Affordable Beauty Maintenance Tips | Unsponsored Skincare Routine

Hi everyone, it’s Emily. Today I am going to share with you my daily beauty routine. Last week I talked about 10 Easy Tips to Make your Outfit Look More Expensive, and I mentioned beauty as a way to make your outfit look more expensive, so I’m going to give you some tips on how I maintain clear skin and healthy hair to supplement and elevate any fashion look. In this blog, I’ll be sharing affordable products to make your eyelashes grow. plump your lips, and even an at-home, easy to do, long lasting manicure. 

Your skincare routine- what you do everyday and every night is going to define what your skin and hair looks like. No amount of expensive facials is going to fix your hair or skin if you don’t have a solid foundation. Any products I share with you are not sponsored, so I’m giving you my genuine opinion on what I use. Some of these products I love so much, I sincerely just want to share with you guys because they have changed my routine so much and definitely made a difference. Most of them are affordable products that you can get from a drugstore or grocery store, and they have grown to be my go-tos. There’s a few higher end products sprinkled in there. 

So let’s get started!

My Night Routine

So if I am wearing makeup from earlier in the day. I use a makeup remover wipe. I use Retinol wipes. I’m not too picky about my make up remover. For me as long as it gets the makeup off, I’m usually happy, so I bought these wipes from Marshalls for like $4, and I like them because they have retinol.

I prefer a remover that isn’t oil based, as well. Note here that you should try to be gentle using a wipe on your skin because tugging and pulling on your skin can cause wrinkles in the long run. You sort of just need to break up what’s on your face with the wipe, so you can rinse it off with a cleanser. 

Next up is my cleanser. The cleanser I use is Clean and Clear Lemon Zesty Scrub.

I like this cleanser because it has the microbeads in it, and it smells good. It doesn't dry out my skin, as long as I use it once a day. There is also a watermelon one that I really like. I get this from the grocery store, so it's definitely affordable. A cleanser should be followed by toning, exfoliating, serums, or moisturizer. 

The next thing I use is my toner. I use Pixi Glow Tonic, which I got from Target. I take a cotton pad and really emphasize my T Zone. 

I usually let this settle for a few seconds before I use this Cryo ATP Sports booster serum from 111Skin.  It is supposed to rejuvenate tired skin. It’s designed to recreate the process of cryotherapy, and it mimics the effect of extreme cold on your skin to help tighten, tone and refine pores. I use it post-workout in the morning too because it stimulates circulation and optimizes cell function. So it's supposed to minimize the size of your pores. I like it because it makes me feel refreshed and it's very light. I mix it into my palm with my moisturizer. 

This serum is a little more expensive. I decided to splurge because I was interested in the company, and I liked the fact that it was for post-workout, which I work out about 5 times a week, so it was something unique I wanted to supplement my routine with. 

Side note here-I actually found this serum on Ipsy, which is a beauty subscription service where I got it at a discount. By the way, I found a lot of great samples and companies from Ipsy, which I love because you can put in your preferences and you receive a little bag of samples every month. You can pause it as much as you want. Sometimes I have too many samples, so I’ll pause my membership for several months. 

Back to my routine- the moisturizer I use for night time is Olay Regenerist micro sculpting cream, and I get this from Costco in bulk. I like this one because the cream feels heavy in your palm, but it's actually very light on the skin. 

The next thing I do is use an eyelash serum. I’m very excited to share this product with you because it’s one of my favorite additions, and I have been sharing it with all my friends and family. It's called Essy eyelash serum.

This stuff is amazing. You put it on once a day at night and within about 3-4 weeks, you’ll notice your eyelashes are hitting your sunglasses. I’ve had people ask if I got my eyelashes done, but it’s literally just the serum. I’ve even had a friend say they had to start trimming their eyelashes, and all they had to do was use this once a day. Here comes the best part- it’s only about $25-$30 bucks on Amazon, versus getting expensive fake eyelashes and maintaining them. It’s a steal. I barely need mascara anymore and if I do my eyelashes look ridiculous-in a good way! You can also use it on eyebrows, but I haven’t done that. If anything my eyebrows need tamed. I’d love to hear any feedback from you guys on how Essy works on your eyebrows if you decide to give it a try!

