or anything, but because my skin and I have been on a journey and I have a human biology degree and love context.
Is this going to be short, sharp and sweet? Good god no.
Saying that, if you’re just looking for the routine, feel free to employ the ‘looking for the actual recipe on a recipe page’ technique and do a hasty scroll to the products.
A Bit of Background on My Skin.
I’ve always been a rashy/red-faced kid (photo below included as proof). I used to be in a group chat where my nickname was Rashy-Mc-Rash-Rash because my skin would react to everything — heat, dust, essential oils, perfume, etc… you get it.
I categorised my skin as dry and sensitive all through high school, I didn’t really break out that much and felt relieved to have weathered puberty without too much skin fuss.
Because puberty is the only time you get pimples right? Wrong.
In my early twenties, I decided to come off hormonal birth control to escape some of the side effects and my skin went wild.
Texture, redness, and some pretty pronounced jawline breakouts became my new normal.
Now, perfect skin doesn’t exist and tying your self-worth and mental health to how you look is a recipe for disaster, but I felt pretty terrible.
Those big, hormonal under-the-skin chin pimples? Yeah, they hurt. And even if no one else cares (and if they do, that’s their issue) breakouts can make you feel really crappy.
Below, I’ve supplied an overview of my skin journey and the tips I’ve picked up along the way.
Obvious but necessary disclaimer: I am not a doctor.
If you have any questions about the wonders of birth control, you should talk to yours about options.
Everyone’s body is different and although it’s helpful to share stories about our own experiences, professionals are there for a reason.
The Basics of Skincare.
Odd place to start, but lesson number 1 is: You’re never going to have perfect skin.
That’s it. That’s the hard one. No one has perfect skin, we’re humans — not cyborgs.
Your skin is a big organ, the largest one you’ve got and it’s not there to look perfect, it’s there to protect your beautiful insides.
You’re not sitting in a museum and working towards an impossible final “you”, you’re thinking and breathing and caring and doing — all with the help of your skin.
It’s going to do things you don’t love sometimes, and that’s okay. It’s seriously okay.
How to Take Care of Your Skin.
So, we’ve got this giant organ, what do we do with it?
Like anything else in your body (because it’s all connected) your skin does its job the best when you’re fed, watered, rested, and not stressed.
If your routine is lacking the vital stuff, your body isn’t going to have the ingredients it needs to keep up a strong skin barrier.
In saying that nothing is a guarantee, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to make the connection between my skin issues and pulling uni-allnighters, drinking nothing but iced coffee, and surviving on the less-than-adequate amount of veg, fat, and protein.
Skincare Tips That Won’t Cost You Anything.
Before we get into products, let's take a tour of some more things I’ve learned the hard way:
1. Don’t change all your products at once.
2. Check the ingredients on your products. My skin barrier was being funny once and then I had a look and realised that there were AHAs in my cleanser, night cream, and actual exfoliant. It’s a wonder I had any skin left.
3. Change your sheets regularly, or at least pillowcases if you’re having an off week.
4. Use a separate (clean) microfibre cloth to dry your face, or let it air dry.
5. DON’T. PICK. YOUR. SKIN. I should write this on my bathroom mirror. I’m trying this new thing where I get joy out of leaving the bumps there and watching them fade instead of getting joy from digging them out. Seriously though, you’ve bought skincare for a reason, and your hands may be making its job a whole lot harder.
For more free skincare tips for clearer skin, here's a little YouTube we prepared earlier...
6. Try not to touch your face, even though your face is exciting and sometimes you can’t help it.
7. Take it easy on the heat, especially if you’ve got sensitive skin, I’m slowly breaking up with scalding hot showers for the sake of my skin barrier.
8. Wash your face after you’ve brushed your teeth. I don’t know the science behind this one, but my skin always fares better when I’ve thoroughly washed away the toothpaste beard.
9. Moisturise as soon as you get out of the shower. I find my skin is less reactive when my skin is moisturised, so I try to do an all-over body moisturise when my skin is still damp. I’d love it to be every night, but let's be honest it’s more like once a week when I remember.
My Dewy Skincare Routine.
Although I’ve tried a lot of products, I’ve listed the ones I’ve tried, loved, and would repurchase for my skin.
