21 Best Skin Care Tips: Good Skincare & A Top Beauty Tip for Radiant Skin
What's the secret to radiant skin? Is it just good genes, or is it possible to achieve that gorgeous glow we're all looking for with a good skin care routine?
We'll be honest, it's both. But whether or not you possess those genes we all envy, there's skin care out there for you that will help you to look and feel your best.
You probably already know the basics – cleanse, moisturize, wear sunscreen, drink your water, and eat your greens (yes mom). You've probably been doing it "right" and following these skin care tips for years. So why isn't your skin Scarlet Johansson perfect already?
Maybe it's because seemingly harmless, everyday behaviors are silently damaging your skin health. Maybe you've been applying your products wrong, or you've chosen the wrong ingredients for your skin type. We are all guilty of doing things that damage our skin and unless you live in a bubble, it is difficult not to.
That's why we've rounded up the best advice from dermatologists to create the ultimate skin care cheat sheet, with some expert tips and serious skin care advice to help you achieve the glow you've been looking for.
21 Great Tips For A Dermatologist Approved Skin Care Routine
Here are the top 21 skin care tips from dermatologists and beauty experts to help you achieve your beauty goals.
1. Eat Superfoods
Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and just like your heart or your liver, your skin needs nutrients.
Superfoods have become the buzzword for various health and wellness experts around the world, with good reason. They are not a fad diet or a trend, superfoods are simply foods that are packed with nutrients that are good for your body and your skin. Superfoods include dark leafy greens, legumes, nuts and seeds, berries, eggs, avocado, salmon, and olive oil.
Dermatologists recommend a balanced diet packed with a good variety of lean proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals to nourish your skin and keep breakouts at bay.
2. Avoid Alcohol & Sugar
While we're talking about food, let's be clear that overindulging in too much salt, sugar, wine, beer, and hard liquor will showcase itself on your face and your body’s skin.
As we already know, alcohol dehydrates and inflames your skin, making it dull and blotchy. If you must indulge in the occasional adult beverage, make sure to keep a glass of water handy to sip on between drinks. This helps keep you hydrated and assists your body in flushing out the alcohol.
Additionally, avoid mixers that are chock full of sugar and try to keep sugary desserts to a minimum too. Sugary foods are the enemy of youthful skin, as sugar breaks down the elastin and collagen in your dermis, leading to dullness, fine lines, and wrinkles over time.
The same goes for the opposite side of the spectrum, too much salt will also dehydrate your skin, causing puffiness, bloating, and a dull complexion.
More helpful reading: Is alcohol bad for your skin?
3. Get A Good Night's Sleep
There's a reason we call it beauty sleep! Sleep is absolutely essential to a radiant complexion.
You probably know the feeling of waking up after a bad night's sleep, looking in the mirror, and seeing those dreaded dark circles and puffy under-eye bags. While you'll probably just pop on some extra makeup to mask the problem and get on with the day, you might not be thinking about the long-term damage your lack of sleep is doing to your skin.
While you rest, your skin cells have time to repair and regenerate, blood flows to your dermis, tissue repairs itself, and collagen production speeds up. A night of bad sleep will throw this cycle of repair out of sync and your skin will start to look more dull, dry, and tired as a result.
Long term, this will lead to premature skin aging as your collagen levels decline, and your skin loses elasticity and begins to wrinkle more easily.
So if you want youthful, radiant skin, be sure to get at least 8 hours of shut-eye every night.
4. Avoid Heat
You might love a burning hot shower in the morning, but your dermatologist certainly doesn't.
That's because hot water strips your skin of the good oils and healthy fats it needs to stay hydrated and supple. Hot water in your shower or bath could be making the skin on your face and body dry, itchy, and irritated, and it exacerbates the symptoms of existing conditions like eczema, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and acne. So make sure you turn down the temperature if you want to take care of your smooth, soft skin.
