If simplicity and sustainability are decisive factors in your shopping habits, skinimalism might be for you. After what seems like a decade of caking, contouring and two-layered mascara, 12-step skincare routines and more “must-have” products than you can count on all your fingers, the last few years have embraced a more natural, minimalistic approach to beauty.
This trend champions a minimalist approach, with the use of fewer, more purposeful products to achieve healthy, radiant skin. Reducing the number of products we use, however, doesn’t mean we’re getting less effective skincare. For DIY enthusiasts, skinimalism offers an opportunity to craft personalized skincare solutions that are both effective and environmentally conscious.
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What is Skinimalism?
A combination of “skin” + “minimalism,” this trend focuses on using fewer, high-quality products to enhance the skin’s natural beauty, rather than masking imperfections with layers of makeup.
At its core, skinimalism celebrates your skin’s authenticity, encouraging a back-to-basics approach that emphasizes healthy, glowing skin over the pursuit of perfection. It’s about working with your skin, not against it, to bring out its best features with minimal intervention. Here are the basic principles for achieving skinimalism:
Essential Skincare: Stick to the basics to achieve healthy skin and avoid the need for overly elaborate routines. The only three steps everyone really needs are cleansing, moisturizing and sun protection. Over-cleansing and over-exfoliating or layering too many products can overwhelm the skin barrier and give you the opposite effect of what you were aiming for.
Multipurpose Products: Reduce clutter both on your skin and on your vanity. Using multipurpose products simplifies your processes, saves you time and money, and is better for the environment. Pick a moisturizer with built-in SPF or a lip color you can also apply to your cheeks.
Natural Skin Texture: With beauty filters and fillers part of our everyday lives, it can be hard to embrace your natural skin texture. Skinimalism is not about a flawless finish from tons of makeup, it’s the healthy glow that doesn’t cover up freckles and imperfections.
Mindfulness: When you’re using less products, you’re making more conscious (dare we say, better?) choices. You’re also wasting less packaging – even more so if you’re making your own products. Of course, if you already have a ton of skincare products at home, don’t just throw them away. Use them up in true zero-waste fashion, and use this time to decide what essential means to you.
DIY Skinimalism With Homemade Recipes
By embracing DIY skinimalism, you can cultivate a skincare routine that is simple, effective, and tailored to your unique needs, all while promoting sustainability and self-acceptance. If you’ve decided to strip to the bare essentials, simply pick a cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen option that best suit your skin’s needs:
DIY Cleanser Recipes
For a super simple DIY cleanser that provides gentle exfoliation without stripping the skin of its natural oils, finely grind oats in a coffee grinder. Combine with raw honey and a few drops of water to form a paste. Apply to damp skin in circular motions, then rinse with warm water as the first step of your skincare routine.
DIY Micellar Water
Anti-Aging Daily Cleanser
Activated Charcoal Face Wash
7 Ways to Clean Your Face Without Soap
Homemade Foaming Cleanser
Anti-Aging Rice Milk Face Wash
Oil Cleanser recipes for Every Skin Type
DIY Moisturizer Recipes
Suitable for all skin types, this moisturizer is easy and it promotes skin regeneration. To make, simply combine jojoba, rosehip and a few drops of frankincense essential oil in a dropper bottle. Apply a few drops to clean, moist skin, massaging gently as the second step of your skinimalism routine.
Anti-Inflammatory Moisturizer
Rosehip Moisturizer
Homemade Hydrating Serum
Green Tea Moisturizer
10 Best Natural Moisturizers
Shea Butter Face Cream
Apricot Argan Moisturizer
DIY Sun Protection
While DIY skincare can be a fun and rewarding way to create personalized beauty products, making sunscreen at home is strongly discouraged. DIY formulations often result in inconsistent mixtures, leading to uneven distribution of UV-blocking ingredients on the skin. This creates areas with little or no protection, increasing the risk of sunburn and long-term damage.
While ingredients like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are effective UV blockers, achieving the correct concentration, particle size, and dispersion requires specialized equipment and expertise. Plant ingredients such as coconut oil or raspberry seed oil might offer some SPF, but it’s way under the recommended SPF 30-50. There are, however, natural sunscreen options as well as DIY products with lower SPF available.
Green Tea SPF Lip Balm
Sunscreen Ingredients to Avoid
Bonus: DIY Multipurpose Beauty Products
DIY Multiuse Body Balm (hands, feet, hair, elbows, lips)
Rose Salve for Skin and Hair (perfume, highlighter, moisturizer, lip balm, cuticle oil, blush, frizz fighter)
Lip + Cheek Stain (lip gloss, cheek stain)
3 Ways to Make Lotion Bars (hydrate, exfoliate, shaving cream, bug bite balm, after-sun soother)
More Simple Skincare Recipes to Make at Home
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