Skincare in my 30's: A battle between good and evil... oils

I have a confession to make, I read skincare articles and test theories constantly. I've never found THE Perfect regimen for my skin and in a quest to have a smooth and vibrant face, I keep looking.

Low and behold, an article I probably found on Refinery29, mentioned that the contributor had replaced her vintage face cream with oil. Imagine the head spin I had after 20 years of slathering Ponds, Olay, and yes, even Lubriderm on my face post cleanse. It worked great in my twenties, but hormonal changes in women as we age can also fluctuate oil production in your skin. It's hard to have the perfect lifestyle in regard to being a mineral rich, water capacity, health conscious person; and now I have to wash the makeup off my skin for real.

Oh, and those pillowcases, wash weekly, rotate nightly. (You're Welcome)

I went into this journey slowly, swapping my cream for The Ordinary Sea Buckthorn oil. which is heavily pigmented and turns your skin orange, so its better for a pm routine. The first time was weird, not going to lie, I hate feeling overly oily so I patted the excess off with a towel, and proceeded to pay attention to how my skin felt.

It was incredible.

Within ten minutes, I felt the tightness I usually have on the surface level start to soften. The thin skin around my mouth didn't feel like it would crack and the residue from the serum like consistency evaporated into my skin leaving it supple (yes, I said that) and dewy. By the next day, it felt normal and I felt good about the choice I made.

For many years, I battled scaly skin around my nose and cheeks so wearing makeup had become a nightmare. I knew oils weren't going to be the be all end all for perfect skin, so I added a few different cleansers to my routine as well and I would swap them out and pair them together with the nightly oil routine and my dry skin was soaking it up like a sponge. I decided to add another oil into the mix, one that I could use under makeup, because I had been diluting the orange tinted oil with a white cream lotion; I needed to step up the game and omit the alcohol infused face products as much as necessary.

Borage Seed Oil was my next purchase, and this clear serum did not disappoint. From reading the reviews from the Ordinary site, i expected some pungent fungus smell, but I was pleasantly surprised with an earthy aroma, like soil. It quickly dissipated and I have come to learn that I love that earthy aroma that seems to repel others. It feels more natural and healthy, plus the results were speaking for themselves.

Getting a little more comfortable with this oil immersion I was on, I started thinking about the makeup application, because the branded primers I had been so used to just weren't giving me the results I wanted with my foundation. This is definitely a skincare issue and I wanted my appearance to be more flawless. I fell down the oil rabbit hole and landed on squalane, and The Ordinary had a product to fit the bill. The Plant Derived Squalane was exactly what it said: surface hydration. It quickly became the staple to stipple and beat in my foundation over.

I don't use all these oils daily, rather I add them in as needed. My skin feels great, doing my makeup is fun again and I truly hope it doesn't get much more complicated in my forties!