why I updated my skincare routine: vintner's daughter face serum & essence review

My Search for the Perfect (for me) Skincare Routine

a little backstory into my skincare journey

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know skincare is something I am VERY passionate about. Over the last three years, especially, I have cycled through countless products and different skincare routines, trying to find the best products and routine for my skin. Just FYI – I have normal skin (not really dry or oily), but prone to breakouts. Also, I’m 29 years old so I definitely look for anti-aging benefits in my skincare products! Out of all the products and brands I’ve tried in the last two years…I have finally found the best (and simplest!) skincare routine that has 100% transformed my skin, and I can’t wait to share that routine with y’all for today’s Wellness Wednesday post! I can now go makeup free and not feel self-conscious about how my skin looks. All of these pics you’re seeing here are with zero makeup whatsoever! Lastly, before I get into my skincare routine, all of the products I’m sharing with y’all today are safe for both pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Step 1: Cleanse

my go-to cleansers

Step 1 in my skincare routine, morning and night, is cleanse! I have a few favorite cleansers I rotate between. The Drunk Elephant jelly cleanser and Tula purifying cleanser (20% off with code LAURENSIMS) are probably my two favorites! At night, if I’m wearing makeup, I double cleanse – first using a cleansing balm before I use face wash. Again, I have a few different cleansing balms I love, but currently using the Drunk Elephant makeup melting butter cleanser and I love it! Another favorite cleansing balm is Farmacy Green Clean! Two mornings a week I like to exfoliate with the Drunk Elephant juju bar.

Step 2: Vintner’s Daughter Active Treatment Essence

The next two products I’m sharing with you have been the absolute game changers in my skincare routine. First of all – YES they are expensive. BUT at the same time, these are honestly the only two products you must have in your skincare routine. In my experience, the face wash you use or moisturizer do not make a huge difference when you’re using these two Vintner’s Daughter products because they are multifunctional. I will get more into that shortly!

how I use it

After I cleanse, I add about 1/3 of the dropper of Active Treatment Essence into the palm of my hand and apply to my face using the “push pat” method [the video on this page explains how to do that!]. Now, let me tell you what this magical product has done for my skin. This product is the ultimate, multi-corrective hydration step!

the magical ingredients

This product is expensive because it is packed with SO many amazing ingredients that will do wonders for your skin. “This formula delivers optimal nutrition, micro-exfoliation, brightening, firming, and multi-level hydration to noticeably improve the overall appearance of skin” Active treatment essence is “made with thirty-plus active botanicals, then blended with water-soluble vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, microalgae, gluconolactone, lactic acid, and apple cider vinegar, as well as pre- and probiotics into a hydrating, toning, mildly exfoliating treatment for skin.” So what exactly does that mean? This product is a toner, exfoliator all in one that also hydrates AND brightens your skin! So it’s amazing for ALL skin types because it will prevent and/or clear breakouts, hydrate your skin, and also help with anti-aging. It’s honestly magic in a bottle and does so many amazing things for ALL skin types.

Also, I know it’s v expensive, so it’s really important to me that the product lasts! I started using this end of February and my bottle is still very full. I’ll keep y’all posted on how long it lasts me!

Active Botanical Serum

Vintner's Daughter

ACTIVE TREATMENT ESSENCE

Vintner's Daughter

Step 3: Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum

After I cleanse, apply the essence, I then apply Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum. This product was actually the first Vintner’s Daughter product I tried, which is what got me completely obsessed and hooked on this brand. This is their original, cult favorite and worth ALL of the hype. I’d seen several of my favorite beauty influencers post about it, and decided to splurge and see if it was worth the hype. Y’all – I could honestly tell a difference in my skin within two days! My skin felt brighter, smoother, and had such a pretty glow to it after just a few days.

why it’s amazing + tips for applying

This serum “delivers optimal ratios of healing phytonutrients, balancing minerals, free-radical fighting antioxidants, strengthening phytoceramides, nourishing fatty acids, and brightening vitamins to renew, repair, protect, and tone the skin.” This serum is POWERFUL y’all. After using it for just a few days, you will notice a smoothness and glow to your skin like never before. This is a multi-correctional serum. Because of the 22 active ingredients in this one serum, it nourishes, balances, regenerates, and protects your skin. After I cleanse, and apply essence, I apply 5 drops of the botanical serum into my hands, rub my palms together and apply to my face using the “push / press” method [this page shows you how to do that. it also goes into more detail about this life-changing serum!].

