As we ease ourselves into the new year we start to make the dreaded list of our goals and aspirations for the new year, the list we all start with such ambition to be the perfect version of ourselves for the year ahead. We take our time creating our list making it the perfect mixture of achievable and slightly ridiculous goals before saving it to our notes or printing it out to be only looked at a few more times before we forget what we wrote last year and it's time to make another.  But besties, let's be realistic. The most important part of that list is your skin goal. Skin is in and it's in for 2023. Let’s be honest besties, you’re already pretty fabulous and 2023 is all about looking after your skin as much as it looks after you. Let’s talk… 

Your skincare goal could be anything you want to achieve that you know you’ve slipped a little behind on or is a new concern for you... To begin, you have to build a routine, and that means knowing your skin and what it needs. That’s understanding ingredients, the layers to your skin and the science behind a product. Not jumping on the latest skincare trend from TikTok and hoping for the best. Everyone's skin is different, so your bestie's routine won’t always work for you, but Hello Sunday is here to help! 

First step is to establish your skin type: Oily, dry, combination, sensitive, mature or a mixture of all added in with a little normal. Not confusing at all right? To understand what of the many talked about categories you are, an easy guide is to monitor your skin throughout the day. Keep an eye on how it changes besties. 

Skin appears shiny =oily skin

Skin feels tight, dry or scaly =dry or dehydrated skin

Skin only appears shiny on your T-Zone = combination skin

Eczema, Rosacea or prone to redness and flare ups = sensitive skin 

Hydrated and comfortable but not oily = balanced skin (the new “normal’)

CHANGES BY THE WEEK?! = Likely to be hormonally driven, and that’s cool, its just a little more work to keep her balanced.

Once you know your skin type, understand what ingredients are your friends and what aren’t. 

Using your first steps, this is when you should be confident picking products for you and only you. Let's build a routine. Cleanse, tone, serum, moisturise, spf, spf, spf.

Cleansing is the first step, this is the foundation for any routine, removing the dirt, oils and daily pollution off your skin. Now cleanse, but double it. Double cleansing with a warm, clean muslin is THE best way to make sure your skin in completely free of any dirt of make up residue…like a painter with a new canvas, satisfying and pure.

Next, tone. Toners come in many shapes and sizes and especially strengths, toning closes your pores after cleansing so don’t skip this one. Tight on time, or have a great relationship with your skin? Then this is the step that we can forgive you for skipping.

Serum, Let’s get involved. Serums are the best delivery method for all of your key skincare actives. You can use as many as you like or your skin tolerates. 10/10 we recommend a Vitamin C serum that packs a punch. Suitable for most skin types (sorry sensitive skin, you might need a gentler active or at least a patch test…)

Finally we get to moisture, aka skin food. This part feels the best and leaves you feeling and looking like a baby (if you’re using the right one for you!). And yes, morning v night routines are a real thing and not a marketing ploy. Daily moisturisers are often thinner in consistency meaning they will sit nicer throughout the day and under any makeup, night time moisturisers feel thicker and richer. As you sleep, your skin is still at work so using creams and oils at night is a great way to wake up feeling refreshed. If you haven’t tried ‘the recovery one’ for bed, you’re missing out on this feeling! If you have oily or acne prone skin, or just don’t like to overload, then we promise you can skip the whole moisturiser step if you use one of our skincare active-packed SPF moisturisers like the everyday one SPF50 or the one that’s a serum!

Finally SPF, make sure with any routine this is the last step, always. Recognised as one of the only true anti-aging ingredients around, SPF is your prevention for the types of sun damage associated with photoaging (that’s fine lines and wrinkles to you and I). We hate to say it but using a tinted moisturiser with SPF won’t do the same job. Typically, the recommended quantity of SPF is 2 finger lengths, and if you’re using that much foundation or tinted moisturiser, we need to talk…

Once you establish a system that works for you morning and night, stick with it and trust the process. Occasionally products show a negative effect on the skin at first, but often that’s just your skin is adapting to new ingredients*. When this happened, its tempting to give up and the main reason being breakouts. The most common skin reaction we all hate and focus any sort of blame on our latest skincare purchase. Although breakouts CAN be caused by introducing new products, it’s more likely due to other factors like oil build up, dehydration, weather or the dreaded H word…and yes, we mean hormones.

…and let’s take a minute to talk about hormonal skin. No one is safe. Your natural skin cycle is around 28 days, and during that time, varying hormones (or hormonal supplementation) can cause your skin to act out. If this is something you experience regularly, we would always advise seeking expert advice from a doctor or dermatologist, or try experimenting with different actives targeting different concerns throughout your cycle. Start to introduce new products where you see fit and don’t over do it, be consistent with the steps you’ve got first before making it complicated. Once you’re confident that this is your hero routine, introduce masks, oils, eye creams where you see fit. Now, set a reminder for 28 days from now and lets talk about how that routine worked. 

* The exception here is if you feel an active discomfort, irritation, redness or swelling, then you should always note down the skincare ingredients and seek medical advice. If you have sensitive skin, we always recommend a patch test for every new product you introduce.