My routine,
step by step.
You asked, so here it is — everything I actually do, morning and night. It looks like a lot written down. It takes about ten minutes.
Start with three
If you do nothing else, do these.
- 1
Hyaluronic acid
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5It is in every single routine, morning and night. If you add one thing, add this.
- 2
Vaseline
Dry patches in the morning, moisturizer at night, and the top layer of the retinol sandwich.
- 3
Tinted SPF with hyaluronic acid
ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40The one step that protects everything else you just did.
Then pick a moment
Give each layer a minute or two to sink in before the next one. The waiting matters more than it sounds like it should.
Daily
Every morning
- 1
Wash your face with cold water only. No soap.
- 2
Dry your face, then apply vitamin C serum.
SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic (15% L-ascorbic acid) - 3
Apply hyaluronic acid.
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 - 4
If you are working on dark spots, apply a correcting serum.
SkinBetter Science EVEN TONE Correcting SerumNot working on dark spots? Skip this one.
- 5
Before moisturizer, dab a little Vaseline on the dry places — under your eyes, the crow’s feet, your lips, the folds around your mouth.
Vaseline
Let it sit while you do the next thing.
- 6
Apply your daily moisturizer.
SkinCeuticals Daily Moisture - 7
Foundation goes on here — and it should have SPF.
ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40I skip foundation and use a tinted SPF with hyaluronic acid instead.
- 8
Finish with a hydrating setting spray.
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting SpraySpray a good amount — almost until it feels like it might drip — then fan it dry.
About twice a week
Exfoliating days
Twice a week, and any time I want a little extra glow before an event.
- 1
Wash your face again to take the moisturizer off. Pat it with a towel, but leave it a little damp.
- 2
Pour a little powder into your hand, add water, and rub your palms together until it turns creamy. Then work it gently in circles over your face and neck.
Tatcha The Rice Polish: ClassicAt first it feels like a light, wet cleanser. Keep going until it starts to dry and you see little rolls of skin lift off.
Be gentle here. Push too hard and you can over-exfoliate and end up with raw skin.
Your default evening
Most nights
- 1
Wash your face with warm water.
ZO Skin Health Gentle Cleanser - 2
Once you are dry, put toner on a cotton round and sweep it over your face to lift any residue. Repeat if you need to.
Beauty of Joseon Glow Replenishing Rice Milk TonerOily skin? An alcohol-free witch hazel works well here instead.
- 3
Apply hyaluronic acid and let it settle for a moment.
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5If your skin wants more and the budget is there, layer a platelet-derived exosome serum first, then the hyaluronic acid on top.
- 4
Night moisturizer. I just use a thin layer of Vaseline on my face and lips.
Vaseline
Build up slowly — start at one night a week
Retinol nights
I cycle tretinoin rather than using it constantly. You can ask your dermatologist to prescribe it, or use Differin — similar, gentler, and available over the counter.
The sandwich method
Retinoids — tretinoin, Differin, glycolic acid — dry your skin out and can make it peel. That peeling means it is working, but it does not look nice. Sandwiching prevents most of it.
- 1
Wash your face with warm water.
ZO Skin Health Gentle Cleanser - 2
Toner on a cotton round, all over, to lift any residue.
Beauty of Joseon Glow Replenishing Rice Milk Toner - 3
Apply hyaluronic acid and let it settle.
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5Exosome serum first, then hyaluronic acid, if you are using it.
- 4
A thin layer of Differin or tretinoin.
Differin or tretinoin - 5
A thicker moisturizer on top. I use Vaseline.
Vaseline
Start at one night a week for a couple of weeks. If your skin is not irritated, go to two. Keep building to whatever your skin can tolerate — there is no prize for going faster.
About twice a week
Exfoliating nights
Any exfoliant you like works. I use pads — they are effective, they are gentle, and my skin looks a little glowier the next day.
- 1
Wash your face with warm water.
ZO Skin Health Gentle Cleanser - 2
Toner on a cotton round, all over.
Beauty of Joseon Glow Replenishing Rice Milk Toner - 3
Sweep an exfoliating pad over your face and neck.
SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Exfoliating Peel Pads - 4
Night moisturizer — again, a thin layer of Vaseline.
Vaseline
Inside · Out
Inside & out
What I take, since some of this works from the inside — and the exfoliation I do in the shower, which is the easiest one to get right because the water does most of the work for you.
Daily · From the inside
What I take
Three, and they earn their place. Skincare works from the outside in; these work from the inside out, and one of them is what makes your retinol actually work.
- 1
Collagen peptides, 10–15g. I stir it into my morning coffee. Give it 8–12 weeks before you judge it — this is the one you eventually see in the mirror.
Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
Build. It signals the cells in the deep layer of your skin to make more collagen — deeper than any cream reaches.
- 2
Vitamin C, 500mg, with breakfast. Small, cheap, and the one I would not skip.
Vitamin C (oral)
Enables. Your skin physically cannot finish making collagen without it — so it is what lets the retinol and the collagen do their job. Different from the vitamin C serum you put on your face; you want both.
- 3
Fish oil — 2g of EPA + DHA combined, with your biggest meal. Three softgels of the one I use.
Micro Ingredients Triple Strength Omega-3 Fish OilProtects. It calms the low-grade inflammation that quietly breaks collagen down, and it makes your skin a little harder to burn.
One real caution: omega-3 at this dose thins your blood slightly. If you take blood thinners or have surgery coming up, talk to your doctor before starting it.
Keep this in proportion: sunscreen and the retinoid do the heavy lifting. These three support them — they do not replace them. If anything ever has to go, it is not the SPF.
Any day
In the shower
- 1
Stay under the water a few minutes first — wash your hair, take your time.