The next thing I do is a little different, but I think it makes a difference. Right before I go to bed I put on Too Faced Lip Injection Extreme Lip Plumper. It makes your lips feel a little tingly. My boyfriend avoids kissing me with it because one time he unknowingly did when I had it on and he was very confused about what was making his lips tingly. It feels like you ate something spicy, so he calls it my jalapeno lipstick. But my lips are so moisturized and a little plumper when  I wake up in the morning. You can even put it over lipstick during the day, which I think is what most people use it for. 

My Morning Routine

After showering I will use hair oil. I use OGX Coconut oil, which smells great. I let my hair dry a little bit, so that it soaks in just the right amount, and I use a wide tooth comb, which prevents breakage and evenly spreads the oil in. I have really long hair, so if i don’t do this my hair is a rats nest.

Keep in mind I tend to have dryer skin, so I don’t usually use a cleanser in the morning. I’ll usually just rinse my skin. For the most part my skin is a combination of dry and oily, but I have learned that over washing my wash does dry it out. 

As far as skincare, my morning routine is very similar to my night routine except I usually just rinse my face with water instead of a cleanser. About 3 times a week I use St Ives exfoliant in the morning. I’ll use the Pixi toner and then I use the Cryo ATP Sports Booster serum mixed with this ROC moisturizer, which I love because it has SPF in it and it smells so good, which is very important to me because I live in sunny Southern California where I think it’s rained once in the last 200 days or something insane, so we get a lot of sun and with that sun damage.

I lather it on my neck, as well as my face. And in the morning I use this Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm in the color Petunia. The color is amazing, great for everyday, and super moisturizing. I literally buy it in bulk on Amazon. 

I also start my days with Vaseline or Sauve body lotion, focusing heavily on my arms, legs, and hands. From my experience, you don’t need a fancy body lotion. I also use cuticle oil from Target as I tend to get dry hands and hang nails if I don’t. 

Speaking of nails, I know a lot of people can’t make it to the salon or can’t afford to get their nails done every week, so I have discovered a great alternative, and it’s called Impress Press On nails. Now I know press-on nails have sort of a bad rep. They fall off after two days and are difficult to apply, but I swear if you apply these correctly, they don’t fall off and are like $7-12 depending on the design and style from Amazon or the drug store.

They’re also so easy and quick to apply, and you can do it from home. It comes with thirty press on nails, so you can find the right fit. They have really fun designs that I could never paint on my own nails, too!

Since I haven't been able to get to the salon due to Covid, for my toes, I will use ManiMe at home gel pedicure stick on nails. The way ManiMe works is you pick which color/design you’d like, take pictures of your toenails, and they send you the right fit in the mail with application instructions. They’re also pretty easy to apply and long lasting. 

Once a Week

Another part of my routine is I use a sheet mask on my face, as well as moisturizing gloves on my hands and moisturizing socks on my feet. Sometimes I will throw in a lip mask. I look hilarious doing this, but it feels good inside and out. It’s my little way of self care every Sunday. I usually just get this stuff for like $10 in total. 

Another thing I do once a week is use Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Night Pads Extreme, it has glycolic acid, and it’s supposed to have similar effects to a chemical peel. Now be careful with this because it is for night time and very strong. I have sensitive skin, so I feel the burn and definitely get a little redness. It’s very strong so I would test it on your skin first. It's’ basically like a strong toner. 

I think that’s a lot to take in, so I’ll leave you guys with that. Comment below if you’d like me to do more videos/blogs on beauty, and let me know topics you’d like me to discuss. Stay tuned in the future. I’d love to discuss some of my go-to affordable makeup products. Subscribe to my channel and click the bell to get notified when I upload new videos/blogs every Friday! Thanks for watching and have a great day!

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What to watch next? 

If you haven’t seen my video or read my blog on 10 Easy Tips to Make your Outfit Look More Expensive, you can click here. Here is 7 Iconic Looks and Why They Made History. You can watch my video and read my blog on My Own Past Fashion Mistakes and How I Would Fix Them here. Stay tuned for my next blog/video where I take a trip to Mood Fabrics and Source Fabrics for my Spring/Summer 2021 Collection. Follow me on:

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