The Radiant Fashionista Part V: Night Regimen - Make-up Removal, Exfoliation and Retin A Cream

The Radiant Fashionista Part V: Night Regimen - Make-up Removal, Exfoliation and Retin A Cream

Good afternoon fashionistas! So excited to be back again at LILA Fashion International HQ  with our guest blogger Sara Meyer, Marketing & Retail Specialist at La Chele Medical Aesthetics in New Hope, and Licensed Esthetician. Last night we were feeling a little under-the-weather, so together with Ms. Meyer, we decided to move Part Five of the guest blog to this afternoon! Now, despite how we felt last night - the one thing we did NOT do before going to bed is compromise our skin. Regardless of what challenges you're facing on the daily, you should ALWAYS keep to a night time regimen. Ms. Meyer states: "How you take care of your skin at night is just as important as what you do in the morning." So let's get started! If you all remember, the last four Sundays we discussed the first seven steps in morning skin care. Step 1 is making sure you properly cleanse your skin and effectively exfoliate. [Get started on the first post here with The Radiant Fashionista: Cleansers & Exfoliators.]  Step 2 is making sure you utilize toner to restore your skin’s pH balance. Step 3 requires the use of serum to help active substances penetrate deeper into your skin and help with a variety of different things including anti-aging, acne control, etc. [Click to view The Radiant Fashionista Part II: Toners & Serums.] Step 4 involves treating the skin around your eyes with the appropriate eye cream and step 5 is remembering that hydrated skin is healthy skin and therefore you MUST moisturize. [Click to view The Radiant Fashionista Part III: Eye Cream & Moisturizer]. Step 7, which was discussed in last weeks guest post was how to best protect your skin from the sun! [Click to view The Radiant Fashionista Part IV: Sun Screen]. Ms. Meyer emphasizes that "...the first step in any woman's night time regimen is make-up removal. Eliminating all signs of make-up from your skin each night is the first step to renewing your skin for the next day. Your skin needs to be free of make-up, dirt and oils that accumulate throughout the day. Removing all this dirt and oil from your skin allows your skin time to repair itself while you are sleeping. In terms of cleansing your skin in the evening, your goal should be to use a non-harsh product that deeply cleanses your pores so as to achieve a fresh palate. It is ideal to use a Clarisonic tool with your cleanser at night to more effectively remove all dirt, oil and other pollutants that your skin may have encountered throughout the course of the day. Using a gentle daily exfoliator will help remove dead skin cell and reveal brighter, healthier skin. Exfoliating at night will also allow serums and moisturizers to work at their maximum potential During your next trip to Sephora, or while browsing for skincare online, check out the following cleansing and exfoliating products that come highly recommended in their categories (and which I just can't do without!): SkinMedica Facial Cleanser - for all skin types. This cleanser is the highest rated by customers.

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SkinMedica AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser - for all skin types. This cleanser is targeted specifically to improve the appearance of skin tone, texture and smoothness. Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 2.21.48 PM HydroPeptide Exfoliating Cleanser - this cleanser is great because it is composed of peptides, glycolic acid and jojoba beads. It thoroughly cleanses the skin and incorporates a burst of citrus that will help energize your skin, increase hydration and make you radiant!

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Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser - this is a warming gel cleanser that I love! It helps to  deeply clean and detoxify your skin. This cleanser dissolves pore-clogging impurities, oil and makeup. It also helps to brighten your skin making you more radiant and minimizing the look of pores over time. This cleanser can be used with the Boscia Konjac Cleansing Sponge. Each sponge has different properties - however Boscia has come out with a new Konjac Sponge Mini Trio, which you can use to test which sponge is best suited for your skin! Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 2.32.32 PM Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 2.36.01 PM Once you have finished cleansing and exfoliating your skin, it is time to move on to your Retin-A cream. I cannot be clearer when I say that if you are 30 or older (like me!) you MUST be on a Retin-A cream. Retin-A is one of the most well studied products in skin care and has been proven to not only help diminish current lines and wrinkles, but aid in the prevention of new ones forming! Retin-A comes in different strengths and below I have created a guide to help you determine which strength is best for you! Retin-A Skincare Guide 0.025%: Dry skin, little to none sun damage; 0.05%: Combination skin, mild to moderate sun damage, very fines lines and wrinkles, mild acne; 0.1%: Severe sun damaged skin, deep lines and wrinkles, extremely oily skin or those that suffer from severe acne. I know that this is a lot of information, and the perfect skin care regimen for day or night - takes a while to figure out. However, believe me ladies being proactive and taking care of your skin is extremely important! And if you are like me, you'll want radiant and wrinkle free skin forever! Next week will be my final guest post on LILA Loves... we will be discussing evening eye-creams and moisturizers. So stay tuned! Until then, I wish you a healthy, happy and radiant week!"