Simple Mid-30's Skincare Routine

Recently I realized “Crap. I’m almost in my mid-30’s… and it’s all downhill from here. Time to start proactively taking care of my skin!” Up until this point I was just washing my face and maybe using some moisturizer some days and that was it. Thankfully I don’t really have any wrinkles or fine lines to speak of - yet - but I know they’ll be coming on soon. After some trial and error and consulting some friends that are really into skincare products, I settled on a simple routine that I’m enjoying so far and feel as though I’m getting the best bang for my buck. The best part? Most of these are inexpensive drug store finds, with just a few high-end heavy hitters. | This post contains affiliate links |

Simple Mid-30's Skincare Routine - Everything I’m using as the moment, including occasional treatments.

Disclaimer: I am not a “beauty blogger” or skincare expert, just sharing what I’m using and loving so far. It’s a good idea to consult your dermatologist or a skincare expert for more specific recommendations for your skin type and lifestyle. Also make sure to consult your doctor if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, as certain skincare ingredients should not be used during those times.

AM Routine

Simple Mid-30's Skincare Routine - AM

Step One: Neutrogena Naturals Fresh Cleanser Every morning I start with using this Neturogena Naturals Cleanser, I really love this one because it's very gentle on my sensitive skin and smells amazing.

Step Two: CeraVe Vitamin C Serum (not pictured.. I started using this after I first published this post) After I cleanse and before I moisturize I put a little bit of this Vitamin C Serum on my skin. I feel as though it's made a big difference in evening out my skin tone and brightening. I also really love the way it feels!

Step Three: Clinique Moisture Surge Moisturizer I have been using this moisturizer for years and LOVE it. It's so light and a little goes a really long way. While it is a little on the expensive side, one jar lasts me forever so I definitely get a lot bang for my buck with this one.

What I'm Missing: SUNSCREEN This is a huge hole in my daily regimen and I know that... I have been trying to find a light, mineral based sunscreen for daily wear and haven't found the right one just yet. Once I find one I like I will update this post - and if you have any you love, please let me know!

PM Routine

Simple Mid-30's Skincare Routine - PM Routine

Step One: Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water This cleanser is perfect for end-of-day cleansing and removing makeup. I use the Blue verison since I sometimes wear waterproof mascara and it works like a charm to take it all off (the Pink version is reccomended for regular cleansing and non-water proof makeup removal). I just put a little bit on a cotton round and wipe it all away, no rinsing needed.

Step Two: Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum This serum has come highly reccomended to me by so many people as an important part of their daily skincare routine. It has hyaluronic acid which is supposed to help moisturize your skin and reduce fine lines. While I can't attest to wrinkle reduction (I don't have any yet), it does make my skin feel amazingly smooth afterwards and I'm hoping it will keep fine lines at bay in the future. This serum can be expensive but I find a little goes a long way and I haven't made much of a dent in the bottle at all yet.

Step Three: Burt's Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm Love this lip balm! It's super smooth and not sticky.

Occasional Treatments

Simple Mid-30's Skincare Routine - Occasional Treatments

These are things I do occasionally, maybe once every 2-4 weeks or whenever I feel like it. I never use both masks in the same weekend though - I spread them out.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrogel Mask This is a great, refreshing, hydrating mask. Love using this when my skin might be feeling a little dull or dry.

Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay Mask This mask is amazing for deep cleaning pores! It comes as a powder and you mix a little in a bowl with some warm water to make the mask - you can also mix it with a little bit of Apple Cider Vinegar to give the mask a little more power. Since you mix it yourself you can stretch one jar for a long time.

Vanicream Lite Lotion I got this as a sample and love it for spot treating any extra dry spots that occasionally pop up, especially after doing a mask. It's fragrence-free too which is a nice break when my skin might be feeling sensitive.

Important Buying Tip: When purchasing “higher end” brands (such as Clinique or Estée Lauder), always make sure you’re purchasing directly from the company or from an established department store chain (such as Nordstrom, Macy’s, etc) to make sure you’re getting real, legitimate products. While you may be able to find high-end brands listed for sale on other online retailers (yes, even the big ones), these products are often knock-offs sold by third party sellers and who knows what could be in them.

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Why I Purged Who I'm Following on Social Media (And Why You Might Want to Too)

If you’re like me you probably get sucked into your phone too often, falling down the rabbit hole of continuously scrolling Instagram and Facebook. But it’s a New Year, new beginnings right? I recently took a good look at who I’m following on my personal and blog Instagram accounts and did some purging… in fact between my accounts I unfollowed thousands (previous to this I had never really unfollowed anyone!) and in doing so it greatly simplified my social media checking routine, spending less time online.

Who I Unfollowed

First, I know I personally feel a little hurt when I realize someone unfollowed me (why don’t they like me??) - but if you’re reading this and I unfollowed you please realize it’s nothing personal at all. Over the many years I’ve had social media I have followed thousands of accounts, but I’ve never actually reevaluated their relevancy to me as time went on and cleaning house was long, long overdue.

Here are some types of accounts that I unfollowed:

Accounts that are “Dead”: As I went through my lists, I found hundreds of accounts that have been “dead” for years… blogs or business accounts that have gone out of business or people that for one reason or another have just stopped updating a particular account. While these accounts aren’t cluttering up my feed, they aren’t doing anything for me either so I unfollowed them.

