Over the years, I’ve incorporated countless different skin care products into my routine, and now I’ve reached the age where I have both acne and wrinkles (not fair!). So on this Self-Care Sunday (SCS), I decided to blog about my favorite products in case anyone who reads this would find it helpful.

Full disclosure, no one is sponsoring me to publicize these products, but hopefully my blog will one day have a sponsor or two. 😉

When you have both wrinkles and acne like I do, it’s important to have different products to do different jobs. And for a girl on a budget like me, it eases my anxiety when I find things that are reasonably price. That’s the criteria this list is based on, with one or two exceptions.

First the cleanser.

The cleansers I use are for normal to dry skin, and lately I’ve been using this one from La Roche-Posay. It’s pretty awesome! The texture almost feels like lotion, but it washes away clean and doesn’t leave my face feeling tight afterwards the way some cleansers do.

A few times a week I’ll exfoliate with these fantastic Roc cleansing disks, which are just pads made with their magic formula. Generally speaking, I like Roc for their retinol products, but these disks are next level for removing dead skin. You’ll always see these in my bathroom!

For toning, I saw a lot of social media buzz about this Thayers Facial Mist with Witch Hazel, so I had to give it a try. The witch hazel ingredient makes it a great natural astringent, removing excess oil and shrinking pores. The rose scent is just subtle enough to be there, but not overwhelming. They have other scents too. In addition to toning, I like to spray it on my face when it’s hot outside and I want to cool down. Be careful not to use too much if your skin is on the dryer side because it could dry out your skin.

Now for the stuff I splurge on:

I got hooked watching Dr. Pimple Popper (yea, I don’t know what’s wrong with me) and when I found out she has her own skin care line, I had to check it out. It’s called SLMD, which is an acronym for Sandra Lee M.D.

Before I discovered SLMD, I was buying lots of different products with hyaluronic acid in them after hearing about all of its benefits. It’s found naturally in our bodies with the largest amounts in our skin, connective tissue and eyes. I don’t understand how, but it retains water to keep our tissues well lubricated and moist.

When I saw Dr. Popper (who’s a board certified dermatologist) came out with her own serum I had to try it. Not going to lie, it cost $50 so that made me hesitant to try it, but now I know it’s so worth it. My skin dries so easily, especially during the winter months with the heater running all of the time. And the serum works great to keep my skin hydrated! Fortunately it doesn’t take much, just a couple drops each time I use it. It goes onto my clean skin and then a moisturizer on top to seal it in.

I haven’t tried the retinol serum, but if it’s as good as the hyaluronic acid, I’m sure it will work great.

Speaking of great, I also love her acne spot treatment. It’s crystal clear and intense. I used to have terrible cyst acne, but not anymore! Thank you Dr. Lee! Now onto the moisturizers.

A moment ago, I touted how much I like the Roc products, and I do. But to be honest, I’ll buy whatever is on sale at CVS to save money, because I really can’t tell the difference between any of these products other than slightly different smells and textures. The most important thing is that they have retinol. That’s my evening moisturizer, because retinol can degrade and cause sun damage during the day.

And speaking of sun damage…

I wish I was educated in the benefits of daily sunscreen when I was younger. I’m sure I would have far less sun damage on my face. Again, I’ll buy whatever moisturizer with sunscreen is on sale.

But let’s not just limit skin care to our face.

Lately, I’ve been loving these exfoliating bars from Dove. Oh I know, a lot of you probably use body wash. But I choose not to because of cost. I’ll go through body wash a lot faster than the bar soap. And for me, this bar soap with the exfoliating properties suits my needs just fine.

Now this stuff! I can’t tell you how many times my local CVS has run out of it. Fortunately, they make their own CVS version which is pretty close, but the original is fantastic! It’s body lotion with hyaluronic acid and works great at night on my dry skin. For daytime, I use a lotion with sunscreen.

So that’s it. If you want to see the results of all this effort, you can find my photo in the ‘About’ section. Just keep in mind when you see my photo, I’m very skilled in the best product for reversing the aging process…Photoshop! 😆

Take care ❤️