Put Your Routine to Work for You
checking in & taking inventory
Hello!
Last week was a big one for me! Thank you thank you thank you all so much for your support, encouragement and exceedingly kind words.
My mission to convince you to try the new rhode Peptide Lip Shape was successful and it now holds the record for my most purchased product recommendation in a single day (interestingly, the title was previously held by the CurrentBody LED mask, a product nearly 20x the price). Please let me know what you think when you try it!
Speaking of the mask, I kicked off a dream partnership with the brands behind my two favorite skincare devices. The first newsletter compares the CurrentBody Series 2 LED Mask and ZIIP Microcurrent + Nanocurrent Facial Toner, outlining how they work synergistically and where they shine individually.
As part of the partnership, I’ll be diving deeper into each device in the coming months, but wanted to address some FAQ I received in the past week:
The CurrentBody Series 2 LED Mask is FSA/HSA eligible! You can use your FSA/HSA card at checkout. ZIIP is as well, but your insurance may require a letter of medical necessity.
The mask comes with a top strap and eye pads, both of which are optional to improve comfort/fit. It is bright, but totally safe for the eyes and in my experience, many people do get used to it.
You can use the ZIIP if you have botox/filler, just wait 10 days after injections.
Today’s issue is long and may cut off in your email.
In the first issue of 2025, I shared how I was able to shift my own thinking about “being behind” by using the tools I use with clients when building routines. I ended that piece with an attempt to free you from the assumption that you are behind on your skin, because that thinking doesn’t change anything about where you need to start. I gave you a few starting points, which I’ll elaborate on now.
The only skincare that works is the skincare you use consistently.
Pretty self explanatory. Sure it’s possible to find temporary relief or a short-lived glow, but nothing permanent is happening at surface level. For any substantial, long term change (reduction in wrinkles/fine lines, fading hyperpigmentation, managing acne, calming redness, to name a few) you need to give the products/ingredients time to work and get your skin used to them. The time needed depends on a lot of factors, but includes things like: for the ingredients to travel where they are needed, bind to receptors, or reach critical concentration. Time to regulate, inhibit, prevent or stimulate processes and functions. Of course, this doesn’t mean all products will work for you if you give them the time, but there’s no chance at all without patience and consistency.
To get in the habit, set yourself up for success by making your routine work for you.
What I mean is: figure out the path of least resistance to be consistent. Make adjustments that make you more likely to follow through than to give up. What’s stopping you from using your products or tools? Do you dislike the packaging? The experience of applying? Do you just forget until you’ve already put on all of your creams? Your reasons don’t have to be good! But you need to figure out what’s preventing you from being consistent, then determine if it’s something you can change. I much prefer pumps to jars or even tubes, so when possible, I decant cleansers and moisturizers into something like this. This improves the user experience, making me more likely to reach for the product consistently. Here are some other ways you might make your routine work for you:
If you hate the mess washing your face makes, use a wristband to catch the water. Like that idea, but not a fan of how quickly they get gross and need to be washed? I’m with you. I use these silly looking, but very effective silicone Liquilinks instead.
Keep things where you are most likely to use them. Hang your LED on a command hook next to your bed or on an S hook in your closet. I stash floss picks & this nail repair kit in my coffee table to use while I watch TV.
Use Splash Salve in the shower or spritz Water Balm when you get out, if you forget to apply body lotion or dislike the feeling.
Keep a handheld fan in your bathroom to speed up drying time in between steps.
Not all pain points have solutions or ways to adjust. If you simply don’t like using something, no packaging upgrade or bathroom gadget is going to change that. Sometimes the (very valid!) solution is accepting that a product isn’t for you and knowing it’s time to look for something new.
Your routine should be the rule, not the exception. If that’s not the case, you’re doing too much.
The definition of routine:
Routine (noun): a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program.
Routine (adjective): performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason.
