Posted by Les Mauvaises Herbes
Choosing products for your facial skincare routine might seem like a headache, but it’s much simpler than it looks! Here, we offer several tips to optimize your routine while staying minimalist, and we explain how to choose the best products to meet your skin’s needs.
Your skincare routine is complete in just a few steps: cleanse, tone, hydrate, nourish.
Step 1: cleanse the skin
Before applying your precious cosmetics, it is important that your face is nice and clean! Remove impurities, makeup, and excess sebum with a gentle cleanser designed for the face (the cleaning needs of the face and the body are very different!), or simply a damp konjac sponge, without soap.
Step 2: tone
Tonic lotions are intended to bring water to the epidermis: well-hydrated skin absorbs active ingredients better! You can simply spray a hydrosol on your face. Hydrosols, sometimes called floral waters, are obtained from the steam distillation of plants. They are slightly acidic liquids, which is great for rebalancing the skin's pH after cleansing.
Opt for witch hazel hydrosol if you have combination or oily skin, enlarged pores, or skin that lacks tone or radiance.
Opt for geranium hydrosol if your skin is irritated, or lacks tone or radiance. Its calming and hemostatic effect makes it a great soother after sun exposure (wear sunscreen anyway!!) or after shaving or waxing.
Opt for lavender hydrosol if your skin is irritated, oily, or acne-prone. Like geranium, it’s a very good post-sun and after-shave soother!
Opt for orange blossom hydrosol if your skin is dry, sensitive, or dull.
Opt for Damask rose hydrosol if your skin is mature, sensitive, devitalized, or if you love the smell of roses haha!
You can boost your hydrosol by making an express tonic with bakuchiol! We are obsessed with this recipe.
Bakuchiol express tonic
This toner is the perfect ally for faces seeking softness and renewal! A simple and luminous recipe thanks to the ingredients it contains: orange blossom, bakuchiol & vegetable glycerin. A gentle blend that soothes, tones, stimulates cell regeneration, and preserves hydration, for supple, soft, and radiant skin.
Préparation
10 min
Conservation
12 mois
Rendement
100 ml
Step 3: hydrate
Tonic lotion, being made of 99% water, hydrates the skin but tends to evaporate quickly. What we recommend is therefore to seal in this hydration by layering a moisturizer on top. We have two creams for you, ready to be used: the chamomile-infused cream, fairly light and designed for sensitive and normal skin, and the marshmallow root cream, a little richer and designed for dry, dehydrated, and irritated skin. And it’s quite simple: their composition makes them treatments that are highly appreciated by all skin types!
Some people like to use the Chamomile cream in the summer and the Marshmallow cream during the winter, or perhaps the Chamomile cream as a day cream and the Marshmallow cream as an evening treatment.
Our blog also contains several moisturizer recipes to make at home. We have something for everyone!
Step 4: nourish
Complete the routine with a rich, nourishing, and protective treatment: an oil-based serum! This type of serum helps seal in the water contained in moisturizing treatments and allows the skin to benefit from the cosmetic properties of the fatty acids and precious essential oils they contain.
Opt for the Chamomile serum if your skin is reactive, irritated, shows redness, or itching.
Opt for the Marshmallow serum if your skin is dry, dehydrated, irritated, or lacks tone.
Opt for the Flower serum if you have combination, oily, or mature skin, a tendency to acne, or skin that shows blemishes or scars.
Opt for the Lumière serum if you have mature, sensitive, dull skin, or skin lacking radiance.
You can also choose to concoct your own oily serum or simply apply a few drops of a vegetable oil to your face, such as argan oil (nourishing for dry and mature skin), Abyssinian oil (smoothing for dehydrated skin), or jojoba oil (balancing for combination to oily skin).
Are you having trouble choosing? Rest assured: it’s hard to go wrong! Our serums are formulated to suit all skin types, even if each one has its own specialty and personality. It’s up to you to try them to see how your skin responds and what feeling you get when you apply them. It’s a little detail that says everything!
Skincare routine for the eye contour
The skin around the eyes is particularly delicate and requires gentle and specially formulated treatments.
We have 2 little cosmetic gems for you:
- a bakuchiol & green tea eye contour cream to nourish and hydrate the skin, diminish the appearance of fine lines, and accelerate skin regeneration
- a coffee and squalane eye contour serum to stimulate blood and lymphatic circulation, which contributes to reducing the appearance of dark circles and puffiness.
To be used alone, or as a duo!
Recipes
Otherwise, you know us: we also have some beautiful homemade eye contour care recipes for you 👇
Eye contour cream - rose and immortelle
A rich, silky cream perfect for preserving the suppleness and vitality of the delicate skin around the eyes. Its texture is thicker than what we usually formulate and it is made of refined ingredients that give it a luxurious feel. A luxurious treatment!
