Confidently Beautiful with Ciera
Confidently Beautiful with Ciera
What Nobody Tells You About Aging 7x Faster
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Skincare isn't just about looking good—it's about feeling confident in your own skin. In this deeply informative episode, I unpack the five essential steps that transformed my relationship with my skin and could do the same for you.
What started as a quest to make my makeup look better led me to a surprising discovery: what I thought were makeup problems were actually skin problems. I share my personal skincare journey and the exact routine that changed everything for me, starting with the crucial importance of knowing your unique skin type (hint: take my skincare quiz in the show notes!).
We dive deep into proper makeup removal (and why your cleanser isn't enough), the transformative power of cleansing balms, and the shocking statistic that sleeping with makeup on could age your skin up to seven times faster. I break down each step in detail—from masks and toners to serums and treatments—while highlighting which steps are absolute must-dos and which are optional luxuries. You'll learn why SPF might be the single most important product in your arsenal, how to "eat your water" with hydrating foods, and why the right collagen supplement could be your skin's best friend.
Whether you're a skincare newbie or looking to elevate your current routine, this episode provides practical, achievable advice that works for real people with real lives. Take the first step toward healthier skin and greater confidence—your future self will thank you for starting today!
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you're listening to confidently beautiful with sierra a podcast to help you stay confidently beautiful, because we all have confidence inside us. We just need to bring it out and I'm here to show you how body image, dreams, parenting, style, personality and more here we cover it all. Get ready to stay confidently beautiful. Hello, welcome back to another podcast episode. I am so happy that you are here. This is going to be a super fun episode.
Speaker 1:I wish that we could see each other and I could show this live, but I wanted to try something a little bit different and I want to talk a little bit about skin. Let's see if we can learn a little bit more about our skin. How to take care of our skin. It's something that I have become super passionate about. I have always had trouble with my makeup, and once I found unique products and I started wearing higher end makeup, a lot of my problems seemed to be starting to be solved, which has been great. But then I just kept learning more and more about skin, and then, the more I took care of my skin, the more I could see that the problems that I thought were just a makeup problem were actually a skin problem. So I want to show a little bit of what I have learned about skin and how you can use it to improve just your own skin and just being confident in your own skin, but maybe also to even help as far as your makeup goes and how it's applying on your face and just how you feel about yourself. So let's dive into this episode. I hope that it's beneficial, even though it's just audio. I would love to be able to do some visuals on my social media, so make sure that you're following me there at Confidently Beautiful Podcast, and I will share some visuals and some demonstrations of all of these things that I'm going to be talking about here in this episode. But I hope that this episode can be helpful for you just to listen to as you learn a little bit about skincare and how to care for your skin.
Speaker 1:First thing that you need to know when you are taking care of your skin, when you're putting on makeup, when you're just doing skincare, is what is your skin type? Are you normal? Are you sensitive? Are you combination skin? Do you have oily skin? Are you acne prone? Are you dry? What is your skin type is going to determine what type of makeup you should be using, what type of foundation you should be wearing, but it's also going to determine what type of skincare you should be using, because all of our skin is unique, so our skincare should be unique. I feel so passionately about this that we are not just a one size fits all. Nobody should have just like the generic off the shelf. Grab this cleanser, this moisturizer, call it good. No, we all need something specific for our own skin, and so I would love to share my skincare quiz with you. The link to my skincare quiz is in the show notes, so check that out. I would love for you to have that. Or send me a DM with just skincare quiz and I will get you that link. It's also in my bio on Instagram, so there are so many different ways that you can get it. Make sure you're on my newsletter list and I always have links to it there too. So there's so many ways. So just make sure that you can get access to this quiz. But, in the very least, probably the easiest thing to do is go to my show notes and it should be there in this episode Know your skin type and then, as far as taking care of your skin, there are just five basic steps to start your skincare routine Now.
Speaker 1:Your routine could be as bougie as you want it to be or as simple as you want it to be that is the beauty of it but you should at least be doing something for your skin. The earlier you can start, the better, but it's never too late to start taking care of your skin. So let's talk about the five basic steps of taking care of your skin. The first one is to remove your makeup and cleanse. So cleanser does not equal makeup remover. If you get a makeup remover from the store and you think that that's going to do the same thing as a cleanser is, you're wrong. If you think a cleanser is going to be good enough just to get all your makeup off and that's going to be good enough, you're also wrong. I'm sorry. I hate to break it to you, but you are. You really should be using both a makeup remover and a cleanser. So I like to use a cleansing balm for my makeup remover. This is the most luxurious product.