Your skincare routine should be the repeated sequence of products you use day-to-day, pretty much all of the time. Your routine can certainly include some sort of rotation or cycling of products (ex: alternating between exfoliants, retinoids and rest days), but that rotation itself is routine and stays consistent. If you find yourself constantly adjusting your routine, rotating products with no set cycle, making excuses or skipping steps, that’s not a routine. So often when I ask a client to tell me their routine, their answer has more variability than predictability, with a lot of things they sometimes do. Your routine shouldn’t have a lot of sometimes steps, most especially if you are just starting a skincare practice or are working towards a specific goal. For starters, remember that results come from consistency. But also, all of this choice is impeding the ability to build a habit at all. You aren’t setting yourself up for success! This doesn’t mean you can’t ever have a special occasion routine or pick a moisturizer based on your mood, but that freedom of choice can only happen once the core routine has been established.
If you find yourself unable to commit to your routine the majority of the time, it’s time to pare back to what you can commit to. Ensure you always have the basics (cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen) and add in other targeted solutions from there. I promise, there is room for variability and fun. I promise, I understand the need for emergency pimple protocols, pre-event spa nights in your bathroom and whatever else. But the foundation has to be sturdy before you can build and make it your own.
The Year of Consistency: Part 1
At the end of last year, I opened applications for the Year of Consistency–an opportunity for 2 people to work with me virtually for a year and document the process for Hotline Skin. My goal in doing so is to peel back the curtain on working with a skin professional and give real-life, real-time examples about how to build a routine, address concerns, identify roadblocks and reinforce the power of consistency as the key to seeing results. Please say hello to Caely and Maggie!
Both of them spent January working with me to ensure they had their routine foundations in place. By the end of the month, we had established what product gaps needed to be filled, identified their goals for the year and how we would prioritize them and ultimately came up with refreshed routines to get started on. To do that, we had to really dig into their current routines and figure out what was holding them back from being consistent. The first things I had them do were complete a product inventory and fill out a detailed questionnaire about their skin history, product history, preferences and lifestyle.
Below you can learn a bit more about each of them, see the goals we landed on and examples of the routine building advice I shared earlier. Below that, I included the steps for doing a product inventory, in case you want to try.
MEET CAELY!
Hi! My name is Caely, I’m 34 and an independent web/graphic designer from San Francisco. My relationship with my skin has been a bit of a journey—it has its good days and bad. Some mornings I wake up and it’s glowy and its texture is less apparent; other days I feel like I aged 3 years overnight. I’m always working to improve it and treat it the best I can, which is why I’m excited to be working with Jolie!
My skin in 5 words: Improving, inconsistent, soft, scarred, porous
My skin in a few more words: It has its good days and bad days. Recently I’ve been feeling like my skin is starting to age a bit more–I have wrinkles in my forehead and am noticing some sagging at the corners of my mouth. My nasolabial folds are continuing to deepen. I had acne when I was a teenager and still get a few pimples here and there. I feel like there’s a lot of congestion on my nose and chin that I’ve never been successful at getting rid of.
What I like about my skin: It’s really soft :) I love the little beauty mark above my lip. I very rarely burn if I go out in the sun.
Caely’s Goals:
Improve appearance of nasolabial folds/marionette lines/general sagginess of the lower half of face
Figure out what's causing jawline and temples breakouts and work on fading dark spots in these areas
Get better at reapplying sunscreen throughout the day and not just at the beginning of the day
Improve overall glowiness
Learn how to gauge if retinoid is working or if something stronger/something else is needed
How we made Caely’s routine work for her:
Caely and I talked about her decision to stop using Dr. Sam’s Flawless Nightly 2% Retinoid Serum in favor of prescription .01% Retin-A gel every 4 nights, even though she loved the results of Dr. Sam’s. She said she started using the prescription because she thought prescription strength was inherently the better option and what she had to do for optimal results. But, not only was she not seeing better results, she also wasn’t enjoying the experience of using it, since she could only use it a few times a week and it made her uncertain about what other products she could use.
