A Minimalist Approach to Skincare

Are you a skinamalist? More and more women and men are finally discovering that when it comes to skincare, less is more, and more certainly costs a lot. Consequently, some of us are re-examining our crowded bathroom cabinets and vanity tables and are ruthlessly clearing and mercilessly de-cluttering them. Keeping your skincare routine to the bare minimum is freeing.

Today’s makeup mantra is, “Enough is enough! Stick to the essentials, and don’t clutter up your epidermis!” Grooming overload has given birth to the ultra-slow and simplistic “Skinamalism Movement,” which advocates ignoring magazine and TV advertisements with the latest dermatologists’ claims and streamlining the beauty routine instead. At the heart of the movement is the philosophy of cutting down on the number of cosmetics and de-commissioning one’s facial armory. In other words, free up space in your bathroom and on your face.

Edit that list of primers, serums, and exfoliating toners. In short, please don’t use all of them. Choose between a moisturizer with colloidal oatmeal, a glycolic acid product, the retinol, and that benzoyl peroxide habit and salicylic acid fix. Here are some of the most luxurious, self-indulgent, multi-beneficial lazes and your quickest route to bathing Nirvana.

Fresh Sake Skincare

Japanese Geisha girls swore by rice grain sake, infusing baths with it and persimmons. Fresh includes products using a ginger root extract, melissa leaf extract, radish root extract, peach fruit extract, apricot kernel, passionflower seed, and sesame seed oils. Fresh Sugar Lemon Sugar Bath Cubes are great for exfoliating dry skin. www.fresh.com

Amayori Shizumi Luxury Bath Salts

Former New York real estate agent Francois Decatrel returned from Japan (where bathing is a pillar of self-care) to create her at-home Amayori Shizumi Luxury range of bathing ritual products. Philadelphia-based Amayori’s name comes from Amaya (night rain) and Kaori (beautifully scented). Shizumi means calm, quiet water. Mineral-rich sea salts harvested off the coast of Ishigaki Island of Okinawa are combined with green tea, “yomogi” (Japanese mugwort), Mekabu, and Hokkaido seaweeds. Other products utilize restful, health-giving Japanese sea vegetables, hinoki tree wood, yuzu, and rice bran oil.

Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady Foam Bath

Fédéric Malle‘s most iconic fragrance now comes in a foam and frothy form – elite bath bombs. Created with rose, blackcurrant, raspberry, clove, patchouli, sandalwood, and frankincense notes by acclaimed nose Dominique Ropion, it describes itself as “an opulent but ethereal.”

Verdant Alchemy Bath Salts

Verdant Alchemy bath salts are rooted in aromatherapy, and each fragrance has the functional purpose of helping elevate your well-being.

Laura Mercier Honey Bath

A vanilla and caramel-scented foam bath with vitamins A and E and natural honey to soothe and soften skin is the latest by Laura Mercier. French makeup artist Mercier has put her name on many iconic beauty products. A nourishing blend of shea butter, vanilla extracts, sweet almond proteins, hydrolyzed rice, oat proteins, and Pro-Vitamin B-5, the foam bath contains blends of vanilla, tangerine, tiger orchid, and musky sandalwood.

Bastide’s Bath Salts

Bastide was founded in Aix-en-Provence by Frédéric Fekkai and Shirin von Wulffen. Their products are hand-crafted by skilled French artisans using salt from the antioxidant-rich Carmague Sea in Provence, infused with Fleur d’Oranger. Naturally rich in antioxidants, they are suitable for all ages.

The latest beauty trend and well-being hack is not to follow any trend. Be a skinamalist and wean yourself off all those primers, serums, and toners. Get your skincare routine down to the bare minimum, literally. Let your bath take charge. And as you soak away, remember that one of the world’s first beauty influencers was an ass. In 1618, a donkey discovered a natural spring on Epsom Common in Surrey, England, and was miraculously cured of its sores. A man called Henry Wicked ran with this legend and turned Surrey into a spa town. And bathing has been elevated ever since.