New year, new you, new skin! In one of the previous blog posts, we went over some intentions for the new year. One of which was taking care of your skin. So we figured we’d dedicate an entire blog post to one of our favourite skincare brands: Gressa Skin! Which has an amazing skincare range, and their make-up is basically skincare with a colour added to it. What’s not to love?
Gressa Skin utilizes a 3-step skincare process to revitalize and renew your skin. Depending on your personal preference, you can skip the cleanser in the mornings, but we would recommend doing the other 2 steps both morning and night.
Step 1: Cleanser
There are two options here for you to choose from. Both are great for different reasons. The Balancing Cleanser is an oil-based cleanser that is especially suited for aging or sensitive skin. People with acne can also use this product. The oils in here will not aggravate your skin and make you break out, but it will balance out your skin, as the name suggests and can actually reduce the amount of spots. The main ingredient in this oil is jojoba oil, which is an amazing ingredient for balancing out your skin’s natural sebum production, making it great for all skin types. If you’re wearing make-up, you can use the Balancing Cleanser for that as well. However, don’t forget to actually cleanse your skin after that with either the Balancing Cleanser again, or the Purifying Cleanser.
The Purifying Cleanser is a foaming cleanser. Often foaming cleansers dry out and break out your skin, and leave your face feeling quite tight. When your skin is stripped dry, it can cause it to produce too much oil afterwards, which leaves it quite imbalanced. None of those things happen with the Purifying Cleanser! This anti-inflammatory cleanser will remove impurities, but also nourish, and strengthen your skin.
Step 2: Tone
A toner is the second step. Often it’s pretty confusing what exactly a toner does. Well… they help with balancing your skin and often have extra skincare benefits. The Purifying Mist is a rose water spray. Rose water helps to balance your skin’s pH, hydrates and has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant and toning properties. The smell is divine, and will help you relax.
The Rejuvenating Mist is an orange blossom water spray. Orange blossom water helps with toning your skin as well. It hydrates, but it’s also slightly exfoliating. It smells great as well, and has a calming effect. Perfect to wind down after a long day.
Both toners are suitable for all skin types. We use the Purifying Toner during the day together with the Purifying Oil, and the Rejuvenating Toner at night together with the Night Repair Elixir, but you can use them whenever and however you want. Even throughout the day to freshen up your skin. A facial spray is also a great last step in your make-up routine, as it will get rid of any excess powder you might’ve applied, making your skin more dewy.
However, if you're not too keen on facial mists (like our co-founder Mathijs), then you'll love ILIA's Cucumber Water Stick. It's a toner, but in a stick. You can just draw it onto your skin and then rub it out. A cooling toner with anti-inflammatory properties that helps to hydrate your skin and stimulate collagen product. Use it during your skincare routine, or whenever you feel like your skin needs a boost during the day.
Step 3: Nourish
During the day use the Purifying Oil, a hydrating facial treatment for all skin types, even acne-prone skin. The main ingredient in this blend of oils is jojoba oil. This lightweight golden liquid is actually a wax ester, which is what makes it mimic the oil that our skin produces. This makes it an amazing ingredient for both dry and oily skin. The versatile, potent properties heal, balance, and restore healthy skin. This oil will replace the day cream that you might be used to. It is also great to prepare your skin for make-up.
At night use the Night Repair Elixir, which will repair your skin while you sleep. You’ll wake up with more refreshed, revitalized skin. The main ingredient is grape seed oil, which hydrates while regulating natural oil production. It is bursting with antioxidants that fight free radicals, anti-inflammatory polyphenols, beta carotene, and vitamins D, C, and E. Another important ingredient is rosehip oil. Packed with Vitamins A, C, and E, this oil is beloved for its ability to repair damaged skin, aid in post-acne scarring, and prevent signs of aging. The high concentration of essential fatty acids nurtures dry, weathered, and dehydrated skin.
Treat
Once a week or so, you can treat your skin with a face mask. Our favourite is Gressa's Dirty Pretty Things, which is a revitalising face mask with red clay and traditional herbs suitable for every skin type, including aging and acne-prone skin. Take a teaspoon to a tablespoon of the mixture, mix it with a little bit of water, apply it to your face, and leave it until the mixture has dried up.
Sunscreen
It's important to protect our skin from the sun every day, the sun's rays can be very damaging and aging. Yes, even on days that the sun doesn't seem to shine much. And then we're not even talking about the health risks associated with prolonged sun exposure. In the morning you can apply a tinted moisturiser with sun protection in it for instance, like ILIA's Sheer Vivid Tinted Moisturizer SPF20. But we should be reapplying every few hours. None of us feel like either redoing our make-up, or rubbing a sticky cream on our face every few hours. That's where ILIA's Moondance SPF20 comes in. You can use it as a setting powder, and reapply throughout the day without feeling more and more sticky, or as if your skin can't breath through all of those layers or sun protection. An added bonus is that you don't even need a separate brush. Perfect to put in your handbag!
This week you can enjoy 15% off of all skincare products in the shop by using the discount code HAPPYSKIN2017!
Have a great day!
Jana