Skincare Over 50 | My Daytime & Nighttime Skincare Routines

When I was working on my post about the Top 10 Beauty Tips for Women Over 50, my first tip was about skincare over 50 and the fact that no amount of good makeup will cover up bad skin. As I wrote that post, it became clear to me: skincare over 50 deserved its very own stand-alone post!

Headband | Waffle-Knit Robe (Choose your color!) | Hand Towel | Face Wash Wristbands

Today, I’m sharing my personal morning and nighttime skincare routines with you! I’ve tried a lot of products over the years, and these are the tried-and-true favorites that I keep coming back to again and again. It’s worth noting before we dive in that most of the products I apply to my face, I also apply to my neck and hands. Those areas tend to show our age even faster than our faces!

As always, click the pink text links or any image for more information.

Skincare Over 50: My Morning Skincare Routine

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve definitely started to use more skincare products 🙄! Have you? As we age, skin gets thinner, sun damage (even from years ago) starts showing up, and our skin loses elasticity. Thankfully, there are lots of things we can do — and products we can use — that can help!

Cleansing

I wash my face in the morning with Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple One-Step Facial Cleanser. It’s a gentle cleanser with simple, clean ingredients. I don’t want to strip my skin of the moisture I infused into it overnight, but I do want to start the day with a clean face, so my daytime “lotions and potions” (Bob’s name for my beauty creams! 😂) have a chance to do their work.

BTW, I’ve started using these cool face wash wristbands when I wash my face! They’re under $10, and they keep water from running down my arms and puddling on the floor when I’m washing. (I’m a super messy face washer! 🤣) I first told you about them in my January 2023 SO in the KNOW post.

Serum

The first thing I do after cleansing is to apply SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic with 15% L-Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C Serum. Then I put lotion and sunscreen on my body while my serum soaks in.

I firmly believe that C E Ferulic is the best serum on the market! (And I’m not alone!) It’s made with 15% Pure Vitamin C (L-Ascorbic Acid), 1% Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), and 0.5% Ferulic Acid to protect your skin from free radicals, UV radiation, and pollution, which all contribute to visible signs of aging. Along with that protection, it visibly brightens and reduces the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, photodamage, and fights loss of elasticity.

Moisturizing

I’ve tried lots of fancy moisturizers, but I keep coming back to a tried-and-true drugstore brand! I use CeraVe Daily Face and Body Moisturizing Lotion on my face, and all over my body. It’s lightweight, and it’s made with ceramides to restore the protective skin barrier, and hyaluronic acid to help the skin retain moisture. Also, it doesn’t slough off my face when I apply my makeup like some moisturizers can, and that’s important!

Specialty Creams

I give extra-special care to areas like eyes, eyelids, lips, and necks that can really show age.

Eye Cream

I use Neocutis Lumière Firm Riche Extra Moisturizing Illuminating and Tightening Eye Cream on the delicate skin around my eyes. It’s the eye cream my dermatologist recommended when she put together a custom skincare regimen for me.

It’s full of growth factors and peptides to smooth and improve the texture of the delicate skin around the eye area while also addressing fine lines and wrinkles, puffiness, and dark circles. 

Upper Eyelid Cream

The skin on our upper eyelids begins to lose elasticity and sag as we age. This drooping (called ptosis) can interfere with your vision if the lid is so lax that it covers or partially covers the pupil. This condition may even require surgery, which may be covered by insurance if the lid is affecting your sight. Your ophthalmologist can determine if you qualify for coverage.

I’m not sure if I’ll get to the point of needing surgery or not! In the meantime, I’m using City Beauty’s Lid Lifting Treatment on my upper lids and brow bone. It’s packed with botanical ingredients and peptides designed to support skin firmness and elasticity. You can read more about it HERE. If you decide to purchase, you can take 15% off with the code ENB at checkout. There’s a 60-day money-back guarantee!

