Bedtime Rituals/PM Skincare

The quality of your life is based on your daily habits (even right before bed).

Bedtime stories to children are like bedtime routines for adults.  They’re good for your brain and encourage sleep.  I strongly believe that the quality of your life is (largely) based on your daily habits.  If you have a habit of eating junk food, your health will suffer.  If you have a habit of talking badly about your spouse, your relationship will suffer.  Which brings me to bedtime habits.  If you want a good night’s sleep and to feel (and look) amazing the next morning, you have to make yourself stick to some good rituals.  These are mine:

1.  Take a hot bath with epsom salts. Epsom salts reduce stress, pain, inflammation, and toxins.  If you had a tough workout earlier in the day, even better! Soak the worries of your day away!  I do every single night.  While I’m in the tub, I’m always listening to a self-development podcast of some kind or Norah Jones.  (I have a specific genre of music specified for every daily task: cooking=country, working out=rap, bath time=Norah Jones. Just trust the process.)
2. SKINCARE. I wish I could tell you about a holy grail skincare line that I absolutely swear by.  The truth is, I’ve tried SO many different lines and few of them stand out as being far above the rest.  I guess we could compare ingredients to determine quality (idk), but again I just want to be very transparent. I do have some go-tos, and I will link those.

So, regardless of brand there are some steps that you need to take for your skin.  Age doesn’t matter.  I started using anti-aging products when I was 19.  I am obsessed with skin care.  Call me vain, please.  It will not hurt my feelings. I love this stuff. Okay, here is my night time regimen:

• A good face cleanser (for when you’re in the bath and also working on your self-development with a podcast). I really, really like this brand.  I haven’t tried anything yet that I don’t like, and I’ve been using this particular cleanser for quite a while now.  Face Cleanser
• A good toner.  These are two that I enjoy: Sephora Toner and Lancome Toner
• RETINOL. Almost a year ago, I messaged my friend Laken and told her I had these two tiny lines on my forehead and I needed them gone before the wedding.  She suggested retinol, and I’ll never go back to my pre-retinol days. Retinol reduces wrinkles, prevents fine lines, evens out discoloration, brightens skin tone, and unclogs pores.  This is the current brand I’m using: Fab Skin Serum
• This step isn’t a necessity, but this stuff is awesome.  I literally only bought it because I was told it’s like botox in a bottle. After that I was sold. I could copy and paste how it works and what it’s good for, but all I know is that it makes my skin soft and supple. Rejuvenating Hydrator

• Eye Cream.  Basically, none of the above listed products should even touch your eye area.  Use your ring finger (that’s your lightest touch) and gently tap your eye cream on.  I know I said I’m not a brand snob, but SkinMedica is legit: SkinMedica Eye Cream
• Moisturize. I’ve used so many moisturizers I couldn’t even name them all.  Your moisturizer goes on your face, neck, chest, and even your hands if you have product left on your fingertips.  I’ve been using this lately: Renewed Hope Moisturizer
• Good ol’ Vaseline for your lips.  Apparently there are now lip masks and special lip serums, but I stick to the basics on this one.  I never have chapped or dry lips and I attribute it to lips coated in Vaseline.

3.  Here we are after all that only on step #3!  Hope you started early!  Ok now, make some tea.  Sleepy tea, relaxing tea, detox tea, etc.  I’m not a huge fan of the taste of tea, but something warm before bed relaxes me.

4.  I self tan once or twice a week.  I also use some kind of sheet mask once or twice a week.  I’m not picky about sheet masks.  The $5 ones are sometimes as good as the expensive masks.  (Although there is an expensive mask I did before my wedding that was UNREAL.  I’ll do a post on it sometime.)  My favorite at-home tan is St. Tropez.  It’s foolproof and doesn’t streak.  I use the Express kind because you can keep it on for a few hours and then shower before bed.  My husband doesn’t like sleeping next to me when I’m grimey and marinating in self tan.  I don’t blame him, plus it stains the sheets.  This is a great solution: St. Tropez Self Tan

5. Turn on the night shift(blue light filter) for your phone and turn off other electronics.  The blue light is so bad for your sleeping habits.  Nothing else screws with your ability to produce melatonin like our tech.  This is why people sit up all night lost on Pinterest or Netflix.  Just shut it off.  My rule is no TV in the bedroom.  I’m working on the phone, but for now it’s mainly just there for an alarm anyway.

6. White noise.  Josh and I use a sound machine, ceiling fan, and floor fan.  It’s pretty intense.  You fall asleep quicker, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed.  I can’t explain this phenomenon, but it works.

VOILA!!  Now you will all sleep like babies! I have a very specific way of how I like to unwind and get ready for bed (although my morning routine is even more intense…let me know if you want to hear those embarrassing details on a future post). I hope this was helpful!  And please, if you have tips for how to unwind in a more efficient way, share away!  I’m also SO open to nighttime skincare suggestions from you guys.

Now it’s getting past my bedtime and I’m breaking my own NO TECH rule, so goodnight!

xoxo

DeAndra Lynette

p.s. Cuddles with my sweet baby Romeo are ALWAYS a part of my night time routine.

p.p.s. I wanted to wear makeup, fix my hair, and wear this beautiful robe for these pics, but I realized that’s so not real.  My hair is wet, I have no makeup on, and my sweet husband actually took these while in the act of “getting ready for bed”.  I love glitz and glam, but I don’t like fake.  So here I am in all my natural glory!