My Morning Routine: From The Girl Who Takes Skincare Very, Very Seriously

I wake up every morning and think, "What would a French girl do?"

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Everybody has a different AM routine. For me, it's all about skincare. I relish every minute spent in the morning sunlight with my products. Yes, you heard me: I'm crazy for skincare products. The packaging, the scents, the feeling of cold eye cream against my tired eyes. Needless to say, the time spent alone in the bathroom before heading out for the day is my meditation zone.

Cut to Monday morning, and my snooze button addiction wins almost every time. In most cases, I have to get in, get out, and get going in thirty minutes or much, much less. I've gotten my method down to a science—7 steps, to be exact. So let's get started then, shall we?

Step 1: Cleanse with SK-II Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil. I apply on dry skin and massage, the oil turns into a milky wash that dissolves dirt and leftover makeup that may still be lingering from the night before (shh...).

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Step 2: Moisturize with SK-II LXP Ultimate Revival Collection. After washing my face, I lightly pat on the essence to refresh and hydrate. Because I have chronically dry skin, I follow up with the serum and moisturizer.

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Step 3: Moisturize with Absolue L'Extrait Eye Contour Baume-Elixir Yeux. Every morning I twist off that little golden cap and go to town. Genetically, I come from a family of dark circles and squinty laugh lines. I love my parents, but I try my very best to avoid such a fate with tons of eye cream. The eye balm-elixir hybrid is my absolute favorite. It comes with a massaging applicator (fancy, right?) and leaves your skin feeling divinely fresh and smelling faintly of roses.

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Step 4: Moisturize with Neal's Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm. This organic balm works especially well because of it's high levels of wild rosehip oil—a potent antioxidant proven to help repair, firm and smooth the skin. Technically, you can use it anywhere, but I mainly stick with lips and elbows. A quick swipe to the pout and on to the next.

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Step 5: Hair and Body with Shu Uemura Essence Absolue and TATCHA Beauty Oil. Sensing a theme here? I love my oils. They're nourishing, hydrating, and ever so luscious-feeling. But most importantly, they make me feel more French. To tame frizz, I add one pump of the Essence Absolue to the ends of my hair and 2-3 pumps of the Beauty Oil to my chest, arms, and legs.

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Step 6: Lip color with NARS Matte Lipstick. I'm a lipstick fiend—through and through. Seriously, ask around. I wear it all weekend long and while I usually go au natural during the workweek, a plum, pink, or orangey-red lipstick sometimes makes an appearance at the office. So, it sits on my nightstand, along with the NARS lip primer, just in case the mood strikes.

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Step 7: Spray Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb perfume. The last step! I give myself a good once-over spritz and run out the door.

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Hallie Gould
Editor

Hallie has worked in beauty editorial for ten years and has been editorial director at Byrdie since 2021. Previously, she was a senior editor at Byrdie since 2016. During her time at Byrdie, she's written hundreds of high-performing stories on skincare, wellness (including fitness, diet, mental health, body image, et al) makeup, and hair. She's a regular on set, helping to source inspiration for makeup and hair looks, as well as interviewing celebrities, models, and other notable women and men in the beauty space.

Before that, Hallie ran Marie Claire's social media and wrote beauty and culture stories for the site, and helped launch Time Inc.'s digital-only beauty brand, MIMI. After college, she contributed to Time Out New York’s Shopping Style section before landing her first beauty editor gig at Hearst's Real Beauty. Hallie's writing has also appeared in ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and InStyle. Hallie graduated with a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.