We looked into Dr. Sam’s Nightly Serum to better understand why it may have worked better and discussed how retinoids work in general. Dr. Sam’s serum uses Granactive Retinoid, a really interesting next-gen retinoid that can bind directly to retinoic acid receptors (like prescriptions), but is said to have lower irritation. Though there’s not a ton of publicly available research about the potency and efficacy of Granactive Retinoid, what is available seems promising. The serum also has azelaic acid and niacinamide, which could definitely explain why she noticed more improvement in congestion and glowier skin.
We decided there was no point in forcing a product for the sake of it being prescription. Instead, she could opt for something else seemingly very effective, which could be used more frequently and eliminate the guess work of what other ingredients could be used at the same time. Make the routine work for you!
MEET MAGGIE!
Hi I'm Maggie! I'm in my early 30s and live in Atlanta, Georgia with my husband and dog. Skincare has been a mostly-fun hobby for me, but I've often found it overwhelming to figure out what the right routine for my skin is amid all of the beauty industry marketing and educational content. My skin is fairly dry, and also I struggle with hormonal acne and the sweat that comes with summer in the South - I've struggled to find a routine that works for all of the above. I'm really excited to work with Jolie to bring some much-needed consistency to my routine + feel more empowered for the long term!
My skin in 5 words: Dry, sweaty, with some acne.
My skin in a few more words: Generally I think my skin’s pretty normal, but on the drier / more sensitive side. I have some hormonal acne on my chin and have had some breakouts on my forehead + cheeks lately, along with fine lines around my forehead and eyes. Thanks to some medication side effects, I sweat a lot which I tell myself / hope is healthy even though it’s very annoying!
What I like about my skin: I love my freckles and how my skin feels when it’s clean and moisturized. I like that my skin is pretty plump and rosy - while I’m super pale, I like the colors my skin has going on with freckles + rosy cheeks!
Maggie’s Goals:
Reduce look of hormonal acne / acne + have a plan for dealing with spots as they come up.
Reduce fine lines on forehead
Figure out "too-tired-to-function" routine
Learn how to determine what my skin might need added (or reduced from) routine as weather / environment / life changes
How we made sure Maggie wasn’t doing too much and able to keep her routine as the rule:
One of Maggie’s struggles is how to do her routine when working out in the morning. This leads to a lot of inconsistency day-to-day, as sometimes she does her routine before and after working out, then again at night. Adding to the mix is the fact that she lives in Atlanta, can get very sweaty and struggles with congestion.
To solve this, we had to avoid doing too much at once and pick a starting point. Before figuring out the workout component, we had to establish the baseline routine, rather than doing both at the same time. What products were in play and what were they addressing? What could actually be committed to? Since she only works out early in the morning, we determined that it actually makes the most sense for her to do her AM routine just once, post-workout. There’s no need to apply her serums, eye cream, moisturizer and sunscreen if she was going to be showering within the next 2 hours. Plus, doing so could actually be contributing to clogged pores because of the sweat! Doing more is not always the answer.
Once we established her true baseline routine for AM and PM, we could then think about her workout. All that needed to be considered for working out was making sure her skin was protected during (with sunscreen or a light layer of moisturizer, if indoors) and most importantly, properly cleansed after. When looking at what was missing in this simplified routine, we wanted to address the congestion concern, especially if there’s a bit of time between finishing her workout and showering. The solution: spritzing hypochlorous acid (essentially a skin sanitizer) when the workout ends.
We’ll check-in with Caely and Maggie again in April!
Do Your Own Product Inventory
Step 1: Take out all of your products (in use, not in use, unopened, been open for years…everything!) to determine what is “in play” and what should be discarded.
WHY: Taking inventory of every product can give insight into why a product didn’t get used or finished, giving clues about product preferences and pain points. It’s also a good way to keep track of what you’ve tried and of course, to make sure you aren’t using anything that’s past its prime. Products destabilize over time, making them less effective. Water-based products can grow bacteria and cause rashes, irritation and breakouts. Oils can go rancid. Active ingredients can lose their potency.
