The Skin Edit: How to Achieve Your Best Skin
Last week I gave you an update on what has been going on behind the scenes, and why I said no thanks to a 2,000 euro collaboration. If you haven’t read it yet, you can read it here. I also promised you a full blog post about my skincare guide, and well, here it is. Grab a tea (or your third coffee, no judgement here), because I have a lot to say.
Let me start with this. If you have ever wanted to ask me what your skin actually needs, which steps your routine really needs, which products I recommend and so much more, the answer is inside this guide.
Why I wrote this skincare guide
I mean, have you ever stood in your bathroom, applied the last bit of a moisturizer that was OK, and thought: “So, I need a new moisturizer, but which one should I get?” You’re maybe also a bit unsure about what your skin actually needs. Or maybe the season changed, and you noticed your skin changed with it. Or you wake up with a pimple and can’t understand where it came from. These are exactly the moments where my skincare guide comes into the picture.
I get so many questions from you every single day. Can I recommend a product? What should you do about this or that concern? What products are good? What are my favorites? And as much as I love to help, and I really encourage you to slide into my DMs whenever you feel like it, it truly takes a lot of time.
It is also hard to answer out of the blue, without ever seeing your skin or knowing what you have used before, any allergies or what other concerns you may have. It is actually not an easy task, especially when I want to do it properly and not just throw out my first thought. (Omg, my biggest nightmare is recommending something you don’t like. I know not everything is for everyone, but still. That’s me in a nutshell.)
I am definitely an overthinker. I mean girl, I literally counted how many kids were before me in school when we had to read out loud, so I knew exactly which part was mine. So yes, I overthink.
But I am also really not a fan of just telling you what works for me, because everyone’s skin has a different base. What works for your friend will not necessarily work for you. That’s why I feel it is so, so important to know your own skin. Then you don’t have to depend on someone else’s opinions and recommendations, and you can make the best choices for your skin yourself.
Long story short, this is exactly why I wanted to create this guide. I truly feel I have so much knowledge and experience that it would be a waste not to share it. Haha, if that makes sense.
However, I did not want it to be a clinical textbook that basically any esthetician could write. For me, it was truly important to bring out my personality, my opinions, my experience and my knowledge. (I mean, even all the pictures in the guide are my own, no stock photos of perfect strangers with perfect skin.) I don’t know about you, but I am definitely a person who needs things explained with simple examples and analogies before they truly stick in my brain. So that is exactly what I did. My goal is that you get that ahaaa moment, over and over again, because I feel things stick better that way. Might be right or wrong, we’ll see.
So if you have ever stood in front of a shelf of serums with no idea which one is for you, I wrote this for you.
If you already know you want it, you can get The Skin Edit here. If you want the full tour first, keep reading!
Who am I to teach you about skin?
If we’re new friends, here’s a small background story before we continue. At 15, I left my small town in Finland, suitcase in hand, to study to become an esthetician. Since then I have worked in beauty salons analysing skin and doing professional treatments for different skin concerns, stood behind skincare counters on cruise ships and in department stores, trained other estheticians, worked for some of the most well known luxury beauty brands, and visited laboratories where formulators explained exactly what goes into the products we put on our faces.
And most importantly, I have tested, tried and failed with so many products that at some point my skin literally showed me a full error message.
So yeah, let’s get into what the guide actually covers.
What is inside The Skin Edit?
Five parts, each one building on the last. It is written from my own experience, my knowledge and my (many) opinions, and I always give you the why. I even put in the mistakes I have made myself, so you do not have to make them. You’re welcome.
Part one: understanding your skin.
We start with the basics, aka finding your true skin type, because it is usually very different from your skin condition. And yes, it matters, a lot: if you don’t know it, there is a chance your skin is not showing its full potential. You will find out your type with a simple test at home, and learn why acne and sensitivity are not skin types at all. I tell you what stress, sleep, hormones and seasons actually do to your skin, so you can stop blaming that poor innocent serum. And there is a whole chapter on your skin barrier, because in my experience almost every stubborn skin problem traces back to it.
Part two: every step of your routine, and why it is there.
This is where I get opinionated. Like, very. I walk you through each step in the order it should go, which steps you can easily skip and which ones I would never skip. Why I think micellar water is not enough, and how to double cleanse properly. Why skipping your toner is a little like putting foot cream on top of your socks (yes, I will die on this hill). Where your eye cream should actually go, since most people apply it in the wrong spot. Whether you really need a facial oil. The SPF myths that are quietly working against you. And how to exfoliate without wrecking your barrier.
Part three: the ingredients worth knowing.
How to read an ingredients list like a professional, instead of trusting the pretty front of the packaging. Don’t get me wrong, you definitely do not need to know everything on the INCI list, and honestly, neither do I. But I think it is so beneficial to know what the product you put on your skin actually consists of: which ingredients are the actives, which are the preservatives and so on. I also go deep into some of the most talked about ingredients, who they are for and how to use them. And there is a chart of what you can layer and what you should never combine.
Part four: your routine.
Complete morning and evening routines for dry, oily, combination and normal skin. But I know it is not as simple as “I have oily skin”. So I have also added the most common concerns, the ones you have told me about and the ones I have heard during my years in this industry. Like: “my skin is oily but I also have a lot of congestion and blackheads.” “My combination skin suddenly feels sensitive and reactive.” “My skin is normal but I have enlarged pores, especially in my T-zone.” “My skin is dry but I have a lot of redness.” And so many more. You also get my product recommendations, all products I have tried, use or know, and my own routine, product names and all.
Part five: the questions I get asked the most.
Including when to start with anti aging products, and how long it really takes to see results (spoiler: longer than one week).
Who is The Skin Edit for?
It is for you if you are starting from zero and want to get it right from the beginning. It is also for you if you have tried everything, your bathroom cabinet is full (mine too, we do not talk about it), and your skin still does not feel the way you want it to.
Because in my experience, most skin frustration does not come from doing too little. It comes from doing too much, with products chosen for the wrong reasons.
Who is it not for?
The Skin Edit is about your at home routine. It does not replace medical advice, and it is not a treatment plan for diagnosed conditions like eczema, psoriasis or atopic dermatitis. If that is you, please work with a dermatologist. The knowledge in the guide will still be useful alongside that care. It is also not an acne treatment guide. If you deal with persistent or painful acne, a dermatologist is your best friend.
How do you get The Skin Edit?
It is a digital download. You enter your email at checkout and it lands in your inbox straight away, so you can start reading tonight. In bed. Face mask on. Living your best life.
And as I said in the beginning, I truly mean it. If you want to understand your skin and build a routine that actually works for it, this is where to start.
Love,
Ida
P.S. My birthday is on 24 October, and I might be doing something special with the guide that week. Just saying.