This kind of skin damage and irritation can also come with dry heat that you might get from sitting too close to a fireplace or a radiator, so even if you love to be cozy, try to keep those habits to a minimum and take plenty of breaks from the heat. Your skin will thank you for it!
5. Layer Your Products Correctly
Now that we've covered the basic lifestyle tips, let's talk about products. The order in which you apply your skincare and beauty products is as important as the products themselves.
You should always start your skincare routine with makeup remover, cleanser, and toner to remove bacteria, oil, and makeup from your pores. If you want to exfoliate, do this next.
Now for nourishment and moisture. When it comes to serums and moisturizers, you want to layer the products from lightest to heaviest consistency. This means you need to be applying your light watery serum before any skin oil, and your moisturizing lotion or cream should come last. If you apply your products in the wrong order, your heavy moisturizer could block your serum from absorbing properly.
In the right order, your serum's active ingredients will be able to penetrate deep into the dermis while your moisturizer can form a protective barrier layer to keep those nutrients locked in. Always apply sunscreen last for maximum protection from the sun.
Check out our guide to layering products in the 10-step Korean skin care routine here.
6. Boost Your Circulation
Good circulation ensures that blood flows to your dermis and brings all the nutrients it needs to remain supple and strong. Good circulation means a radiant complexion and rosy cheeks, while bad circulation can leave your skin looking dull and grey. The good news is that you can boost your circulation and improve your skin with some simple changes to your routine.
When applying your skincare products, take time to really massage them into your skin. This will help boost blood flow and make your skincare routine feel more relaxing and luxurious in the process. It can feel like you are getting a mini facial! You could also try some facial massage tools like gua sha, facial rollers, and dry brushes.
Exercise is also key to good circulation, so try to get some extra movement into your day. Whether it's a spin class or an extra walk in the evening, it will all help your blood flow and your skin.
Read our guide to doing a facial at home here.
7. Use the Right Products For Your Skin Type
To take the best care of your skin, you will need to know your skin type and ensure you choose the right products for its needs.
Each skin type will have different requirements, for example:
- Sensitive skin will need gentle, fragrance-free, and hypoallergenic formulas
- Dry skin will need some extra moisture and should avoid products that strip the skin of its oils such as foam cleansers or astringent toners
- Oily skin will need some light cleansing and hydrating products. Gel and foam products that can tackle oil and dirt are the best skin care for oily skin and acne-prone skin.
If you have other specific skin concerns, you will need to know what ingredients are best to tackle them. Here's a quick guide to skincare concerns and ingredients to look out for:
- Fine lines and wrinkles – Use collagen or retinol to boost your skin's elasticity
- Dark spots and pigmentation – Antioxidants like vitamin C and grape seed extract can help brighten dull, dark skin and offer some sun protection (alongside your sunscreen!)
- Acne – Salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide are great ingredients for tackling the oil, bacteria, and breakouts that come with acne
- Dryness and irritation – Hyaluronic acid and ceramides are the best moisturizing ingredients for boosting water and healthy fats in the skin
Check out our complete guide to skincare ingredients here.
8. Avoid Harsh Chemicals
No matter your skin type, there are certain chemicals and preservatives commonly used in skin care that you should stay away from at all costs.
These include alcohol denat, parabens, formaldehyde, chlorine, sodium laurel sulfate, and synthetic glycerin, to name just a few. These ingredients are often used to preserve skin care products or to make them look or feel a certain way, but they can cause skin irritation, dryness, and even exacerbate our skin's wrinkles over time.
So make sure to check the labels on your skin care products and opt for natural, chemical-free products where possible.
The best news? All of our products at Renewskin Co contain no additives, no preservatives, and are non-GMO, designed to promote truly healthy skin from the inside out.
More helpful reading: Is alcohol bad for skin? RenewSkin, Inc. shares its views here.
9. Replenish Your Collagen From Within
Collagen is the protein responsible for supple, smooth skin. It forms 80% of the structure of our dermis, working as a form of scaffolding to hold our skin up and prevent it from wrinkling and sagging.
