For weeks, I’ve been spending the majority of my time indoors. You probably have been too.
First, in self-quarantine and isolation, and then later simply because the whole city is still shut down under a safer-at-home directive. While I was very sick for several of these weeks, I didn’t really prioritize skincare — my whole focus was simply on getting better and having enough energy to begin working again. But as I slowly regained strength and returned to normal, I noticed a persistent dryness to my skin from the weeks of neglect. Though it may be a more frivolous thing to worry about while the devastating effects of COVID-19 are spreading across the country, returning to my skincare routine was a way for me to personally reclaim normalcy as my strength returned.
Losing most of my income due to cutbacks and, as a freelancer, seeing a lot of opportunities dry up overnight, it was important to find something simple I could do that lifted my spirits. I’ve been preaching about the benefits of Bella Skin Beauty for a while now, after a strong introduction, and my favorite product from them by far is the Beauty Serum. The company is run by a mother and daughter duo, Diana and Alex, who are beyond devoted to making sure the products they sell contain only natural, clean and fully green ingredients. This means their products are a little bit more expensive than what you might find in a drugstore or a pharmacy, but that’s because the quality of what they’re sourcing — and where they’re sourcing it from — is held to a much more rigorous standard than what massive corporations churn out.
As I dealt with my extreme dryness, and tried to use rejuvenating serums to bring some moisture back to my skin, I quickly learned the importance of a toner. It seems like a toner would dry skin out further if it was already dry, but counterintuitively, that’s not the case. For a good toner that doesn’t leave your skin too dry, look for ingredients like glycerin and rose water, that are gentle on the skin, and essentially prep it to absorb all the oils of a serum, stripping away dirt and dead skin cells so the healthy skin can access the nutrients a serum provides. Extremely dry skin like what I was dealing with is also sometimes a sign of combination skin — the cells overproduce oil to combat the dryness and work in a cycle that shifts between too oily and too dry that can continue on endlessly without intervention.
Neroli oil, the main ingredient in Bella Skin Beauty’s Rose Neroli Toner ($58), is one of the most effective ways to treat oily skin, which in turn can help prevent dryness. It is also antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving, thought to reduce the appearance of fine lines and aging, and brings down the visibility of scars as stretch marks. It’s basically one of those miracle oils — derived from orange blossoms — that works as a cure-all for everything. It’s often used in aromatherapy as well to treat anxiety, high blood pressure and insomnia, a series of mental health issues that have cropped up for a lot of people living through this global pandemic.
Plenty of toners begin and end with the common astringent witch hazel, and though that’s an ingredient here, it’s bolstered with aloe, grapefruit seed extract, and rose flower oil, along with rosewater and glycerin, and finally, the neroli oil. Since a lot of people are struggling to pay their bills right now, let alone buy skincare products, splurging on this toner might not be in the cards right now. But if you do have the means and are looking for small, local businesses to support, Bella Skin Beauty is a great company to support. Also keeping in mind the current economic climate, Bella Skin have offered a special promo code for Cinnamon readers: Use the special code CINNAMON20 and to get 20% off an order along with free shipping. The code is valid from today, April 21 until this Thursday, April 23 at midnight.
Check out their toner here, and my favorite serum here, or get both together in a bundle with their eye serum to get a deal on all three.
