Over the past year or so, my approach to my skin care has changed quite a bit. Throughout my adult life, I've really learned a lot about my skin through both trial and error as well as learning about the science of skin care and different people's approach to skin care. The internet tends to have a lot of very, very strongly held opinions when it comes to skin care - and everything, if we're being honest - and I've seen a lot of people whose opinions and expertise I really respect making really black and white statements about what you should and shouldn't do with your skin. I get it, as humans we tend to want firm, decisive answers to questions, especially when it comes to things like our skin that can be so tied to our confidence and feelings about caring for ourselves. The problem is that skin is complicated, our needs are complicated, and sometimes the best thing we can do is try a bunch of different things until we figure out what works - and that can be a pretty awful process, if we're being honest.

Something that I've really figured out in the past year is that what works for me is really paying attention to my skin - where it's at and what it's in need of - and reacting accordingly. Where I've gone through periods of having a really firmly set skin care routine as well as periods of basically throwing everything but the kitchen sink at my skin in hopes of that holy grail perfect skin, my approach to skin care now is a lot more thoughtful and even holistic. I listen to science and try to use ingredients that have real evidence supporting them and I'm mindful of protecting and nourishing my skin overall, but when I sit down to do my skin care, particularly at night, I choose what I reach for based on where my skin is at and what I feel it needs.

So what I wanted to do with this post was to break down a week in my skin care routine and really address what I'm using on a day to day basis and why I'm choosing to reach for it, both from a position of where my skin is at as well as where I'm at personally. That's another thing that I don't necessarily gets acknowledged, especially in a climate in the beauty community where everything gets picked apart and anything less than a perfectly executed skin care routine is treated like trash. Some nights I want to do a full pampering skin care routine that takes me a long time and others... honestly, there are other nights when I barely want to do skin care at all so I really do the bare minimum. I'm human.

Anyway, without further ado, here's one week of my nightly skin care routines!