mariel jimenez nyc

Saturday selfie.

I guess people like selfies. This comes as a surprise to me—I find it fascinating that the photo above got way more likes than my Insta-Ragu. 🙂 One of the memorable comments on Facebook is from my beauty mentor (also now a yoga teacher), Marie, who complimented the “beautiful,” “bare-faced” quality of the snapshot. It got me thinking about writing a skincare post. You see, in a past life as a beauty editor, I got to road-test TONS of products. I treaded lightly on cosmetic treatments, but products? I was down for anything…well, let’s say I did stay away from certain cringe-worthy products.

These days, my skincare routine is stripped down to the bare essentials. I have it down to a T. It’s a parallel of my east-meets-west yoga/medicinal/life philosophy: I cleanse, exfoliate and treat with chemicals—AHA and salicylic-based products from my dermatologist, Dr. Anthony Rossi (of Juva Skin & Laser Center in New York); plus the prescription retinoid gel, Differin (actually produced by Galderma, makers of Cetaphil). Then, I moisturize with pure jojoba and argan oils. That’s it!

I also have my trusty LancĂ´me Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover—it’s the best!—and a recently purchased pack of Ole Henriksen Truth To Go Vitamin C Wipes, for nights when I can’t be bothered to get up from bed to go wash my face in the bathroom.

nyminutenow ole henriksen truth to go

Ole Henriksen Truth To Go Wipes

CLEANSE & TREAT

According to Dr. Rossi, no matter how fabulous and fantastic your other skincare products are, they won’t work unless your skin is cleansed and exfoliated thoroughly. Proper cleansing preps your skin for maximum absorption of the nutrients found in your favorite  products.

I wanted to include photos of the following, however, dermatological products aren’t necessarily known for pretty packaging—Differin does come in a nice sleek tube with happy pops of blue and green—so I’ll simply list them. Trust me—they’re amazing:

 

• Juva HA Cleanser Medicated Cleansing Foam
A foaming cleanser infused with glycolic and salicylic acid. One bottle lasts a loong time; one pump is enough for the whole face.

• Juva Gly/Sal 5-2 Pads
Pre-moistened toning pads. Ideally to be used right after  yoga or working out to instantly cleanse/exfoliate the face.

• Differin Gel 0.3%
A retinoid treatment gel. You literally need just a pea-sized dot of this for the whole face. I didn’t think I needed this until I started using it. It made the oils I love to use work better.

MOISTURIZE & TREAT SOME MORE

nyminutenow desert essence organic jojoba oil

• Desert Essence® Organic Jojoba Oil
I have two previous posts detailing the marvels of jojoba oil. Don’t be afraid; if you cleanse and exfoliate properly, your face will feel incredibly silky with a good slathering of this oil.

nyminutenow moroccanoil pure argan oil

• Moroccanoil® Pure Argan Oil
I alternate between jojoba and argan oil, depending on my mood and the weather. Argan oil feels a bit less “oily” than jojoba. But I love and adore them both.

AND, this was the first skincare/body product that I worked on when I joined Moroccanoil! You’ll find words I’d written on the outer packaging. 🙂

Envelop skin, nails and hair with the nourishing properties of 100% pure argan oil. Non-greasy and rich in antioxidants, essential fatty acids and Vitamin E, this luxurious, fast-absorbing oil glides on like silk and provides multiple conditioning benefits for the skin, nails and hair.