I feel like skincare is an important piece of
just self -care and self -love. It can become,
like I said, like a ritual and I think that that's
good because you're just, you're taking care
of yourself. Welcome back to Keep It Good. I'm
your host, Emily. I'm your host, Carly. I'm very
excited about this episode today because I'm
gonna be learning all things skin care. I'm gonna
learn because my friend here, Emily, is all things
beauty and I am all things not. I have not learned
properly growing up the importance of skin care.
When did you start? Well, I think I really truly
started once I graduated high school and was
in cosmetology school because... I knew what
to do, how to clean my face, I guess, but I was
working at a salon and a spa at the time. And
everybody really took me under their wing. And
especially the girls in the spa, they were like,
you know, okay, you need to use this and start
cleansing with this and you need this serum and
I'm 17. So it was just a huge awakening and I
wasn't using anything crazy. It was just, you
know, properly how to remove your makeup and
what to use like for sunscreen and stuff like
that. So I feel like I started kind of early.
Now kids are starting. Like my daughter has,
you know, we buy this very healthy, very clean
skincare for them. They're just so interested
in beauty. It's just things have come such a
long, a long way. You know, I used to use a bar
of soap if I washed my face at all. Yeah, I mean,
growing up, we used everything all natural. My
dad was a carpenter and we had this construction
bucket in our bathroom filled with this powder.
I don't even know what it was, but we would mix
it and it would turn into a mud paste. And that's
what we use. And same thing with like toothpaste.
We use baking soda. So I was never really introduced
to any type of tricks or, you know, anything
really. And now that I'm turning 40, I feel like
it's time to learn. I am your student today.
I mean, I remember my mom taking me to the pharmacy.
I was probably a sophomore in high school and
was like, all right, let's get you some good,
some good stuff and some nice, nicer makeup than
what you're using. And I thought that was just
amazing. I was so excited for it, but that's
also why I do what I do. I'm in the beauty industry
and that's just what I love. I'm not an aesthetician,
but I would say skin. Care is my second love
next to hair care. Yeah. Well, your skin looks
great. So you're doing it right. I've just always
been more of, like I said, we, we grew up very
natural. So I feel like, I don't know, I'm kind
of a minimalist and I've been making my own kind
of skincare stuff with castor oil. And I know
I say it wrong. Uh, jojoba instead of jojoba
oil. I put in some frankincense because it all
has like really powerful natural healing abilities
just in that itself. So that's my little concoction
that I use and I've been kind of dabbling in
the snail mucin, which one of my good friends
told me about that and I was like, interesting.
Like it was, it just. the thought of what it's
from, I was like, well, that is very cool. Cause
it's not all these ingredients, not all these
like acids put in. So I started using that as
well. And yeah, that's really good. Yeah. And
just like a few months ago, my husband accidentally
ordered this like Thayer's toner, witch hazel.
And because we had it in the house, I've been
using that, which I do love. That's like a new
level. I'm actually using that right now too,
as my toner. So, yeah, tell me all the things,
Emily, because I am, if it's not broke, I'm not
gonna fix it, but I feel like I'm gonna start
breaking soon, so. Well, there is like, and it
comes down to this, you could do a gazillion
things for your skin, and it's just like, what
is your level of wanting to take care of it,
or how much can you actually get done? Because
if you're really gonna go ham on this, it's a
routine, you have to do a lot of things. So it
depends on what you want to spend your time on,
you know? I mean, basically, cleansing your skin
for morning and night is ideal, even if you could
just do that and moisturize. I think you're ahead
of the game for some people, because I'm sure
there's people who don't even do that, or they
only do it once a day, which is totally fine,
too. But your skin is your biggest organ, so
you really want to take care of it. And that
includes, you know, moisturizing your body, exfoliating
it in the shower, you know, sloughing off that
dead skin, too. It's not just your face. For
women, you know, there was all this talk back
in the 50s and all that. you know, your face
and your décolleté and your neck too. Like, don't
just let the cleansing of your face and the taking
care just be, you know, your actual face. It
should go down your neck onto your chest too.
But in my opinion, it really should kind of be
everywhere because, you know, I mean, don't get
me wrong. Are my legs dry in the winter? Yeah.
