As the day of love has come and gone, there’s still time to love yourself. Valentine’s Day and the weeks surrounding it are always sort of tough for me. I’m in a long distance relationship and it sort of sucks seeing everyone else get to hang out and do cute couple’s things. This February, I was determined to do some self care that would make me happy, and hopefully, provide a sense of comfort all month long.
To be honest, I have no existing skincare routine. I wash my face with water in the morning and then with a $5 drugstore face wash before I go to sleep. I don’t moisturize, I don’t really wear sunscreen and I don’t use any toners or serum. I consider myself pretty lucky that my skin hasn’t peeled off quite yet; I don’t have very frequent breakouts or any noticeable dark spots.
As an act of self-love, I decided that I needed to finally start taking care of my skin. I’m a big fan of Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty products and have been getting a lot of ads for her new skincare brand, Fenty Skin. So, I ended up buying the Fenty Skin Start’r Set for $40. It included the Total Cleans’r, the Fat Water and Hydra Vizor. The set was marketed as an easy, travel-sized three-step routine to better skin. Even better, everything in this set is recyclable, vegan and cruelty-free, which are all important to me when it comes to using beauty products.
The Total Cleans’r claims to remove dirt, excess oil and makeup without drying out the skin. I used this cleanser a couple of times, but not as often as the other two items in this set. My only qualm with this product is that it smells very sweet, almost like a cupcake. While some scents don’t bother me, this one was a little too much to rub all over my face. However, it removes makeup pretty well and doesn’t leave my skin feeling dry like other cleansers do.
The Hydra Vizor actually impressed me. I hate the feeling of things lingering on my skin, which was a big reason why I didn’t wear sunscreen or facial moisturizers before. I have combination skin, leaning to the oily side, so it was hard to find products that didn’t make my skin too dry or too oily. However, the Hydra Vizor was somehow the perfect product. It’s a 2-in-1 moisturizer and sunscreen, perfect for someone like me, who hates both. It has a creamy consistency like the cleanser, but doesn’t smell too sweet. I used this product in the morning after I apply the toner and it leaves my skin feeling hydrated without being oily.
Finally, the Fat Water: my favorite. It’s a toner-serum combination made with Australian lemon myrtle, witch hazel water and Japanese raisin tree. While it does smell sweet, it wasn’t an unpleasant sweetness. I loved pressing this into my skin every morning, and while I honestly can’t say that it magically removed acne scars and completely evened out my skin tone, I can say that I have noticed less redness in my cheeks.
I’ve used these three products for just three weeks, and while I haven’t seen life changing results yet, I’m going to keep using them. Not only do I see all three of these products lasting me a while — I might even repurchase the toner and moisturizer — but using them makes me feel better about myself and my appearance. Establishing a routine of self care every day has improved my mornings so much, and while it doesn’t have to be Fenty Skin, I would definitely recommend starting a skincare routine if you haven’t already.
