Nighttime Skincare Routines (Midlife Edition)

This week on dismissed, Jeni and Amy are talking about their nighttime skincare routines.

As two former stay‑at‑home moms navigating this weird and wonderful empty‑nest phase, they’ve realized that their evenings look very different — and so do their faces.

Jeni is an early‑to‑bed person. Like… aggressively early. Jeni’s routine, pretty simple. She doesn’t even really wash her face. (Don’t yell at her.)

Amy, on the other hand, is a night owl and a layering queen. She’s washing with Proactiv, applying a restorative skin complex, rolling frankincense and castor oil under her eyes, slathering on Medicube collagen jelly cream, and finishing with a red light mask for 10 minutes every single night. Now that’s commitment. And it works because Amy’s skin is gorg.

We also talk about what actually works when it comes to anti‑aging skincare, whether products beat procedures, and why we probably need to bring a dermatologist on to settle this debate once and for all.

Jeni and Amy are telling listeners (and showing for those podcast video viewers) all of the products they use (No Paid Placements - We Wish!).  If you’re into realistic midlife skincare, honest beauty routines, red light therapy, retinol confessions, and a little empty‑nest humor — this one’s for you. And tell us: are you Jeni (simple skincare) or Amy (layering queen)?

Let’s talk about it or visit us on socials.

Write to us at: thedismissedpodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hi, I'm Jenny, and I'm Amy, and this is dismissed.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

We are former stay-at-home moms who quit our careers to raise our only children. Now we've been dismissed from our duties as carpoolers, dance moms, and birthday party throwers. And we're trying to figure out our empty nest lives. Each week, we're having unserious but raw conversations about what is going on with our bodies, minds, and lives. Okay. So let's talk about it. All right, well, welcome to Dismiss the Podcast. I'm Jenny. And I'm Amy. We're really excited to have you here. Today we are going to be talking about our nighttime routines, what we do that we think helps, and maybe stuff we do that doesn't necessarily help. I don't know. Basically, I don't care if it doesn't help, I'm gonna do it. I think this might be an Amy show because I'm not I don't have that many steps. Okay. So um I just want to tell you that I'm gonna take my glasses off. And wait, does anyone else get it? Like it takes my bangs out when I take my glasses off. Yes. Does that happen to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I'm sorry. I mean it's sort of a PMO up front. Sorry. It's a PMO to begin. All right. It's a PMO to begin.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

I'm gonna I'm gonna find serenity to talk about my nighttime routine because I do love nighttime. I love going to bed.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Like I because I feel like you this is this is one of my favorite things about you is like you turn into a pumpkin very early. And you are not by that, by that I mean she will she goes to bed very early. So well, in my head, it may not be early to everybody, but in my head, but I love it that you love it so much because you I know when you're turning. Like like you're you're like, okay, if we're at dinner or something, dinner has to be kind of early, or if we were to dance competition, like it would you like I could tell you would start to be like, okay, uh-huh. Like you would start to check out, and I'm like, I think that's amazing that you do that.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

It's so true. I am a very early to bed, very early to rise person. Always have been. Yes. And um I I could wind down for sleep at like 6, 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Holy cow.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

I am usually in my bed or starting to get ready for bed around eight. That's amazing. And and I love it, and I sleep really well. And I love sleep.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

You protect my sleep. I protect my sleep. I protect it, and I feel like that's amazing because I I I did not protect my sleep growing up. And I don't like to miss anything. And my um daughter always left because I don't have a social battery. Like she has a social battery, so her social battery drains and she's like, I'm done, I'm ready. And she knows that about herself and she's ready to go and do whatever she has to do. My social battery is always at 100%, and I'm ready to go all the time, all the time, all night, anytime you want to go, and which is fine, but then every so often, like every few months, every like four months, I crash because I'm so exhausted. And I've been like that since I was little. And it's so funny to me because it served me well in college. Like I will go and hang out and and rock it, and it serves me well on like my girls' weekends, like because I'm really close with um a handful of my college girlfriends, and we um will go on girls' weekends and I'm ready to go. Like I will go and and and I don't drink, so it's even more fun because I'm the one like up all the time. I'm shocked hearing this. I had no idea. Yep, I'm ready. I knew you were late to bed. I am so in general, I'm a late to bedder. So, like in general, like I'll start to wind down. Like, I take I take my progesterone at like 10 45, 11.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Oh my god, that's so late.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And then I start to like chill and wind down if I'm reading or if I'm watching something, I like start to chill. And then so I'm asleep by like seven. Or sorry, so I'm asleep by 12, but then my I automatically wake up in the morning at like seven. Okay. And sometimes I'll like try to force myself to go back to sleep and I can lay in bed, but I it's usually 7, 7:30.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Okay. All right. So I'm just gonna briefly go through mine and then I want to hear your full night.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

