You thought you did everything right.
Well… Bought everything right.
You’ve made room in your monthly budget for all the skin products your heart (and face) desires. You’ve bought the perfect moisturizer, serums, toner, oils, cleansers, and SPF to finish it off. You’re dedicated to the craft of keeping your skin plump, moisturized, glowing and healthy - and you’ve got the skincare shelf in the bathroom to prove it.
Until, suddenly… Skin care news breaks, revealing yet another ingredient they claim is the thing your skin NEEDS.
Frankly, it’s exhausting… For both you and your wallet.
It seems this year, there’s a new trend in town: and it’s not something you can necessarily buy.
“Skinamalism” is the response to the beauty market’s scare-tactic advertising. Let’s get into what it is, how it’s changing what we know about skin care, and how it could be a good fit for your routine.
What is It?
Put simply: it’s exactly what it sounds like.
Skinamalism is a play on the popular minimalism movement… Essentially: “less is more.”
One of the first to coin the phrase was an article on Pinterest Predictions, who clearly saw trends in search engines for phrases like “homemade skin care” and “natural everyday makeup” on the rise. Clearly there is enough to notice it’s becoming more and more popular each year, as “natural everyday makeup” saw as much as a 180% increase from last year!
The theory of skinamalism is that a cabinet full of potions isn't actually necessary.
Instead, there’s more of an emphasis on good products with good formulas. For example: have you found yourself in the store, wondering whether you really need a separate night moisturizer for your routine? If the ingredients in your daytime moisturizer are balanced enough and don’t leave a greasy residue, the chances are: you don’t.
(On the subject of all-day friendly moisturizers, try our facial serum with all-natural ingredients! Take $10 off your first bottle with code "10offserum").
Why It’s Creating Such a Stir
For most of our skin care journeys, we’ve been taught that the more products we give our skin, the better.
But… Is there such a thing as “over-nourishing” with too many products?
According to doctors: there absolutely is.
Dr. Pamela Benito explains in one Refinery29 article that the combination of ingredients like retinol and acids combined can actually irritate the skin, as they are both exfoliants.
Basically, you’re overwhelming your skin.
Battling dry, itchy skin and thinking you’re sensitive? You’re likely just using too many products for your skin to handle!
You may be scratching your head at hearing this. You’ve probably heard of the 10 step Korean skin care routine, but why would the beauty industry tell us we need more, when the opposite may be true?
And as soon as you ask that: you know why.
The skin care industry is worth upwards of 155 billion dollars--and it’s only going to grow. Most large companies are known for using scare-tactics in their advertising, and the beauty industry is no exception. Every big cosmetics brand wants to make you believe that you need their product, that your skin will practically wither without it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that some of their products aren’t well made or don’t have quality ingredients - but profits will be much bigger if you sell a customer two products instead of just one.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that; but it’s important to do your research and question whether your skincare routine really needs 10 steps, or if the company ad just told you it does.
In addition to the potential benefits your skin might reap from a lighter routine load, skinamalism is by nature so much more sustainable. By 2017, studies found that the beauty industry was responsible for producing 76.8 billion plastic packaging units. While it’s promising that big names like L’Oreal have vowed to be 100% sustainable by 2025, it’s still logical to buy less, decreasing the demand for plastic-bound products as much as we can.
As much as it’s predicted to be a trend this year, we hope skinamalism is here to stay.
Here’s How to Try It
Skinamalism is amazingly simple… Just pay attention to what (and how much!) you’re using.
If you really want to minimalize your routine, start with the backbone: a moisturizing cleanser and SPF. One cleans your pores while moisturizing, and one protects you from harmful rays. What more could you ask for?
Well… Depending on your skin needs, maybe a little more. And that’s okay! The great thing about skinamalism is it can be adjusted and tweaked as needed. There’s no power move in having as little as possible - it’s about doing what’s best for you.
Needing a face mask to wind down at the end of a long week? Using them daily isn't necessary, but there’s no harm in the occasional spa night!
In some cases, there might not even be a need to purchase a product to renew your skin in the first place. Facial yoga exercises are quickly becoming popular in the beauty world. From smoothing out your forehead to plumping your cheeks, it turns out that simple movements in your face can possibly bring big results!
It’s Worth Exploring!
Even though Urban Oreganics does sell quite a few skin care products, we still want only the best for our customers. If that means that they’re perfectly content with their skin after only using our body food? So be it.
We are all for giving our skin just the right amount it needs… And it doesn’t hurt that it’s sustainable and saves money. So skinamalism may just be our new favorite trend!
It goes without saying that if you have any specific skin concerns, you should speak directly with your esthetician or dermatologist about how a new skinamalistic routine might affect you.
And after you try it out, you might find yourself missing your old products that you took out. That’s completely fine! We should all be making our skin care routines our own, perfectly tailored for only us.
The point of skin care is… Well. Self care.
And you deserve the best.
