Is your skin dry or normal? And what the heck is combination skin? In my how to create a skincare routine post (shameless plug, I know) I spoke about how knowing your skin type really sets the tone for your skincare routine? Why? Your skin type plays a huge part in which products will work best for you (unfortunately your fav Youtuber’s holy grail moisturizer may not work for you, even worse break you out!) so knowing which type you have will not know save you money but time too.
Skin Types
There are five common skin types: dry, normal, oily, combination and sensitive. You can either have one ‘type’ all over your face or combination of 2 e.g. I have normal/combination skin i.e. my T zone gets slightly oily and the rest of my face is normal.
‘Blemish prone’ isn’t a skin type. Any skin type can be blemish/acne prone although for oilier skin type’s blemishes/acne is more common.
Normal skin – feels comfortable with little to no oil. Skin is soft and smooth
Oily skin – overactive sebaceous glands produce a lot of oil, especially in tzone. Large and easily clogged pores.
Dry Skin– low level of oil production. Feels tight with dry patches and flaky.
Combination skin– a mixture of 2 or more skin types.
Sensitive skin– easily irritated by heavy fragrances or allergens.
How to actually determine your skin type?
Tissue test or take a quiz? How about a little DIY experiment? There are lots of ways to figure out your skin type but it’s pretty easy and straight forward. I did a DIY experiment where I just took notes of how my skin was behaving at different points during the day. It matched up with the characteristics of normal & oily skin so I figured out I was normal/combo. I wasn’t extremely oily but I didn’t also have normal skin all over. There are a few resources online that can help (these helped me with my post)
Ok, so which products do I use?
Once you got your skin type down, you’re ready to start playing around with some products! You can choose as much as you like as long as you cover your basics and tailoring the products to your skin type! In the How to Create a Skincare Routine post, I take you through the different types/categories of skincare products.
But basically, you need………………………………………..
A cleanser (& makeup remover for makeup), moisturizer (1 product for day& night plus SPF separately for day OR 2 products- day moisturizer that has and SPF and night cream)
It’s not that easy LOL, but if you have to strip it down to the bare minimum- these two types of products are what you need.
What about skin concerns?
A skin concern is an issue you want to fix e.g. dark spots from a spot you picked, large pores etc. any of the skin types can have skin concerns or you may be blessed to have perfect skin! It’s so easy to treat your skin concerns with so many products available for almost any skin issue you have! Please don’t waste money buying a dark spot corrector if you don’t have any dark spots but because your fav blogger mentioned it in her favs as leaving her skin soft. My main issues are dark spots so my skincare routine and products are tailored to help heal my skin.
Ingredient savvy?
Should you bother with the ingredient list? Yes! The 1st five ingredients on any product are mostly responsible for the product’s claims. The last few are ‘packing’ ingredients- preservatives/perfumes/colorants etc. It’s worth knowing which ingredients to be looking out for too, especially when searching for a product to treat a skin concern (and in general too). AND more importantly, if you are allergic to any ingredients, in particular, you can easily avoid them.
Garnier has a fabulous new collection called 96% Natural Origins. 96% of the ingredients used in the collection are from a natural source. The collection features 4 ranges which target different skin types. Find out more info on this here
That’s all folks! I really hope you found this useful and got you started on your every own & exciting skincare journey! I have a lot more posts on skincare on my blog make sure you check them out and please shout if you have any questions!
Note- it pays to invest in your skin and skincare routines takes time. Please don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results straight away. It will usually take 3 to 6 months to see solid and lasting improvements. You don’t have to have perfect skin to start a routine but know you will be working towards it and ensuring your skin looks even better as you age.
Follow me on Instagram so I post daily skin care info on there. Instagram- Sarah Fynn
I will see you soon!
Oxoxo
sarah fynn 
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