Neck Cream

“Necks are the WORST.” That’s a direct quote from my dermatologist! I’ve got a post I’m working on right now about this very subject! I’m going to cover why necks age and what you can do about it. Right now, my dermatologist has recommended SkinMedica Neck Correct Cream. With key ingredients like antioxidants, peptides, microalgae, protein, and botanicals, it works to counteract horizontal lines, wrinkles, crepey texture, and sagging. (I have all of those! 🙋‍♀️)

Lip Serum

I use City Beauty’s City Lips Clear as a plumping lip serum prior to putting on my makeup in the mornings. (I told you more about it in THIS post.) It’s full of Hyaluronic Acid, Oligopeptides, and moisturizers to diminish the look of fine lines and lip wrinkles. You can take 15% off your purchase at City Beauty with the code ENB.

Hyaluronic Acid

In the past two years, I’ve added an additional product to my skincare routine: a designated hyaluronic acid cream. Since I started using it, I’ve seen a huge difference in how hydrated my skin stays throughout the day, and that late afternoon tightness and dryness have definitely diminished. I use SkinMedica HA5 Rejuvenating Hydrator. It has 5 forms of HA, to support the skin’s ability to produce its own hyaluronic acid and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles that can appear due to dehydration.

Sunscreen

When it comes to sunscreen, there are three things we know for sure:

1. In the physical versus chemical sunscreen showdown, there’s no clear winner, but you do need to make sure that the one you choose is broad-spectrum, meaning it has ingredients that can protect you from UVA as well as UVB rays.
2. You don’t have to get too worked up about chemical sunscreens containing dangerous chemicals because no dangerous ones are approved for use in the US. Typically chemical sunscreens do not leave a white residue, and they’re thinner, so they spread better.
3. The most effective sunscreen is the one you will actually use (and reapply). I use both chemical and mineral-based sunscreens.

I use sunscreen every day, always reapplying before afternoon photo shoots, errands, or an afternoon walk. I use Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40 on my face and neck. It’s invisible and weightless, and it provides broad-spectrum protection, as well as antioxidant skincare benefits. It can easily double as a primer. You can learn more about it on the Supergoop website, but it’s also available at Ulta HERE and Sephora HERE.

To give my eye area extra protection, I use Supergoop Bright-Eyed 100% Mineral Eye Cream SPF 40 all around my eye area. It instantly brightens my eye area because it contains probiotics and caffeine, plus it’s made with a slight pink tint to add a little glow. Also, since it’s mineral-based, it won’t sting if I accidentally get it in my eyes when I’m applying!

Skincare Over 50: My Nighttime Skincare Routine

At night I’m all about getting my makeup off, my skin clean, and doing whatever I can to help maximize my skin’s receptivity to my powerful nighttime skincare products.

Cleansing

I wash my face with either EltaMD Foaming Facial Cleanser or CeraVe Face Renewing SA Cleanser. I often wash twice to be sure I’ve got every bit of daytime products off my face! For the second wash, I use my PMD Facial Cleansing Device. It vibrates 7,000 times per minute for deep cleansing, massage, and toning. 

Exfoliation

As we age, the cell regeneration process slows down because our bodies are slower to shed skin cells and generate new ones. When old skin cells pile up on the surface of the skin, it can leave the skin looking dull, rough, and dry and result in excess oil and clogged pores. Exfoliation removes the barrier of dead skin cells clogging the skin and uncovers fresh new cells below, allowing products to penetrate more deeply into the skin, and making them more effective.

I’m really serious about exfoliation! I use Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Facial Pads for gentle exfoliation every single night. As I told you in my post about the Most-Loved Products from LTK Influencers for 2022, these pads are best-sellers every year for a reason! The best news is that if you have sensitive skin, these pads are gentle but effective.