My moist dries every day when I get out of the
shower. Not necessarily, but it really is our
biggest organ, like I said. So we should be moisturizing
and taking good care of it. But skincare wise,
I would say, you know, basic rule of thumb, like
morning and night routine. Do you want me to
kind of explain that? Yeah. Yeah. Because I have
a million questions. So let's see if you covered
them and then I'll dive into what I need to know.
Love it. All right. So we'll start with the morning.
We're going to cleanse first. If you don't take
a morning shower, just obviously at the sink.
If my face is clean from the night before and
I haven't gone to bed with makeup on or anything.
I suggest something more hydrating because you
don't have to remove anything off your face.
It's already clean. If you do have oily skin,
then you could use cleanser that is good for
combination or oily skin also. But you're going
to cleanse first. Then we're going to tone or
use an essence is another word. Essence is typically
more moisturizing. A toner like the witch hazel
would basically your pores are open when you're
cleansing. And so you want to tone to kind of,
I don't want to say close them, but kind of.
You don't want everything to be open so that
when you're putting in all these serums, yes,
you want them to go into your skin, but you don't
want to cause clogging of the pores. So we're
like, we're balancing the pH when we tone. So
you're going to cleanse, you're going to tone,
then we're going to start with serums. So typically
for daytime, you would want to use something
like vitamin C or a C serum, they're called,
that is very hydrating for the skin. You're going
to want to do all your serums first. Think thin
things to thick things. Why? So serums first
because they're thin and yes you can layer them.
I would give a little bit of time for it to dry
though. I want it like throw on this serum your
face is still wet throw on another serum your
face is still wet throw on your moisturizer give
it a second. So maybe that looks like putting
on vitamin c and then brushing your teeth. Then
put on your next serum and just wait in a second.
Sometimes I'll even just fan my face. But a C
serum would be great. Then after your serums,
eye cream. And with eye cream, you don't want
to rub around the eyes. The skin around your
eyes is super sensitive and much thinner than
the rest of your skin on your face. So they also
say your ring fingers. So you're going to actually
dab the lotion on around your eyes with your
ring finger because your ring finger doesn't
really do much. So they say it's a very gentle
finger, so you're not pulling on your skin at
all. So that's something I always do too. Okay?
Ring fingers. Then we're going to moisturize.
Because if we put on our moisturizer first, the
moisturizers typically are heavy. So if that
is already around your eyes, the eye cream can't
sink it. Okay? So cleanse, tone, serums, eye
cream, then your moisturizer. And I also suggest
bringing that onto your neck and your chest,
okay? Last step for the day, I know there's some
talk about sunscreen, but you're gonna put sunscreen
on. See, my makeup has, I've been using the same
makeup since like high school. It's just worked
and I'm afraid to use anything else, but mine
does have SPF 30 or something in it already.
So do I need to add more or is that good enough?
No, I would say that's fine. Again, I'm not a
doctor. They might tell you different, but in
my opinion, no. A lot of tinted moisturizers
also have SPFs in them now, so that I think is
sufficient. So that would basically be the morning,
if you were to do all the things. If you're kind
of like a basic gal, I would say cleanse, tone,
and moisturizer. You don't want to do the serums,
you don't want to do the eye cream, that's fine,
but at least you're kind of getting any of the
debris off from... whatever you had on the night
before. So night time, first things first, you
can use a micellar water or sometimes certain
brands have like makeup removing balm, which
is kind of oily based. And so you could put that
on first and really kind of scrub all that makeup
off. It's really light. It literally is like
an oil. The micellar water would help remove
makeup or like any debris. So again, this is
for like an intense. Like time, there can be
a lot of steps, but you're going to cleanse again.
I like to use a stronger cleanser at night so
I can remove the makeup that I've had on from
the day. Then if you were to do a mask, that's
when you're going to mask. So the construction
bucket of powder. That probably was a mask, like
a mud mask of sorts. I have to ask my dad what
the mystery powder was because I swear I lucked
out. I did not have any acne. Which is probably
what led me to this belief that like, I don't
need to do much to my skin, you know, because...