Préparation
45 min
Conservation
6 à 12 mois
Rendement
50 ml
Eye contour serum - evening primrose & rosehip
Are you looking for a luxurious treatment for your beautiful eyes but lack the time to concoct a cream? This absolutely simple AND effective recipe based on evening primrose and rosehip oil is for you. We've even added revitalizing essential oils that reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. All in a flash.
Préparation
10 min
Conservation
6 à 12 mois
Rendement
30 ml
A little extra for deep cleansing
A must: weekly clay masks to purify the skin deeply. They are particularly appropriate for people with combination, oily, or acne-prone skin because they absorb excess sebum and reduce the shiny effect, but dry and sensitive skin benefits greatly from them too!
Opt for our Chamomile mask if you have sensitive or normal skin, and our Marshmallow mask if your skin is dry or feels tight. If you have combination or oily skin, you can also whip up a mask by simply mixing green clay with a little water.
Are you in the mood for a bit of luxury? After achieving the desired texture by adding water to the powder, add a few drops of a vegetable oil of your choice to the mixture for an ultra-creamy texture! Leave the mask on your face for 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing it gently with lukewarm water using a soft cloth, and avoid letting the mask dry while it works. Dried clay risks irritating your skin.
The order of product application
There are no rigid rules for the order of cosmetic application. We often suggest starting with products that contain the most water (tonic lotions or hydrosols) and ending with the greasiest products (oily serum or vegetable oil), but that is a suggestion and not an obligation! The best thing is to test several options to see how your skin reacts.
Does your face love it? Perfect, continue!
Day routine and night routine
Once again, there is no law that dictates what you must apply in the morning or the evening! You are also not forced to do your routine twice a day. You can very well choose to do it only in the morning or the evening.
Some people like lighter, penetrating treatments in the morning so as not to have a shiny face during the day, and richer, thicker products in the evening.
As the skin regenerates more quickly during the night, very healing and repairing products will do a great job when applied in the evening, although they are also very effective at any other time of the day.
One single exception: products that contain essential oils or photosensitizing active ingredients MUST be used in the evening to be sure not to expose the skin to the sun after application. This includes bergamot essential oil (Citrus bergamia), lemon (Citrus limonum), grapefruit (Citrus paradisii), celery (Apium graveolens), and angelica (Angelica archangelica), as well as retinoids, exfoliating acids, and benzoyl peroxide.
The golden rules
- Avoid layering cosmetics that contain the same active ingredients that could potentially irritate the skin if applied in too large a quantity. For example, if you apply a tonic that contains bakuchiol, avoid adding a bakuchiol serum and a bakuchiol cream; we advise adding bakuchiol in only one product of your routine. However, nothing prevents you from using a specific bakuchiol product in the morning and another in the evening.
- If some products cause unpleasant reactions, such as redness, irritation, a burning sensation, a skin rash, or exacerbate the problems you have instead of relieving them, do not hesitate to change products. Appropriate cosmetics should give you a feeling of freshness, softness, and comfort, and not the opposite.
- Remember to finish your morning routine with sun protection. It is arguably the most important product for the long-term health of your skin!
- Remember that there is no right or wrong routine: the right routine is the one that suits your skin’s needs! You might see suggestions for routines elsewhere that include other steps; they can be interesting too! There are as many possibilities as there are people. Everyone is unique!
- Finally, do not feel forced to do alllll the steps everyyy day. Listen to your needs and desires! Ensure that your routine does not become a chore, go with the energy you have, and enjoy your skincare as a moment 100% for you and YOUR well-being.
Examples of routines
Dry skin: orange blossom hydrosol, Marshmallow cream, Marshmallow serum or squalane and chamomile dry skin serum*, lavandin and chamomile hydrating mask* or Marshmallow mask
Sensitive skin: lavender hydrosol, Chamomile cream or sensitive skin cream*, Chamomile serum or anti-redness serum*, gentle rose mask* or Chamomile mask
Combination, oily, or acne-prone skin: witch hazel hydrosol, nigella and witch hazel acne cream*, jojoba oil or floral serum, purifying mask for combination or oily skin*
Mature skin: Damask rose hydrosol, argan and bakuchiol face cream* or sea buckthorn mature skin cream*, face serum for mature skin*, gentle rose mask*
Dull skin: geranium hydrosol, chamomile cream, radiance serum or healthy glow face serum*
The * denotes recipes to make at home, while all other products are products and care items available on our online store. We offer all the ingredients to make the recipes (or almost all!), as well as DIY workshops! Browse our online store, or come visit us at our storefront location: you can try our products and receive advice from our wonderful consultants.
