vitruvi HQ on Skincare, Part One

Skincare is my favourite thing to spend money on (well, maybe only second to food), and is one of my favourite self-care topics to discuss.

We talk about it a lot at vitruvi HQ, so I thought, why not make it official and interview my coworkers about their routines and hero products? Your skin can thank us later. [Editor’s note: everyone got so into this and had such great things to say that this is only part one. Stay tuned for part two.]

Simone Beadle, customer experience and partnerships

“I always wash my face twice, I do the double cleanse; once in the morning and then twice at night. I try to wash my face as soon as I get home from work, and then I’ll usually wash it again before bed. I concentrate a ton on my jawline and on my cheekbones because I’ll get random little breakouts there. I use the Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser; after that I pat dry and then I use the Dermalogica Ultracalming Serum Concentrate. I put that on all over, and then I’ll do salicylic acid from The Ordinary, and then I use the Kiehl’s avocado eye cream, and I put that on morning and night. I didn’t believe in eye cream before, but I love this one. I’ve noticed such a difference with puffiness; in the morning before work I don’t put concealer on. [Editor’s note: she literally has no dark circles under her eyes, leading me to wonder if she’s even real.]

And I use hyaluronic acid, and some nights I’ll put on lactic acid as well, both from The Ordinary. I don’t use any lotions or anything anymore, but in the morning I use the unscented Coola Suncare Face Mineral Sunscreen. My biggest thing is that I have to do every single step every single time; I 100% notice it if I don’t do every single thing. It’s made such a big difference with my skin. I have rosacea and my whole cheek was one big bump last summer, so I need chemicals on my skin, I realized. And lastly, I use our Sleep Mist on my face before I go to bed.”

Steph MacDonald, wholesale

Morning: “I wake up. [Editor’s note: great start!] I wash my face immediately but with a very gentle cleanser, it’s La Roche-Posay Toleraine Dermo-Cleanser. Then I use my SkinCeuticals Serum 10 AOX+, which has antioxidants and Vitamin C, then I use SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel, which is a green serum that’s calming. Then I use my SkinCeuticals Metacell Renewal B3, which is a cream. [Editor’s note: SkinCeuticals, sponsor this beauty already!] Then I use the Time Response Eye Reserve Cream from Amorepacific. It’s really nice. Then I use the Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen and call it a day and put my makeup on. It takes 20 minutes to do the whole thing, that’s why I’m always late.”

Evening: “I use Bioderma Sensibio H2O micellar water all over my face to get the makeup off, and then I cleanse with the Toleraine again. I used to use a Clairsonic, but I left it in Westport, Washington and I could just cry. So I don’t use that anymore. Then, I have to alternate: I use a prescription retinol every other night, and then I use the same Phyto Corrective Gel with my Metacell cream and that’s it. And some nights I use some of our Plum Oil under my eyes as a serum.”

Scout Shmygol, marketing

“I actually didn’t think that much about skincare before I started working here. I would like, wash my face with hotel soap. [Editor’s note: she must have very good genes because that would not fly for my skin, and hers is VERY NICE.] Now a lot of my skincare routine involves vitruvi products because I learned about it here.”

Morning: “I cleanse with Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser and then I use a toner that I made myself with vegetable glycerin, rose water, non-alcoholic witch hazel, and our Frankincense Essential Oil. Then I use Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+, and I mix in a few drops of my morning oil: Rosehip, Raspberry Seed, and Seabuckthorn, so it’s a little bit lighter and slightly astringent.”

Evening: “I cleanse with Milky Jelly, then I use my toner, then I use Plum Oil all over my face—I’m actually obsessed with it. Then I gua sha. I love it. Then I use my Clinique moisturizer and use Plum Oil again. Slather it on.”

Alex Falconer, creative

Morning: “I use the Drunk Elephant bar soaps, which is interesting because I never thought I would use bar soap on my face. But I really like the Drunk Elephant stuff, and I try not to use anything with fragrance because I have sensitive skin. I just got the Ilia Cucumber Water Stick and I actually really love it. It fell out when I first opened it, but it’s securely back in there and it’s so naturally cooling without even being in the fridge—and then I also put it in the fridge which is really nice. So I’ll just kind of rub that around my face. It’s like a solid toner, but then I still like to use the Thayers non-alcoholic witch hazel toner in a spray bottle (right now I have the rose one) because I like the action of it and it gets my skin a little wet for my serums. Right now I’m using The Ordinary Buffet and hyaluronic acid, but I’m trying to move my routine to be clean beauty, so I’m on the hunt for daytime serums. I feel like I want a hyaluronic acid one and maybe a Vitamin C one. My cream is also not in the clean beauty realm yet but I really like it, it’s the Avene Skin Recovery Cream, it’s pretty thick and soothing and unscented. And I have a morning face oil that I made, it’s Apricot Kernel with Rosehip, Meadowfoam Seed, and Raspberry Seed. Raspberry’s my favourite oil because it kind of smells like nutty raspberries very faintly.”