Well, and I think there's that too. It's whatever
works for you. Like, I used a bar of Dove soap
in high school. You know, that was pretty much
it. Maybe some moisturizer some days, but I mean,
luckily I didn't have any skin problems either,
but... So, why you're gonna do the mask after
you cleanse is because same thing with the mask,
after we remove it... We want to bring the pH
to the skin back to normal. So we're going to
tone after the mask. You don't want to wash your
face, tone it, and then put a mask. Oh, OK. Does
that make sense? Think about the mask as like
also cleansing or hydrating. We want to kind
of seal that in. So cleanse. If you're going
to mask, that's when you're going to do it. Then
you're going to tone again. Some toners are just
like essence, the hydrating toners, if you will.
That's more like pour some in your hand, it's
a liquid, and you're going to kind of press it
into the skin, where the witch hazel that you're
using is something, it is also liquid, but it's
going to go on a pad, and you're going to kind
of rub that on. Then we're going to do the serums.
So we're back to the same kind of method, thin
to thick, whatever serums you're going to use
at night, whether it's hyaluronic acid, which
is a B5. It helps with plumping, hydration, makes
your skin look dewy. Do you want to get into,
like, tretinoin and things that dermatologists
suggest, too? Yeah, tell me all the things. So
last year, my dermatologist actually prescribed
this for me. You know, you're in your late 30s.
This is something you should be thinking about.
Basically, a retinoid. So it can be drying. Basically,
it's the first layer, like, that superficial
skin that gets kind of slothed off. You can peel
from it. You have to work your way up to it.
It's not something you can use every day. Honestly,
I would suggest using it like once a week for
a little bit or twice a week to start. And basically
they say like you can get up to using it every
day or every other day, but it can be really
dry, which I found it was on my skin. So I go
through these times where I don't even use it
at all, but it does help with skin turnover,
cell turnover, and just gives kind of a fresh
appearance to the skin because that outer layer
is getting kind of removed. very very thin but
it does get removed. So a trick with the tretinoin
is you can moisturize first or mix the tretinoin
with a little bit of moisturizer so it's not
as harsh. Oh okay so you're kind of like diluting
it um where people moisturize put the tretinoin
on and then moisturize again. So cleanse mask
if you're gonna tone serums and then the eye
cream moisturizer And that's it. All right, that
doesn't seem too daunting. No, it's just depending
on what you're doing each day. So if it's a day
I'm using the tretinoin, I'm maybe using a heavier
moisturizer at night, like a castor oil. I love
castor oil. I love the castor oil at night, but
I don't also do that every night as my moisturizer.
Sometimes I'm just using a basic moisturizer
or night cream. Sometimes I'm using a beef tallow.
Moisturizer again mainly at night just because
it's thicker and it's a little bit greasy So
I don't really want that under my makeup, but
if I'm not wearing makeup for the day Then I
will use that also as my moisturizer for the
day because I love it I mean the one I'm using
I love but it doesn't smell maybe the best. It's
a little beefy Like I'm happy you can't smell
me right now. I would say you kind of smell like
a burger. Yeah, I'm just kidding. But I do love
it. And it's so smooth. It feels so good on your
skin. And I have a little bit of psoriasis on
my eyelids, actually, which pops up here and
there. And it is so good for moisturizing both
the tallow and the castor oil. Feels so good.
I'm going to try the beef tallow. Cause again,
it just intrigues me when it's like natural.
I've been kind of making my own little botanical,
like medicinal garden, not like weed or anything.
It's like echinacea and all these things. Uh,
so I've been really interested in like making
tinctures. And like I said, I started last year
doing my own moisturizer with the frankincense.
Like I was reading up, cause I use that a lot
for just essential oils, right? I'll burn it
or whatever, but. The frankincense is so healing.
It helps with wrinkles, even age spots, like
I'm covered in freckles. Growing up, I was called
Punky Brewster. I looked like her. And so the
older I get, it's hard to tell, is that a freckle
or is that an age spot? And I had this one spot
on my face. That was a newer looking freckle.
And throughout the years it's been getting bigger
and bigger and it started to cause me some concern.
So I went to the dermatologist and she was like,
I'm not too concerned with it. If it gets bigger,
we're going to biopsy it and you know, do all
the things. Now I am not one to just like disregard
any medical advice, but I said, you know what,
hold off. before we take a crater out of my face,
let me just do a little experiment. And I started
the frankincense with maybe three drops mixed
in with scent castor oil. It's a miracle little
concoction. And it has literally made this spot
on my face go down to like a third of what it
was. So I am staying from experience like this
stuff works for age spots. So that and then I
want to ask your opinion about the snail mucin.
