alicia bice

Learning Your Skin Type and What Skincare to Use | Makeup 101

Alicia BiceComment

I started a new series on my YouTube channel back in November called A Beginners Guide to Makeup, pretty much makeup 101, and I decided to do a blog version as well to reach more people. In each video I will be discussing different categories to break it down so it’s not so overwhelming. The main reason I started my YouTube channel almost 6 years ago was to teach people what I was learning in makeup school. I love sharing my knowledge with yall, so I thought this series would be a great way to spend more time on each category.

For the first video/post I wanted to start with the most important part, your skin. If you are having trouble with your foundation, 9 times out of 10 it is a skincare issue. We will have our skin forever, so we need to take care of it. The first thing you need to know is what type of skin you have so you know which skincare products to get and what primer and foundations will work best for you.

There are 4 different skin types: dry, oily, normal, and combination. If your skin feels tight and you have some flakey areas year round not just in the winter, you have dry skin. If your entire face looks dewy or shiny most of the day year round then you have oily skin. If you don’t really have dry areas and if you are not shiny, then your skin is normal. Lastly, if you have normal areas on your face but oily around your nose and chin, or if you have dry areas and oily around nose and chin then you have combination skin. Hopefully that makes sense and helps you figure out your skin type. I have normal-oily, combination skin.

Once you know your skin type that will make choosing a skincare routine and choosing a foundation a lot easier, but I will talk about primers and foundation in my next post. I want to start off by saying I am not an esthetician, I am a certified makeup artist, so I went to school strictly for makeup. I have learned a lot about skincare though working in the beauty industry and I have several friends that are estheticians, so I always ask them questions and try and learn from them. One of those friends actually helped me write a basic skincare routine post that I will link here if yall want to check that out next. He shares basic steps you can take and why you do each step and also shares his favorite products, affordable and higher end.

In my opinion skincare is the one thing you should splurge on if you are able to, because you can spend $100 on a foundation but if you aren’t taking care of your skin it will not look like a $100 foundation, if that makes sense. It’s like an artist and their canvas, our face is our canvas. I’m not going to talk about specific products just because everyones skin is different and everyones concerns and needs are different, but I will share steps to take and my favorite skincare brand.

First things first is a good cleanser. You need to be washing your face morning and night, and if you wear makeup you need to double cleanse at night, which means to wash your face twice. The first time you wash it you will be getting the makeup off and not cleansing your skin, so when you wash your face the second time you will be cleansing your actual face. Make sure the cleanser is not too hard or isn’t an exfoliating one because you don’t need to exfoliate everyday. If you do want to save some money on a cleanser CeraVe is a good affordable brand and if you want to spend a little more Sanitas is my favorite skincare brand and what I use. Their cleansers aren’t a bad price for a higher end brand. On the Sanitas website it tells what each product targets, what skin type it’s best for, and how often to use it. You can also take a quiz to see what products they recommend or talk to someone who works for Sanitas which is really cool.

Another must have skincare item is a moisturizer. You also use this morning and night after you wash your face. Every skin type needs to be using a moisturizer, even oily. If you are oily and don’t use a moisturizer your skin may try to overcompensate and get even oilier. When you are picking one out pay attention to what type of skin it is for.

If you want to step up your skincare routine you can get a serum and an eye cream. I could go on and on about all the different eye creams and serums, but it honestly just depends on your skin concerns (ex. dark spots, fine lines, hyperpigmentation, dullness, etc). If you need advice on what special products you need I recommend chatting with a Sanitas Esthetician or if you know one or have one local, that way they can get you a custom routine.

I really hope this post helped you figure out your skin type and give you an idea where to start on a skincare routine. If you want more skincare information definitely check out my other blog post. I will also link my YouTube series playlist here and my video on skin type below. If you have any question please comment them!