My Minimalist Summer Skincare Routine

I have always loved experimenting with skincare but when I reflect back, I am amazed at how my skincare routine fluctuates between extremes of an elaborate routine with several products being layered on to a minimalist one with a bare minimum number of products! My summer skincare routine this year has been very minimalistic with just the basic cleanser, serum and sunscreen. Yes, you read that right – no toner, no moisturiser, no eye cream….none of the frills. And guess what, my skin is doing great (except for the one massive pimple that suddenly landed up on my face two days ago).  Whether you use 2 products or 20, the results also depend on which products you use. So here’s my Summer Skincare Routine and the products that I use….

The first three products on the left are the Cleansers. In the morning, I just wash my face with Glogeous, a face wash that has a bit of Glycolic Acid in it and is available at most chemists. It cleans my face very well removing all post-workout sweat and sebum without drying out my skin. The glycolic acid in it helps increase cell turnover and thus has anti-aging benefits too! (Read this post to know more about Acids in skincare). If I have breakouts on my face or around that time of the month, I use the Avene Cleanance Gel. It is a soap-free facewash that really helps in controlling breakouts and acne.

At night, if I have been wearing makeup during the day, I first remove all my makeup with The Body Shop Chamomile Facial Cleansing Oil. It is by far the BEST Cleansing Oil I have used – very gentle and yet so effective! It removes all the makeup – even eye makeup and mascara  – without leaving behind an oily or greasy film on the skin. In fact, I don’t even need to do a second cleanse after this. If I am not wearing makeup, then I just wash my face with either of the above face washes depending on how my skin is feeling.

After cleansing, morning and night,  I apply the Apivita Natural Serum (the small dark blue bottle) that I had bought from Spain last year. Somehow, it had remained unnoticed in my stash and I started using it a recently. It is really fabulous – hydrates my skin so well without making it look greasy – I don’t even need a separate moisturiser over it. Since it is lightweight and yet hydrating, I use it around my eye area too so there’s no need for a separate eye cream. It got over this morning so now I will  dig through my stash for another serum / moisturiser.

In the mornings, I wear the Apivita Suncare Antispot Face Cream SPF 50 (bought from Spain with the serum). It is quite a thick sunscreen and does make my face feel a bit sticky but it claims to not only prevent sun spots but also diminish existing ones so I’m sticking with it. The best thing about both these Apivita products is that they don’t have parabens, silicones, mineral oils, pthalates and other nasties. Wish I had bought more stuff from this amazing brand.

For my lips, I have been loving The Body Shop Mint Lip Oil for night-time application. Initially when I started using it, it tingled a bit but it doesn’t now. It feels cool and soothing and smells of peppermint and I like using it at night.

Though they aren’t in this picture, face masks form a very important part of my skincare. If you follow me on Snapchat (handle indianshringar), you would have seen quite a few “scary selfies” of me with a face mask on. Once a week (sometimes twice) I use a clay based mask like Mudmasky to deep cleanse my skin (I don’t go for clean-ups and facials) and once in 15-20 days, I use a sheet mask (like the Maskeraide ones reviewed here). Sheet masks are usually more hydrating and because it’s a terribly hot and humid summer, I feel my skin needs clay masks more than hydrating ones. In winter I will be using sheet masks more.

On the nights I use a clay mask, instead of the Apivita serum, I apply a few drops of Tamanu Radiance Oil – a facial oil that doesn’t have any fillers or mineral oil and which uses pure Tamanu Oil – a rare oil from the nut of the Tamanu Tree (shall review it in detail soon). Because of the heat, I don’t feel like using a facial oil every night but when I’ve deep cleansed my skin, I give it a bit of extra pampering with this oil.

So that was my minimalist summer skincare routine. Do let me know if you’d like me to do detailed reviews on any of these products. And let me know how elaborate / minimalist your skincare routine is in the comments. I’d love to know 🙂