So is that like a serum? Is that considered a
step as a serum? Yeah, that would be a serum.
They do make it, the first time I ever used it
was in sheet mask form. So like, again, at night,
cleanse my face, sit on my bed, read a book for
10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever, with the sheet
mask on. But what's cool about those is there's
like in the little packages, there's leftover
there's obviously a lot of serum in there, right,
when you take the sheet mask out? So then I would
use that packet for a couple days after as a
serum too, because there was so much left inside.
Oh, cool. So, yeah, cleanse and I would put the
sheet mask on, kind of rub that in, and on those
days that I was using something like that, I
would cleanse and tone first, because it was
a mask that I needed to rinse off, like a charcoal
mask or something like that, you know, like a
mud mask. So... that was just going to stay on
because it's clear. It's a serum mask. It's a
little bit different. But yes, that would be
a serum you would put on first before you moisturize
and do eye cream. What's your take on like those
B or A pore strips or like things like that?
Is that kind of, you know, harmful to your skin?
I don't know if I want to say harmful, but you
know, they're made for your nose or your chin
area. But yeah, in my head, that makes sense
that it does kind of leave the pore open and
vulnerable for more clogging. Yeah. Okay. I would
just go get a facial and they'll manually extract
for you. I know. I just recently went, my husband
got me this awesome spa day for Mother's Day
and I deliberately waited to use it until my
birthday, which was like almost a year later.
And I got the facial and it was like, oh my God,
how am I only getting this now? I think I've
gotten two in my whole life. And it was just
like, wow, incredible. It does feel so good.
I feel like skincare is an important piece of
just self -care and self -love. It can become,
like I said, like a ritual. And I think that
that's good because you're just, you're taking
care of yourself. You brush your teeth and you
eat well and you're doing all these other things.
But if you're not taking care of your actual
outside part of your body, you know, and it just
makes you feel good. When your skin is hydrated
and you don't have any blemishes or anything
going on like that, you feel like you don't really
need makeup. And that also feels nice being almost
40 and comfortable in your skin. Yeah, I'm more
comfortable in my skin now than I was in high
school. Right, and that comes with age. You would
have never caught me dead without makeup until
I was probably 25 or 26. Like I just, no thank
you. I wouldn't even go to... You wouldn't catch
me dead without makeup until like last week,
you know. I'm like really trucking along here,
but one thing that I... did pick up like a few
years ago. Cause you know, every now and then
I break out with a little bit here and there
around my period. Is it on your chin? Cause that's
typically, yeah, it has to do with menstrual.
Yeah. So I found these awesome things. Um, peace
out acne. They're like these little stickers
that you put on at night. My God, I wish they
had this in high school because you, they are
like the hardest little workers at night. when
you're sleeping because you wake up and it literally
draws all the stuff that's just clogging whatever
is going on there and you take off the little
patch and you just see all of it oh really on
oh yeah i will yeah the next time i order a patch
i'm going to give you i've heard of things like
that i don't know if it's what i'm thinking but
i know i love it but they actually work so now
i'm like addicted to them and i love them and
yeah i'll be getting those for my boys when they
hit that prime age of you know, all the things.
But I also wanted to bring up, because Steve's
grandma gave me this awesome trick back in the
day. Before you get out of the shower, and your
skin is still wet, you lather up your legs and
your arms, your stomach, everything but your
face with baby oil, then you dry off. And you
don't need any lotion. And your skin is just
so smooth. You know when you go to... get a pedicure
and they put that oil on and you walk out of
the salon, you're like, oh my God, my legs feel
so smooth and like nice. It's, I mean, you could
pick up the cheapest little bottle of baby oil,
keep it in your shower. And it's, I was like,
Betty, oh my God, thank you so much. Betty with
the tips. Oh God, girl. And it does the trick.
I mean, I'm telling you, my legs, after I do
that, they feel so good. Yeah, I've even she
if you shave with baby oil same thing. You just
gotta watch out cuz that shower is slick after
That's slick, but it really does make your legs
feel really really nice. So I agree with the
baby oil Betty knew what she was doing Yeah,
I'm gonna do the baby oil shaving. I never tried.
