The EastCoaster

By: Sophia Cossitt-Levy

With 2025 slightly underway, many people are already thinking about beginning their new year’s resolutions. For some of us, a new skincare routine is on our list of resolutions. Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert; skincare was my quarantine obsession and I still love it!

To kick off your routine, you should consider something called double cleansing. This is only something to do in the evening. This first cleanse works to rid your skin of makeup and sunscreen. In my experience, micellar water or a cleansing balm works best for this step. For micellar water, I recommend the Micellar Cleansing Water or its waterproof counterpart. For a cleansing balm, I loved CeraVe’s Makeup Removing Cleanser Balm. All three of these products are fragrance free, as are most of my recommendations.

The next step is a regular cleanser. The one I keep going back to is CeraVe’s Foaming Facial Cleanser. It’s always worked the best for my skin, and the brand has never given me a bad product. I’ve also tried La Roche-Posay’s Toleriane Purifying Foaming Face Wash, which has similar ingredients to CeraVe’s cleanser. I also loved this product. Finally, during a bout of dry skin, I used The Ordinary’s Squalane Cleanser. I really enjoyed this cleanser, but my skin doesn’t get dry enough to warrant using it regularly. 

After cleansing, you should go in with some type of serum. I use different serums in the morning and at night, but that’s personal preference. In the morning, I use the niacinamide and zinc serum from The Ordinary, a product I buy over and over and over again. This product is fabulous and inexpensive. At night, I use 100% Plant-Derived Squalane, also from The Ordinary. I use this mostly in the winter when I feel as though my skin needs a little extra moisture. It’s very hydrating and the bottle lasts a long time. My other favorite —a fairly recent discovery and also from The Ordinary—is the Soothing and Barrier Support Serum. I use it when my skin needs a little less hydration, mostly in the summer. The serum itself is also Barbie pink, which I was delighted to see. 

After a serum comes a moisturizer. Even if you have oily/acne prone skin, you should use a moisturizer. I tend to switch my moisturizer based on the season. In the warmer months, I love Versed’s Dew Point Gel-Cream Moisturizer. It’s very lightweight and a little goes a long way. In the colder months, I use the Fragrance Free Hydro Boost Water Cream from Neutrogena. It’s also very lightweight. Additionally, Neutrogena makes different versions of this moisturizer, and they do have some options with a fragrance. I’ve tried both and found that the one without fragrance worked best for me. 

One of the last steps in the morning is sunscreen. You should wear it daily and make an effort to reapply throughout the day. My favorite sunscreen is the Block Star Daily Mineral SPF 30 from Bliss. I prefer a mineral sunscreen to a chemical one, but with that usually comes a white cast. Luckily, this sunscreen has a slight tint to avoid that. However, it comes with a small fragrance. Though I try to avoid fragrance in skincare (it’s an unnecessary ingredient and fragrant oils can be harsh on the skin), it hasn’t bothered me at all with this product. I’ve also enjoyed Force Shield Superlight Sunscreen SPF 30 from Hero Cosmetics (I was so excited to try it. I was there the day it hit stores). This sunscreen is designed for acne prone skin and is very lightweight. My only gripe is that it leaves a little bit of a white cast, but I’ve noticed that it sinks into the skin and mostly disappears after a few minutes.

I also use lip products daily, and reapply throughout the day. TikTok got to me, and I was influenced to try the Laniege Lip Mask. It quickly became a favorite of mine. I use it all the time. It’s very thick and hydrating. They also come in various scents – the only one I’ve tried so far is the berry. I’ve also been able to find the lip mask at Marshalls or TJ Maxx, so I have yet to pay full price for it. Another favorite is CeraVe’s Healing Ointment. This product is similar to Aquaphor (which I also have a big tub of and enjoy), but has a few more hydrating ingredients added to it. Both the healing ointment and the Aquaphor are multi-purpose. I use them on cuts rather than something like Neosporin.  

Finally, spot treatments are important. No one has perfect skin, and we’re all bound to get a pimple here and there. I typically use a pimple patch at night to try and combat a breakout. I love Hero Cosmetic’s Mighty Patches. They work wonders for me. An added bonus is that I find them everywhere. For the more stubborn pimple, I use Acne Healing Dots from Peace Out Skincare. These dots contain active ingredients (retinol and salicylic acid), which dry out the area a bit more. If I need a spot treatment during the day, I use Neutrogena’s Stubborn Acne Treatment, which contains benzoyl peroxide, another active ingredient. It seems it’s meant to be used all over the face—something I did not realize when I first took a sample from my dermatologist’s office. For me, it works wonders as a spot treatment. 

Creating a new routine may feel daunting. It can be hard to know what your skin needs. I hope you were able to find at least one product for your new year’s skincare routine. And if not, don’t fret. It took me many recommendations and several months of trial and error to find what works best for me!