Beginner's Guide To Skin Care

I have been traveling around the country speaking at Pinner's Conferences, teaching my Beauty 101 course. After each class I do a Q and A session, and I am finding that no matter where I am speaking there are loads of ladies and girls who find the whole skin care equation completely confusing, and are frequently using the wrong products or no products at all.

When they read my posts about Korean skin care and the way  Korean girls layer their skin care products it just confuses them more, so today lets look at the basics of skin care.

The first thing you need to do is figure out your skin type. Are you oily, normal, dry, or combination? 
Most of us get a shiny T-Zone, but that doesn't mean we are oily. It may just mean we are combination skin. Truly oily skin has an almost wet sheen to the cheeks as well as the T-Zone.
Normal skin looks basically perfect, dry skin can look anything from pulled under the surface to flaky.

Next look at what your objective is. Is your skin congested/acne prone, battling black heads? Is it aging too quickly, or dry or irritated or sensitive? You need to know what you are trying to achieve before you invest in products.

Once you have these two items figured out you can choose a simple system to meet your needs, using the basics of cleanse, tone and moisturize.

If you have oily skin look for a foaming or gel cleanser like Kiehls Ultra Facial Oil free Cleanser which will give you a good cleanse but also will also reduce excess sebum on the surface of your skin, without stripping it dry. 

Follow up with Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil Free Toner to remove any residue, help combat excess oil, and prepare your skin to receive moisturizer. I can hear you freaking out that you don't want to use a moisturizer if you have oily skin, but it is essential. You just need something formulated for oily skins. Try Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil Free Lotion to help balance your skin's surface oil equation, giving you a dryer appearance while nourishing it and keeping it in good condition.
You can find Kiehl's products online at Nordstrom.com

If you have normal skin look for a cleanser that is gentle, removes makeup, cleanses but doesn't strip the skin. 

Try an all natural product such as REN Rosa Centifolia Purity Cleansing Balm. When you mix it with water it turns into a luxurious milk texture and leaves your skin super soft and silky.
REN's Evercalm Global Protection Day Cream was designed for the most sensitive of skins, but is also lovely for normal skin. It protects your skin against environmental pollutants and keeps it feeling soothed and smoothed throughout the day.
REN's V-Cense Revitalizing Night Cream revitalizes the skin, works on preventing fine lines and wrinkles and makes it beautifully radiant.
Find REN products online at Nordstrom

Dry complexions need extra TLC. I am a huge fan of cleansing oils for all skin types, but especially for dry skins (like my own).

Tatcha is world famous for it's amazing One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil. It dissolves makeup and gives you a beautiful cleanse, leaving your dry or sensitive skin feeling soothed and gorgeous. Tatcha's Dewy Skin Mist is a lightweight powerhouse moisture mist that you can use at any time of the day. It makes for a lovely step between cleansing and moisturizing, and also is a fabulous rescue product when skin feels tight or irritated.
Tatcha's Enriching Renewal Cream is dry skin's best friend. It deeply moisturizes and nourishes the skin, and also soothes it - dry skin tends to get quite sensitive, and this is the magic potion it craves.
Tatcha products are available online at Tatcha.com

When you buy skin care products try to get them all from one line. If you shop within a single brand you will be using products designed to work together synergistically.
You don't need to spend a fortune on skin care - shop within your budget, but start with cleanse, tone and mositurize.

How To Prolong Your Summer Tan

Summer is coming to an end, and for the most part vacations are over for the season. If you're like me you're maybe not quite ready to trade in your tan for jeans and boots and winter pallor. If you're like me you want to get every last day out of that tan.
So you need a game plan, and I've got one for you.

6 Steps To Prolong Your Summer Tan

1. Cool Showers

Hot water dehydrates your skin and speeds up peeling and flaking.
Turn the temperature down and avoid high lather soaps and shower gels which just strip the extra moisture out of your skin, instead choose something super gentle.

Ren's beautiful Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash is super hydrating, skin calming and frankly, pampering. It has won the InStyle Magazine Best Body Wash 9 years in a row! You can find it online at Space NK

2. Exfoliate

It sounds counter-intuitive, right??? But part of the key to keeping the tan nice and glowy is to keep it smooth. Gently exfoliating your skin every couple of weeks gets rid of the dead skin cells that are dulling up your tan and helps you to keep whats left looking gorgeous.

Tata Harper Smoothing Scrub micro polishes your skin and has all kind of glorious ingredients that give it a boost of hydration and make you feel luxurious. You can find it online at Space NK

3. Moisturize.

Moisturize. Moisturize. Moisturize. To keep that tan alive you need to upgrade to a serious body balm or body oil. I've been obsessing over these fabulous body products from Reves De Sabine all summer long. The Bath and Body oils are glorious, 

and the Dream Body Balm is a serious body balm. If this doesn't save your tan nothing will. 

Both are available online at Reves De Sabine

4. Drink Water

The key to keeping hydrated is to keep drinking water.
Every cell in your body needs it, every organ needs it, and your skin is the biggest organ on your body, so feed your tan with plenty of extra H2O

5. Fake It

As the color does begin to fade give it a little boost with some self tanner. 

St Tropez self tanning products give beautiful, believable color. They've been best sellers for years, and never let you down.
You can find them online at Nordstrom

6. Wear White

A great trick to keep looking tanned is to wear white next to your face. When its time to throw on jeans again, pair them with a crisp white shirt, some bronzer and a pink glossy lip. It will make you feel good too!

