Your Guide To Brighter Skin
A big component— and signal— of healthy skin is a natural glow, but lack of sleep, stress, and what you eat can strip your complexion of its radiance. Skincare starts in the gut, so what you eat and how you digest is as important as the products you put on. Skin brightening focuses on banishing dullness, reducing hyperpigmentation, and removing dry, flaky skin, which can make you look tired, with uneven tone. With time, we’ve noticed a huge difference when you begin to look at things from the inside out. Aside from caring for your skin on the surface, often the biggest change can be seen once you start fueling your skin cells from the inside. Of course, an inside-out glow doesn’t start and stop with just a healthy diet and self love. Stimulating the skin and encouraging blood flow beneath brings life back to a lackluster complexion.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to support you on your journey to brighter skin.
The Basics :
- Build a consistent skincare routine to reveal and protect your skin’s inner radiance.
- Add skin brightening ingredients to achieve your skin goals.
- Consistent Facials. Typically it’s recommended to get a facial every three to four weeks, or once a month – that’s how long your skin’s life cycle is. After 28 days, our skin cells regenerate. Facials provide a deeper skin treatment and provide a chance to work on achieving your skin goals consistently.
- Boost your healing with Red Light LED to promote collagen production, calm inflammation and increase circulation, which results in smoother and tighter looking skin.
- Don’t forget to apply sunscreen for a radiant defense against sun damage. Sunscreen blocks harmful rays, contains ingredients for added skin-care benefits, and leaves skin with a healthy glow. Just make sure you're applying the right amount and covering commonly-missed areas like the ears and lips.
- To add to your sun protection, always wear a hat when spending a long time outdoors.
- Use your gua sha to aid with lymphatic drainage while penetrating ingredients in serums or face oils deeper into the skin. Plus, it helps reveal your beautiful cheeks and jawline.
- Facial massage is our favorite way to encourage radiance. It boosts blood supply to the skin and floods cells with vital nutrients and oxygen, promoting the rosy glow. Use your hands in an upward motion to not drag the skin. Always use a face oil or creamy serum for proper glide.
We’re breaking down key ingredients to add to your skincare lineup to boost skin health and radiance.
- GLYCOLIC ACID : It’s the best ingredient to unclog the pores and prevent buildup. Glycolic works by weakening the binding properties of the lipids that hold the dead skin cells together. This allows the dead skin cells to be exfoliated, exposing live healthy skin cells. The result is much smoother skin and a more youthful appearance. A secondary benefit is your skin’s new ability to draw moisture from the environment and for products to penetrate deeper and boost health in the new, fresh skin cells.
- LACTIC ACID : helps to remove old, dull cells on the skin's surface by dissolving the bonds that hold them together. As a result, it provides a brighter complexion, as well as smoother and softer skin.
- VITAMIN C : A powerful antioxidant that has the ability to lift, firm, and tighten the skin while providing environmental and free-radical protection. With frequent use, lines will appear far less pronounced, facial contours more defined, and skin tone will visibly improve for noticeably healthier-looking skin. A major reason you need to have antioxidants (like vitamin C) in your routine is because they stabilize reactive oxygen species (free radicals), hence the name ANTI-oxidants.
- NIACINAMIDE : A form of vitamin B-3. This essential ingredient helps build proteins in the skin and offers protection against environmental damage. When applied topically, it improves overall skin texture by rebuilding the lipid layer, minimizing the appearance of pores, and preventing UV damage and inflammation as an antioxidant. It also minimizes redness and blotchiness, treats hyperpigmentation, minimizes fine lines and wrinkles, and helps treat acne.
- RETINOL : It exfoliates the skin, increases skin cell turnover, and stimulates collagen production. It is considered the gold standard for its anti-aging and skin-clearing benefits. Retinoids (retinol/tretinoin/retin-A) help everything from texture to scarring, fine lines, wrinkles, pore size, and overall skin firmness and plumpness. It’s the ultimate multitasking ingredient to help combat the signs of aging and breakouts. For brighter, youthful-looking skin there’s no ingredient as effective as retinol. There are levels to this, so you start mild and slowly build up your tolerance to stronger and stronger retinoids. Also important to note, use sunscreen every morning, as retinol can increase your skin’s photosensitivity. We highly recommend not using retinol during the day.
