Princess Theodora von Auersperg

If you could, would you spend $8,000 a month on beauty products?

Well, that’s what the gossip columnists were saying Jennifer Aniston spends. Of course, it was all one of those rumor mill lies, as Jennifer herself confirmed about 24 hours later. For the record, she said she spends about $200 (though I’m not sure I believe that one, either).

But it made me wonder about the people who think that using that much product every month might be a good thing. A lot of people make the mistake of using too many products too often on their skin. They seem to have the idea that if one cream works then three will work three times as well. Of course, if that were the case, a lot of women would live in efficiency apartments, eat Ramen noodles every night and spend their remaining money on a closet packed with beauty products. They’d be poor, but they’d look good.

Thankfully, that is not the case.

My experience is that more is usually not better. A good skincare regimen should be all about balanced support. Your guideline should be doing just enough, and not too much in the pursuit of perfect skin. Over-cleansing, over-moisturizing or over-medicating the skin has a tendency to upset the skin’s natural balance while at the same time emptying your pocketbook.

I am a big fan of keeping to the skin care basics of cleanse, tone and moisturize. My ideal routine consists of a simple morning plan and applying the majority of treatments at night. Nighttime is the most important time to hydrate since this is the healing period for our skin when it is able to absorb more moisture. Here’s what I do:

Morning – I usually just splash my face with cold water and apply a toner to balance out the pH of my skin and then apply my favorite moisturizer.

Nighttime – I use a gentle cleanser and toner and then follow up with a healthy dose of moisturizer on my face, neck and décolleté. For fine lines and dullness I look for ingredients like Vitamin A and C to promote a healthy cell turnover and help soothe out the skin.

If you follow these basic concepts, you’ll find that your skin will be the best that it can be — as long as you remember one fundamental rule: Don’t forget to smile. In the words of the great Broadway music composer Martin Charnin:

“You’re never fully dressed without a smile”.

Yours in Beauty,