Step 4: Moisturize, if needed

for extra hydration

This has been another huge change in my skincare routine! I actually talked with April, the founder of Vintner’s Daughter and asked what my skincare routine should look like with the active treatment essence and active botanical serum. She said to cleanse, then apply essence, then the serum…and then moisturize if necessary. So, if you have really dry skin, you’ll probably still moisturize day and night. But, since my skin is pretty ‘normal’, I’ve noticed that after I use essence and the serum…my skin already feels so moisturized! So, typically I don’t apply a moisturizer after that. If my skin does feel dry though, I apply my favorite moisturizer which is Drunk Elephant protini! I also like the Tula hydrating day and night cream.

don’t forget the spf!

The last step of my skincare routine in the mornings is SPF. My favorite SPF is Drunk Elephant umbra tinte! It has a slight tint to it so it gives a little bit of coverage and glow [and has SPF 30]!

recap: my AM + PM skincare routine

So, to summarize, here is my entire skincare routine, morning and night. As mentioned above, the Tula cleanser is another go-to of mine and I also love this hydrating day & night cream for extra moisture.

This skincare routine legit takes me less than 5mins morning and night and like I said, has completely transformed my skin! Both of these Vintner’s Daughter products are more money than I have ever spent on skincare. It is A LOT. I can honestly tell you though, these two products have been worth every penny for me (and I’m pretty sure these bottles will last about 4 months but I’ll keep you posted). In my experience (since I started using them over the last 2 months), these are the only two products you really need to splurge on in your skincare routine. They are multi-correctional and will do everything and MORE for your skin than applying 100 different products to your face. It’s also nice that now my skincare drawer in the bathroom only has about 4 or 5 products in it! And traveling with my skincare routine is also so much easier now. [I could clearly go on forever about why I’m so obsessed with these two products ha but I’ll try to keep this somewhat short!].

So I’m sure you’re wondering “do I need both?” These products have a high price tag so I’m sure you’re thinking which one should you get! I’ve done a ton of research on these products and everything I’ve read has said that the active treatment essence is like the “yin to the yang” when paired with the serum. These two products together are MAGIC. When you apply the serum after essence, you are amplifying the results and sealing in the hydration you got from the essence. BUT, I totally get being hesitant to drop that much money at one time before you know if these products will work [they will btw lol]. So if you’re only going to buy one right now, I’d suggest starting with the active botanical serum! I started with the serum and became instantly obsessed, and couldn’t wait to try the essence!

favorite face masks

for a little extra tlc

The other part of my skincare routine that I won’t go into detail about here is face masks! I LOVE masking and try to do a different face mask probably 3 or 4 days a week. If you type “face mask” into the search bar of my blog, you’ll find tons of posts on it and learn about my favorites! I’ll share a few of my favorite masks below as well:

Wow, that was a lot of information! Told you skincare is something I’ve become very passionate about haha. If you guys try any of these products and love them as much as I do, make sure to tag me on stories! I love seeing when you guys try out products I love. And honestly, these two Vintner’s Daughter’s products are the best skincare products I have ever used and this is the best my skin has ever looked! And yes they are expensive, but I also love not having to buy a toner, vitamin C serum, face oil, etc etc bc these two products do it ALL. Whether you have dry, oily, acne-prone, discolored, WHATEVER kind of skin…you’ll find that these two products will correct any skincare issues you might have!

Thanks for reading friends! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!