Yeah, just make a pin dot in Yeah, you know how
it's sealed Just like the pin neck, because otherwise
it's a mess. So let's talk castor oil, or it
could be any kind of, you know, body oil if you
make your own or whatever, but for gua sha. You
want to talk about gua sha now? Let's do gua
sha. I feel like we're going to go on like a
ayahuasca trip. Let's do some gua sha. I know,
you want to talk about it? So this is become
big, I would say. I mean, I don't know, over
the past 10 years, but. from what I know, but
I feel like it's really like I see so much of
it now. And it's basically facial massage for
your face, your neck, helps with lymphatic drainage
too, which has become a big thing too for just
your whole body in general. But it's essentially
a technique with a lot of it is a jade that you
can purchase. They come in like handheld forms,
sometimes rollers. and everyone's got kind of
a different technique, but it's basically rubbing
this along your face to move fluid and helps
with fine lines and wrinkles. It's just, it feels
so good. You kind of feel this like fire starting,
which is normal. You feel the blood come to your
face, like to the surface. You typically will
get a little pink, little red from it. That's
normal, but It really helps with puffiness. It
can help with under eye puffiness and it just
kind of gets things moving and it feels so good.
There's tons of tutorials online. You can go
on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube. Some techniques
are just so basic. A lot of times I will do something
quick kind of in the shower while my cleanser
is actually on. So I'm just using my fingers.
And then if I do have time and it's like a little
self care day or a Sunday or something, I will
actually use. you know, the tools, but my favorite
oil to use right now is castor oil. So I will
put all my stuff on, but if I'm using castor
oil as my actual moisturizer, I do that last
and it's just helps glide with your tools so
easily. And then, and then there's still so much
on. It's not like you're getting it really in
your hair or anything. It really kind of stays
put because castor oil is pretty thick and it
just glides so nicely and it just feels amazing.
Now is this because I have like a rose quartz
roller in my fridge Similar and yes. Yep, very
similar. You can put any of those things in The
freezer so that they're really cold and that's
just a nice feeling for the skin as well I have
like a huge roller. I don't even know actually
what it's made of. It's definitely not Jade or
rose quartz And if you're feeling puffy, you
can just rub it on your temples if you have a
headache or something like that. And those are
really nice. I think I bought it on Amazon for
$8. And these, you know, the gua sha, they're
not that expensive. Again, you can find them
on Amazon for definitely under $15, probably
under $10. Is there a specific direction that
you're supposed to move it, like up and out?
Yeah, you're kind of moving, you're kind of starting
from... the center, like if there was a line
to be from the top of, you know, the middle of
your forehead down to your chin, you're going
to think like everything from the middle to the
left and the middle to the right. So you're kind
of moving out to the edges towards your ears
and up, and then also down the back of the neck.
And, you know, your neck is incorporated into
it too, just for the lymphatic drainage portion.
But like I said, there's so many tutorials online,
different people you can follow who, you know,
you can get the direction from, and it's so easy.
but it feels so good. Oh, I'm gonna have to try
some foie chat. Yeah, and again, I'm sure there's
people who do it every night. I do it just like
when I can and I'm finding the time for myself,
but it does really feel good and I love the castor
oil for that. So some nights I'm using castor
oil as my moisturizer I'm never using it during
the day because it's way too thick again unless
I'm just staying home all day but I would say
the night time is when your skin is really getting
to heal and rejuvenate itself because there's
so much time that you're resting and So that's
really one kind of the strong stuff is used like
a retinoid or something like that I'm gonna have
to revisit I had tried retinol or retinoid one
of them over -the -counter, but I had tried it
briefly and I got real scared because it started
flaking, like you said. Yeah. And I just kind
of chucked it and ran, but I might have to start
reintroducing myself to that one. Yeah, it's
just... Yeah, I think if you layer with a moisturizer,
so moisturizer, and then your retinol, and then
moisturizer again, that might help. And I've
had, like I said, good luck with using the castor
oil on those nights I'm using the tretinoin.
Yeah, see I wasn't using castor oil back then,
so that could probably help. Yes, absolutely.
And there is bad castor oil, so you do want to
look for organic castor oil too, because there's
so many other uses which we could go down. Like,
oh, that's a whole other episode with my love
for castor oil. But yes, definitely loving it
on the face for sure. So I wanted to give a little
shout out to one of the brands that I'm using
right now, because I am using a good amount of
their stuff. I don't even know how to say it,
to be honest. It's made in California. I'm gonna
pronounce it shwa -lay. This is where I'm getting
my tallow balm, which is basically a moisturizer.
