For me, a spa day is all-inclusive. It’s about taking care of myself fully — my hair, my skin, my mind. Sometimes, though, I don’t have time to touch every aspect of my being but need the touch of relaxation a spa day brings. Those are the days when I reach for this routine.
Most days, I’m too rushed in the morning to do anything special with my makeup. I’m so focused on getting out the door and to class on time that I don’t have the presence of mind to deviate from the routine I’ve fallen into. I didn’t really devote any time to developing this in a scientific manner; it just sort of fell into place around the products I’ve been using the most in the past few months. Without further ado, here is that very simple routine (ignore the huge number of products in this photo; all will be explained!).
My morning routine has been pretty simple for my entire life. As a kid, it involved rubbing a wet washcloth over my face. In middle school, my mom gave me my first face wash. After starting college, I started paying more attention to my skin and took care to actually wash my face every morning. Now, I’m here, caring more about what products I use and what steps I take.
Recently it’s been going through a lot of changes, but I’d love to share my current morning routine with you all. In contrast to my thorough (ish) nighttime routine, which I just talked about here, my mornings are usually a rush. Sleep is a commodity in college, and I tend to try and make up for going to bed later than I would like by sleeping in for as long as possible. Therefore, my morning skincare routine gets reduced to just three steps: Cleanse, Treat, and Moisturize.
With my college student life, I try to keep things simple. I don’t have the money for 20 products, or the time, or even the sink space. To go along with my hectic, ever-changing life, I have multiple different evening routines that I use in different scenarios. To simplify things, I’ll describe a 1-minute routine and a longer mix-and-match routine.
The “I’m exhausted and just want to sleep” routine:
Most of the time, though, I’m not drop-dead tired. So, when I have more time, this is my routine. I don’t do every step every night, but this is the maximum number of steps that I do.
Just A Primer 