Cindy’s Summer Evening Skincare Routine

After a much-needed hiatus I am back with my evening skincare routine! For the summer months, I’ve streamlined it (and I really mean streamlined) down to a few light-weight essentials. To begin, I’ve got the ever-annoying combination skin that tends to veer oily, so moisture, contrary to popular belief, is very important.

I start off with the Khiels Ultra Facial Cleanser, which is just a basic face wash. However, it has squalane in it, which makes it more moisturizing than your average cleanser. It also does a pretty fantastic job at removing makeup, although I prefer pre-cleansing with a cotton-pad soaked in micellar water first.

Next I apply one and a half pumps of my Curology formula. I’ve been using it for about six months now and it has made a massive difference. I rarely break out now, and if I do it’s because of travel or bad diet habits (cheese is so good, y’all, but so bad).

Every other night I’ll use The Ordinary retinoid 2% emulsion. It is not the best retinol I’ve ever used, but it does its job and it is hella affordable, so definitely will continue to use and repurchase.

Before moisturizer I dab on a bit of the Khiels Creamy Avocado Eye Treatment, which is one of my favorite eye creams. I use my ring finger, since it is the most delicate, and use light inward strokes.

My current go-to moisturizer is the Khiels Skin Rescuer (there seems to be a Khiels theme emerging). It is light but super moisturizing and very safe for sensitive skin. I don’t usually have super sensitive skin, but I like this one because it is light-weight and gentle on sun-burned skin–which I try to avoid, but sometimes life happens.

My lips are perpetually chapped, so I like to slather on a ton of lip balm before bed. For the last 6 months I’ve been using the Glossier balm dot com in mint non-stop (and the tube still isn’t finished!). It has such a refreshing feeling and really gets the job done. I wake up with a smooth and flake-free pout.

I top everything off with a spritz of the Mario Badescu Rose Water, which is heavenly and just the perfect thing for hot summer nights.

My summer-time treats are the Glow Recipe Watermelon Mask, which is so extremely amazing, and the Fresh Brown Sugar Lip Scrub. The mask is moisturizing, exfoliating, fragrant, and glow-granting. I love this stuff. Just a spatula full will do the trick. My skin drinks it up right away and in the morning it is plump and glowing and smooth. Miracle worker! The lip scrub is an amazing physical exfoliant. It isn’t rough at all because the sugar particles will start to dissolve and it is super moisturizing while it sloughs away dead skin. Sometimes I feel like I don’t even need lip balm after using this scrub, but I just like the Glossier one too much.

And that is it! My super-simple, hydrating summer evening skincare products. Which of these do y’all use and which do you want to try?

-Cindy