I love everybody's nighttime routine.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

I know, I do too, and that's why we wanted to do this. Yeah. We want to hear from you too. What is your nighttime routine? Is it long? Is it short? Yeah. Let us know and let us know what works, like in terms of skincare, sleeping well, etc. Yeah. Okay. So here's mine. I start to wind down about eight. I do not use cleanser. Wait, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

I don't know. I don't know anybody that doesn't use cleanser.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I might have had um, we're gonna talk about this on a segment late, not later, a whole episode where we're gonna talk about keeping it real. What we've keeping it real done in terms of Botox, whatever, but I might have had a little work done on my lower face. It's fabulous. That is the first time in my 50s that I started washing my face at night, is after that procedure. So really? Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

So I just Like you would go to bed with no, like just no, not water, no, nothing. Okay, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Okay. So I now use a washcloth. I go tenderly around my face. I wipe off sort of maybe a layer of skin if that's what really happens. I do not use a cleanser. I think it's malarkey. Like the blah blah blah. It goes on my face for one second. What is it doing? Okay, okay. Malark. Mallark. Malarkfest. Mallarkfest.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

So that's a great word for malarkfest.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Worst case scenario, I splash some water on my face. Yeah. But um now I'm using a washcloth. Got it. That's it. Then that's it. My um my vitality doctor, who we keep threatening to have on and we will have on, um, has prescribed me two different things. Uh twice a week I use a retinol. Yep, I use that too. Point something, something. Point two. Zero point but you can't zero point zero two. But you can't use that all the time. Right. I use this like twice a week. Right. I use it every other night. Yeah. Um, Amy has seen me. I had some red patches when I first started using it, and I was like, oh, yep. People who are on retinol knew exactly what was happening to me.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, it's it's just because your skin has to get used to it, and you can't do it often. Like it's just because it's taking off all the dead skin. Yeah. So I do it twice a week.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yeah. Very little bit. Yeah. And then I put super little Cetophil Moisturizing cream. Yeah. This is my favorite container. So easy to manage on top of it. That's it. Or two nights a week, I now use this cream. What's that? Yeah, that is a good question. What is this? Hold on. Amazing. Please hold on while I put on my glasses. Don't pull out your hair. So I can tell you. Right. Uh hydroquinoin. What's that for? I don't know. Is it for like dryness or is it for like shooting? I don't know. But I actually find like my skin is a little more supple and moist. Oh, it has to be for So I use this like five days a week and the retinal. Thank you. Um, twice a week.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

So does that does that mean do you use that with your lotion? Yes. What you that's kind of.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

And I always put lotion on top of either of those two. Right. For my whole face. Okay. That's it, babies. Now. I kind of am a little bit jumping. That's it for my face. Um, I also, but I do have a pimple popping problem. So anything I've picked during the day, I put, you know, one of these hydro patches on. Which is awesome. My daughter uses those. Yeah. That's amazing. So does a woman in her 50s. Why am I still getting pimples? Maybe because I'm picking my face? I love that. Maybe because I only wash with water. I love to, I love that. No, I actually don't have that much. I just do pick. I do too. I'm a picker too. So then before I go to bed, I'd like to introduce What's that? I'm so excited. Wrinkles Schminkles.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Wrinkles Schminkles. Is that really what it's called? Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Wrinkles Schminkles is the company. Stop it right now. I put it on my head like this. Do you sleep in it? I sleep in it all night. And I don't know about you, but I get these vertical lines. They're like angled and vertical. Not everyone will have them. Okay. And I can't get Botox in my forehead. We'll talk about that later. But this, I was waking up with lines in my head. That's amazing. I found this company called Wrinkle Schminkles. It sticks to your head. See? I love Wrinkle Schminkles. And I sleep through the night, and when I get up, I have no lines on my forehead, and then I go through the day looking younger. What's in it? I swear to God.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

It's a silicone pad. That's it. There's nothing in it. Wait, stop. It is a silicone pad. There is not like a medicine or a lotion or something on it. There's no you reuse that.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

I reuse this. I reuse them a lot. That's amazing. And do you just buy one? Um, they come in sets of two. They also have them for different areas, eyes, shh, hands.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

I'm trying to do that.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

They have them for hands. I've used every one. This is the one that I like use every night. Do you think that's the one that works best? I just think they all work. It just depends. I'm so excited about this. This is my favorite. Then, after I had a little work done, which again we'll talk about a different time. Amazing. Are you ready for this face wrap? I'm ready. I can't. Am I actually gonna do this? Yeah. Okay. Would or yeah, just show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do it. Okay, I'm not gonna put it all. Well, let me see if I can do it around my mic.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

You can do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

So it goes around your neck. Oh, there's ear holes. Oh, shoot. It's okay. No, pull it out. Should I I'm gonna take this off first. Okay, can I take it?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Well, yeah. You can do it. Just let them hang. Hold on, I'm caught. Let them hang. Okay. Okay. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Ready?