Evening: “It’s mostly the same, except for my nighttime serum I use the Drunk Elephant T.L.C. and then use Plum Oil with my moisturizer. And then I‘ll do a gua sha massage at night sometimes. Kate Somerville has this pink stuff called EradiKate and that is my pimple prevention go-to; I’ve been using that since high school. Every night I usually have some dabble of pink—everyone who has sleepovers with me or sees me at night has seen me with pink dots on my face.” [Editor’s note: Alex’s skin is basically porcelain, sometimes I catch myself staring at it during meetings. Sorry for being a creep, Alex.]

Danica Chicquen, wholesale

Morning: “I use the Glossier Priming Moisturizer and then Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen, it feels like velvet. It’s so silky! There’s so much information coming at me at all times that I try to just not shut down and just do basic things: a really basic cleanser and a really basic moisturizer. It’s really overwhelming for me because I don’t know where to start, ever. I only started using sunscreen like a week ago because that’s apparently something you should be doing.” [Editor’s note: her skin looks very youthful and tight, you’d never know she just started using SPF!]

Evening: “I always start with washing my face, so I use Clinique’s Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, I’ve always trusted it. I like that it’s really soft on my skin so I trust that it’s going to work. Then I use The Ordinary Buffet as a serum, it just has everything in it; I know people use the acids they sell but I decided to do the Buffet because it’s generic. Everything I use is super umbrella, generic, regular skin tone. After that, I use the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+, which I really like. I put my tanning drops in it. It adds a bit of colour, because your girl is pale. And then before I go to bed I spritz my face with some of our calming Sleep Mist, and use the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask. It’s incredible. I used to have really bad eczema all around my lips and knock on wood, I haven’t had a flare-up since I started using it—and it’s kind of plumping too, which is nice. Also, I don’t do this routine every night; sometimes I just use a makeup-remover wipe. Whatever’s on sale, usually Neutrogena. Shout-out to Neutrogena. They’ve been good since high school, can’t turn ‘em away. [Editor’s note: lol.] Oh, and the Nexcare pimple patch. If I had to give up everything, I would just keep this. It’s the holy grail.”

Rita Ovis, social

Morning: “I rinse my face with water and moisturize with the Drunk Elephant Protini. And I use the Glossier sunscreen, which they don’t sell in Canada. But it’s so good, I love it.”

Evening: “I wash my face with the Drunk Elephant Pekee Cleansing Bar, then I use the Thayers rose witch hazel toner. It’s the best, it’s so cheap and easy and it works really well. I’ve had it for like a year and I’m still not through the bottle. Sometimes before I moisturize with Drunk Elephant Protini again, I’ll use the Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos glycolic serum. That’s twice a week, and then another two times a week I’ll use their C-Firma serum. And then if I have any blemishes I’ll put on a Kate Somerville spot treatment, or I’ll use a pimple patch from Rael depending how big the pimple is. Lastly, twice a week I’ll do a gua sha massage with a face oil of Plum, Rosehip, and Raspberry Seed all mixed together.”

“I think I finally found what works for my skin. For a long time I was having issues with oiliness and acne, so suddenly. I used to have totally fine skin, I wasn’t doing anything to it—I was literally washing it with Dr. Bronner’s and putting coconut oil on it. And then a year ago I started breaking out really bad and it got really, really oily, so I went on this journey to try everything. I tried so many routines. The only thing that’s helped is these Drunk Elephant products; I’m not even wearing any face makeup right now and this is the first time in years I can do that [Editor’s note: she looks amazing]. Also our Gua Sha Tool helped a lot, especially with cystic acne; I had it really bad on my chin. I find that gua sha keeps everything moving.”

Sav Lalli, finance

“I don’t have a routine...water splash.” [Editor’s note: his skin is legit glowing, so maybe we’ve all got it wrong?]

Skincare isn’t one size fits all, and that’s the true beauty of it.

These interviews have been edited and condensed.