Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Post-Shower, Pre-Makeup
December 29, 2023
Yesterday I wrote about the clutter on my desk (to which I’ve added since today’s mail and a plastic bag). This morning I was thinking about the clutter in my bathroom. I guess if I use the things it’s not really clutter, but I use a lot of things and maybe don’t need so many. This is not a new issue; I wrote about my morning routine back in 2004, noting between 20 and 30 products used between getting up and leaving the house. Some things have changed since then, like not brushing my teeth first thing because I eat breakfast at home most days and can brush after that, and not wearing makeup, much less a full face of it, a lot of the time. But I still use a lot of products just to get ready to not go anywhere or see anyone. Here’s the lineup I used after I showered this morning, consisting of 10 items, almost all of them moisturizers:
Left to right, in the order I used them:
1. Andalou Naturals Luminous Eye Serum. Goes under my eyes and on my browbone below my brows. Don’t remember exactly when I started using this; sometime between moving to Idaho in 2015 and when I wrote about my facial skincare routine in December of 2019. Originally chose this by reading the labels on the eye serums available at my grocery store and deciding the purported benefits of this one were a good fit. Have kept using it because the skin around my eyes seems to be holding up pretty well.
2. La Roche Posay Rosaliac AR Intense Serum. Goes on my face. I’ve used this for what seems like forever, but am going to have to find another redness reducing serum as this is my last bottle and it’s no longer made.
3. Andalou Naturals Fruit Stem Cell Revitalize Serum. Goes on my neck to defy aging.
4. Mitchum antiperspirant/deodorant in Shower Fresh. I am not super brand loyal with this; if something else clear is on sale, I’ll get that instead.
5. Eucerin Intensive Repair Lotion. Goes on my arms, butt, and feet, which are the parts of my body that seem to be the driest. I feel like this is too rich to use all over my body.
6. Chantal Vitamin E Skin Cream. This was an impulse buy (it was on sale). Did not like it on my face at all. Currently using it up by applying on my legs, where the smell I do not care for is farther from my nose. When this is used up, I won’t replace it and my legs will get either Eucerin or Jergens depending on how dry they feel.
7. Jergens Original Scent Lotion. Use on the parts of my body not covered by #5 or #6.
8. RoC Multi Correxion 5 in 1 Eye Cream. Still using the old tube I wrote about nearly three weeks ago. Goes under my eyes.
9. Estee Lauder Swiss Performing Extract. Goes on my neck. This is Joan’s spare bottle that I’m using up (Kathy doesn’t like it). Joan took pride in her skin and I like to think she’d like knowing her favorite face cream wasn’t going to waste. If I were planning to be out in the sun for any significant length of time, I’d have used one of my face products with SPF instead.
10. La Roche Posay Effaclar BB Blur. Goes on my face. I’m using this up on days I don’t plan to leave the house, as the tint is a bit dark for my skin, and I think it looks too obvious in daylight. I do like the finish, though. I bet they’ve discontinued this, too.
I could use one serum and one lotion/cream for my face and neck both, I suppose, but the skin isn’t the same in both places and my neck is getting to be more of an issue as I get older, so I don’t really see what I can cut out of here except the Vitamin E cream. What I could streamline is having two or three different products in rotation for some of these slots (which also applies to my nighttime routine, though that’s just face/neck/hands focused so involves fewer products in total). But I can’t streamline until I use up the products I have, because I hate to waste them.
On this date in 2022: Home Again, Doodly Doo
2021: Lack of Vim
2020: What If
2019: Some Favorite Photos of 2019
2018: New Age Graffiti
2017: Snow, Snow, and Eeyore Soap
2016: Lazy Day
2015: The Internet is Weird
2014: Places I’ll Never Live
2013: Holiday Afterglow
2012: Probably My Fault
2011: New Monkey Plays with the Buttons
2010: Sock Monkey Plays in the Snow
2009: Mani-Pedi Madness
2008: Morning Mystery
2007: Chilly Boy
2006: Battle of the Patio
2005: Sunshine State
2004: Starfish a.k.a. Sea Star
2003: I’ve Been Gone Again
2002: No entry