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yeah, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

This is what I wear to bed. What is that called? A face bra. Neck brace or a face bra. I want it to be called a face bra. Okay, so then it goes on your chin.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

It attaches up here. Yes, Queen. And you can hold it on by your ears. It's hot. Is it hot? So no. No, I mean it's hot hot. It's like hot. I look great in this. Yeah, you too. Um and it keeps your. Yeah. Oh, that's does it keep it tight? It's like spanks for your. It spanks for your chin. Yeah, it spanks for your chin. This I got on Amazon. A plastic surgery nurse recommended it post-surgery, which again we'll talk about another time. That's kind of amazing. Um, my husband is like oh, you have the wrap on. The wrap. Oh, Jenny, you have the wrap on. He doesn't call it. No, he's so nice. He doesn't call it a um He doesn't care. Uh chin spanx. No, he I don't think he knows what spanx is. It does seem kind of high maintenance with the shrinkle shrinkles and the other thing, but no. I am now going to past night team, nighttime routine over to Amy. Tell us what you do. No, I mean I'll do basically I'll do anything.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

So, like you just told me all that stuff that you'll do, and I want to try everything. Like if something, if my friends are trying something, I want to try it too. I'm a sucker for that. Um basically I wash my face and I with what? Well, I wash it, and my friends laugh at me. I what they I wash it with proactive still. Proactives that like um anti-acneau. Oh, they used to do the infomercials. Yeah. Wait a minute. I have used it for years. A scrub? So it's like an exfoliator. Every night you exfoliate? 100%. And then how long is that on your face? Well, why wash it? So however long it's on my face. I know you think it's Malark. Yeah, but I think it's a good thing. I mean, what's it gonna do in three seconds? It's gonna get all the dead skin and anything I have on my face, like from the day off. Okay. So I do that. Then I put my um, like I put lotion on. My newest thing that I love to put on is um this. It is called um, it's a restorative skin complex, and it's amazing. I got it from the girl that does like um my laser treatment and stuff. Okay. It's just like a serum-y type thing, and I love it. It's called elastin skincare. It is so awesome, and I feel like it makes you very glowy and dewy, but I feel I like the way it feels on my face. It's first thing you put on. That's the first thing I put on. Then I put on this is my other new favorite thing. It is frankincense, frankincense, and castor oil. Because somebody said castor oil is really good for your under-eye um area. So I roll this baby on my own. Oh, it rolls, and it has like um I smell it. 100% yeah, because frankincense. And it's it's got the rose quartz roller, which I'm a sucker for. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I like it. It's so awesome. So that goes under your eyes only? Go under it goes under your eyes, yeah. And it I'm supposed to help with anti-aging. So wrinkles. And then my favorite thing that I put on, and the reason I love this is because it's so cheap. And my sister, um, shout out to my sister, she's amazing. She introduced me to it. It's Medicube, and I get it on Amazon. This was like 15 bucks. Okay. This whole thing. And it's literally, it's like what you put, it's the last thing you put on, but it's like a gel.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

So you can stick your nice smelling things.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

It's very nice smelling, but it's like a gel, and it's really lightweight. I put it on my face and my neck. And I love it. And what do you think this does? I think it's anti-aging, I think it's tighteners, I think it's cooling. It's a collagen jelly cream. Okay. So it's supposed to like help build collagen. I believe it. All I know is I believe. And then after this happens, okay. I use my red light mask. What? It is my favorite thing that I ever do. Hold on, I wish we could turn it on. Wait, you can plug- Oh yes! So basically, I lay every night in my bed with this on, and it's you so you can kind of see like it has straps. Do you want me to turn the lights off?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

No, I want to see the. Okay, can you show the camera or the one of these?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

So it has the red lights. You can do anything. And then has the straps around your neck. I also have one, or sorry, around your head. So around your head. It goes around your head, like you're putting it on like this. So in its straps, so you ultimately look like this. And I don't know if you can see, but it's so funny. I have to warn my um family members, like my husband, if he walks in, because he will scream. He'll be like, he's he's a very much a reactor. Um, but this is my favorite thing, and I don't know why, but it works for fine lines, for skin texture, for dark spots, anything like that. I do it every single night. How long? Um, it so the timer lasts for 10 minutes. So it turns off after 10 minutes. Okay. Um, so you only do it 10 minutes a night. So literally, I literally will uh put on all my stuff. I will get lay on my bed, I will put this on. I do have friends that use this and will literally walk around their house with it on, but I can't I can't really see anything in it. All right, so I don't look at my phone or anything. I'll turn on a podcast or turn on something and I'll yeah, and I'll um I'll turn on dismissed. Y'all. And um, and then I put this on for 10 minutes and I lay there. So it's very chill, calm time. The funny thing about me is I will do my nighttime routine no matter what time it is.