How To Simplify Your Summer Beauty Routine

Don't you just love summer??
It gets a little on the warm side here in Phoenix, but even so I love summer. I love summer clothes, I love escaping to the beach, I love long summer evenings by the pool with friends and margaritas - I love it all.

Simple Summer Beauty
image by Kyle Goldie
makeup by Corinna Cooke

One of the things that I especially love is being able to relax the beauty routine over the summer months. 

Most of us get some extra color in our faces during summer, (even when we are trying not to!) so we can scale back on other makeup, streamline the makeup process, and get out the door more quickly with a fresh dewy look. Remember, a full face of makeup looks silly on a hot summer's day.

So here are 5 quick steps to a simple but fresh summer face that's perfect for your everyday look .

1. Cleanse

Give your skin a quick cleanse in the morning to make sure it looks fresh and pretty.
If you tend to get oilier in the hot months, need help with your 
T-Zone being extra shiny or get more breakouts (like most of us!) try Ren Clarimatte T-Zone Control Cleansing Gel. I order it online from Space NK

2. Even Out Your Skin

After your facial SPF has soaked into your skin use a BB Cream instead of a foundation. BB Creams have moisturizer and primer built in, and give you a thin veil or gorgeous color so that you look polished but fresh.

Try Clarins BB Skin Perfecting Cream. It's easy to buy online from Nordstrom because it color adjusts to match you - all you do is choose from Fair, Light, Medium and Dark

3. Work Your Cheek Game

 Get a gorgeous glow on your cheeks with my favorite new product (it was new to me but is has been around for a while), Stila's fantastic Aqua Glow Perfecting Bronzer. 

I'm obsessed with this super easy to use gel bronzer. You can mix it into foundation or use it alone to create a glowy bronze to your cheeks. It's not sparkly like most bronzers, instead it melts into your skin and just glows, leaving you fresh faced and looking like you've been running around outside in the sunshine.

4. Accent Your Brows

My new favorite brow game is Anastasia of Beverly Hills Brow Definer. 

The texture is fantastic, I love the colors, and the shape of the pencil makes it easy to give yourself a defined brow without morphing into those ludicrous "Instagram brows". I get mine at Nordstrom.

5. Seal It with A Kiss

The final step in a super simple summer makeup routine is creating a gorgeous mouth.
You can go one of two ways, either keep the soft, neutral, glowing look by adding a spectacular neutral lip (as opposed to a boring neutral lip). Or, dial it up with a bold, vibrant lip.

I am obsessing over the new Charlotte Tilbury lip collection. Charlotte knows her way around a sexy lip, and her new celebrity inspired Hot Lips collection doesn't disappoint.

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips in Kim K.W.

If you want a neutral lip look, try Charlotte's Kardashian inspired Kim K.W. It's a pink toned neutral, so super pretty with warmth to it.

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips in Hot Emily

If you are a golden skinned girl and want a bold lip, try Hot Emily, inspired by the ridiculously sexy Emily Ratajkowski.

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips in Carina's Love

If you are a cool toned girl and Hot Emily feels a little too orange/coral for you, my other favorite that will not only give you vibrancy all summer, but will be your best friend all winter is Charlotte Tilbury's new Hot Lips in Carina's Love

How To Apply Skin Care Products

I'm an absolute skin care junkie.
And I am always being asked what order skin care products should be applied in.
It can get confusing when you have serums and retinols, moisturizers and sunscreens - multiple products to layer.
So here is a step by step guide

 How To Apply Skin Care Products

The first rule of thumb is that generally lighter weight products go underneath heavier ones,

but lets break it down.

Ren Hydra Calm Youth Defence Serum

Serums:

Serums are applied immediately after cleansing, day and/or night, depending on the product.

Normally you only need a pea sized amount, and pat or smooth it all over the face.

Don't forget your throat area too!

Retinol Creams:

Ren Bio Retinoid Anti Aging Concentrata

Retinols (such as RetinA) are light sensitive and must be used at night only.

Pat a small amount - only the size of a pea or maybe two, around the recommended area. Some are used all over the face, some are used to target specific areas only.

If you experience irritation using a retinol every night, cut it back to every 3rd or 4th night, slowly working your way to nightly as your skin can handle it.

Moisturizer:

Twice daily. Your daytime moisturizer and your night time moisturizer do different jobs, so its a good idea to invest in two separate products.

Ren Day Cream

Moisturizers are applied over serums and retinols. Allow the serum to soak in first, then apply your moisturizer, liberally. avoiding the eye area.

Dried out, dehydrated skin ages much more rapidly than healthy, nourished skin, so don't skimp on this important step!

Ren Eye Gel

Eye Cream:

The skin around the eye area is the thinnest, finest, most delicate skin on the body, and requires its own products. Use the pad of your ring finger (it carries the least tension and is less likely to drag the skin) and pat eye cream along the orbital bone.

Facial SPF:

I can't reiterate enough how crucially important a free standing facial SPF of 50+ is. You need to apply it daily, come rain or shine, over top of your moisturizer.

You may have to try a couple of different formulations to find the one that works best for your skin. I use Neutrogena Dry Touch with Helioplex, which is a broad spectrum sun screen. Broad sprectrums protect you from UVA rays (aging) and UVB rays (burning).

Apply liberally, all over your face and throat.

Nothing - absolutely nothing will age your skin faster than sun damage.

Products shown in this blog post are by Ren, and can be purchased at Sephora or at their website,

www.renskincare.com