What’s Your Nightly Skin Ritual? Do You Have One?

Do you take care of your skin at night, or are you a bit of a slacker like me?

-April Daniels Hussar, sponsored by Simple Skincare

I confess — the ideal nightly skin ritual I have in my head does not always (often?) match up with what happens in reality.

My ambition: remove my eye makeup (I usually wear at least mascara), gently cleanse my face and neck, pat my skin, and then follow up with a rich night cream and some eye cream for good measure. Doesn’t sound too taxing, right?

Too often a reality: I conk out, exhausted from the day, on the couch trying to watch a movie with my husband, or in my daughter’s bed halfway through trying to read her a story. I manage to wake up long enough to drag myself to the bathroom where I peel out my contacts and brush my teeth, then I sleepwalk into my own bed. In the morning, when I look in the bathroom mirror, a very disheveled raccoon looks back at me!

The thing is — this sort of activity doesn’t seem so bad when you’re a college girl traipsing around until the wee hours of the morning. Everything, including your skin, is ever so much more resilient at that age, no? Alas, fast-forward a few (a lot) (is a decade a lot?) (yes) of years … and skipping too many nights of cleansing and skin care really takes its toll. Ug, especially in the winter!

One thing that does help inspire me to stick with a nightly routine are products that I like. I’ve been using the Simple Skincare line for about a month now — religiously in the morning, somewhat religiously in the evening — and I really like them, and the way they make my sensitive skin look and feel. When I see results, then I’m more likely to stick with it — I mean really, if I can make it in the bathroom to brush my teeth, another three minutes isn’t going to kill me, right? RIGHT?!

Read How Does Stress Affect your Skin — And Your Confidence?

I love the Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream — it’s rich and smooth without being too oily, and it’s affordable enough that I feel like I’m not throwing away my daughter’s college education by including my neck in the fun. (You do take care of the skin on your neck, right?! I have Nora Ephron to thank for my neck-skin-vigilance!)

I’m also a big fan of their Simple Kind to Skin Moisturizing Facial Wash. I am extremely picky — like, crazy person picky — about facial washes. I hate when they leave anything on your skin, but I also hate when they make your skin feel stripped and dry. But I want them to actually clean my skin so I can peer up close at it and not feel like it’s still secretly grimy from the day. I am the Goldilocks of facial washes!

And for those nights that I’m really just too freaking tired to wait for the water to heat up (I mean, it’s like at least 30 whole seconds!), or I’m a big fan of the Simple Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes. They do a good job taking off eye makeup too by cleansing, refreshing and nourishing skin. Swish, wipe, voila.

I do know that I need to be better about sticking to my nightly routine. I shall strive!

What about you? Do you have a nightly routine? What is it? Do you ever go to sleep with your makeup on, like me?

FTC Full Disclosure: April Daniels Hussar is BettyConfidential’s Executive Editor and in that role she is a brand ambassador for Simple® Skincare. The views and opinions in this post are her own; visit www.facebook.com/SimpleSkincare to share your story on sensitive skin.