Speaker 1:I don't know how I did anything with my skin before this. I used to always wake up because I was one of those people that was just like oh, my face wash, that's all I need for my makeup. So I would do my face wash and I would wake up in the morning with black underneath my eyes and I was like, why am I always having mascara under my eyes? I feel like I got it all off last night. Well, it's because I wasn't really getting it all off and I was also not even getting to the layer of my skin. To clean my skin, I love to use my cleansing balm. So there I was. When I very first found a cleansing balm. It was like a higher end, a little bit more expensive cleansing balm, but I quickly like fell in love with it. I couldn't do anything without it. I recently have found one that is about half the cost of that one Maybe not quite half the cost, but oh my goodness, it's so much cheaper and I am so happy with it and it's it does just as good as that one did.
Speaker 1:And so if you can find a product that you love, that can remove your makeup, but then also have something that will clean your face afterwards, that is what you need. So I'm going to be including links to all of my favorite products below so you can check them all out, but just make sure that you're getting a product that is going to remove your makeup so you can check them all out, but just make sure that you're getting a product that is going to remove your makeup before you go ahead and wash your face. So once your makeup is removed, then you will have all your makeup off your face, and there's a statistic that if you don't wash off your makeup, you are likely to age seven times faster. Now, I don't know how accurate that statistic is that I found, but even if it's like two times faster, I don't know how accurate that statistic is that I found, but even if it's like two times faster, I don't want to age any faster than I have to. So, yes, wash your makeup off.
Speaker 1:I know it's like the hardest thing to want to do. At the end of the day, we're all so tired we don't want to take the time to wash off our makeup, but it is so important to do that. So this is why I love my cleansing balm. It's like a spa in a jar. It just works so well for me. I love it. It's like a spa wipes it all away, and it is a non-greasy formula, which is so important to me because I don't want to go to bed feeling like I'm all greasy.
Speaker 1:So after I've taken off my cleansing balm, then I use my cleanser. So cleansing balm and cleanser I know it's confusing because they both say cleanse, but you want a makeup remover which is like my cleansing balm that I use and then you want a cleanser which is like your typical face wash. So I use my cleansing balm and then I finish it off with my cleanser, which is going to get all once my makeup's all off from my cleansing balm. My cleanser will get all of my skin clean and just get everything off my face All that oil off my face, all the pollutants from the day off my face. I have a cleanser that goes along with my cleansing balm. It's the same brand and I love it. All my skincare that I have fallen in love with is the same brand. It's called Beauty Society and I will include a link to all of it. It is my favorite. It's just so good and I love the ingredients. They're soft for your skin, ingredients, they're clean and they are made in the US and it's it truly is like one of the best that I have found, and it's actually pretty, quite affordable, which makes it even better. So remove your makeup, cleanse your face.
Speaker 1:Step two is going to be mask and tone. Now you don't need to do this every night. This is going to be like the nights that you're like I really want to take care of my skin tonight. Then you can mask. So mask like one or two times a week. If you're only doing it once a month, that's great too. Just it doesn't need to be crazy.
Speaker 1:I do like to do an exfoliating mask, like one to two times a week, just a light one in the shower. I usually just keep an exfoliating mask in the shower. It doesn't need to be heavy duty because that's going to be hard on your skin. So basically, the more water you add, the lighter the exfoliation. So if you want like a really deep exfoliation, if you maybe only want to do that like once every month or two, then you could do a deeper exfoliation. But if you're going to be doing it frequently, like one to two times a week, you just want a light exfoliation to be really gentle on your skin. So I love to do it in the shower. That's my tip is to just leave your exfoliator in the shower, and so masking and toning is going to be what you're going to want to do after you've cleaned your face, after you've removed your makeup and you've cleansed your face and your face is clean.
Speaker 1:Toning is basically like a rose water spray. This is definitely like a not necessity thing, but it's something that I think smells so good and makes me feel really fancy and fresh. So a rose water spray. It has a lot of benefits. It can help to reduce the puffiness. It reduces dark circles. My rose water spray is actually the only thing that is not a beauty society thing that I do. This one is actually unique and I love my rose water spray. It can reduce wrinkles. It reduces dark circles. It tightens your pores, reduces redness, makes your hair softer. You can even spray it on your hair. It's just kind of like one of those like not necessary but makes me feel really fancy.
Speaker 1:Mask and tone is the second step. Step three is going to treat and target. So any serums that you want to use, this is when you're going to put them on After you've cleansed, after you've removed your makeup. Then you're going to do your treat and target. So there are so many serums out there. So this is another reason why it is so important to know your skin type. So please take that skincare quiz. Even if you're not going to buy the products that I recommend, take the skincare quiz so that you can learn a little bit more about your skin and what types of products you should be looking for.
Speaker 1:Serums, again, are something that you don't have to do, but if you want to, they definitely have a ton of benefits for your skin. There's a million different types of serums. There's vitamin C treatments, there's oils, there's eye creams, there's I mean, there's so many. One of my personal favorites is eye creams. I love eye creams or eye masks, but eye creams are something that I use every day. Eye masks I don't use as frequently, but they definitely have similar benefits. But the eye cream I love because it just reduces that redness and puffiness and the dark circles under my eyes. That is one serum that I definitely recommend. But again, I will include all of my preferred products in the show notes below so you can just check them all out and see which ones that I like, and if you have any specific questions, then you can ask me.
Speaker 1:Step four is going to be to moisturize. So once you've done all of that stuff on your face, you wanna lock it all in. So you wanna have a nice moisturizer on your face. So I do a moisturizer at night to just lock in all of that skincare goodness and my my main skincare routine is in the evening. So I do all of this in the evening and then I moisturize in the morning. I just make sure my face is still clean, just rinse it off in the shower and then I also do a moisturizer. So my morning skincare routine is very minimal. But the moisturizer is a very important part of skincare.
Speaker 1:And number five probably the most important part of skincare is SPF. You have to put on SPF in the mornings. Like if you are spending all of that money on high quality skincare and all of that time putting all that skincare on, put SPF on. Because if you don't have something protecting you from the sun, all of that time putting all that skin care on, put SPF on. Because if you don't have something protecting you from the sun, all of that, all the benefits of all those products that you put on your face are going to go away, like you're not going to see them. So make sure that you are putting on sunscreen. Put sunscreen on. Protect your face. Another way to protect your face if you're going to wear makeup is to put on a face primer underneath your foundation. This just adds another shield of protection. I just do it over my moisturizer. It also helps your foundation to stay on better, which is a bonus, and to lay better on your skin, but it also can help to protect your skin from free radicals, allergens and other pollutants that might be in the air.
Speaker 1:And then bonus tips for your skin are hydration and collagen. Easy ways to get hydration are to eat it, eat your water. So there's romaine lettuce has like 96% water. Tomatoes, celery, cucumber all those are in the 90s. Bell pepper 94% mushroom, which I hate, so I won't be doing that one, but that one's 93% water. Spinach 92% watermelon we're coming into watermelon season. So, yes, eat all that one, but that one's 93% water. Spinach, 92% watermelon we're coming into watermelon season. So, yes, drink, eat all that. Watermelon. Cauliflower, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberry, carrots, apples, bananas all of those foods are high in water. So those are great foods to eat for hydration and to help your skin and also just to make you feel better and be healthier.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, drinking water is great too. Some really good water infusions. My personal favorites would be water and lemon that one's always my go-to or water and lime. I love that so much. You could also do strawberries and blackberries like just kind of a berry cocktail. You could do some mint if you like mint. I personally don't love that, but maybe if you like mint or cucumber in your water you could try that. But my go-to is definitely a lemon or a lime in my water. It's just so good and refreshing. So make sure that you are drinking enough water. My goal is half my body weight in water every day. Let's be honest, that does not happen every day.
Speaker 1:But drinking your water has so many benefits for your body, but also for your skin, and collagen can be very beneficial. It can hydrate your skin. It nourishes and strengthens your skin. It makes you look more alive and improves your texture, the brightness of your skin, and look more full and bouncy and youthful and radiant. So to find a good collagen can be very helpful. I do have one that I really love. That I will include in the show notes. It is a commitment, so it is something that you have to commit to taking every day or you won't see any benefits.
Speaker 1:But if you want to take a collagen. If you're looking for a collagen, there's different types. There's a pill type of collagen, there's liquid collagen or there's powder collagen. Typically the one that is going to be absorbed the most is going to be a liquid. Then you would have your powder that would go in water. That would be absorbed second best, and a pill is typically absorbed by your body. The least effective, but it is still effective. Collagen is collagen, but you just have to be consistent with it.
Speaker 1:So that's a little bit about skincare and the five steps for taking care of your skin. So, just to recap, you're going to remove your makeup and cleanse. You're going to mask and tone, if you want to. You're going to treat and target if you want to. Again, you don't have to. You're going to moisturize and you're going to protect.
Speaker 1:The three that you need to be doing are remove makeup and cleanse, moisturize, protect. The others are just bonuses, but just please make sure you're doing those three things, especially protecting your skin, or all of this work is going to be for nothing, and we don't want that and we want you to stay healthy and cancer-free. So I hope that this episode was helpful for you and you can use it to help you feel a little bit more confident in your skin, naturally as you are, or even with your makeup on, and hope that you can find that it will help your makeup lay better on your face and to just feel better for you. Have a great week and stay confidently beautiful. Thanks for listening. Connect with me on Instagram at confidently beautiful podcast and share this episode with someone in your life who could use a little reminder of just how amazing they already are. Stay confidently beautiful.