unknown 15:30

Shh.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

This whole thing. This whole thing. So I will do it if I get home late and it is fully like 12 o'clock, one o'clock, I will fully do this still.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

And this that doesn't have to be plugged in when it's on your face. You turn it on.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

It doesn't have to be plugged in, it charges. So, like, and I'll you'll know, like when you turn it on, um, I don't know if that's gonna happen. You can see these two dots. Uh-huh. Usually it has three. So, like when it goes down to one, that's when you know you need to charge it. Um, but yeah, I think it's it makes a huge difference in your skin texture and tone, and I don't know why. Okay. I'm just obsessed with it.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

The other thing we should do is have a dermatologist on 100% to talk about some of this stuff because as I've said to you, and I mean it, no one has skin like you do. It is. Oh, you're so nice. That's very nice. The truth, I've been saying it for 10 years. You're very nice. A little eight years, whatever. It is the smoothest, you see no pores. I should copy this, and yet, Malark is and don't think it's think a little bit as malarkey.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

I'm sure it is, but here's the problem is I believe I'll believe it and I will try it. But the other thing is, is I'm not a sun person either. So I've stayed out of the sun forever. And I know you have too, because of your um just how your skin is and your hair. I'm so light. Um, so light. But I think that's a huge part of it. But big time, it's I I feel like this stuff, I feel like it works.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Okay. I think on another episode, we are gonna talk. I said we were gonna talk about keeping it real. Yeah. There have also been very many procedures done with both of us, not necessarily surgeries, but lasers and things like that that really helped this stuff. So I would be interested to hear a professional's point of view on all this stuff versus the other things. Yes. The Botox, the lasers, the RF, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Microneedling? Yeah, microneedling. Thank you. I know you just went like this. It's funny that I know what that means. Yeah. So we'll have to do that another time. What is your nighttime routine? Yes. Do you think this stuff, these lotions work when you're layering them?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Share it because I want to use all of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Amy's gonna do a nine-hour. I will. I'm gonna not even wash my face anymore. Right. Which is why I look like this and you look like this. I feel like amazing. So anyway, okay. So we usually, as you know, like to wrap up with a PMO. Piss me off, just to remind you, but PMO. Um, Amy has a very long list. I am not sure if she is going to have one for today.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

I do have one for today, and it has to do with your glasses that you had on at the beginning. So I don't, so like your glasses don't have them, but a lot of glasses have those plastic nose things that come out, especially a lot of name brand glasses. Have them like ray bands or something. Like if you're wearing aviators, they piss me off. Why? Because they get stuck in my hair. So if I, and I'm a big like if you have glasses on, I will put it on top of my head. If I put those type of glasses on top of my head, it will fully cause a whole rat situation in my hair and they'll be dangling off a piece of hair. It is not a good thing. Why do we have to have those nose pads? I think they're called nose pads. I don't know. If not, they should be. It's cherry. I'm calling them nose pads. They piss me off. And often, if you have glasses that are old, because I keep my glasses for a long time, they'll break. So then fully, yeah. So then fully, like I'll have one side on a nose pad and one side that's not. So they, you know what? Nose pads piss me off. Yeah, and I love that it's a rat situation. It's a rat, always. Ever always.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

You guys let us know. Do you like nose pads? Do they work for you on glasses? Let us know. I don't have nose pads on mine, and it still yanked my hair.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

It still yanked. So imagine if you had nose pads.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah. All right. Thank you so much for listening to Dismiss today. Let us know your nighttime routines. Send us an email, thedismisspodcast at gmail.com. Subscribe to our podcast so you know what we're talking about next and when we're talking about it. And we really do want to hear from you. So let us know.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Talk to us through the social media. Yep. You can find us on socials TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at the Dismiss Podcast. We really want to hear from you. But for now, I'm Jenny and I'm Amy. And you're dismissed. You're dismissed.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

The best part of building this community is connecting and engaging with you, the listeners and viewers. We want this to be a conversation. So please, we want to hear from you. You can reach us on all the socials at the Dismiss Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube. If you want to email us, send it to thedesmisspodcast at gmail.com. We hope to hear from you.