Unfortunately, our skin's collagen supplies are constantly being damaged by aging, sunlight, blue light, environmental toxins, alcohol, sugar, poor nutrition, and chemicals. And the list goes on!
This is why collagen supplements are a must-have if you want to help support your skin's health and structure from within. They work to replenish lost and damaged collagen, improving your skin's elasticity and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in the process.
Taut Premium Collagen Drink is our solution to lost collagen and the effects of aging and external toxins on your skin.
We use only the highest quality and potency of marine collagen proven to support your skin's structure and appearance. Each bottle contains 13,000mg of hydrolyzed marine collagen peptides for maximum skin rejuvenation. A daily dose of Taut's Premium Collagen Drink can help lift, tone, and firm sagging skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and increase suppleness and radiance.
Even better, our advanced formula is designed to supercharge and replenish your skin's collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. It also contains potent antioxidants like grape seed extract and vitamin C to help boost your skin's natural radiance.
Last but not least, it contains no additives or preservatives, and it is naturally sweetened with plant sugar (Stevia leaf).
Learn more about hydrolyzed marine collagen benefits by Renewskin Co.
10. Cleansing
When it comes to your morning and nighttime skin care, cleansing is the essential first step, but not all cleansers are created equal.
Dry skin will need less cleansing and a more gentle product than oily skin. You still need to wash off your makeup at night and take a shower every day, but excessive cleansing of your face won’t make your skin any cleaner. In fact, the more you lather up, the drier your skin can become since doing so strips away natural oils on your face. Wash with a rich, creamy, or oil-based cleanser to keep your skin's good oils and moisture barrier intact.
People with oily and acne-prone skin will benefit from a foam or gel cleanser that can tackle a persistent build-up of oil, dirt, and bacteria on the face.
11. Exfoliate Gently
Did you know that your skin sheds between 30,000 and 40,000 cells every minute of the day?1
This adds up to about a million cells every day, which naturally can lead to a build-up of dead skin cells that make your complexion appear dull and ruddy over time. That's why your dermatologist will always tell you that the key to bright and radiant skin is to exfoliate your face a couple of times a week, but not every day.
Over-exfoliation can irritate the skin, so the key is to be gentle. Get to know your AHAs and BHAs, which are exfoliating acids that can gently remove dead skin cells when used correctly. These include salicylic acid, lactic acid, and glycolic acid.
Removing dead skin isn't intended to hurt. If an exfoliator burns, stings, or causes your face to become red and blotchy, chuck it. Along with peeling your skin, it's removing your skin's natural hydrating oils. Coarse scrubs and abrasive peels can cause swelling and inflammation, which leads to clogged pores and even wrinkles and brown spots. Some people with particularly sensitive skin may even react to salicylic acid, so try a patch test before using it.
Use a gentle exfoliator just once or twice a week, or a mild lactic acid peel once a week.
12. Find The Right Toner
Toners are necessary for oily and acne-prone skin in particular, as they minimize the appearance of pores, remove dirt and oil, and they can also be soothing and refreshing. They work to prepare your skin's barrier layer before applying your nourishing and moisturizing products.
If you have dry skin, however, some toners may not work for you. Toners are made to remove skin oil that dry skin requires to help keep water from evaporating. People with dry skin should look for a gentle, moisturizing toner with ingredients such as aloe, vitamin E, or avocado oil.
13. Serums Are Key
If you're not using a serum yet, now is the time to start!
Serums are loved by dermatologists for their ability to penetrate deep into the pores and deliver an effective dose of active ingredients, whether that is antioxidants, collagen peptides, retinol, hyaluronic acid, or vitamins.
The best face serum for you will depend on your specific skin concerns, but the best all-rounders will contain antioxidants that can protect your skin from external toxins, reduce inflammation, even your skin tone, and brighten your complexion for a radiance boost.