Also, I promise I tried to find more photos of my skin during its peak breakout season, but it seems I was camera-shy and delete-happy, which is a shame because your skin isn’t a good reason to not take photos.
1. From Within.
It’s the more expensive cousin of the “drink water and get nutrients” tip.
From time to time I’ll incorporate a probiotic/vitamin mix into my diet like The Beauty Chef Glow Inner Beauty Essential 150g.
It’s no substitute for a balanced diet, but it’s a good nutrient boost for when you need it and I definitely notice an improvement in my skin when I’m using it regularly.
2. Cleansers.
More specifically, double cleansing.
Hear me out, I very much used to think that double cleansing was a scheme invented by ‘big cleanser’.
Then, I got a sample of an oil cleanser from work and noticed how much softer my skin was.
I kept it up and noticed I had less texture and was experiencing fewer breakouts. Big cleanser wins!
I’m officially attached to the double cleanse.
When I think about how I put on makeup/SPF (buffing/blending/rubbing it into every pore) it makes sense that my quick 10-second in-shower lather wasn’t cutting it when it was time to come off.
Even if I don’t feel like double cleansing, I make sure to cleanse my face well.
I do this by lathering my cleanser in between clean, damp hands and then buffing it over my face with my fingertips.
My go-to oil cleansers:
My favourite gel cleanser:
3. Exfoliants.
Pre-hormonal skin changes I’d never done much exfoliating because I was scared my skin would freak out.
I slowly (can’t exaggerate this enough) added a chemical exfoliant into my routine and it really helped with texture.
I tend to use it about 1-2 times a week all over my face and then in the weeks leading up to my period I’ll add in another use but just on my chin.
I use my hands and tap it onto clean, dry skin à la hot man post-shave in a Gillette commercial, then do the rest of my skincare on top.
My top picks for exfoliants:
4. Vitamin A.
Vitamin A, or retinol, or retinal is another product that I really babied my skin into accepting.
I won’t lie, the purge was rough.
As your skin’s cell turnover is sped up, everything in your skin comes out.
I started and then stopped (because I got the skin sads while facing constant pimples) and then started again.
I’ve noticed less texture, a more even skin tone, and my breakouts aren’t as deep as they used to be!
It is a looong journey though, results took about 3-5 months of consistent use.
If you’re a newbie my tip would be to “sandwich” it between moisturiser.
Here are a few vitamin A products I'd recommend:
5. Serums.
The serums I use fall into two main categories; soothing and niacinamide.
I use a soothing or hydrating serum with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, ceramides, or cica.
I find they do a good job of soothing any redness and help keep my skin barrier feeling strong and able to do its job while giving my complexion a little plump.
I incorporated niacinamide to help with inflammation and oil production.
I used to use it every day but I find (like anything) it can cause me to break out if I use too much, or use too high a concentration.
Barrier-strengthening serums I love:
Niacinamide serums I love:
6. Moisturisers.
I have pretty simple tastes when it comes to moisturiser — hydrating, preferably fragrance-free, and not too heavy.
The one exception is if my skin is feeling particularly dry or sensitive, then I’ll add a thicker barrier cream like the Avene Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream 100ml
My go-to moisturisers:
7. Sunscreens.
Obviously. There’s not really much to say here except — you need it.
There’s not much point in having a skincare routine if you’re not protecting your skin from the sun (that includes hats, sunglasses and seeking shade).
Use more than you think, and remember to reapply!
Important note: Sunscreen is only one part of sun protection so wear protective clothing and seek shade. Avoid prolonged sun exposure. Reapply every 2 hours and after swimming, towelling and perspiring in accordance with directions.
My favourite sunscreens:
Final Thoughts.
If you take anything away from this, it’s to be kind to your skin (soppy, I know).
Your skin is there to protect you, and it’s important to protect it in return.
Listen to it, take notice of how it reacts to certain ingredients and products and then build a skincare routine that works for you.
If you’ve got skin concerns that are getting you down, or getting in the way of you living your life, book an appointment with a dermatologist or doctor.
Tailored information can be really helpful when you’re trying to gain some clarity.
Oh and before I forget — pimples, wrinkles, red cheeks, pigmentation, dark circles, discolouration, texture and other skin features are always going to happen to some extent and that is SERIOUSLY OKAY.
After more dewy skin tips and advice? Check out these Beauty IQs:
