What is Slow Skincare? My Long-Game Approach to Radiant Skin

The year after my divorce, every time I ran into someone I knew, they’d say some version of the same thing. “Wow, Candis. The glow-up is real.” They weren’t wrong. With newfound time and single-girl freedom on my side, I’d befriended the StairMaster, started drinking a gallon of water a day, and began casually experimenting with skincare products.

Somewhere along the way, I seemed to stumble into the perfect combination of routines. My skin was glowing. It was clear and smooth. I looked like a whole new woman… even though I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing right. My friends chalked it up to stress leaving my body. The weight of an expired relationship finally shedding itself. And for a while, I almost agreed. It made sense—less tension, more joy, more sleep, more laughter. Of course my skin would respond.

Fast forward a few years. I was more in love with my life than ever. Feeling deeply settled, grounded, and genuinely happy. And yet there I was again, standing in front of the mirror, scratching my head. My skin had relapsed almost back to its adolescent years. There was acne, dark spots, and a rough texture scattered across my face. This time, the glow-down didn’t make sense. And this time, I knew I didn’t want a vague explanation.

I wanted to understand what was actually happening, not just on the inside, but on the outside too. Was it something I was eating? Not eating? Drinking—or not drinking? Was it something I was putting on my skin… or something I wasn’t?

Instead of panicking or throwing more products at the problem, I knew it was time to do what I always do when life asks for clarity. Slow down, get curious, and start listening.

This was the beginning of learning how to vibe with my skin rather than fight against it.

New to this Slow Beauty Series? Start here.

What Slow Skincare Means to Me

Slow skincare, to me, is intelligent and intuitive skincare. It’s about understanding your unique skin, and learning how it behaves, what it responds to, and what it actually needs in order to be healthy and radiant. It’s about exploration. Running small experiments and then sitting back and being patient while your skin shows you what it needs. 

If you know anything about The Slow Year®, you know I’ve adopted a very intentional less is more approach to most areas of my life these days. And without fail, I’ve found that the less I do, the better things become. My skincare is no exception.

Over the past few months—alongside reflections gathered from the years before—I’ve slowly narrowed down the products and routines that truly support my skin. Not just the ones that make it look good temporarily, but the ones that seem to work with my skin’s natural processes. And that I am hopeful will support my skin to steadily deepen in health, resilience, and radiance for many years to come.

Slow skincare is about trust, consistency and sustainability. And it’s all about playing the long game!

How I Practice Slow Skincare (And How You Can Too)

I was out for happy hour with my friend Sol last Friday, and I couldn’t stop staring at her face. Sol is about to hit forty, and I swear to you, she doesn’t look a day over twenty-five. I’m not exaggerating. Her skin has this effortless, golden glow across her cheeks that made me fully abandon the conversation we were supposed to be having.

Naturally, I started drilling her. What are you using? What’s your routine? What’s your secret?

She paused, smiled, and said something that resonated far deeper than any product recommendation ever could. “People always ask me what they should do,” she said. “But I only know what works for me. I don’t know what other women should do. I just know what I do.”

She absolutely nailed it. That, right there, is slow skincare. There isn’t a universal routine. There isn’t a single right answer. There’s only your skin, your lifestyle, your nervous system, your hormones, your climate, your habits, and your willingness to pay attention long enough to understand what works for you.

So consider my story not as instruction, but as inspiration. An invitation to slow down, get curious, and uncover what works for you over the long term.

This is how I’ve come to practice slow skincare in my own life. These are really about how I experiment and relate to my skin.

Observe My Skin

When I decided this time around that I truly wanted to understand my skin, I made a very intentional choice—I didn’t go straight to an esthetician or dermatologist to have someone simply tell me what to do, because I didn’t want recommendations layered on top of confusion. I wanted to do my own due diligence first. To observe my skin over time, learn what I was actually putting on my face, and understand how those products were interacting with my skin’s natural biology and barrier.

So I slowed everything down. I introduced one product at a time. Then I watched. I removed another and paid attention. I gave my skin a few days (sometimes longer) to respond before making the next change. I started asking better questions: Did my skin feel softer… or tighter? Did the texture look smoother overnight, or did I wake up with new pimples? Did my dark spots deepen in color, or did they look subtly lighter? Did my skin feel calm to touch or inflamed?

