Hey y’all!

Happy last day of April — it’s been a long month, but we’re finally almost through! 2020 has certainly been a strange year so far, but hopefully May will bring good news and good weather and we can all start to feel a little normal again.

But back to the topic at hand — today’s product! This week kicks off a bit of a two-part segment I wanted to share on the face wash products I use. I’ve recently gotten into double cleansing and I have to say, I’m really into it. I was always worried before I tried it about it damaging my skin somehow or being too time consuming to keep up with every night. But when I finally took the leap and gave it a shot, all my worries about it melted away — not only did it really not add much time and effort to my skincare routine, but the oil cleanser I decided on was non-striping and so far hasn’t effected my skin negatively in any way.

When I was choosing which cleanser I wanted to use, I decided to go for Shu Uemera’s Anti/Oxi Skin Refining Cleansing Oil. If your going to start double cleansing, the general idea is to choose an oil/balm type cleanser as your first product and a water-based cleanser as your second. This way, the oil-based cleanser can break down any makeup and dirt, keeping them from clogging up your pores. As well, oil cleansers work surprisingly well to balance the oils in your skin, meaning that (unintuitive as it sounds) it works great for those with oily skin as well. From there, you’d use your regular water-based cleanser based on your skin’s specific needs, which will help remove any stubborn remaining particles from your skin and ensure you’ve washed away all the oils from the first cleansing.

I chose Shu Uemura as I’d actually used one of their cleansers before, a couple years ago. It had been recommended to me by someone at Sephora, and while I really liked it, I was always a little unsure if I was using it properly. Double cleansing wasn’t a concept I had heard of at the time, so I used it as my sole face wash. I shied away from using too much product as I was worried about making my skin oily (spoiler alert: it never happened) and ultimately ended up switching to a water-based cleanser a few months later.

However, since I was already familiar with the product and I knew it was one that worked for me, I decided to give it another go. This time, I had a lot more confidence that I was using the product correctly, and so far it’s been working out better than I expected. While I admittedly haven’t actually worn makeup once since social distancing was enacted (yet…I wrote this post about a week in advance of posting and I’m hoping to have some time to practice my makeup skills over the next few days) the few times before that I used this product to remove makeup it seemed to work out well. By the end of my second cleansing, all traces of makeup seemed to have been wiped away. Now, I’ve only gotten to test this cleanser’s makeup removing abilities about three times, but when I try it out some more I’ll be sure to report back and update you all on if it works as well as I remembered.

On top of that, this product has been doing a great job of keeping my skin clear and blemish-free. I have had a very stressful couple of months and even with all my stress and occasionally opting to get right to bed and letting my nighttime routine slide, my skin hasn’t looked much worse for wear. The cleanser itself is super lightweight and rich, so while it does everything that an oil-based cleanser should do it isn’t particularly challenging to wash off and my skin certainly hasn’t gotten any oiler since I began using it. For reference — my skin is somewhat combination, but overall it’s definitely on the drier side, in case you were considering if this product would work for your skin’s specific needs.

If you’ve been looking to try double cleansing out for yourself and think this product sounds right for you, be sure to check out Shu Uemera’s Anti/Oxi Cleansing Oil at Sephora! (They also have five other oil-based cleansers, so if you want to try the brand but are looking for something different based on your skin type, they have plenty of options.)

Are any of you guys fans of double-cleansing? I’d love to hear about what products you used, and what the results were when you tried it. Stay tuned for next week’s post, where I’m going to be sharing my holy grail water-based cleanser, which has been a staple in my skincare routine for over a year now.

Have a great week, you guys! I hope you’re all as excited for May as I am — while life is super unpredictable right now, take some time to write out your goals for the month to help keep you on track! If you’re feeling a little lost on how to do this, feel free to check out my post I shared on bullet journaling and keeping track of your life during Social Distancing!

Much love,

Meredith