My Shower Routine + Current Favorite Products

My shower routine is ever-changing....as new and exciting products come out, I'm always swapping out one thing for another- a new body wash here, a lotion there.  I tend to focus a lot of my reviews on makeup so a lot of my skincare products never get a review before I'm on to the next thing, and every day, I'm using these products and saying, "man, I still haven't reviewed this yet!"

Unfortunately, there's just not enough time in the day.

So...I decided to create one post to talk about some of my favorites rather than try to review each product individually. Some of the products I'll talk about today have been shower staples of mine for quite a while now while others are new. But I figure I can do a post like this every once in a while as new products come in and old ones go to their final resting place under my bathroom vanity. I decided not to include hair products or this would get way too long, so I'll do a separate post about that. Let's take a look! 

The Julep Rethink Your Shower Hydrating Cleansing Oil ($38) and the It's Fun To Exfoliate Konjac Body Sponge ($16) came in one of my Julep Maven boxes (which are only $19.99 so it was a great value) at the beginning of the summer and I've been hooked ever since!
Rethink Your Shower contains Grapeseed, Coconut and Kukui Oils to soothe and hydrate the skin, Grapefruit Peel to cleanse and start the exfoliation process, and glycerin and urea to keep your skin retain moisture. It smells lovely with a subtle citrusy grapefruit scent. This oil actually foams up nicely on it's own but when you add it to the It's Fun To Exfoliate Konjac sponge, it's a whole new experience! It creates a creamy frothy lather that's actually hydrating rather than stripping, while the sponge, which contains charcoal to clear impurities from the skin and cleanse pores, exfoliates gently. Popular in Japan and Korea, these sponges are made with Konjac Root, a natural fiber that's much softer than a loofah yet it still gets the job done. To me, it felt so soft and squishy I was like, "no way this is going to exfoliate me" and yet by the end of that first shower, my skin was glowing and smooth. It's like magic!

It looks rough, but it's super soft and squishy!
It's Fun to Exfoliate Konjac Sponge and Rethink Your Shower Cleansing Oil at Julep.com

On days when I'm in need of more exfoliation, especially in the winter (or when I get those little bumps on my legs) I turn to my Clarisonic Smart Profile ($269). I picked this up on QVC several months ago and did the 5 monthly payments to my Amex because this thing isn't cheap (I love that they offer that option)! But it was well worth the cost because it comes with a face brush and a larger body brush (and a foot smoothing disc that isn't worth mentioning because it doesn't hold a candle to my Amope Pedi Perfect or Emjoi devices). The body brush has made such a difference in my skin! I used to have Keratosis Pilaris (those little bumps) on my thighs and backs of my arms and using this in combination with an AHA body lotion has made them completely disappear! It also gets rid of rough patches on my knees, elbows, and tops of my feet. So even though I love the face brush, for me, the body brush has made it worth upgrading from the Mia to the Smart Profile!

Clarisonic Smart Profile

For my face, there's one product that's been a shower staple for many years and that's Philosophy's Purity Made Simple cleanser. It's the best makeup removing cleanser I've found and it leaves my skin deep down clean without drying it out, which is a rare thing!

I recently got the Foreo Luna in June and I've been using it more often than my Clarisonic because it's gentler yet still gets the job done. I still break out my Clarisonic when I want a bit more exfoliation but for the most part, the Foreo is my go-to these days. (see my full review here).

Foreo Luna and Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser

I found the new Palmer's Cocoa Butter Clinical Intensive Relief Cream Oil at Bed, Bath and Beyond a few weeks ago. This is an AHA formula that gently exfoliates the skin. I was using the Gold Bond Rough and Bumpy Skin Cream (see my review here) and I love it, but I finished up my tub of that and thought I'd give this a try instead. This pumps out like a runny lotion but melts into a light oil in contact with the skin. Oddly, it doesn't leave an oily residue at all...in sinks in very fast like a lotion would. I actually prefer this over the Gold Bond in the summer because that one is very thick, almost like a body butter, so I think I'll go back to that in the Winter. Both products do a great job of keeping Keratosis Pilaris bumps away. Also, this Palmers version is unscented (no chocolate smell here!).

Palmers Clinical Intensive Relief Hypoallergenic Cream Oil

Finally, there are some days when I don't want to mess with all of these problem solving products and I just want to relax and use something that smells amazing and makes my skin feel soft and pampered. I recently posted about the new Victoria's Secret Body Care line that just launched so I went to my local store to check it out (along with my monthly coupon for a free pair of underwear...love those!). I was pretty sure I was going to buy the Coconut Milk scent, but sadly it didn't really smell like coconut to me....pineapples maybe? I don't know, but I fell in love with the warm, comforting shea butter scent so I purchased the Smoothing Scrub Wash and the Hydrating Body Lotion. The scrub is very gentle so I wouldn't expect much exfoliation from it...it's more body wash than scrub, with a few microbeads thrown in. Still, it has a rich creamy lather and smells sooo good! The Body Lotion could be my favorite body lotion ever...I can't even describe how soft this makes my skin! It has what VS calls a "cotton moisture complex" and I have no idea what that is, but I was hooked the minute I tried the tester in the store. I couldn't stop touching the arm where I put it. It sinks in really fast with no residue and leaves your skin feeling like velvet...it's amazing.

So that's what I'm using in the shower...well, except for hair products of course. I'll definitely have to do another post on that very soon. 

What are your favorite shower products? I'd love to hear about them! :)