You know those days when you’re glistening with sweat and your skin’s sticky to the touch? Those days when it’s too hot for clothing and the only thing that sounds vaguely appealing (aside from guzzling a gallon of iced water with lemon) is slapping on a bathing suit and jumping into the nearest pool?

It's time to get really clean!

These are the days when your skin is screaming for a deep clean and some much-needed TLC. All that heat, humidity and sweat leaves our faces greasy and our pores clogged with dirt, oil and excess buildup like never before. Congested skin isn’t the end of it, though: with that comes the possibility of acne lurking just around the corner. Sweaty skin is prime breeding ground for breakouts. Here's where our midsummer at-home facial comes to the rescue!

You’ll Need:

• A fan (optional, but we prefer to keep it cool)

• Glycolic Foaming Cleanser

• Face scrub (Strawberry or Kiwi, the choice is yours)

• Orange Tonic Face Mask (or any tonic mask really, we’re just keeping in the spirit of summer with this creamsicle-like mask)

• Serum or spot treatment, depending on your skin

• Toner (Cucumber Cleansing Lotion for combo/oily skin with relatively clear skin, Special Cucumber Lotion for acne-erupted/acne-prone skin)

• Moisturizer (AHA & Ceramide Moisturizer for combo/oily or oily with few breakouts, Aloe Moisturizer SPF 15 for acne-erupted/acne-prone skin)

• Large bowl

• Clean towel

• Cotton pads

Directions:

1. Start with a clean, exfoliated face. Cleanse with your normal, daily cleanser and follow with a scrub of your choice. Strawberry or Kiwi? Both sound deliciously appropriate for summer. Massage the product into your skin in circular motions, starting – and focusing on – the center of the face where congestion and greasiness tend to collect. Spend a good 1-2 minutes for a thorough exfoliation session to not only get rid of all that dulling, pore-clogging buildup, but also to prep the skin for a more effective facial sauna later on.

2. Steam it out. Say goodbye to congestion, and hello to clear! Heat up a pot of water just before it reaches boiling point and carefully transfer it to a large bowl. Position your face over the steaming bowl as comfortably as you can, and drape a towel over your head to help capture the steam. For those 15-20 minutes, your pores will open up and you’ll sweat out all the bad stuff.

3. Deep clean. Take advantage of the fact that your pores are open! Wash your face with the Glycolic Foaming Cleanser to help deep clean those pores and slough away dulling buildup for a brighter, renewed complexion.

4. Target those blackheads. Apply our Silver Powder to the center of your face, or wherever you notice heavy congestion (the nose, the center of the forehead, between the brows, the chin). The facial sauna followed by a deep cleaning with the Glycolic will have prepped and primed your skin so that the Silver Powder works with even greater efficacy at unclogging those pores.

5. Tone away. After 10 minutes, wipe away the Silver Powder with a cotton pad dampened with an oil-absorbing astringent. Depending on your skin type, either the Cucumber Cleansing Lotion or Special Cucumber Lotion will help to clean, disinfect and refresh your complexion.

6. Get treating. Is your skin relatively clear? Apply a few drops of our antioxidant-packed Vitamin C Serum all over. If you’re acne-prone or experiencing erupted acne, apply our Drying Lotion over whiteheads and Buffering Lotion to both cystic acne or breakout-prone areas.

7. Mask it. We recommend our Orange Tonic Mask for this midsummer facial simply in the spirit of keeping with the fruity, summer theme, but any mask from our Tonic Mask line will do the trick (if you’re especially oily or experiencing breakouts, our Cucumber Tonic Mask is the most effective in helping minimizing enlarged, contrasted pores). By applying the mask over the serum or spot treatment, you’re enhancing the effectiveness of both treatments (it’s a salon secret!). After 15-20 minutes, rinse off with tepid water and then remove any remaining mask with a cotton pad saturated with toner.

8. Hydrate. Yes, oily skin needs moisturizer no matter how greasy you feel (remember: oiliness is not the same has well-hydrated). In addition, all these treatments targeting blackheads and acne depletes the skin of moisture: your skin needs to drink up. For relatively clear skin that’s in want of a radiant summer glow, our AHA & Ceramide Moisturizer refreshes skin and promotes a smoother, healthier complexion. Acne-erupted or acne-prone skin should use the soothing Aloe Moisturizer SPF 15 that helps heal and protect the skin.

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For more DIY facial ideas, keep reading here!