A good basic skincare routine is cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize. A lot of beauty bloggers swear that toning is also a necessary step, but others claim the opposite, and personally I haven’t found it to make a huge difference in my skin’s condition thus far.

1. CLEANSE. Currently I trade off between Fresh’s Soy Face Cleanser and Burt’s Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser. The former is a dream, the gentlest cleanser I’ve ever come across but also effective, removing makeup, dirt, and oil effortlessly. It’s a light, clear cream that feels wonderful going on my skin, and perhaps my favorite part is that I can get it even in my eyes and it won’t sting – it’s that gentle. Hands-down my favorite cleanser for removing makeup, and one of my preferred ones overall.

Burt’s Bees I didn’t expect to like – I’ve had mixed experiences with Burt’s Bees products – but I saw it on quite a few facial-care lists so decided to give it a shot. Coffeteers, my skin started clearing up after two uses of this. My skin had a faster response to this than I believe any other cleansing product I’ve ever tried. It’s a thick, oil-based formula, which can seem a bit odd at first, but it’s been well-documented that dry skin responds well to oil-based cleansers, and this certainly proves it. Just for the record, my skin doesn’t feel oily at all after using this – just wonderfully clean and refreshed. As a bonus, it smells great, like oranges.

2. EXFOLIATE. I tried a number, then landed on C. Booth’s Green Apple Microdermabrasion Scrub and will not ever go back. After each use, including the first one, my skin is noticeably brighter, and just looks good –  clear and I swear with tightened pores. I use only a small amount at a time and of course avoid the eye area, but harshness-wise it’s really not bad, just rub it on gently and then wash off after a minute or so. Best thing about this? It’s totally affordable at  a gorgeous – price. And did I mention it smells like apples? (See a fruit theme in my skincare products?)

3. MOISTURIZE. Currently using Kiehl’s Ultra Face Cream, which is just as good as everyone says and deserves its classic status. Kiehl’s Ultra Face Cream is kind of the quintessential facial moisturizer – not too heavy (though I do prefer it for winter rather than spring), not too light, completely hypoallergenic, gentle, delivers a strong dose of moisturization without clogging your pores. The white cream rubs in easily. It’s kind of hard to describe how great this product is because really what it does it just exactly what you want a moisturizer to do and which almost all other moisturizers somehow fail to do in one way or another. At around $30, it’s the most expensive facial product I use, but one pot lasts me six months.

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