The Ultimate Skin Care Guide for the Minimalist

Searching for tips on how to build an effective skin care routine that won’t shave hours off your day? We’re sharing an easy, 5-step skin care routine, below! 

Let’s face it, that 10-step skin care routine at the heart of Korean beauty is great, but for minimalists it can feel like 10 steps too many. Below we’re sharing the ultimate skin care guide for minimalists. If you’re the kind of person who prefers to keep it simple, you’re going to want to read this! 

A MINIMALIST’S SKIN CARE ROUTINE

First and foremost, throw those 10 steps out of the window—there’s no room for excess here! With a minimalist skin care routine, you’ll only want to concern yourself with the essentials. The goal is to boil your skin care routine down to just a few key steps without sacrificing results. Below we’re detailing each step of a minimalist skin care routine with some of our favorite products from Lancôme!

STEP 1: CLEANSE

While many skin care routines call for multiple steps during cleansing itself, with the right product you can save time and shelf space! So instead of first reaching for a makeup remover wipe, then an oil cleanser, and then a water cleanser—reach for a product that can replace them all. Lancôme Crème Radiance is a clarifying cream-to-foam cleanser for normal and combination skin types. The award-winning cleanser is formulated with antioxidant white lotus and rose de France and helps to purify the skin, dissolve impurities, and gently remove even waterproof makeup. Massage over a wet face and throat and rise away with lukewarm water. 

STEP 2: MOISTURIZE (AND PROTECT!)

Toner and essence and serum, oh my! Sure these skin care products are great when you’re the kind of person who likes to treat her skin care routine like a time-honored tradition, but when you’re a minimalist they aren’t always necessary. Instead of prepping your skin for hydration with more hydration, reach for a quality moisturizer and use it immediately after washing your face.

During the day use a multitasking moisturizer that’s formulated with broad-spectrum SPF so you’re not only hydrating your skin—which is a non-negotiable if you want to ward off premature signs of skin aging—you’re also helping to protect it from skin damaging UV rays. Lancôme Bienfait Multi-Vital SPF 30 Day Cream is formulated with broad-spectrum SPF and enriched with antioxidants and vitamins to offer long-lasting hydration and some needed protection from the sun’s rays. Keep in mind that there currently isn’t a sunscreen on the market that can help protect you from the sun’s harmful UV rays. While sunscreen does protect the skin significantly when used liberally and reapplied at least every 2 hours, you still need to take extra precaution by wearing protective clothing—such as wide-brimmed hats and long sleeves—seeking shade, and avoiding peak sun hours when rays are strongest.

While we’re all about cutting down the amount of products you need in your routine—especially when you’re a minimalist—we’d be wrong to tell you to skip out on a night cream. Fact is, night creams and day creams have one major thing in common—read: they help to replenish the skin with moisture—but they have many unique benefits as well, so you’ll want your routine to have one of each. During the day you’ll use your moisturizer formulated with SPF, but at night you’ll want to forgo the sun protection for a formula that boasts a few other beauty benefits. One we love is Énergie de Vie Night Mask, an overnight recovery sleeping mask that envelops skin in  a fresh, cooling cocoon of moisture. Infused with goji berry, lemon balm, gentian, and vitamin E—all known antioxidants—the nightly mask helps skin to appear fresher and nourished upon waking.

STEP 3: EYE CREAM

Think you can use your day and night cream around your eyes? Think again. The skin surrounding your eye contour is thinner and much more delicate than that found on the rest of your face so it needs a special touch—and its own cream. What’s more, this is the area that is often one of the first to show the signs of skin aging, so you’ll want to give it the attention it deserves. Try Lancôme Visionnaire Yeux Eye Cream. This advanced multi-correcting eye balm has a fresh, hydrating texture and can help to reduce the visible appearance of many eye contour concerns. 

STEP 4: LIP CARE

Another area of skin that’s thinner and more delicate than the rest is the skin found on your lips. While our eye contour is one of the first to appear older our pout is one of the first places we see and feel dryness, so keeping a lip care product in tow is key if you want your lips to look and feel soft and supple. A favorite—and the one this writer personally purchases tubes of—is Lancôme Absolue Precious Cells Nourishing Lip Balm. Formulated with Acacia honey, beeswax, rosehip seed oil, vitamin E, and Pro-Xylane—an anti-aging ingredient—this nourishing lip balm helps to hydrate and care for lips without a sticky-feeling residue. 

STEP 5: HEAD-TO-TOE HYDRATION 

Finally, you’re going to want to turn your attention to the skin below your chin. Once a day—after showering or bathing—layer on a body lotion to help keep your skin feeling soft and hydrated from head to toe. Try Lancôme Hydra Fraîchelle, an invigorating lightweight body moisturizer formulated with vitamin E, pro-vitamin B5, and apricot kernel oil. Plus, its fresh, floral scent is amazing!

There you have it! Just five steps—and six products—is truly all you need in a minimalist skin care routine!

Already staying true to a minimalist skin care routine? Here are some tips on how you can transition your skin care routine for summer.