Softens. Warm water swells the outer layer of skin and loosens what is ready to come off, so the scrubbing does not have to. A few minutes is the sweet spot — much longer and you are just waterlogging your barrier.
- 2
Turn the water off. Your skin should be damp, not streaming.
This is the trick. Under running water the mitt just slides. It needs something to grip.
- 3
Mitt on, and go gently over your face, neck, and décolletage.
Dermasuri Exfoliating Body Scrubber GloveYour body too if you want it — most people stop at the jawline, and it is the same skin. But the face is the part worth doing.
When you feel like you want to scrub more — stop. You can scrub your face raw without feeling it until after the shower is over.
Professional · Occasional
At the medspa
The part nobody writes down. Most of it is preventative rather than corrective — small amounts, regularly, so I need less later. One of these went badly wrong, and that is in here too, because it is the most useful thing I can tell you.
Every three to four months
Botox, placed on purpose
Where it goes matters more than how much. This is the part I wish someone had explained to me.
- 1
A little on my forehead.
Lightly. Less than you would think, and for a reason — see the trade-off below.
- 2
The 11s, between my brows.
- 3
Crow’s feet, at the outer corners.
- 4
Along my eyebrows, placed to lift.
Ask for this. My eyes have gotten more hooded as I have gotten older. Placement along the brow opens them back up. This is the one worth naming out loud when you go in.
- 5
The trade-off: if I want more lift in my eyes, I go lighter on my forehead.
The trade-off. The forehead muscle is the one holding your brow up. Relax too much of it and the brow comes down with it. The two pull against each other, so I pick which one I want that round.
Annually
One bigger thing a year
I try to do one larger treatment a year. Here is what I have actually had done, and how each one went.
- 1
A series of chemical peels.
Earlier this year. Brighter, smoother, glowier. The clearest result I have had from anything on this list.
- 2
Sculptra in my temples.
Recently. It fills the hollowing there and lifts the eye a little. It is not filler — it works by getting your own body to build collagen in that spot, so nothing happens right away. It takes several months to start showing.
- 3
Ultherapy.
Subtle. Focused ultrasound that heats the deep layer under your skin — the same layer a surgeon lifts in a facelift — without breaking the surface at all. That controlled heat is what prompts your body to build new collagen there, so like the Sculptra it shows up over months, not days. Mine was subtle. It was still worth doing.
- 4
A BBL/Moxi combo.
This is the one. This is the one that burned me. Read the next part before you book anything light-based.
The one that went wrong
I had a BBL/Moxi combo and it burned me. Sixteen months later I am still recovering. The technician was not properly trained to treat skin with melanin.
Light-based treatments — BBL, IPL, most lasers — work by targeting pigment. On skin with any depth of tone, the wrong settings in the wrong hands do not simply fail. They injure, and the recovery is long.
So ask directly: have you treated skin like mine, and what settings do you use for it. Ask to see their before-and-afters on skin your shade, not someone else’s. If the answer is vague or they seem unbothered by the question, leave. That is the whole lesson, and it cost me a year and a half.
One thing that helped me understand it afterward: not everything carries this risk. Ultrasound treatments like Ultherapy work by heating tissue at depth rather than by seeking out pigment, so they pass through the surface without going after melanin at all — which is why they are considered safe across the full range of skin tones. It is light specifically that you have to be careful with.
On their own, several of these are subtle — you would not point at any single one and say that is the thing that did it. They stack. Years of small things compound into something you notice. But none of it is the foundation: the foundation is the sunscreen, the retinol, and the sleep, and this only works sitting on top of that.
What I use
Everything in one place, so the steps above stay readable.
Every routine
Vaseline
Does double duty — dry patches in the morning, moisturizer at night. It seals moisture in rather than adding any, which is why it goes on over damp skin or on top of the hyaluronic acid, never onto a dry face by itself.
If it does not suit your skin. If your skin runs oily or breaks out, this is the one to skip — skin that already makes plenty of oil does not need sealing, and covering a breakout can make it worse. A dimethicone lotion does the same sealing job without the grease, and squalane is the lighter option again. Leave it off broken or infected skin entirely.
Morning
Tinted SPF with hyaluronic acid
ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40
This gives coverage and protection without the heaviness.
Where I get itHydrating setting spray
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray
Comes in both a matte and an original radiant finish. I use the original.
Where I get itNight
Toner
Beauty of Joseon Glow Replenishing Rice Milk Toner
Hydrating enough for everyday.
If it does not suit your skin. If your skin runs oily, an alcohol-free witch hazel works instead.
Where I get itPlatelet-derived exosome serum
Plated Skin Science INTENSE Serum
Optional. Worth it if your skin wants more and the budget is there.
Where I get itDifferin or tretinoin
Tretinoin is prescription — ask your dermatologist. Differin is similar but gentler, and you can buy it over the counter.
Where I get itInside & out
Collagen peptides
Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
10–15g daily. Flavourless — it dissolves into coffee.
Vitamin C (oral)
500mg with breakfast. Not the same as the vitamin C serum.
Fish oil (omega-3)
Micro Ingredients Triple Strength Omega-3 Fish Oil
Read the EPA + DHA number on the back, not the big number on the front. This one says 4,200mg on the label and gives 2,100mg of actual EPA + DHA — and only at the full serving, which is three softgels. One softgel puts you at a third of the dose, which is the usual reason it seems to do nothing.
Where I get itThis is my routine. Yours would be different.
Guía builds one for your skin — what it is doing now, what you already use, and what is driving it. It arrives inside a six-part plan, because skin does not shift on its own.
Build mineFree. No card, no trial.
Or read what actually helps for everything else — free, no account