When you observe your face over days, weeks, and months, you start to notice everything. The smallest changes become obvious. Your skin stops being a mystery. And over time, through touching, watching, and intuitively sensing, it became very obvious what supported my skin and what didn’t.

Clean Up My Foundation

For years, I believed that drinking a gallon of water a day, eating a very low-sugar diet, and doing everything perfectly was the only way to have clear, glowing skin. I don’t believe it’s the only thing anymore, but I do believe it’s the foundation for everything else. Because if my body is inflamed and dehydrated on a systemic level, it’s going to show up externally. Skin isn’t separate from the rest of us… it’s a reflection of what’s happening underneath.

The same goes for the environment we’re putting our skin into every day. If the water I’m using to wash my face and body is full of metals, chlorine, and contaminants, I’m not exactly setting the stage for my skincare products to shine. I’m just layering serums on top of a compromised baseline.

So today, I keep things simple and supportive. I eat a fairly low-sugar diet. And when I do indulge (and I absolutely do!) it’s usually with unrefined sugars. That said, I’ve noticed very consistently over time that when I overdo sugar, my skin lets me know within days. Breakouts pop up without fail. And when I’m not drinking enough water, a deep line starts appearing across my forehead like a personal reminder from my body to hydrate. It’s annoying, but helpful. Ha!

And this next part might feel a little bougie, but I’ve also invested in a filtered showerhead and a filter for my bathroom sink. Living in Miami, the water quality matters. Washing my skin in cleaner water feels like a small but meaningful way to reduce unnecessary stress on my skin before I even reach for a product.

Choose Products for Me

There’s almost nothing more daunting than choosing skincare products. If you’ve ever stood frozen in the middle of Sephora, wandered the skincare aisle at CVS, or casually Googled “best skincare products,” you know exactly what I mean. You’re instantly hit with fifty million options and about the same number of opinions.

At first, I thought I’d make it easier by choosing clean beauty. Except I quickly learned two important things. First, clean beauty is a loose, largely unregulated term. Many brands that claim to be clean… aren’t. I found this out the old-fashioned way by Googling ingredient lists on the back of products I already owned.

But even more surprising was what I learned next. Many clean beauty brands rely heavily on oils and botanical ingredients. While those can feel luxurious, they can also be comedogenic, aka pore-clogging, especially for oily, acne-prone skin like mine, living in a hot, humid climate. More than once, I applied a beautiful botanical cream at night, only to wake up with deep, painful pimples the next morning. Not exactly the glow I was going for.

I also noticed that while some brands felt sensorially gorgeous, they weren’t always science-backed or performance-driven. They didn’t consistently protect the skin barrier or support long-term skin health in the way I needed.

So I went back to basics. I started by clarifying my actual skin type and then defining what I valued in a brand. Non-toxic was still important to me. But I also wanted high-performance formulas, science-backed ingredients, ethical business practices, and products designed to actually work. When I married my skin needs with my slow living values and my environment, my options narrowed dramatically. Which, honestly, was a relief.

I also learned that what worked for me in chilly, dry Chicago does not work the same way in humid Miami, which was a consideration that hadn’t even crossed my mind until this year. Climate changes, so the skin adapts. And skincare needs to adapt with it.

Choosing the right products has been a journey. But the more I’ve learned, the easier and less overwhelming it’s become. I’ll share the brand I currently love and use below—not as a prescription or even advice, but just as a starting point for your own exploration.

My Slow Skincare Routine

After just throwing stuff at my face for a few years, I’ve slowly narrowed my skincare down to two simple intentions: morning is for protection and evening is for renewal.

Before I share anything specific, there’s one important thing I want to say first. I apply these products slowly and intuitively, and only when my skin actually wants them. Some days my skin feels a little drier. Other days, I can tell my skin barrier needs time to heal. When that happens, I’ll happily forgo everything except a moisturizer and sunscreen for a few days and let my skin do the work to heal itself. Over time, my intention is actually to use less and less product—not more.

Skincare is about supporting the skin’s natural intelligence, which means products aren’t meant to replace biology or force transformation. They’re meant to support it. Once you understand this, everything changes. Our skin already knows how to regenerate, repair, and protect itself. Modern life with all its stress, pollution, hormones, poor sleep, and environmental toxins, just interrupts those processes. 

