Quad Cities; The Cherry on Top Boutique : What your missing in your DAYTIME skincare routine by Brittany, QC Makeup Artist

With the copious amount of skincare and makeup products on the market today, it's no surprise that women aren't sure what products to buy, or how to use them...correctly. I know it can be very intimidating, confusing, and leave you running for the door, but fear not, here is a simple step-by-step guide to caring for your skin. No matter if your oily, or dry.

The order in which you apply your skincare products will make the difference of how effective or not effective it can and will be for you.

Starting with your morning routine:

1. If your skin is more normal to dry, a simple warm water rinse would be adequate; assuming that you also cleansed your skin at night. However, if you are more oily and acne-prone, you will want to cleanse your skin in the a.m. regardless. Always cleanse with warm water and never use hot water on your skin. Even for those of you that enjoy hot showers. Just. Don't. Do. It. This will cause a slew of other skin issues.

2 After cleansing, your next step will always be eye cream. You may have the same eye product for both a.m. and p.m. or, two separate products. For example: my a.m. eye cream has SPF in it to give that delicate eye area extra protection from the sun which causes premature aging. The skin around the eyes is much thinner and has fewer oil glands, therefore drying out quicker and accentuating those fine lines. A hydrating, rich eye cream can help. A little goes a long way, so apply half a pea-size to the pad of your ring finger, rub between your two ring fingers, and tap lightly around your orbital bone. Never pull outward and never apply toward the lash line, as all eye creams migrate upward and can cause burning in the eye.

3. The next product you might apply is an anti-aging serum, or acne product: depending on your skin concerns. This is typically a very sheer, thin consistency. For me, I use a hydrating booster that also has anti-aging properties like, vitamin C. If you are more acneic, you might use a benzyl peroxide or salyclic acid treatment at this step.

4. And lastly, your moisturizer. This will lock in moisture and drive all those yummy ingredients in your serum deeper into the skin. If you opt for a moisturizer with SPF, you will be done at this point and can begin with your makeup regime. Some people use the same moisturizer for the am and pm, and if that is the case, you will want to buy a SPF specially for the face to apply after you have applied your moisturizer, and so applying your SPF will be your last step.

The easiest way to remember this, is that your want your SPF closest to the sun so it will always go on last. Make sure to look for a product that has a SPF 30 or higher, anything lower than that will wear off before you even get out of the door. Oh, your makeup has SPF so your good to go, right?! That's just a myth. Unless you apply your makeup like Spackle, then your good to go. :)