As the final step in my morning beauty routine comes an extremely important one: sun protection!! I am so big on this, I usually go off to my friends, or anyone for that matter, about it at the slightest chance. WEAR SUNBLOCK EVERY SINGLE DAY PEOPLE, I cannot say it emphatically enough.

We’ve all heard about all the damage sun exposure can cause, and most of us are pretty good about being careful of it when we are at the beach or exposed for any prolonged amount of time, but most of the damage happens on your day to day life, while on your way to work or running errands… even if it’s cloudy or rainy! The sun is always there, even if  the weather is not hot or you can’t see it, the damaging UV rays are always getting through. On top of that, many active ingredients in the skincare products we use (and you might be using right now) require that you protect against these rays because they can cause a reaction when expose to them, a reaction as in sun spots and discoloration, yikes!

I was fortunate to have my mom be very aware of this when I was growing up, and she always made sure I was protected against the sun. Still, for a couple years I didn’t wear sunblock every day and already have quite a bit of damage. I have freckles and moles I didn’t have before, and I have little acne marks that I know wouldn’t be as bad if I had been wearing sunblock all those years. How do I know? Because I have witnessed it!! That’s what finally made me a believer (some might say fanatic) in sunblock.

Back when I was having serious acne problems, one of the treatments I tried had as a warning of possible side effects the damage it could cause if exposed to the sun without sun protection, so I started wearing it daily. However, I wasn’t so neurotic about it yet, so there would still be times when I wouldn’t apply the sunblock, until finally one day I could see the difference. Just one single day of not applying the sunblock and all my little marks and freckles as well as my rosacea would get so pronounced. It would take many more days of wearing the sunblock again for all those spots to start receding. Which also confirmed another piece of information we’ve been told for a long time… sun damage might be there, deep in our skin layers, even if we don’t see it,  and it might take years to finally show on the surface, but by then it might be to late to try to eradicate. So, just that one single day of firsthand experiencing the horrors the sun can cause on our skin is all it took for me to get real serious about this issue.

Now, for the past several years I have been extremely happy with one sunblock product in particular: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid, SPF 70. So I always finish off my beauty routine by generously slathering it on. I simply cannot live without it. It is oil-free, non-comedogenic (means it won’t cause breakouts), and it is the only sunblock I have found that doesn’t leave my face shiny (clearly I’m big on this issue as I have mentioned it several times on this series). It is truly the lightest sunblock formula I have tried, and believe me, I have tried plenty. I also love the high SPF. The usual recommendation is to use at least SPF 15, but the reality is that the SPF sticker is determined based on a specific amount of product applied, usually half a teaspoon to be exact. If you are not applying at least that, you are not really getting the SPF protection listed on the bottle.  Although it may not sound as much, most of us apply only 20 to 50 percent of the necessary amount, which means if you use SPF 30 you might only be getting the actual protection of SPF 8. So, no matter what sun protection product you decide on, I suggest you always go for the highest SPF possible.

So, that’s usually the end of my morning routine. Depending on how bad my rosacea is on any given day, I might apply my Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer (previously hailed on an older post) after the sunblock to subdue it , but only when necessary. Also, like I had mentioned before, I don’t wear makeup daily, but when I do, first comes my beauty routine, then the primer, then the makeup.

Finally, tomorrow I’ll move on to my night time beauty routine. Hope all this info has been helpful!

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid Sunblock, SPF 70: currently on sale for $11.04 at Ulta.