Hailey Bieber and glowing skin go together like summer and rosé. When we had the chance to ask her facialist and founder of Artisan of Skin, Sharlena Hassani, for skincare tips, we had to share. Sharlena’s celebrity clientele also includes Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, and Adwoa Aboah so her hands and knowledge are A-list material, to say the least.
Today she’s giving us insight on the top eight ingredients to add to your skincare routine for glowing skin and why each is so important for a healthy and radiant complexion.
Read on to see what made Sharlena’s list and shop the products you need to add to your beauty routine for that dewy Hailey Bieber-inspired skin.
“Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that has the ability to lift, firm, and tighten the skin while providing environmental and free-radical protection. With continued use, lines will appear far less pronounced, facial contours more defined, and skin tone will visibly improve for noticeably younger, healthier-looking skin. A major reason you need to have antioxidants (like vitamin C) in your routine is because they stabilize reactive oxygen species (free radicals), hence the name ANTI-oxidants.
Glycolic acid is the best ingredient to unclog the pores and prevent buildup. Glycolic works by weakening the binding properties of the lipids that hold the dead skin cells together. This allows the dead skin cells to be exfoliated, exposing live healthy skin cells. The result is much smoother skin and a more youthful appearance. A secondary benefit is your skin’s new ability to draw moisture from the environment and for products to penetrate deeper and boost health in the new, fresh skin cells.
Retinol exfoliates the skin, increases skin cell turnover, and stimulates collagen production. It is considered the gold standard for its anti-aging and skin-clearing benefits. Retinoids (retinol/tretinoin/retin-A) help everything from texture to scarring, fine lines, wrinkles, pore size, and overall skin firmness and plumpness. It’s the ultimate multitasking ingredient to help combat the signs of aging and breakouts. For brighter, youthful-looking skin there’s no ingredient as effective as retinol.
There are levels to this ingredient, so you start mild and slowly build up your tolerance to stronger and stronger retinoids.
Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B-3. This essential ingredient helps build proteins in the skin and offers protection against environmental damage. When applied topically, niacinamide improves overall skin texture by rebuilding the lipid layer, minimizing the appearance of pores, and preventing UV damage and inflammation as an antioxidant. It also minimizes redness and blotchiness, treats hyperpigmentation, minimizes fine lines and wrinkles, and helps treat acne.
This is one of my favorite ingredients. Zinc encourages the production of collagen fibers and elastin, which firm the skin. By supporting the underlying structure of the skin, zinc works to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and other signs of aging. It’s also a strong anti-inflammatory agent, so it reduces redness and speeds up healing time. An added bonus is that it’s antibacterial, so it helps to reduce swelling and irritation caused by breakouts.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring polysaccharide in the human body. It is a powerful humectant (aka moisture-binding ingredient) that keeps the skin plump, hydrated, and youthful. Being a humectant, HA helps bind water to collagen, trapping it in the skin so it becomes more supple, dewier, and more hydrated. Hyaluronic acid is known for its impressive ability to attract and retain 1,000 times its weight in moisture. Know why a baby’s skin always looks so dewy and pillowy? That’s because babies are born with a high level of hyaluronic acid!
Peptides are chains of amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins like collagen (thickness) and elastin (firmness) in the skin, responsible for the texture, strength, and resilience of the skin. When peptides form a long chain of amino acids, they become proteins. When they are in a short chain of amino acids, they are able to penetrate the top layer of our skin and send signals to our cells to let them know how to function. Peptides applied topically to the skin can send a signal to collagen to prompt the formation of new collagen, and voila, you have the appearance of more youthful, supple skin.
Benzoyl peroxide can and should be started as soon as needed (as early as teenage years) to treat and prevent current acne, and to prevent any future scarring from breakouts. We recommend starting off once a day for acne-prone clients and then increasing usage to twice a day if needed—preferably at night when your skin needs the most work and is in repair mode. Having benzoyl peroxide is an essential step in maintaining overall clarity and preventing the pores from filling up and causing any future damage or wear and tear on the skin.”
Sharlena Hassani is a licensed aesthetician in Beverly Hills who spreads knowledge about skincare so her clients can achieve and maintain healthy, clear, and youthful skin. After years of trying to gain control over her own acne and pigmentation, spending thousands on every product imaginable, and going to multiple skincare specialists, she took matters into her own hands, and her passion for skincare started! She has worked under doctors and dermatologists and completed skincare certification training. She studied ingredients and cosmetic chemistry to figure out the connection between specific substances and how the skin functions on a day-to-day basis. Doing so allowed her to not only finally have control over her skin, but also to know what it takes to maintain clear, youthful, and glowing skin for each unique skin type.
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