night vs day skin care routine

[jasmith]

I have fair,normal skin with large pores that is sensitive and acne-prone and of course the scars. I take a medication that has acne as a side effect. I never had any acne of any kind until I started taking this med in my early 20s. Not even as a teenager! Now I have cystic, black and white heads. I'll turn 37 this month and my little sister (33) was kind enough to point out that I had the beginnings of crows feet. I personally can't see them but we should always listen to our sisters. I don't really have any other age related issues as far as wrinkles and age spots are concerned. I've been struggling to set a skin care routine that will keep my skin hydrated and minimize the acne. I'm sure my skin is dehydrated and now that the really hot, dry west Texas weather (we're considered semi-arid which means we're about 2inches of yearly rainfall away from being a true desert) is turning really cold and even dryer, I want something moisturizing with a little more moisture at night. I haven't bought anything yet but I've been trying to figure out a routine that I might sample. I want to keep the morning routine as simple as possible. Sometimes I wake up 15mins before I have to leave the house for work. I don't care how long the routine is for night time. Right now for the day, I use:
Mineral Wells Crazy Water lavender/oatmeal bar soap
1:3 dilution ACV:water for toner (it gets rid of the scars and I skip it if I'm late)
St Ives fresh face moisturizer.
At night I add in DHC Deep Cleansing Oil to remove my makeup.
I was considering the following for a day time routine:
apricot oil (Could this be a makeup remover or should I stick with DHC?)
the lavender oatmeal bar soap
lavender toner
green tea/aloe serum (may not make it in if I wake up late)
jojoba moisturizer
and of course, an eye cream: cucumber peptide (Where in the routine should this be used?)

How does that sound and how would you adjust it for night time? Could you also recommend a mask? They all sound great.

I am allergic to citrus fruits. I break out if I drink too much grapefruit and orange juice. I've never been able to use any skin product (commercial or homemade) that contained lemon juice so I'm kind of scared of the vitamin c serums and moisturizers.

jana

[JenW]

I would try Oatmeal Serum in place of the Green Tea & Aloe. It tends to be just a little more hydrating than the Green Tea & Aloe.

You can try a sample of the Apricot Cleansing Oil to see if you like it better than what you are currently using. They should have very similar functions.

Masks are fun, but I think in your case, you might want to add BHA Toner every other night to your evening routine. It is a chemical exfoliator that cleans the inside of the pores. If you did want to try a few masks, Oatmeal Honey is a good one for balancing the skin, Green Goddess is good for detoxing. Try a mask about once a week.

Maybe consider a heftier moisturizer like Firming Moisturizer*. Since you don't feel comfortable using the Vitamin C products, this would be a good way to get some anti-ageing benefits.

Eye cream should be used last. Cleanse, Tone(BHA every other pm, Lavender Toner other times), Treat/Hydrate (Serums), Moisturize, Special Treatments (here is where the eye cream falls).

*Mod Edit...I mentioned the wrong thing....

[jasmith]

I thought Facelift was a treatment serum. Do you mean I should forget the moisturizer (I was thinking hemp) and just use the Facelift and Oatmeal serums? Also, I know that the BHA/AHA can't be used with super serum. Is there any reaction with Facelift?

[JenW]

I thought Facelift was a treatment serum. Do you mean I should forget the moisturizer (I was thinking hemp) and just use the Facelift and Oatmeal serums? Also, I know that the BHA/AHA can't be used with super serum. Is there any reaction with Facelift?

Firming Moisturizer is a treatment moisturizer*. Use it in place of the Hemp. No reaction with BHA/AHA. It will help address your fine lines since you want to avoid the Vitamin C that is in most of our serums.

*Mod edit for clarity. Obviously I was confused. Apologies.

[packgal]

did you mean the firming or intensive moisturizer jen? there is no facelift moisturizer on the site. just facelift serum, which contains vitamin C.

[jasmith]

Okay. I'm confused. Cleanse, tone, moisturize I'm familiar with. I seem to be having trouble understanding which serums go where in the skin care routine. This is what I thought I should do after reading your first post.
cleanse (apricot)
tone (lavender and BHA)
treatment serum which I thought was facelift but you're calling it a moisturizer and it does have vit c in it.
hydration serum (oatmeal)
moisturizer - you suggested facelift (I was only thinking of hemp because I also have acne to deal with)
specials (eye cream)

Could you maybe list the products you're recommending in the appropriate order? If I can't understand it that way then I'm probably not bright enough to work a skin care routine anyway. That would be a little embarrassing

[JenW]

Okay. I'm confused. Cleanse, tone, moisturize I'm familiar with. I seem to be having trouble understanding which serums go where in the skin care routine. This is what I thought I should do after reading your first post.
cleanse (apricot)
tone (lavender and BHA)
treatment serum which I thought was facelift but you're calling it a moisturizer and it does have vit c in it.
hydration serum (oatmeal)
moisturizer - you suggested facelift (I was only thinking of hemp because I also have acne to deal with)
specials (eye cream)

Could you maybe list the products you're recommending in the appropriate order? If I can't understand it that way then I'm probably not bright enough to work a skin care routine anyway. That would be a little embarrassing

Ugh. I see where I goofed. I meant Firming Moisturizer. You were right to correct me and keep asking questions on this one as I was about as clear as mud! Thanks, packgal and jasmith. Good instincts, jasmith. You are better at this than you think.

Everything looks good. Please sub in Firming Moisturizer where I suggested Facelift. I will go back and edit my post.*

cleanse (apricot)
tone (lavender and BHA)
treatment serum (you could skip a treatment serum)
hydration serum (oatmeal)
moisturizer - I meant to suggest Firming Moisturizer...
specials (eye cream)

I do recommend samples and adding products one at a time for those with sensitive skin.

[JenW]

did you mean the firming or intensive moisturizer jen? there is no facelift moisturizer on the site. just facelift serum, which contains vitamin C.

Yep! That is the one. I definitely meant Firming Moisturizer.

[jasmith]

Thanks for clearing all that up for me and getting me started. I'll be ordering samples soon.