Summer skin care swaps

Summer is just around the corner (Saturday, woot!) and I've been preparing for its imminent arrival. Last weekend I put most of my sweaters away – three out of five of them! I tucked a good chunk of my scarves into storage, too (way more than just five, if you're curious). But summer preparations aren't just limited to my wardrobe. Nope! I've swapped my skincare routine too.
My new skin care regime is a little less involved than my winter skin care routine. Back then I was really concerned about dryness, so I focused a lot on moisturizing. It could be said that I went overboard with the moisturizing.

After cleansing twice, I spritzed on toner, followed with a light serum,  a facial oil and finished with a moisturizer. Weekly treatments included a clay mask and a physical exfoliator once a week. It may seem like a lot, but my face was never dry. Ever. I showed the rest of my body some love by using a rich body moisturizer. It really helped to keep dryness at bay and left my skin so soft.

My summer skin care routine won't call for as much moisturizing, thank goodness. I will focus instead on proper cleansing and enough SPF protection. This routine will definitely be simpler than my winter skin care routine.

Cleanser

I'm alternating two cleansers: organic coconut oil and Lush's Herbalism. While I'm still doing the two-step cleaning process (oil +  other), I switched up my foam cleanser for something clay base to absorb any excess oil. Last summer, I found that using a foam-based cleanser was a bad idea. It stripped me off all oil and my face got a little oiler to compensate.

Toner

The toner is still there, but I've switched the products.  I've switched my Thayers witch hazel to a DIY apple cider vinegar mix. Instead of spritzing and letting the product penetrate the skin to moisturize, I'll use this to swipe my T-zone and soak up any extra oiliness. With the apple cider vinegar mix (diluted with some water), I'll lightly swipe my T-zone and any part that has some congestion. No where else.

Moisturizer

I'll have two: a light moisturizer for day – Missha's Super Aqua snail cream – and a light facial oil for night – Kahina's Giving Beauty argan oil.

Sun care

I always put on a sunscreen of some kind on my face, but now it's time to bring out the big bottle of sunscreen. I've got four sunscreens on rotation: two for the face (Nature Republic Eco Mild and L'oreal Ombrelle Face Cream), two for the body (L'oreal Ombrelle and Missha).

If used properly, I should finish at least one of each by the time summer is over.

Body moisturizer/after-sun care

Coconut oil will be my body moisturizer. Hopefully this will be the last day that the oil will look this solid until the end of the summer. I'm so looking forward to soft, coconut-ty skin, you don't even know.

In the off-chance that I overdo it in the sun (that's only ever happened to me twice, and because I fell asleep at the beach), I've got some aloe on standby. Nature Republic says this gel has a multitude of uses, so I'm looking forward to trying them all out for the season.