The Night Before

Avoid Alcohol

If you really want to look your best on the 14th, you should avoid alcohol since it restricts oxygen flow to your cells, making skin look dull and puffy the next morning. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? If you just can’t help it, make sure you take in a glass of water for every alcoholic drink you consume to minimize the toxic effects of alcohol.

Treat Breakouts

If you are having any breakouts, now is the time to apply a medicated lotion to the breakout and leave overnight. Make sure you apply the spot treatment on cleansed skin and before you apply any other products. We swear by IMAGE’s skincare Clear Cell Medicated Acne Lotion ($32), which zaps acne with 5% Benzoyl peroxide while also working to soothe skin with its blend of spearmint leaf, vitamin E, and Green tea.

Moisturize

You should be using a hydrating moisturizer every night, but the night before you want to look your best it’s specially important to apply a even layer of your heaviest moisturizing creme in order to nourish your skin cells. Turns out cells are like fish and need water to live, so skimping out on your moisturizer definitely compromises the health of your skin. Moreover, since your skin repairs itself at night time, it’s an especially important time to make sure it has everything it needs to recover from the environmental stressors it’s exposed to during the day. To give your skin cells a little hand, try a nighttime moisturizer containing stem cells and peptides like IMAGE’s Skincare the MAX Stem Cell Creme ($99), which works to support your skin’s defense mechanisms and collagen regeneration to leave your skin nourished and hydrated.

Beauty Sleep

While we’re on the topic of your skin’s reparative state, don’t forget to clock in 7-9 hours of sleep the night before you want to look your best. This will ensure that you wake up looking refreshed, without undereye bags or circles, as well as ensuring that your skin remains healthy throughout the day without the spike in cortisol caused by a lack of sleep, which triggers inflammation.

The Day Of

Exfoliate & Masque

Exfoliating and putting on a face mask are huge allies when you are trying to get your skin to looks it’s best. Exfoliating sloughs off any dry, dead skin that may be sitting on top of your epidermis while masks inject an extra dose of nutrition and nourishment to your skin that you don’t get on a daily basis. There is basically a face mask to help diminishes every skin concern, from acne to redness to dullness. If you want to kill two birds with one stone and exfoliate while you mask, try IMAGE’s Skincare Ageless Total Resurfacing Masque ($32), which gently sloughs of dead cells with its blend of hydroxid acids while also lightening & diminishing brown spots.

Moisturize

See a pattern here? Keeping skin moisturized is vital for healthy skin. So before you apply your makeup primer and/or makeup, make sure you put on a moisturizer. Not only will the moisturizer soothe and nourish skin, it will also help your makeup set better and stay on. If you’re really going for that dewy skin look, apply a thin layer of facial oil 10 or so minutes after your moisturizer (and before makeup) to really lock in moisture and add that much coveted glow to skin. We love IMAGE’s Skincare Vital C Hydrating Oil ($50), an ultra lightweight oil formulated to bring back radiance to tired, dull skin with its mix of grapeseed oil, sea buckthorn, and antioxidants.