Why I Choose to Invest in Skincare Before Makeup (The Advantages of Investing in Skincare)

I think you can tell from reading my blog, or just by the fact that La Petite Rose even exists that I love all things in the realm of beauty and love dabbling in trying pretty much every type of product there is. However, when it comes to what is my biggest passion of all things beauty-related and on what, therefore, I choose to spend most of my time researching and the biggest percentage of my beauty budget buying, the answer is far and away skincare, even beyond any type of makeup product.

Of course, both everyone's financial situation and how they choose to divide and spend their money is very personal and there truly is no right or wrong way, but for me, there are several distinct advantages in investing in skincare and in making it the priority over makeup.

Catering to Sensitive Skin: As I have mentioned before, I have had very dry, sensitive, and reactive skin all my life. It is skin that both needs the support of very targeted, nourishing, and carefully-crafted products but that can often become very irritated when something does not work well for it, often resulting in a huge reaction such as a big breakout or a bout dermatitis. Though I will always enjoy trying anything and have found a choice handful of less expensive skincare items that my skin has done well with consistently, I have to say that my biggest and most repeated successes have come from brands that charge $20 (USD) or more for a product, I think this is truly a situation where you do get what you pay for, and often your paying for a level of quality of ingredients and care in formulation, which is something my finicky skin truly needs. So in order to secure

Leaning Towards More Natural-based Products: Once again, there are some notable exceptions to this, but by and large, I tend to favor more natural-based skincare versus more synthetic, clinically-led skincare. Not only does my particular skin seem to do better with plant-based ingredients as opposed to the more lab-created counterparts, but I personally just feel more at home in the Green and more natural-based beauty realm and particularly for skincare. I feel like focusing on more natural ingredients is like feeding your skin beneficial vitamins and nutrients from the outside IN, and though this is not true of all, a lot of better quality more natural-based brands or those that at least highlight plant extracts and oils as key ingredients often cost more. In many cases also, these brands can be smaller, more independent, and/or pay special care to not only the quality and potency of their ingredients but also the ethics and sustainability of the growth and harvesting of the plants they work with and the making of their products. This care and attention to detail and ethics often results in a higher price tag for the skincare itself, but as these kinds of products and companies often really impress me with not only their quality but also their care, it is something I am willing to pay a bit more for.

Less Reliance on Base Makeup (And the options of budget-friendly color cosmetics): As much as I have concealers and foundations I use, love, and would recommend, I am not a person who particularly enjoys wearing a full-coverage foundation, or anything anywhere close to it, on a daily basis. Being more concerned with what I use for my skincare to keep it feeling good and looking its clearest and most even-toned, I find I feel more confident with wearing less and less base makeup products, which, in the long run, also helps my skin from becoming clogged or irritated from the thick foundations or heavy powders, etc.

On the flip side, color cosmetics like eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick do have my heart, and I will occasionally splurge on a higher-end brand in one of these categories. But many wonderful (includingeven cleaner-formulated options) exist of these in every price range. But lower-priced foundations and other base products tend to not be as well-suited to my skin, so there is not as much chance of saving money there. So at the end of the day, I choose to invest more in the kinds of products that will be the most effective at delivering results for my skin, so I can forego a lot of the base makeup altogether.

At the end of the day, whether to allocate most of one's beauty budget to skincare vs makeup is a personal decision and one that even I make a lot of times on a product by product basis. However,I truly feel that no matter what products work the best for you, it is always important to take care of and love your skin as your canvas for all things beauty.