nighttime beauty routine

by Liz Best

The older I’ve gotten, the more I have come to appreciate the importance of a nighttime ritual. At age 21 I started making tea before bed (clearly college was a wild time for me), and now at age almost-25, that is only step one of my routine. 

Moving to L.A. completely changed my skin from being combination/oily to dry. I noticed that my skin looked so much better once I was consistently using an oil/moisturizer before bed, which led me to consider putting even more time and effort into my skincare routine.

Below, I have listed all the steps/products of my nighttime beauty ritual:

Step 1: I alternate between two micellar waters; Simple and Bioderma. These remove the majority of my make-up and are both super gentle (and cheap if you buy them on Amazon!). 

Step 2: I use Tata Harper’s Nourishing Oil Cleanser to get rid of the rest of my make-up and give my skin a little extra TLC before I follow up with…

Step 3: Glossier Solution – I love this product! Anytime I have a little bit of redness/see something that looks like it could become acne, I use this and it seems to fix the issue overnight. I tend to only use it 2-3x a week because it is an exfoliant and I don’t want to dry my skin, but if your skin is on the oilier side you could probably use this nightly without issue. 

Step 4: Next up, I moisturize!! My favorite step, because I alternate between two oils that both smell amazing. Kiehl’s Midnight Oil will be a forever favorite, but I’ve started using Herbivore Botanicals Orchid oil as well and love that one, too!

I have a huge bottle of the midnight oil and a smaller bottle of the orchid, so I mostly use the midnight oil at home and the orchid when I’m traveling. I know I need to buy myself a travel size of the Kiehl’s oil, but I am much more consistent with spending money on shoes than skincare.

Step 5: I was sick almost all of December last year, which really took a toll on my skin – specifically the area under my eyes. I did a lot of research on the best eye creams and the most popular one I could find was the Kiehl’s creamy avocado eye treatment. It’s super moisturizing and even more effective if you refrigerate it for a little before you put it on. I now have a small section at the top of my refrigerator for all my mini moisturizers. 

Step 6: I recently purchased this lip mask – I could not get over how strange it was to see it all over social media until I bought it. I definitely thought “lip masks” were some weird trend until I tried it myself.  It is so good!! I can confidently my lips have never been softer, which also helps with lipstick application. 

Step 7: I spray my pillows with a basic lavender spray and then mist myself (and my dog and my boyfriend) with Bach Rescue Remedy. I have no idea what the ingredients are, but every holistic pharmacy (and old hippie) in California is obsessed with it and now I am, too. 

Most nights end with me reading a few pages of a book (currently: Cleo Wade’s Heart Talk) while drinking my tea and falling asleep shortly after. May seem like I’m 100, but I’m actually turning 25 in two weeks!