Our Taut Intensive Recovery Serum contains a potent mix of 7 powerful botanical herbal extracts with proven antioxidant & anti-inflammatory properties. It hydrates, repairs, and protects your skin, and reinforces your skin's barrier.
This serum is perfect for restoring moisture and delivering brightening antioxidants to every skin type, and it is even gentle enough for sensitive skin.
14. Use Antioxidants
If radiance is your goal, antioxidants should be a staple in your diet and your skincare products.
Antioxidants can protect and brighten stressed and environmentally damaged skin, working to reduce pigmentation and dark spots caused by age or too much sun exposure. They can also support your SPF sunscreen in protecting your skin from future damage.
Taut Bright is our potent antioxidant supplement designed to help you boost your skin's health and radiance from the inside out.
Our formula contains a potent mix of vitamin C, L-Glutathione, L-Cysteine, olive leaf extract, artichoke leaf extract, grape seed extract, and alpha-lipoic acid. This combination of ingredients has been proven by science to help protect against cellular damage, inhibit melanin production, fade hyperpigmentation and dark spots, and lighten your skin naturally.
More helpful reading: Vitamin C skincare
15. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
When it comes to supple youthful skin, hydration is key. We're not just talking about drinking water, although you should always aim for at least 8 glasses per day.
Your skin needs hydration on the surface too, which is why moisturizer is an essential step for your skin care routine. When choosing a moisturizer, look out for humectants, which are ingredients that can attract and retain water in your skin's layers and deliver a supple, smooth complexion. Examples include hyaluronic acid and glycerin.
In the morning, try using a moisturizing cream or lotion with SPF protection. At night you should use a richer night cream with active ingredients like collagen or retinol that can get to work at repairing your skin over the course of the night.
Have you ever tried a hydrating supplement for your skin?
Taut Hydrate is our plant-derived hyaluronic acid pill that works as a super moisture magnet to plump and hydrate your skin from the inside out.
While topical moisturizing creams and lotions are key to hydrating the surface of your skin, they can only reach so far through the pores to deliver their moisture. A hyaluronic supplement can complement your moisturizer by hydrating both your face and body from within, moisturizing deep in the skin's layers to improve firmness, smoothness and visibly reduce signs of imperfections.
Find out more about Taut Hydrate:
https://www.renewskinco.com/products/taut-hyaluronic-acid-hydrate
16. Always Wear Sunscreen
Sunscreen is the single most important thing a dermatologist can recommend for your skin. If you don’t follow any of the above recommendations, at least heed this one.
Sun exposure is the number one environmental cause of premature aging, along with more serious diseases like skin cancer. Ultra Violet (UV) exposure gradually destroys the integrity of the skin’s structure, so you won’t notice the total effects until years later. Tanning veterans who don't wear sunscreen properly will often wind up with wrinkly, leathered skin.
Every day, come rain, hail, or shine, you need to apply sunscreen to your face and body.
Even on cloudy or rainy days, your skin needs sun protection. UVB rays can actually harm your skin through a window, and even the blue light from your computer screen could be damaging to your skin. So whether or not you are staying indoors for the day, you should have some form of broad-spectrum SPF sunscreen on. Many face creams will have an SPF in them already, which can be useful for day-to-day use.
The best form of protection is a broad-spectrum, mineral sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. Broad-spectrum means that the sunscreen will protect your skin from both UVA and UVB rays, and SPF 30 is typically the minimum protection dermatologists will recommend in order to keep your skin safe from harm.
More helpful reading:
https://www.renewskinco.com/blogs/i/how-to-repair-sun-damaged-skin-collagen-and-antioxidants
17. Try A Sheet Mask
Sheet masks are luxurious treatments that can provide all of the benefits of your serum, treatment, and moisturizer in one go.
The key to their effectiveness is the sheet or light cloth layer in the mask that holds a rich soothing essence against your skin, delivering essential ingredients deep into your skin's layers to hydrate and give your complexion a radiant glow.