- PEPTIDES : Chains of amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins like collagen (thickness) and elastin (firmness) in the skin, responsible for the texture, strength, and resilience of the skin. When peptides form a long chain of amino acids, they become proteins. When they are in a short chain of amino acids, they are able to penetrate the top layer of our skin and send signals to our cells to let them know how to function. Peptides applied topically to the skin can send a signal to collagen to prompt the formation of new collagen, and voilà, you have the appearance of more youthful, supple skin.
- ZINC : It encourages the production of collagen fibers and elastin, which firm the skin. By supporting the underlying structure of the skin, zinc works to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and other signs of aging. It’s also a strong anti-inflammatory agent, so it reduces redness and speeds up healing time. An added bonus is that it’s antibacterial, so it helps to reduce swelling and irritation caused by breakouts.
- HYALURONIC ACID : A naturally occurring polysaccharide in the human body. It is a powerful humectant (aka moisture-binding ingredient) that keeps the skin plump, hydrated, and youthful. Being a humectant, HA helps bind water to collagen, trapping it in the skin so it becomes more supple, dewier, and more hydrated. It’s known for its impressive ability to attract and retain 1,000 times its weight in moisture. Ever wondered why a baby’s skin always looks so flawless and dewy? Drumroll pls… the reason is that babies are born with a high level of hyaluronic acid.
The Ritual :
It’s important to note that everyone’s skin is different, so take these guidelines with a grain of salt. With that said, these are our glow ritual essentials.
- CLEANSE : Brighten up with an antioxidant-rich cleanser that extracts, gently exfoliates, and nourishes for a hydrated, silky and luminous result in skin. Our recommended cleanser is Indie Lee's Brightening Cleanser with strawberry seed oil, hydrolyzed wheat protein and tomato extracts that provide antioxidant benefits for firmer-looking skin. Lycopene is rich in vitamins A, C & K and acts as a gentle skin exfoliant to help deliver a brighter glow.
- TONE : Remove dull skin with the Moon Juice Acid Potion Resurfacing Exfoliator. This deeply nourishing exfoliator that actively resurfaces skin with five acids and botanical support. With 25% AHA+ BHA acid complex to encourage natural cell turnover and minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines. Niacinamide, Tocotrienols, and adaptogenic Reishi help hydrate and keep skin clear and glowing.
- MASK : One of the best ways to ensure that your skin is healthy and radiant is by using a face mask that targets elasticity + reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The ingredients in the Naturopathica Ruby & Dragon's Blood Love Mask will leave you feeling invigorated and with a revitalized complexion. Dragons Blood, named after the deep red sap of the Croton Lechleri tree, is an extract long recognized for its rejuvenating properties.
- SUPERCHARGE WITH SERUM : Support your skin by applying our muse favorite the Linné Renew Serum. This hydration rich serum with ingredients known to optimize tissue function, build collagen, boost repair and regeneration, reduce free radical damage, decongest pores, even skin tone, lessen hyperpigmentation, strengthen capillaries, and reduce inflammation.
- MOISTURIZE : Allow your skin to soak up this light, hydrating moisturizer. Augustinus Bader's The Cream is powered by patented TFC8® that’s clinically shown to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation. It features groundbreaking stem-cell technology to trigger your existing stem cells to repair and renew your skin. Formulated with Vitamin A (Retinyl Palmitate) to support improved skin-barrier function and moisture retention. It also contains Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) which is a potent antioxidant that visibly brightens skin and supports collagen production.