Look for the PAO: On the back of many products, you’ll find a symbol that looks like an open jar with a number inside. This is the period-after-opening symbol, or PAO, which tells you how long the product lasts once open. If it says 6M, that’s 6 months after opening. 18M is 18 months, or a year and half. (Pro tip for the future: write the date on your products when you open them)
Look for the expiration date: Unopened, sealed products without active ingredients have a shelf life of 3-5 years if stored in the right conditions. Keep your products in a cool, dry place. Even unopened, if it has active ingredients, throw out after one year, especially sunscreen and acne products. The expiration date overrides the PAO (if something is expired, it doesn't matter if it’s been opened or not).
If you can’t find the expiration date or PAO, use your best judgment (how does it look/smell/feel and what are the ingredients) You can also look online. Websites may list these things or you can Google “xxx product period after opening”
Step 2: For each “in play” product, explain what it does/what concerns it addresses in a few words (ex: hydrates, brightens, helps with signs of aging, reduces hyperpigmentation etc.) and the category (cleanser, serum, oil, moisturizer etc.) as best as you can. Ex: The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid: Serum. Hydrates, helps with fine lines.
WHY: I find this to be a really important exercise to make sure you actually understand what the function of each step is in your routine, what concerns you may already tackling, what may be duplicative and what may be missing, as well as help identify where additional product knowledge is needed. It also hopefully makes you feel more confident that you know, at least a little bit, what you’re doing!
P.S. I’d be happy to give feedback on these exercises during paid subscriber Office Hours!
Three Other Things
On the topic of rhode, by now you’ve likely seen the news reported by Puck’s Rachel Strugatz that rhode made a mind-blowing $90 million in the last two months of 2024 (what!!!!!!) and will be entering Sephora later this year. According to Strugatz, Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty is the likely reason this deal took so long. (For anyone unfamiliar with the lore here, before marrying Hailey, Justin Bieber was famously in a relationship with Selena Gomez and their respective fandoms care about this a lot. Like enough to seriously consider the impact on sales by having both brands sold at a multi-national retailer. If you care to learn more, Vox has an explainer.) I am not part of either fandom and wish all parties the very best, but I am curious to see how this plays out. Strugatz said that this will be both a “fight for floor space and Gen Z wallet share.” That’s definitely true, but it’s also interesting to me how rhode has so successfully managed to impress us millennials in a way I don’t think Rare Beauty has. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts and predictions in the comments.
The hey dewy portable humidifier is now part of my person. I carry it from room to room like my water bottle. I don’t have a car, but if I did, I would also take it there because it fits in the cup holder. It’s $60 and has mixed reviews, with some saying it broke quickly and others that are overwhelmingly positive, so I decided to give it a shot and have had zero issues. Canopy’s similar version has overall better reviews, but is almost twice the price (I also think it’s not as cute).
Extreeeeemely good first impressions of Naturium’s new Urea 5% Body Serum. No, urea is not urine, but it is a component of urine! Urea is also one of our skin’s naturally occurring Natural Moisturizing Factors, supporting the skin barrier by improving hydration and smoothing rough skin. Give it a few minutes to absorb and you’ll be rewarded with silky smooth, not-tacky skin. The brand continues to shine in the body category (if you haven’t tried this body wash or retinol body lotion yet…what are you waiting for?)
Office Hours Reminder
Join us for Office Hours on Sunday! This exclusive weekly opportunity is available to paying subscribers.
Every Sunday at 5pm EST, I’ll begin a new thread for the week in Substack Chat, where you can ask me anything. Every Monday from 5-6pm EST, I’ll be in that chat live, answering questions for the hour. That way, if you can’t make it, you can submit any time after 5pm Sunday and still get an answer. If you can make it live, join in! You can ask questions in real time and (hopefully) interact with others in class ;)
Discount Codes
CurrentBody: JOLIECB for 10% off
Dr. Dana Nails: JOLIE15 for 15% off
Naturium: JOLDEF15 for 15% off
ZIIP: ZIIPJOLIE for 10% off
you can find all of my discount codes here
Have a great week!
xx,
Jolie
Chiming in to say how much I LOVE using the CurrentBody Series 2 mask. I asked for it for Christmas and my amazing partner came through. I use it religiously and have already seen progress. Plus I feel ~ so cool ~ using it.