Our Taut Collagen Mask is designed to tone, hydrate, and brighten your skin with visible results in just 15 minutes.
Our luxurious sheet mask formula has been infused with hydrolyzed collagen peptides, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and botanical squalene, specially formulated to target sagging, dehydrated, and dull-looking skin for an instant red carpet glow.
18. Incorporate Anti-Aging Ingredients Sooner Rather Than Later
Many people believe that ingredients like collagen or retinol are not needed until their 40s or later, however, we could all benefit from incorporating these anti-aging ingredients into our skincare routines much sooner.
Although we may not being to see sagging skin or wrinkles until later in life, from the age of 20 we begin to produce 1% less collagen each year.2
This is why anti-aging products and supplements can also work as a preventative measure, helping to nip fine lines in the bud and keep skin taut and supple from the get-go. If you are in your 20s, you might want to try incorporating a low-dose collagen or retinol night cream into your routine, which you might only use once or twice a week, to begin with.
More helpful reading: The best skin care routine for 20s.
19. Don't Forget Your Neck
When applying your morning and night face creams and serums, make sure you don't forget to pay attention to your neck.
The skin on your neck is very thin and delicate, and it will be one of the first places to show the signs of aging if you don't look after it. While your face has natural oils that keep it supple and moisturized, your neck has much less moisture and is more prone to becoming dehydrated. This is why many women are prone to sagging skin below the chin sometimes known as "turkey neck."
So when you're applying your serum, moisturizer, and SPF sunscreen to your face, be sure to massage them into your décolletage too.
More helpful reading:
https://www.renewskinco.com/blogs/i/turkey-neck-treatments-and-prevention-steps
20. Don't Be A Stranger To Your Dermatologist
Your dermatologist can be your best friend when it comes to achieving the skin of your dreams.
While a balanced diet, healthy lifestyle, and a decent skincare routine is the best way to maintain a good complexion, only a dermatologist can diagnose skin conditions and prescribe proper treatment and customized tips for conditions like acne, rosacea, psoriasis, or eczema. A dermatologist can help monitor your skin through services like mole-mapping.
Your dermatologist can also help with beauty treatments like fillers, chemical peels, hydrafacials, acne treatments, or other anti-aging facial treatments if and when you feel your face or body needs an extra boost.
You can find a directory of board-certified dermatologists through the American Academy of Dermatology.3
More helpful reading:
21. Adapt To The Season
Once you've found a skincare routine that works for you, it can be tempting to stick with it no matter what. However, different weather can bring different needs for your skin, so it's best to switch it up for different seasons.
In the summer sun, your skin will benefit from lighter products and more SPF sunscreen, while in winter you might find you need to use more hydrating creams to combat the harsh weather conditions. Whatever you do, just don't forget that you need to wear sunscreen on your face and body, no matter the season!
More helpful reading:
https://www.renewskinco.com/blogs/i/summer-skin-care-tips
Kickstart Your Skin Care Routine With Taut
Want radiant, amazing skin that reveals a fresher, younger-looking you?
If you're trying all of these tips but still want an extra boost of youthful radiance for your complexion, try Ms. Magnifique, a 24-day transformation program designed to kickstart your skincare routine. Ms. Magnifique is a bundle containing a 24-day supply of our Taut Premium Collagen Drink, Taut Collagen Masks, and Taut Bright.
There is a synergistic benefit to combining these supplements and masks as a three-tiered approach to youthful skin.
You can replenish collagen from the inside out with our Collagen Drink, and from the outside in with our high-intensity Taut Collagen Mask. If you have age spots or hyperpigmentation, Taut Bright is the perfect intensive spot-targeting and skin-brightening supplement.
The end result of a complete collagen treatment program that replenishes collagen from various angles is far more impressive than that of a skincare regimen including only one or two collagen products.
Contact us to learn more about how a comprehensive collagen treatment regimen can fight the signs of aging and help you achieve a smooth, supple, and radiant complexion.
References:
