More and more people are starting to realize that sometimes less is more with skincare. Many are moving away from multi-step routines and establishing simple but effective regimens. Now, product quality is becoming more of a priority than its quantity.
However, looking for the right product can be tough, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for. If you’re trying to simplify your skincare routine, the best thing to do is look at the product ingredients. Different products use different ingredients depending on the purpose, but it’s best to go for ones that target multiple skin concerns simultaneously to get more bang for your buck.
Here are some of the best ingredients for your simple skincare routine you may want to check out.
Skincare Ingredients to Look For
Skincare evolved over the years, leading to different skincare routines popping up. Its popularity has saturated today’s market with products boasting new ingredients, causing consumers to hop from one trend to another. However, doing so can do more harm than good—if the products or ingredients aren’t the right fit for their skin, it can end up irritating the skin.
The best approach to skincare is carefully choosing products with good ingredients for your skin. This minimizes the side effects and ensures that your products address your specific skin concerns.
Below are five multipurpose skincare ingredients targeting various skin concerns that you can include in your minimalist routine.
1. Retinol
Many are scared to use retinol because of the many myths surrounding it. But, what is retinol? Despite the misconceptions, it is a highly beneficial type of retinoid and antioxidant for the skin.
One of the most popular uses of retinol is in acne treatment. Dead skin cells, oil build-up, and bacteria can block your skin’s hair follicles, causing inflammatory reactions and breakouts. Since retinol has antimicrobial agents that reduce abnormal skin peeling, it unclogs your pores and protects your skin against environmental aggressors that can cause inflammation.
Retinol serums are great for boosting cell turnover and collagen production, making your face look plumper by slowing down the signs of aging. As it protects against the fast breakdown of collagen, it can minimize fine lines and wrinkles.
In addition, retinol has an exfoliating property that encourages new skin cell growth and the shedding of dead skin cells. This helps fade hyperpigmentation and minor scars, giving you a brighter complexion. It also helps minimize the appearance of enlarged pores, as dead skin cells and other debris can make your pores look bigger.
Kiehl’s Microdose Retinol Serum is known to provide all the benefits of retinol minus the side-effects. Its microdose retinol formula, combined with niacinamide and peptides, makes it easier for your skin to acclimatize to the new ingredients. Thus, you won’t have to worry about your skin flaking or drying out before you can reap the benefits of retinol.
2. Niacinamide
Another ingredient in your arsenal of multi-purpose skincare products is niacinamide. It converts into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), which has antioxidants that reduce skin cell damage, restore cellular energy, and repair DNA.
Niacinamides help repair the skin barrier as it promotes the production of ceramide and elastin. Ceramide ensures that the lipid layer and epidermal barrier are intact, while elastin provides the skin’s flexibility to hold its original shape.
If you suffer from acne, the ingredient can also help by regulating oil production and sebum excretion rate, helping unclog and tame the inflammation or enlarged pores. It can also calm skin redness.
You can also slow down the signs of skin aging with the ingredient. It inhibits melanosome transfer from melanocytes, which are used for melanin production, to surrounding keratinocytes, preventing sunspots and fading hyperpigmentation. Its ability to produce NAD or NADP can also stimulate collagen and other proteins needed to treat fine lines and wrinkles.
Niacinamide is known to work well with retinol, and you can find both of these ingredients in Kiehl’s Retinol Serum. Together, these super ingredients are highly effective in treating acne and inflammation and minimizing fine lines and the appearance of pores. People with oily, acne-prone skin will find Kiehl’s Retinol Serum especially effective for their skin concerns.
3. Calendula
If you’re new to natural skincare ingredients, you may not know what calendula is. But don’t worry—we’ve got you covered!
Also known as pot marigold, this ingredient comes from the calendula flower that’s been used for centuries for its therapeutic properties. Its use originated from the Mediterranean region but has since expanded to other countries.
This ingredient has a plant-based compound called flavonoids that helps prevent cell damage due to free radicals. It has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties that help suppress histamine production, which is a chemical that can trigger inflammatory symptoms, alongside other compounds like saponins and triterpenoids. This can calm the redness of your skin.
Calendula seeds have a high concentration of linoleic and calendric acids, the most prominent fats in your skin’s natural barrier that balances moisture. This ingredient also reduces transepidermal water loss or the evaporation of water from the skin’s surface. Ultimately, calendula provides the necessary nutrients to keep your skin barrier healthy and hydrated.
A strong skin barrier can protect your skin against environmental aggressors that can cause inflammation. Doing so improves your overall skin texture.
If you’re looking to introduce calendula into your skincare routine, try Kiehl’s Calendula Toner. This toner is infused with calendula petals as well as great burdock root and allantoin. These natural ingredients work together to soothe redness and inflammation and make you less prone to acne breakouts. Overall, you’d see better, brighter skin texture after several weeks of using this toner.
4. Vitamin C
Vitamin C is one of the best skincare ingredients since it plays a key role in both your skin health and overall well-being. It’s soluble in water and acts as an antioxidant when ingested. It promotes collagen formation by helping the proline and lysine hydroxylases stabilize the collagen molecule tertiary structure that can reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
On top of this, Vitamin C has wound-healing properties. Collagen is a vital protein in skin structure and rebuilding. Meanwhile, ascorbic acid is a part of all stages of collagen production, namely synthesis, maturation, secretion, and degradation. Thus, it can accelerate the healing of acne wounds or atrophic scars.
Vitamin C can also brighten your complexion as it inhibits the production of tyrosinase or the melanin-producing enzyme that causes skin hyperpigmentation. It brightens dark spots without changing your skin’s natural color.
One good product packed with Vitamin C is Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution. It’s formulated with Activated C, which is a stabler and faster-acting form of Vitamin C, so it penetrates quicker into your skin. It also has white birch extracts, peony extracts, and buffered salicylic acid. Together with Vitamin C, these ingredients enhance skin clarity and prevent hyperpigmentation-causing damage. This dark spot solution has been tested on 47 different skin tones and has been proven to visibly brighten skin in 12 weeks.
5. Peptides
This ingredient is another one you’ll want in your kit. Peptides or polypeptides are made up of short chains of amino acids, making them the building blocks of protein. Different types of peptides have several benefits for all skin types.
For example, antimicrobial peptides are great for improving skin barrier function. How it works is it maintains an optimal functional skin barrier by balancing immune responses and interfering in wound healing on top of directly defending the skin from pathogens. This can shrink pores by preventing pathogens and other debris from clogging them, which is a primary cause of enlarged pores.
Another type is the bioactive peptides. This type of peptide has a wide variety of uses in addressing skin concerns. Its antioxidant properties protect surrounding cells against damage from free radicals that can cause inflammation.
Collagen peptides or hydrolysates are also widely used in the cosmeceutical industry as it helps in slowing signs of aging. It can break down collagen for easier absorption, making skin firmer and reducing fine lines. Aside from that, the peptide protects the skin from moisture loss due to UVB lights and further hydrates it by increasing the concentration of hyaluronic acid in the skin tissue.
Kiehl’s Microdose Retinol Serum is also infused with peptides, giving the product collagen-stimulating properties that boost the retinol’s ability to improve your skin texture. Combined with retinol and niacinamide, the peptides in this serum slow down the development of signs of aging, giving your skin a youthful glow at any age.
Ingredient Quality Over Product Quantity
Nowadays, many choose to forego multi-step skincare routines. They see the benefits of a simple routine that uses fewer products but addresses several skin concerns. Jumping from one skincare trend to another may do more harm than good for your skin if you’re not careful.
It’s crucial to check the ingredients of your skincare products before buying them. It’ll help you know how well your skin will react to them and other products you’re already using.
On the hunt for multipurpose skincare products? Check out Kiehl’s wide range of retinol serums and other products that can fit into your skincare routine. Learn more about our skincare collection online today!