Morning Skincare Routine – February 2019

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This week I shared my extremely comprehensive evening skincare routine, with the promise that I would follow-up with my morning routine…so here it is! My morning routine is a lot more basic, following a more typical cleanse, tone and moisturise pattern with an active and an SPF to finish.  I very rarely have much time in the mornings, but I do make time for a little bit of skincare as I think it makes the biggest difference and builds on all the hard work from the previous night.

I start with a cleanse, and believe it or not, I actually favour something a little bit foamy.  I’m normally quite against foaming cleansers since they can be quite drying, but I do find that in the morning, they are the quickest and easiest way to remove the skincare from my nighttime routine – at night I used two, sometimes three serums and a moisturiser, so I need something that’ll cut through all of that.  I still don’t like to use anything too heavy or stripping, but I find the Obagi C-Cleaning Gel really good for this – it’s funny as I hated it at first, but it’s grown on me over the past few months.  If my skin is feeling in need of a more delicate touch, I’ll use the It’s Skin Tiger Cica Calming Cleanser, which is a very light, mousse-like foam that’s gentle but still soapy enough for removing all the rich skincare.

After the cleanser I’ll go in quickly with my The Body Shop Aloe Calming Toner to remove any possible residue and get skin ready for the main active, which is the Obagi Professional C-Serum 15%, which is my favourite Vitamin C serum as it just works so well with my skin, giving it a great hit of glow, working in harmony with the other products in my routine and not drying my skin out.  It also absorbs really quickly and doesn’t leave any kind of film, so it’s perfect for me as I’m always in a hurry to get my routine done as quickly as possible!

Next up is my Obagi Hydrate, predictably, as I don’t really use any other moisturisers at all now.  I use one pump of this, although I will say that it is quite a rich and greasy product, so if you don’t like that then you’ll need to allow some time for it to absorb – I know some people prefer to use this only at night for that very reason, but I love it so much and I often struggle with skin that looks dry as the day goes on, but that doesn’t happen as much with this.  My final step is the Rita Rakus Protect Daily Tinted Broad Spectrum Sun Protection SPF50, which I started using recently when my skin was suffering from the dryness you get with new Retinol use, and I needed something a bit heavier to keep my skin looking and feeling hydrated.  This SPF is a really lovely product that blends well with other skincare, although I’m not sure why it’s sold as tinted – it’s yellow, but I always assume “tinted” means it’ll add some coverage (usually very light, but still) yet this one definitely doesn’t.  I do really like it though, mostly for the fact that it has a high SPF and that it sits really well on the rest of my skincare.  The combination of this and Hydrate means I’m left with quite a greasy film though, so I do have to add a bit of powder on top of my base – I’m not complaining though, as my main issue has always been getting skin to stop looking dry, so this opposite problem is fine by me!

Obagi C-Cleansing Gel – £32.71 here – link

It’s Skin Tiger Cica Calming Cleanser – £20.99 here – link

The Body Shop Aloe Calming Toner – £8 here – link

Obagi Professional C-Serum 15% – £82.96 here – link

Obagi Hydrate – £40.48 here – link

Rita Rakus Protect Daily Tinted Broad Spectrum Sun Protection SPF50 – more info here – link