Are You Ready to Transition Your Routine For Summer? Here's How to Do It

We love, love, love summer. But summertime skin? Not so much. To help manage the greasy, sweaty, oily direction our skin tends to go when the weather heats up, contributing editor Sheryll shows us how she switches up her products for summer skincare.

GUISE GUESS WHAT!?

Summertime is here! Sun! Beach! Short shorts! Sunday brunch and bottomless mimosas on the patio! Pool days! FUN FUN FUN!

(Can you tell I’m excited about summer?)

Summer is my favorite season. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in two countries for three years with eternal summers and I’m just used to the heat, I don’t know, but I seriously live for the summer. I looooove spending long afternoons relaxing by the pool. I love taking trips to the beach. I love wearing short shorts and crop tops and it not getting dark until 8:30 pm. It’s like I come alive. But like life, there are highs and lows to my love affair with summertime.

In the winter, my skin is naturally drier. It’s is always on its best behavior. It’s always so pretty, balanced, clear, and smooth. I remember when I lived in Seoul during those brutal freaking winters. Everyone had crazy chapped, dry, and flaky skin, and my skin would just be flourishing. A goal! But then summertime comes around and kicks me in the butt and my skin goes nuts. It gets super oily, and I tend to have more breakouts than normal. The weather has barely started to heat up and I’m already seeing some changes. WHY ME?!

So that’s why, when summertime rolls around, it’s time to switch up the routine yet again. In the winter, I like to focus on making sure my skin is properly hydrated and moisturized, while in the summer I’m trying to do that PLUS a heavy focus on sun protection, calming the skin from the heat and sun, and making sure my skin doesn’t turn into a sweaty, greasy, pimple-y pizza. It’s a lot.

As you transition your skincare routine from spring to summer, make sure you answer these two important questions (that I ALWAYS ask myself before I switch things up):

1. What is your skin type and how has it changed?

2. What goals are you trying to achieve?

So to answer my own questions: My oily skin tends to get even more oily during the summer, and I want to make sure that my skin is properly balanced without the use of heavy creams and oils, since that’s what I rely on during the winter.

I typically stick with the same cleansers (making sure they are low pH), since cleansers tend to work the same for me year round. Chemical exfoliants are a mainstay. But then after that, I like to switch things up and focus on lightweight, watery, and gel-type textured products. Thankfully, K-beauty has made this SUPER easy because a lot of the products have these words in their names. Thanks K-beauty!

Some of my favorite summer skincare products are:

The ENTIRE Laneige Water Bank line

Like, if you are looking to revamp your skincare routine for summer and don’t want to think about it, just buy everything from this line and thank me later. The Water Bank gel cream, the eye cream, and the water sleeping mask are my personal favorites.

COSRX Oil Free Moisturizing Lotion with Birch Sap

Lightweight hydration at its finest. My boyfriend LOVES this stuff. It sinks into the skin beautifully and doesn’t leave a greasy finish.

Purito Fermented Complex 94 Boosting Essence

This essence is watery, lightweight, sinks into the skin immediately, and delivers a mega-brightening punch. You wanna glow this summer? GET THIS. Trust me.

Anything with hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid is a molecule that holds 1,000 times its weight in water. What does this mean? It means you get TONS of awesome hydration, without the heaviness. The Klairs Unscented Supple Preparation Toner is a big favorite of mine. I’ve also heard great things about the Earth’s Recipe Energy Boosting Toner.

SUNSCREEN

The most important component to any skincare routine. During the summer you tend to be outdoors more often, so sun protection is a must. My current sunscreen bae is the Earth’s Recipe Waterful Sun Gel SPF50+++.

How do you plan on changing your routine up for summer skincare? Let me know in the comments!