With that lens in mind, here’s how I approach my routine:

1. Morning Protection: In the morning, I cleanse with water only. Then I protect. I’ll apply an antioxidant serum to help protect the skin from cellular damage and help brighten my dark spots over time. This is either a vitamin C or oxy-resveratrol peptides. I finish with sunscreen, always. That’s it.

2. Evening Renewal: At night, I focus on renewal. I do a gentle cleanse first to remove dirt. Then, I’ll use one active—either a retinal to support healthy cell turnover or salicylic acid to keep pores clear. Never both at once. Then I moisturize and call it a night.

The Slow Beauty Skincare Brands I Love

As you know, slow beauty is less about the products you use and more about the intention you bring to caring for yourself. And yet, something interesting tends to happen when we slow down. We start caring more about ourselves, about what we put on our skin, about our bodies, and about the environment we’re living in. And naturally, we begin caring more about the products we choose to support that relationship.

I’ve tried a truly absurd number of skincare products over the past few years. Some worked temporarily, some absolutely did not, and many taught me what wasn’t right for my skin.

What I’m sharing here are simply the products I love right now, with the understanding that slow skincare is evolving, and what works for me today may change as my skin, life, or environment changes.

Medik8 (Here’s My Referral Code if You Want 20% Off >)

I’ll be honest—I initially resisted even looking into Medik8 because… I kind of hate the name. But their Crystal Retinal kept showing up as I searched for high-performance, thoughtfully formulated skincare. So eventually, I caved and took a closer look.

What I appreciated right away is that while Medik8 doesn’t “subscribe to the trend of clean beauty,” they do rigorously assess every ingredient for safety, environmental impact, and efficacy. Their formulations are science-backed, fragrance-free by default, and designed to support sensitive skin. When fragrance is used, it’s minimal and intentional, and often through low-fragrance essential oil blends rather than artificial fragrance.

They also care deeply about sustainability. They’re B-Corp certified, use recyclable packaging, and even offer refill inserts for moisturizers to reduce waste, which is something I genuinely appreciate.

Currently, I’m using their: Gentle Cleanse, Oxy-R Peptides, Crystal Retinal 6, and Total Moisture moisturizer. And I’m honestly very happy with all of them so far. 

Ogee Beauty

Another brand whose philosophy I really love is Ogee. I’ve only really tried a few of their makeup products, and they are beautiful and luxurious. While I haven’t ventured heavily into their skincare due to the oil-rich formulations (which don’t love my oily, acne-prone skin in a humid climate), I think Ogee could be a gorgeous option for those with drier skin or who live in cooler, less humid environments.

If my skin leaned dry, or if I still lived somewhere like Chicago, I’d absolutely explore more of their skincare line.

Sukin Naturals

I also have to give a special shoutout to Sukin. It’s an all-natural Australian brand that my mum absolutely adores and has been using for years. When she was visiting me a few months ago, she had me try some of her products and, very sweetly, bought me a bunch as gifts.

I’m really enjoying their hand and body creams, as well as their shower gel. They’re very much a clean, botanical brand. Simple, nourishing, and very affordable.

I’ve personally decided not to use Sukin on my face, for the reasons I mentioned earlier around performance and precision, and because (again) my skin doesn’t love heavier, oil-rich formulations. But for my mum, who leans toward drier skin and prefers affordable, uncomplicated skincare, these products are an absolute delight. And if you’ve seen my mum you know that she’s a hottie! So these products are worth a try.

Sidebar: I love that slow beauty can look different for each of us!

Slow Skincare for Life: What I Wish I Knew Sooner

Being patient with my skin and learning how to truly work with it has become the real “secret” to clear, glowing skin for me. For a long time, I was intense with my skin. I’d slather on products, stack actives, and get over-zealous in the name of results, only to feel frustrated when my skin would improve briefly, then tip right back into turmoil.

What I’ve come to understand is that skin, like everything else, needs both care and rest. It needs periods of action and periods of recovery. Renewal only works when it’s paired with restoration. This cycle of doing and allowing is what actually leads to healthy, resilient, beautiful skin over time. When I slow down with my skincare, when I balance support with restraint, I begin moving in harmony with my skin’s natural cycles rather than fighting against them. 

So, what is slow skincare you ask? Slow skincare is easy skincare. It’s not effortless but it’s sustainable. It requires patience, intuition and observation. And, just like everything else in life, I’m learning that this is the most supportive, enduring way to be.

Question: Where might slowing down actually support your skin more than pushing harder ever could? Food for thought!