New to clean!

[cbrande]

Hello! I have normal to dry skin and have the occasional break out. I want to switch to a clean skincare routine and clean makeup... any suggestions for my skin type? I need a place to start!

[itsfi]

@cbrande, my skin is dehydrated-combo leaning dry and I deal with breakouts periodically as well. If you are looking at clean skincare, brands like Drunk Elephant, Tatcha, Farmacy, Tarte and the Sephora Collection are good ones worth looking into.

SKINCARE

With skincare, you'll want to slowly introduce products into your routine and use it for some time (unless it's causing you irritation) to see how your skin responds to it. Some clean skincare products that you might be interested in include:

Cleansers - I double cleanse at night and like to use either Tatcha The Camellia Oil 2-in-1 Makeup Remover & Cleanser 5.1 oz/ 150 mL or Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm 3.4 oz/ 100 mL as a first cleanse. For a good clean beauty second cleanser, try SEPHORA COLLECTION Clean Skin Gel Cleanser with Prebiotics or OLEHENRIKSEN Truth Juice™ Daily Cleanser 5.0 oz/ 148 mL. Sephora Collection has a set available that would be a good starter set - SEPHORA COLLECTION - The Essentials Kit. 

Exfoliating once or twice per week is great and there are several chemical and physical exfoliants out there to choose from. Some clean options include: for chemical exfoliants, either FIRST AID BEAUTY - Facial Radiance Pads  or SEPHORA COLLECTION - Glow Peel Pads, both are gentle on the skin. TATCHA - The Rice Polish Foaming Enzyme Powder is a good physical exfoliants; there are different formulae available depending on your skin type.

For moisturizer, it depends on your preference for textures but there are a lot of options out there as well. If you have very dry skin, Drunk Elephant Lala Retro™ Nourishing Whipped Refillable Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mLis great. Mixing in a drop of a moisturizing face oil is also great for very dry skin and tarte Mini Maracuja Oil 0.5 oz/ 15 mL or Drunk Elephant Mini Virgin Marula Luxury Face Oil 0.5 oz/ 15 mL  are worth looking into. If your skin is dry but not very, very dry, you might like something with a lighter consistency like Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Firming Refillable Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mL or the moisturizer in the Sephora Collections Essentials Kit. 

Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen Invisible Broad Spectrum SPF 40 PA +++ 1.7 oz/ 50 mL is a great sunblock from a clean brand; it works well for me when I'm dry as well as when my skin is more combination (oily T-zone). It doesn't cause me any breakouts either.

"Extras" as far as skincare goes for your skin type and concerns include: 

• Serums - Drunk Elephant B-Hydra™ Intensive Hydration Serum with Hyaluronic Acid 1.69 oz/ 50 mL to layer under your moisturizer if your skin needs extra hydration. The INKEY List Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) Blemish + Blackhead Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL for breakouts.
• Masks - FARMACY - Honey Potion Renewing Antioxidant Hydration Mask (love this, it's one of my favorite masks!); BIOSSANCE - Squalane + Glycolic Renewal Mask or ORIGINS - Clear Improvement™ Charcoal Honey Mask to Purify and Nourish 
• Treatments - INDIE LEE - Banish Stick

MAKEUP - I've been liking KOSAS - Tinted Face Oil Foundation for a clean base product. Tarte, Cover FX and RMS have a good selection of clean beauty products that are worth checking out. There's also a section on Sephora online under the "Makeup" tab for "Clean Beauty" that'll make it easier to identify the clean beauty products.

HAIR CARE 

I've gotten good results from all the Briogeo and Olaplex products I've used. Olaplex No. 3 Hair Repair Perfector 3.3 oz / 100 mL, Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance™ Shampoo 8.5 oz/ 250 mL and Olaplex No. 5 Bond Maintenance™ Conditioner 8.5 oz/ 250 mL have all be repurchased and gifted by me. Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair!™ Deep Conditioning Hair Mask 8 oz/ 237 mL is one of my go to hair masks. Their Briogeo Superfoods Banana + Coconut Nourishing Shampoo + Conditioner Duo for Dry Hair is also a nice one - love the smell too.

If you are near a Sephora store, you might want to see if you can get samples of a few of these items to try out before committing to a full size.

[cbrande]

Wow! Thank you so much for all the info! I dont usually get such good replies. I have heard great thinks about drunk elephant but it is slightly pricey. Thanks for the sephora collection mention... I never know if a stores brand is good quality.  I also had no idea that sephora would give free samples! I will definitely have to go by 😁😁

[itsfi]

You're very welcome @cbrande. Happy to help. 🙂 If you are interested in trying out Drunk Elephant, you might also want to check out their mini / travel size items - you can usually find them in the section leading to the registers.

DRUNK ELEPHANT - Rise + Glow™ Brightening Duo

DRUNK ELEPHANT - NightBright™ Resurfacing Duo

There's also a gwp promo going on right now with a $25 online buy-in and code BESTOFDRUNK. Right now, you can choose from a travel size of the new F-Balm hydrating mask or a travel size of the marula oil.

If there's a Sephora store or a Sephora-in-JC Penney near you, you should be able to get some samples. You probably wouldn't be able to get samples of all the products listed at the same time. They'll usually make 3 samples for you. It's a good way to test out products to see if your skin reacts in a good or bad way. 

Sephora Collection has some good products. I've tried a few of their skincare and makeup products and have liked them; some I've liked a lot more than other more higher priced lines. I often take the mini version of their glow peel pads with me on trips and I have been using a deluxe sample of the cleanser I mentioned for a couple of weeks and really like it. For me, it makes a good second cleanse or morning cleanser - my skin feels clean, without feeling stripped of oils. It doesn't leave any film and makes my skin feel fresh and soft too. I have a few other cleansers to go through and will probably pick up a full size during the spring sale.

[nola0201]

I have totally switched over to Farmacy Beauty products. While they are a little pricey - my skin has COMPLETELY changed. I went from having cystic acne to having clear skin with only an occasional break out and a few black heads in my t zone. I highly recommend.