Few seasonal rituals are more satisfying than spring cleaning, and your bathroom shelf is no exception. Taking stock of your skincare annually can help you purge expired products, make the swap to clean skincare, and simplify your routine. Follow this easy three-step guide to spring cleaning your skincare for an organized vanity filled with safe, effective products.
1. Check for Expired Products
All beauty products eventually go bad. When this happens, bacteria and mold proliferate, and active ingredients break down, which can cause them to become less effective or even irritating. But here’s the problem: only skincare products like sunscreen and acne products that are regulated as over-the-counter drugs have printed expiration dates. While you should always defer to printed expiration dates when available, every product also has a period after opening (PAO) during which it’s stable and safe for use. We print the PAO right on the label of all our products. (Except for sunscreen, which has an expiration date.) Look for it in the bottom right corner of our labels inside the universal PAO symbol, which looks like an open jar. The number inside tells you how many months the product can remain open before its ingredients are compromised and you need to throw it away. We recommend using a Sharpie to write the date of opening on the label so you don’t risk using expired skincare. If you forget, be on the lookout for changes in color, smell, and texture. These are all indications that your skincare has expired and it’s time to replenish.Read more about cosmetic expiration2. Swap to Clean Skincare Products
The United States hasn’t enacted meaningful legislation regulating beauty products since 1938. (Although this could change if the Personal Care Products Safety Act is passed.) This means it’s up to you as a consumer to ensure your skincare routine is sustainably-produced and toxin-free.
As you go through your bathroom cabinet, look closely at the ingredients and packaging to determine which products might not be good for you and the planet. If any of those products happen to be expired or nearly empty, now is a good time to replace them with a clean version.Learn about our commitment to clean skincare3. Reassess Your Skincare Routine
Now that you know all your products are safe to use, it’s time to reassess your skincare routine. A basic regimen should contain four steps: cleansing, toning, treatment, and moisturizer. Lay out your skincare in order of application to insure that you have all your bases covered and that the product you have in each category is working for you. If you notice any gaps or want to make changes, try this simple skincare routine featuring our proven-effective bestsellers:Formulated for all skin types, this satisfying foaming cleanser uses a powerful amino acid complex to break down dirt while aloe calms and soothes and moringa extract removes remnants of pore-clogging environmental debris. Your skin is left clean, hydrated, refreshed and ready for the rest of your skincare routine.Toning is an essential step that balances skin and prepares it to receive moisture. Our best-selling, alcohol-free toner uses white willowbark extract - a natural, oil-soluble beta hydroxy acid - to gently but powerfully exfoliate and decongest pores. Meanwhile, caviar lime extract works its alpha hydroxy magic to gently exfoliate dead cells from the surface of your skin. All this happens without drying or over-stripping thanks to our sugarcane-derived squalane, which balances the skin and leaves it smooth and hydrated.
Massage a dropper full of this luxurious, silky serum into your face as the third step in your skincare routine to instantly plump fine lines and wrinkles. In this bestselling serum, our innovative rapid plumping complex joins forces with copper peptides to draw in moisture and flood skin with continuous hydration while encouraging collagen production to boost elasticity and add bounce. Deeply hydrate and lift the delicate skin around your eye area using our bestselling Squalane + Marine Algae Eye Cream. Our award-winning eye cream uses marine algae peptides, paracress extract, and our superhero squalane to reduce the looks of fine lines and wrinkles while delivering deep hydration. It also melts into skin, providing the perfect canvas for makeup.Follow it by massaging Squalane + Omega Repair Cream all over your face and neck to deeply nourish and lock in moisture. Our deeply nourishing moisturizer uses ceramides and beneficial lipids to deliver lasting hydration and strengthen the skin’s natural moisture barrier for healthy, hydrated, plump skin.
This quick and easy routine ensures you’ve got all the basics to get healthy, hydrated, radiant skin. Be sure to follow it with sunscreen every morning to protect it from harmful UV rays.
As a lifestyle writer and journalist, I love sharing my passion for ocean conservation and obsession with clean beauty. I’ve tried almost every trend and ingredient, and Biossance’s science-backed formulas are the only ones that consistently calm my reactive skin and make it smoother, clearer, and healthier. I’m so excited to be on this journey of skincare innovation with Biossance, and to share it with you!
