Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Style > Beauty

Overwhelming Beauty Stores: Beginner’s Guide To Starting A Skincare Routine

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WVU chapter.

Let’s face it: we all love walking into Sephora or Ulta and taking in the aisles upon aisles of magnificent makeup and skincare. During the holidays, the stores are even more magical, bustling with busy shoppers looking for the latest holiday collection from their favorite brand. While most of us embrace the organized chaos that is beauty stores, for people just starting in the world of makeup and skincare, it can be overwhelming. Sephora and Ulta both carry hundreds of brands ranging from drugstore to luxury makeup and skincare. The abundance of choice when walking into these stores can easily cause stress and confusion. What is even needed in a skincare routine? How do you know which brands to buy? How much money should you spend? 

Although skincare is a very tailored experience for each individual depending on your skin type and specific needs and wants, there are some products that almost every skincare routine has.

Cleanser 

A cleanser is probably the first product you will look for when starting a skincare routine. It is vital to wash your face every day, and a cleaner helps to ensure that you’re getting rid of all the day’s makeup and dirt. There are thousands of cleaners on the market — with each being specific to your skin type (oily, dry, combo) and having its own features and benefits. Sephora’s website has a page just to shop cleansers and even has a quiz that shoppers can take to find which brand of cleanser would best fit them. The page shows every cleanser that Sephora carries, the price of each and the reviews on each product.

Toner

Most skincare routines use a toner after cleansing the face to ensure that any dirt or makeup not picked up by the cleanser can be removed. Toners are great for people with more oily skin because they help to control the oils on the face. Although toners aren’t always necessary for people with drier skin, Sephora offers many options that are tailored to all skin types. The website offers over one hundred toners to choose from and shows the price and consumer reviews of each. 

Moisturizer 

Arguably the most important product in a skincare routine, a moisturizer is essential for people with dry skin and great for people with oily and combo skin too! People who have oily skin are usually producing an excess of oil to overcompensate for not having enough moisture in the skin. Using a moisturizer can provide that moisture and help to have your skin produce less oil. Again, Sephora’s website has a dedicated page just for moisturizers and a quiz to help you find the perfect one.

The skincare world has an abundance of other products including, serums, eye creams, masks and treatments. However, the three products listed above are a great place to start if you are new to the world of skincare and don’t know where to begin. These three holy grail products of skincare can help to achieve your needs and wants without breaking the bank or aimlessly walking the aisles of Sephora and Ulta. 

Edited by Madison Greer

Cheyenne Oakes is a junior at West Virginia University, majoring in Public Relations and minoring in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies.
Rachel is a graduate student at WVU majoring in journalism with minors in Appalachian studies, history and political science. In addition to writing for Her Campus, she is also a publicity intern for Arts and Entertainment and a news intern for Univerisity Relations. She is from Princeton, West Virginia and loves her state and its beautiful mountains. She is passionate about many things including dogs, musicals and the Mountaineers.