Accounts that Don’t Reflect Our Current Stage in Life: And then there’s accounts that used to be relevant to me but aren’t anymore… for example years ago when we were first starting our family I followed lots of baby-centric accounts and businesses. However our kids are all past the baby stage now and I just don’t need to know about the newest bottles or baby carriers these days. It’s definitely bittersweet closing the door on that stage in our lives but the practical reasoning is we just don’t need to be up-to-date on baby trends anymore. So any irrelevant accounts to our current place in life were unfollowed too.

Accounts that I was Following “Because Everyone Else Is”: There were plenty of accounts I was following strictly because they were big-name brands/companies or ultra-popular influencers or bloggers. I was mostly following them because I felt like I should be, even though most of their posts were essentially ads and I didn’t find following them enjoyable myself. I’m personally not a huge fan of impersonal/overly-commercialized posts so I unfollowed a lot of these types of accounts too.

Accounts that I Follow in More than One Place: I have both a personal and blog-related Instagram account and realized there were quite a few accounts that I was following in both places… this was kind of redundant as I was often seeing the same posts twice. I really didn’t want or need to see the same things over and over so I would decide where made the most sense for me to follow an account and would then unfollow it from my other account.

Accounts that Bring Me Down: Do what’s best for your mental health and your self esteem! Are there accounts that you follow that are too pessimistic? Or too perfect and it makes you devalue yourself subconsciously? Get rid of them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life - only follow accounts that raise you up or inspire you in a positive way.

Accounts that I Don’t Enjoy: As I went through my lists of who I’m following I realized something - I honestly don’t enjoy fashion bloggers (no offense to any fashion bloggers out there!). As much as I love a good outfit inspiration I am not into “fast fashion” and I’m not someone who constantly buys clothes or the latest styles. I actually think it’s really bad for the environment to constantly consume clothing and accessories that will only be worn a few times (and a lot of these influencers will only wear items for a post or two then get rid of them). Fast fashion isn’t something I condone or enjoy so I won’t passively support it by following all those influencers.

Important Note: Don’t Try to Purge in One Day!

I made this mistake myself… when I first decided to clean house I stayed up really late one night and was determined to work my way through my list and clean it out in one go - but then Instagram blocked my account for 24 hours. If you do too much of one action in a short amount of time (like unfollowing other accounts), Instagram will flag your account as spam and lock you out temporarily… and apparently if you keep it up they will keep locking you out for longer each time, potentially banning you permanently (so scary!). Getting locked out for 24 hours was very frustrating, but it made me realize I have to tread lightly moving forward. When you’re purging, make sure to never unfollow more than a few accounts at a time and make sure to continue to use Instagram as you normally would (liking, commenting, engaging with others like usual). Purging your feed will be a work-in-progress for a while and will take time.

Who I Muted

Did you know you can “mute” accounts too? That way they don’t show up in your feed but you’re still following them. There were some accounts that I was following that I still wanted to follow to show some support, but were totally cluttering up my feed and driving me nuts… for example maybe you have an old school friend who has taken an endeavor into MLM sales. As much as you might love this friend and want to support her, you don’t want to see ten posts a day on essential oils, or fake nails, or eyelash serum or whatever it is that she’s constantly pushing. You’ll still show as a follower to her and it would be good idea to make a note to occasionally hop on over to her account to engage in a post here and there - but it’s not going to constantly fill your feed with stuff you’re not interested in anymore.

Turn Notifications OFF

If you haven’t already, it’s also a great idea to turn off Notifications Off across all your platforms. Seeing those little “dings” constantly come up when friends post, like, or comment can be overwhelming and drag you into checking your phone every few minutes. If you turn these off you’ll be less tempted to constantly check your phone - and make a point to only check it at certain times during the day. I have already had my notifications turned off for years now (it’s something I made a point to do a long time ago), and I will continue to keep them off.

Why My Social Media Experience is Better and More Efficient Now

After you’ve made sufficient progress purging who you’re following, you’ll notice that your feed is full of things that you actually want to see - no more “junk” that you used to waste time scrolling past everyday. Your feed will be full of accounts that you find positive, intentional, and inspiring - not to mention following less accounts will make it quicker and easier to catch up on recent posts every day.

And another positive side effect of my purge? It seems to have reset the algorithm for what I typically see in my feed. There were a lot of accounts I was following that I honestly had totally forgotten about because I hadn’t seen any posts by them in my feed FOR YEARS. But as I made progress purging who I was following I started to see those long-lost-to-me accounts in my feed again and it was so refreshing! I was able to re-discover a lot of accounts that I used to love following and it’s wonderful to finally see their posts again in my feed and reconnect with them. (And if you rediscover an account you want to see in your feed again, make sure to like and engage in their posts so Instagram will learn to continue to show them.)

Going Forward

Going forward this is something I definitely want to keep up with. I had neglected reevaluating who I was following for years and since I had let it get out of hand it took weeks for me to slowly purge since I had so much catching up to do. From now on this is something I’ll plan on revisiting at least once a year (I even put a reminder in my calendar for next January as part of my New Year’s Resolutions). Your social media feed should be enjoyable and inspiring, and it should be more efficient to check - by actively managing it hopefully you will see an improvement in your social media experience too.

So far I’ve really only tackled Instagram but I am planning on working to purge who I’m following on my other social media accounts too (especially Facebook and Pinterest) for the same reasons.

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