- SPF : A natural, broad-spectrum, mineral sunscreen is essential to your skincare ritual to hydrate and protect your skin all at once. We love the Tinted Nutrient Day Cream - SPF 30 by Josh Rosebrook. An antioxidant-rich tinted moisturizer, packed with bilberry, rosehip, seabuckthorn, borage, and marshmallow for deep nourishment. Zinc oxide shields skin from the sun with SPF 30, while the lightweight, fast-absorbing texture sinks in quickly for a grease-free glow.
Boost Your Skin Glow :
Nothing improves the skin more strikingly than a deep pore-cleansing treatment. Monthly facials are a crucial part of the process of repairing the skin, and an important form of preventative care. To reverse dull skin for a more glowing complexion we highly recommend our favorite glow up facial.
- The SuperGlow Facial : Amp your complexion with a professional grade AHA peel, Gua Sha massage, microcurrent, a dose of oxygen + light extractions. This facial drains toxins and leaves your skin feeling hydrated, contoured and glowing. Our muse glow boost with zero downtime. Book Your Glow
Nourish your skin from within :
- Properly hydrate. Yes, we know… cliché, but water is indeed your bestie. The easiest and most important first step you can do for healthy skin is to make sure you are properly hydrated. Your cells are nearly 70% water. Staying hydrated helps to keep your cells plump and healthy, plus aids in circulation— all important for glowing skin. Chronic dehydration can cause a loss of elasticity of the skin and the appearance of premature aging. It’s also helpful to add some liquid minerals to some of your daily water intake to make sure you are absorbing what you need.
- Cut sugar. Lower your sugar intake. The first place to reduce sugar is in your beverages. The next step is to make sure you’re eating plain or unsweetened versions of your favorite foods, like yogurt, oatmeal, etc. Fruit is a great option to sweeten up breakfasts without adding unhealthy forms of sugar. Avocados are also great to include in your diet as they are high in good-for-you fat, which helps keep your skin healthy and naturally moisturized.
- Stock up on foods high in Vitamin C, such as carrots, oranges, and lemons.
- Cucumber is an excellent source of silica, known to improve your complexion. Cucumbers are also very hydrating as they have very high water content. A properly hydrated skin is healthy and glowing!
Supplements:
- Collagen Supplement : Enhance your natural allure with Agent Nateur's Holi(mane). This formula combines two daily powerhouse super foods: marine collagen and pearl powder. Odorless and nearly tasteless, this blend is abundant in over 30 trace minerals, including silica, magnesium, calcium and potassium that support the appearance of optimal skin health. Make it a morning routine with your breakfast smoothie or an evening ritual with your glass of water before bed.
- Add to your wellness ritual an antioxidant formula. Our favorite is Moon Juice's SuperBeauty that works to protect you from accelerated aging while promoting collagen production, elasticity, and cell vitality.
- Sea moss : Derived from red algae, sea moss hosts a few benefits for the skin, making it a skincare powerhouse. Known to help reduce wrinkles, hydrate the skin and protect from environmental elements because it contains essential elements that make up the human body, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin K.
* A Tip From
Our Skin Healer :
Find the perfect balance of exfoliation and incorporate products that work to improve your skin’s health and function at the cellular level. I recommend lactic acid, niacinamide, as well as serums that compliment what you’re looking for. Also, practice good protection before stepping into the sun; a cute hat, scarf, or SPF.
Go to product : Agent Nateur Holi(Oil) Youth Serum.
My favorite highlight ingredient within the formula is the Helichrysum. It’s a flower (great for brightening) that usually grows in the south of France; fun fact, once picked, it never loses its color.
Takeaway :
Beauty starts from the inside out. From the supplements you put into your body + the products you apply on your skin, to the energy you allow to enter your headspace; the root of beauty stems internally from the fuel you feed it. Nothing screams glow up like finally doing the things you love. We know, it’s hard to find time… but it’s time to make a little time! Spend moments doing the things you love, whatever that may look like for you. Remember the ultimate goal of glowing up is all about how you feel. You can work your way towards naturally glowing skin with a skincare ritual that works best for you, making healthier changes in your lifestyle where necessary, and most importantly, by keeping a positive and loving attitude towards yourself. Glow on Muse!
