I Perfected My Priming Routine: 3 Products My Dry Skin Is Loving
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Growing up, my biggest makeup pet peeve could have been solved so easily if I had just taken the time to learn how to prep dry skin.
As someone with very dry skin, I always thought that it was impossible to wear makeup without it sticking to my dry patches. There would be tiny dry dots everywhere. Under my eyes, on my nose, all over my forehead. But I didn’t know how to fix it. Every video I saw would label certain products as “good for dry skin”, but they weren’t talking about how the skin prep was the most important part!
I went to a Pixi Beauty event last week, and one of the girls on their team complimented me on how flawless my skin and makeup looked. I don’t know if she was just saying that, but it truly made my whole day, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Especially since it used to be something I was so insecure about!
It took me years to find an effective priming routine, and now that I have my go-to products, I literally don’t go anywhere without them. Sleepovers, vacations, you name it. So here they are:
The 3 Products I Use To Prep Dry Skin
Kiehl’s Hyaluronic Acid Serum
Hyaluronic Acid is perfect for my dry skin girlies. Without going too deep into the science behind it, it’s a skincare ingredient that retains moisture and can help your skin look and feel more hydrated.
This Hyaluronic Acid serum from Kiehl’s is my personal favorite, and I like to add a few drops to my daily moisturizer. I just mix them on the back of my hand before applying! If you want to apply it straight to your face, just make sure to moisten your skin first (try a hydrating face mist like this one from Fresh) because if you apply hyaluronic acid to dry skin, it can actually have the opposite effect.
If you want to take it a step further, you can even add some hyaluronic acid serum drops to your foundation! Just note that it’ll sheer it out to more of a tint.
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream
You can obviously mix your hyaluronic acid serum with any face moisturizer, but I’ve been loving Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. It has the perfect consistency, and I’ve been using it for years.
Some other face moisturizers I’ve loved in the past include:
— La Roche-Posay Double Repair Moisturizer
— Bubble Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer
— First Aid Ultra Repair Face Moisturizer (smells interesting, but love the feel)
— Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream (pills under makeup for me! but i love it before bed)
Before moving on to the next step, let the products dry down and absorb into the skin. Otherwise, I notice my makeup still looks cakey, even after being so meticulous with the priming. And if you’re in a rush, which is me half the time, just use less product so it dries faster!
NYX Marshmallow Smoothing Primer
I have tried so many primers, and I’d say about 99% of them don’t work. I’m not sure if it’s because they weren’t meant for dry skin or they didn’t combine well with the other products I was using to prep, but I gave up on them for a while.
A few months ago, I spoke on a panel at L’Oréal HQ with Her Campus (see here!) and NYX gifted me a handful of their best-selling products. In that bag was the NYX Marshmallow Smoothing Primer, and I thought… what do I have to lose?
Well, clearly nothing because I’m now obsessed with it.
For starters, it smells amazing. But it really does give me a super smooth base to apply my makeup over. It claims to do a bunch of stuff, like minimize fine lines and pores, so that’s a plus! This product was truly the missing piece of the puzzle. And that’s how my current skin-prep routine was born.
Now it’s time to put on our makeup! Let me know if you try this out!
More Tips For My Dry Skin Girlies
If you have dry skin, you shouldn’t be washing your face both in the morning and at night because cleansing frequently leads to you stripping the skin of its natural oils. I like to cleanse at night to remove my makeup.
If you absolutely need to wash your face in the morning, the blue Garnier Micellar Water is a good loophole because it’s pretty oily, so as to keep the skin moisturized, but also has effective cleaning power. (One bottle lasts me approximately six months!)
You can grab a reusable cotton round, douse it with the micellar water, and gently rub in circular motions. This will target any sweat or oil produced while sleeping! Feel free to rinse it off with water if you don’t like the residue.
xo