Retinol

When people compliment me on my skin and ask me what I use, the first thing I tell them is that I do all the things you’re supposed to do in terms of cleansing, moisturizing, and exfoliation, but that Retinol is the true key ingredient in my skincare routine!
Suzy’s Pro Tip: The damaging effects of the sun’s UV rays can be exacerbated by the use of retinol, so using sunscreen when using a retinol product is even more important to protect your skin.

Retinol is a form of vitamin A that has been shown to have numerous benefits for the skin, including reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, improving skin texture and tone, and increasing collagen production. No matter how sensitive your skin is, there is a retinol product for you! Be sure to use a quality product from a reputable brand.

I love City Beauty’s Advanced Retinol System and have promoted it before, but I can’t seem to get a straight answer from the brand as to the strength of the Retinol in it, so for now, I’ve stopped recommending it.

Based on the recommendation of my dermatologist, right now, I’m using SkinMedica’s Retinol products right now. They’re a trusted brand, and it’s easy to see exactly what strength of Retinol is in each product.
Suzy’s Pro Tip: Your dermatologist can also prescribe prescription-strength retinoids, which come in smaller percentages but are much stronger than OTC retinols.

It might seem a little excessive, but when I decided to get really serious about using high-quality retinol products, I decided to order one of each strength! I use one of them each night, but which one I use is determined by how dry my skin is. In the winter, when my skin is drier, I use a lower strength, and in the summer, when my skin is more moisturized, I use a higher strength. I add the same (drugstore!) moisturizer that I use in the morning on top of my retinol.

• SkinMedica Retinol Complex 0.25
• SkinMedica Retinol Complex 0.5
• SkinMedica Retinol Complex 1.0

Lip Mask/Lip Oil

Right before going to sleep, I use Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask on my lips. It has Shea Butter for moisturizing and antioxidants. It also comes in delicious flavors. My favorite is vanilla. (Bob likes Gummy Bear flavor, but don’t tell anyone! 🤣)

Recently, City Beauty sent me their new City Lips Night Oil to try. I liked it, but I think Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask stays on better, so I’m going back to that!

Other Things I Do for my Skin

There are a few other things I do for my skin that I thought were worth sharing! For me, these three things are an important part of the way I care for my skin, so no skincare post would be complete without telling you about them. They’re all about maximizing the benefits of the skincare products and regimen that I’ve just shared with you!

Collagen

I’ve used Physician’s Choice Collagen Powder for about five years now. There are lots of collagen powders out there, and after researching them, I chose this one because it’s all-natural, non-GMO, hydrolyzed, grass-fed, pasture-raised, and it contains 19 amino acids to promote support hair, skin, nails, and joints. Most importantly, though, it also contains digestive enzymes, which allow for enhanced absorption compared to other collagen supplements. I add one scoop of it to my tea in the mornings.

Micro-Needling

Two or three times a week, I do microneedling with the GloPRO Facial Microneedling Tool at night, right after cleansing and exfoliation but before applying any product. It’s a micro-needling tool that maximizes skincare absorption and supports collagen production for visibly firmer, smoother, more radiant skin with just 60 seconds of use a day. It doesn’t really hurt, but it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world! I always do it if I have to speak or appear on camera the next day because I see a big difference in firmness, thanks to my skin’s natural boost in collagen production.

Silk Pillowcase

A few years ago, I started using a Slip Silk Pillowcase, and I’ve never looked back! Whereas cotton pillowcases can absorb your facial lotions, silk doesn’t do that. I look at it as insurance that my lotions and potions are able to do what they need to do while I sleep. (It’s great for hair too!)

Humidifier

Several years ago, I started using a portable Mini Humidifier on my bedside table when I slept at night. I immediately noticed an improvement in my overnight dryness — not just in my skin, but I also stopped waking up with a sore throat and a dry mouth!

Whew! That was comprehensive! I know it was long, but I wanted to be thorough! I’ve wanted to write a post like this for some time in order to have somewhere to send people when they ask me about my skincare routine. (Which happened just last week on an airplane! 😂)

Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or feel free to share your favorite products! Our empty nester community always loves that!

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