New Year, New YOU!

Even though New Year’s Day may not fall on a Monday, to me it is the ultimate Monday! The air practically vibrates with change! What I love most about New Year’s is being able to reflect back on the last year, creating New Year’s resolutions, and looking forward to what the new year has in store for me.

For the past few years cleaning out old emails has been one of my New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to tackle that one successfully. (I’m all ears for your “how to” suggestions for getting that done!)

This year I decided to pass on the email cleanup and instead keep my goals small so they feel achievable. So I decided my New Year’s resolution would be re-establishing my friendship with my pal Travis. We have such history together and I miss him.

We have been friends since I moved to LA in 2000 and you know how life works, you both get busy, time between getting together and catching up gets further and further apart, until one day you realize years have passed.

It takes real work to maintain friendships, but it is so important to do so, which is why I am focusing on that this year. I sure hope Travis is on board because it would be hard for this resolution to work without him (hahaha).  

SKINCARE RESOLUTIONS:

NOW, let’s talk about you. I want your New Year’s resolution this year to be putting yourself first and being intentional about your self-care – and that all starts with great skincare! I’ll say it again: skincare is self-care!

The trick to great skincare is about making it easy for yourself. If it’s easy, you just do it, right? That’s the mindset here. So the first step in easy skincare is getting your skincare products organized. Those skincare habits are easier to cultivate if your arsenal is in order.

To get you started, I have some great tips below to keep your product organized and under control:

1. Schedule the Time

During the holidays, we often get gifted lots of new skin care. It is a great time to get this done.  I want to make sure this is an easy and manageable process so it’s not overwhelming. Give yourself 1 hour to do this.

• Make an appointment with yourself on the calendar to get this done.
• Make sure to schedule the time for 60 minutes
• Set your timer on your phone

That’s it! This shouldn’t feel like a burden; more like a quick visit to catch up with some old friends.

2.  Start by Pulling out all of your products. I mean ALL OF IT.

The stuff you use every day, the stuff you are waiting to use for a special occasion, the stuff you don’t know what to do with it and the stuff you forgot you had.

Sort into 3 piles:

Start with the HATE pile.

Why do you hate it?
Is it the smell? Or the texture?

Is it open? No?  Do you still have the receipt? Yes?  Great! Return it.

Did you know most places will accept returns for opened and used cosmetics if you don’t like them? (Double check the store or website’s return policy).

How long have you had it? If it’s open and you can’t remember when you bought it and you don’t have the receipt. Chuck it. Don’t take the risk that it’s expired and you’ll never use it anyway. You can’t donate it (no one accepts opened cosmetics, it’s unsafe), and I wouldn’t recommend giving it to a friend.

Just chalk it up to a loss and throw it out. It’s not worth the risk of an allergic reaction and honestly, if you haven’t used it yet, you’re not going to.

Now that you have tossed the products you don’t like (or set them aside to remember to return them), now let’s look at the products we DO use.

The LOOOOOVE pile

My own arsenal

Obviously, this is the easier pile. Organize this pile by product type:

• Cleansers
• Moisturizers
• Serums
• Exfoliators
• Masks, etc.

Put them front and center in your medicine cabinet or drawer (or wherever you store your products) so you can see them and they are easily accessible.

If you have too much product to fit, set the 2nd string products elsewhere and every time you finish a product replace it with the top contender from the 2nd string. I mean we all know 2nd string is never-ending.

The “What the F is this” pile – My Personal Favorite

Are you using any of these products currently? Are there some pieces that you want to use but don’t know how to incorporate into your current routine? Look at the label, determine what product it is: cleanser, moisturizer, serum, exfoliator. Add it to the appropriate line up in the bathroom or place with the 2nd Stringers.

If you are absolutely lost and don’t know what do with it. Send me a picture and I will give you a complimentary assessment of one product.

It is that simple. I recommend you do this at least 2x a year. After a few times, you won’t really need to do it at all, you will be using your products regularly and using them up which is the most important part. Not to mention, you’ll no longer feel the need to willy nilly purchase products – you’ll already have a full line-up of products in regular rotation.

I know this process can be a little overwhelming to begin, so if you need a little more help – I’m hosting a 10-day challenge after the new year to help get you started!

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You can sign up here for my 10 Day Wash Your Face Challenge.

We’ll be covering the basics of getting organized and setting a routine for your skincare.

You can sign up here for my 10 Day Wash Your Face Challenge