The Secret To An Effective And Ethical Skincare Routine

When it came to skincare, I used to be the worst. I honestly just said I was not good at “being a girl” because I hated taking care of my skin. Especially washing my face, unless I was exfoliating, which I was doing wayyy too much. Not to mention, moisturizer was the farthest thing from my mind unless it had sunscreen in it.

For the last few months however, I have been trying my best to be more aware of what I am putting on my face and body because, lets face it, I am not getting any younger.

Unfortunately, with all this new interest in my skincare routine, I also realized that a lot of the brands that I was either currently using or had used in the past, were not the most ethical - full of chemical ingredients and unnatural bi-products or conducting animal testing.

Then it occurred to me just how hard it is to find both effective and ethical beauty products, so after months of research and hard work I thought that I would share my final beauty routine with you!

I included a list of what makes each company ethical for your reference at the bottom of this post.

Every Morning

Every morning when I wake up I wash my face with Aveda’s Outer Peace Foaming Cleanser. It is really gentle on my skin and washes away all of the sweat and grossness (cat hair) that accumulated on my face overnight without stripping my face of moisture. Then I pat my skin dry (I use a Black Cotton Washcloth just in case I have mascara left over, a little trick a friend taught me) and tone my skin with regular old Witch Hazel since I am very acne prone.

I also use Burt’s Bees Radiance Eye Cream to keep the skin around my eyes from getting irritated (skin is thinnest there so it sometimes gets aggravated) and I finish off my whole face with Aveda Outer Peace Moisturizer which is both a fantastic moisturizer and a great acne treatment. Finally I apply a swipe of Kiehl’s Lip Balm to my lips - it is a classic that always makes my lips feel baby soft.

Every Evening

Most of my beauty routine takes place at night since I am an evening run/workout kind of a gal for the most part. I take a quick body shower and rinse my hair with water. In the shower I use The Body Shop’s Fuji Body Wash on my favorite GranNaturals Body Brush.

I also apply my Beautycounter Nourishing Cleansing Balm in the shower (when my pores are most open) and wipe it off with a damp beauty rag when I get out. Then I pat my body dry and moisturize with Weleda Lavender Relaxing Body Oil. I also put a heavier lotion Weleda Skin Food Cream, on my feet and pop on some fluffy socks on since my heels are always cracking from running.

Twice Weekly

I am way too into exfoliating my skin. Like, so into it that I used to do it every day even though my skin is incredible sensitive. Then I started realizing how stripped and irritated my skin was getting so I decided I would only let myself exfoliate on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. I use Guinot’s Gommage Eclat Parfait which I discovered at a spa in Puerto Vallarta and have been obsessed with it ever since. It smells amazing and it has small sand like grains in it that are perfect for scrubbing off dead skin. When I use it at night my face feels baby soft by morning.

Once A Week

On Sunday nights I like to use my Alba Botanica Papaya Enzyme Facial Mask to help my skin recover from the previous week or anything bad I did to it over the weekend. This helps rehydrate and soften my skin. I also apply St. Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse once a week just to give my skin a little color (I know I am still pale). Every Sunday I also coat my finger tips in Karma Organic Spa Tea Tree Cuticle Oil to make them soft and supple.

When I’m Feeling Lazy

Let’s get real for a minute. I’m not perfect and some nights I get drunk tipsy or fall asleep on the couch and washing my face seems like the biggest chore on earth so I use Yes To Cucumber Facial Towelettes It is not the best thing in the world to sub out an actual wash with wipes, but these are great because they are light, non-greasy and they clean off your makeup in a hot second.

What Makes These Brands ‘Ethical’?

Aveda - Aveda is my favorite sustainable brand because they are (in my opinion) the best example of a totally eco-friendly company. They derive all of their products from natural resources, their packaging is made from post consumer recycled content, they ensure fair trade in all their ingredients, and they never test on animals.

Burt’s Bees - Their bottles are 60% post consumer recycled content and they run a recycling incentive program on top of that. While I am not a fan of the use of bee pollen and royal jelly in most products, Burt’s Bees makes a very conscious effort to monitor the health of bee colonies and donates to research how to best practice pollen and royal jelly extraction.

Kiehl’s - They donate millions to environmental causes, they run an epic recycling program, and they are also moving away from using parabens in their products.

The Body Shop - Passionate about ethical trade, The Body shop not only deals exclusively with fair trade ingredients, they also sustainably sourced and have protected over 10,000 hectares of forest land.

Weleda - All of their products are made from naturally derived ingredients, are not tested on animals and are fair trade. They also have a plethora of vegan products.

Beautycounter- They have a serious SERIOUS devotion to making sure that their ingredients are only using safe and naturally derived ingredients. They have never tested on animals. Almost all of their products are vegan as well.

Guinot - They do not test on animals and most of their ingredients are derived from renewable, non-GMO plant sources.

Alba Botanica - They don’t test on animals and their products are naturally derived. They also conduct tons of research to ensure that their products are safe (even if the US deems them safe they check with other countries to ensure that they are safe enough for their standards).

St. Tropez - This is one of the only self tanners I have ever found that has never been tested on animals and comes with recyclable packaging! Yay!

Karma Organic Spa - They are totally vegan and do not conduct animal testing. Their products are natural and 100% non toxic.

Yes To - Their products are over 90% natural and all of their packaging is made from recycled materials. These are also some of the few makeup remover wipes that are 100% biodegradable.

What is your favorite part about your skincare routine?

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