It has vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, K, B12,
omega -3, and choline. Ooh, again, doesn't have
like, it smells like tallow. doesn't really have
a scent, but I can also get behind that because
I know that there's not a lot of junk in it.
But the balm that I'm using also has methylene
blue in it, which I feel like is a new trigger
word for people. It's like a big thing. You can
actually ingest it. It could be in skincare,
like I'm saying, and I feel like it's kind of
the new craze. So they actually have some of
that also in their tallow balm. And I've been
using their Methylene Blue serum also. So it
is actually like light blue. Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, I love it. So Methylene Blue helps with
collagen production, skin thickness, so your
skin's not so, you know, thin or crepey looking.
It adds hydration, it reduces wrinkle formation,
and it neutralizes free radicals. So if you were
to use it at any time, it'd be best really in
the morning to help. you know, with any free
radicals that you get during the day. But I've
been using it morning and night. I've been putting
it on before I do my vitamin C serum in the morning,
and I've been putting it on at night before I
use my hyaluronic acid. Again, let those serums
sit for maybe even just 30 seconds. It just needs
to kind of not be wet before you apply the next
one. And a lot of these, they work well with
other things you can completely layer. Also,
what's neat about Methylene Blue is it's antiviral,
antibacterial, antifungal. It's awesome. I love
it. Yeah, Steve brought that up to me the other
day. Of course, you too, probably. Oh, yeah.
Your ears were ringing. I know. You know what,
too? They have a deodorant I've been using because
I think most of us are trying to get away from
all the aluminum and all the other crap in our
deodorants, and it works really good. Like, not
stinky at all. Not stinky on it. It has zinc
and charcoal, arrowroot, baking soda. Like, it's
very clean, and I love it. I've been very, very
happy with my products from them. Like you said,
I've been using the Thayer's Witch Hazel as my
toner, which is something new. I've never used
Witch Hazel before until like three months ago
I started using it. Little goes a long way. It
lasts forever. And that's priced really well.
Then my cleanser. And I do have a couple of their
serums, my hyaluronic acid and my vitamin C serum.
I do have one of their moisturizers too is Laroche
Posay. Don't know if I'm saying that right either.
Yeah, I have heard about that one Yeah, I've
been liking it and I've tried a ton of brands
So it's really personal too as to what works
for you. What feels good. You want to use clean
clean products We do our best but in the same
breath some of the clean clean products maybe
won't Fix what you need. Like sometimes you do
need something prescription So it just depends
on what you're needing for your own personal
you know, your skin, what does it actually need?
I think that, you know, if you can just, like
I said, even if you're just cleansing and moisturizing,
you're doing better than most of the other people.
Yeah, girl, wash your face, right? Read that
books. Yeah. So another thing is like double
cleansing or not cleansing at all. Again, this
is just like, there's a couple of different camps.
It's like what makes the most sense. Some people
double cleanse, which means they wash their face
two times in a row. to make sure that they're
getting all the stuff off, which I totally understand.
If you're using a ton of makeup or something
really strong, then yeah, you might need to cleanse
two times. You don't want your toner pad to be
brown from all your bronzer that you had, even
though you just washed your face. That shouldn't
be the case. It just depends on what camp you're
in as to what works best for you. I'm in the
rugged camp. It looks great though. So whatever
dad was mixing in that bucket, I think he really...
Yeah, I can't wait to find out. the mystery bucket
maybe it's basically it feels like a mud mask
which is great because that is exfoliating and
can also close your pores which is half the battle
yeah no it's cool we had an obscene amount of
it you might have to bottle it he might really
have something it's like a five dollar bag from
pump depot it's just cement yeah yeah well to
leave you guys today i wanted to give a quote
per usual. So I don't know who this is from either.
Couldn't find it. But it says, skincare is a
ritual, not a routine. And I feel like it's so
true because it's kind of self -love. You need
to like take the time and it feels good when
you do it. You know, when I take the time to
do all the things, it feels nice. So incorporate
this into your life, give yourself the love and
treatment that you guys deserve. And as always,
keep it good.