My Top Shelf

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In the fashion of the millennial-favorite beauty blog, Into the Gloss, here is Downtown’s own edition of Top Shelf: an insight into my self-care routine and the contents of my beauty cabinet. As an intern here at Downtown, as well as a college student and avid traveler, taking time each day to take care of myself physically is vital for my mental and physical health.

Skincare:

The lengthiest part of my routine lies in skincare rather than makeup. Growing up with temperate California weather, breakouts were rare for me, but once I went off to college and experienced the harsh weather that comes with Midwestern winters, on top of heightened stress from school and work, I realized I needed to put more effort into taking care of my skin.

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Starting with cleansers, it took me quite a while to find one that did what I needed it to for my fairly sensitive combination skin, but the Greek beauty company Korres came to my rescue. Their Foaming Cream Cleanser is gentle and made with natural ingredients, and leaves my face a clean canvas at the beginning of every day. At night, I use Knours’ Your Only Cleanser, because it doubles as a cleanser and a more delicate way to remove makeup without the harsh chemicals that come with makeup remover wipes.

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In the morning and at night, I follow cleansing with serums, most often the Sorella Apothecary Lightening Serum. It works well to calm redness, and smooth and brighten my skin, which is necessary since my skin is so fair, and the tropical lemon-y smell is a huge plus. The Sunday Riley Autocorrect Eye Cream is another staple product that I use both morning and night; it helps with puffiness and is also cool and refreshing. I usually follow this with Glossier’s Zit Stick spot treatment when needed. It’s one of my favorite tools in my makeup bag because you can layer makeup over it.

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I have several moisturizers that I switch off using, the first being the Knours Skin Meditation Gel. I cannot rave about this product enough. It has made my skin insanely soft, and it smells like you’re rubbing essential oils on your face, so it’s calming to put on (which I do usually three times per day). I also love Korres’ 24 Hour Vitamin C moisturizer and their night time moisturizer sleeping mask.

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I always follow this up with Carter + Jane’s Everything Oil, which, as the name states, is everything. It does it all, smoothing, hydrating, calming, etc. and sometimes when I don’t have time for the whole routine, I just use a few drops of it and I’m ready to go.

For my hair and scalp health, I use a lot of dry shampoo, namely Design.me’s product. Time is a luxury, and dry shampoo saves me a lot of it!

Makeup:

As far as makeup goes, I’ve never worn much, and usually stick to Glossier’s minimalist products like the Stretch Concealer, Lash Slick, Cloud Paint, and Boy Brow.

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When I want to make my look more fun and creative, I turn to eyeshadow for my pop of color. I love using hot pinks and neons right now, with palettes like Obaa Beauty’s “Eye Am”… or the BH Cosmetics‘ “Take Me Back to Brazil” palette. I love experimenting with just adding fun colors to a rather minimal makeup look, so I can stick to the almost-bare face look that makes me feel myself while also doing something more colorful and creative.