Natalie Portman's Skin Care Secrets
Whether or not you like Natalie Portman’s movies, there’s one thing we can all agree on. Natalie Portman has flawless skin. Flawless. It is smooth and glowing in almost every picture, whether it is of her on the red carpet or just walking around town. Which is impressive, considering her age and her profession. Working all hours, having all sorts of makeup products put on her face, and in her mid-thirties (around the time aging signs are showing on most people’s skin), she has kept her skin looking as youthful and vibrant as possible. Learn about some of Natalie Portman's skin care secrets!
Portman has revealed her skin care routine in various interviews. The good news? There is hope! Her routine is not only effective but affordable, and is something all of us could start implementing. She provides plenty of tips, such as drinking a good amount of water to keep your skin hydrated and not touching your face to avoid getting oil and other grime on your skin. But there’s even more! Read on to learn Natalie Portman's skin care tips.
Diet
Portman keeps a very strict diet, in part because certain foods she eats will cause her skin to break out. Like dairy. As soon as she eats it, she breaks out. For each of us, we need to watch what we eat, and how it affects skin. For some of us, dairy can cause breakouts. For others, it may be greasy food. Or even certain types of meat. As acne begins to appear on your skin for what appears to be another breakout, think back to what you ate before, and then try cutting it out of your diet for a time. If you’re paying attention to what you eat, you’ll be able to discover pretty quickly if food is contributing to your breakouts.
But breakouts aren’t the only negative effects food can have on your skin. Sugar plays a role in keeping our skin looking young and flawless as well. Why? Because sugar increases the hormone cortisol in your body. Cortisol is a stress hormone, and that stress hormone can wreak havoc on your skin. Cortisol breaks down your skin’s collagen production, which is what helps keep your skin looking young, and prevents those pesky wrinkles from appearing! By following Portman’s advice to simply watch what we eat, we can make a big difference to our skin.
Cleansing Before Bed
Portman always washes her face before going to bed. There are a variety of benefits to cleansing before sleeping. The first one we’ll discuss here is about washing away impurities. Do you know that, throughout the day, your face gathers dirt, grime, and other pollutants? They are just sitting on your skin. If you don’t wash your face before going to sleep, all of those impurities on your face are simply absorbed into your skin, clogging pores, causing breakouts, and slowing any natural skin rejuvenation processes your body goes through while you sleep. This means any anti-aging, skin revitalizing work your body is set to do while you get your beauty sleep will be hampered! And we want all the skin care help we can get!
Removing Makeup Before Bed
Portman has stated that she does not go to bed with her makeup on, as doing so can harm the skin. How, you may be wondering? There are four different ways leaving your makeup on at night can harm your skin:
- Leaving makeup on your skin clogs pores. As an added bonus, your makeup is likely packed with the smog, dirt, and dust mentioned above, that you’re simply exposed to throughout the day. Makeup is a magnet for those, and can keep them sitting on your face as long as your makeup is on. Which means sleeping in makeup only keeps them on longer. Which brings us to what happens when you leave your makeup on for too long. If you sleep with your makeup on, your makeup, as we mentioned, can clog your pores. By clogging your pores, your makeup may create larger pores, produce acne, and irritate skin, depending on your skin’s sensitivity. It can leave your skin feeling and looking coarse and uneven.
- We all know exfoliation is important to any good skin care routine. But did you know your skin naturally exfoliates while you sleep? Your face naturally sheds dead skin at the end of the day. But if you haven’t washed off your makeup, that dead skin can’t come off as easily. This leaves your face looking dull, and the dead skin just sits there, not getting removed. It can also cause your skin to become dry and flaky, making your skin tone look uneven.
- Nighttime is the time your skin uses to repair itself. At night, your skin builds up collagen, flakes off dead skin, and revitalizes your skin’s glowing appearance. For this reason, it is the ideal time to apply other skin care products, as they can be absorbed into the skin better! But if you leave your makeup on, you can’t apply the kinds of products that promote your skin’s natural healing process.
Moisturize at Night
Aside from cleansing at night, as we mentioned above, Portman also moisturizes every night. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. We know moisturizing is key to anti-aging. Wrinkles are developed in part from dry skin. A moisturized face means less wrinkles! And, as we also mentioned above, your skin best absorbs skin care products at night, when it is working to repair itself. Which means your best chance of getting your skin as supple and moist as possible is by moisturizing at night!
But for moisturizing at night to be most effective, we need to get the right moisturizer, because not all moisturizers are created equal! A daytime moisturizer is often lighter and contains sunscreen. Those are both benefits needed to go about your day. But for a nighttime moisturizer, you want to find a heavier moisturizer with ingredients that will best work to repair your skin, like vitamins A and C, antioxidants, and peptides. These ingredients will repair the damage done to your skin from the day, and will help keep your skin looking flawless.
Use Products with the Right Ingredients
Portman is very particular when it comes to the skin care and beauty products she puts on her skin. She tends to prefer natural beauty products, for example. You too should be picky about the kind of skin care products you use. That doesn’t mean you should only by the most expensive products on the market. Rather, it means you should focus on the ingredients that you know will have long term benefits to your skin.
What kind of ingredients should you look for? Below are just a handful of ingredients that have proven, lasting benefits to the skin.
Retinol
Retinol is one of the most effective anti-aging ingredients and products on the market. If you’ve read anything about anti-aging strategies, retinol is almost always listed as an integral ingredient. It is a natural anti-ager, made from vitamin A. It has been proven to boost collagen production, which plumps your skin and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. It has also been proven to improve skin tone. Using retinol consistently will leave your skin looking young and smooth, which is what we’re all going for!
Glycolic acid
Don’t panic at the word “acid”. Glycolic acid isn’t going to hurt your skin in any way. Rather, it benefits it by removing dead layers of skin on your face. Glycolic acid works as an exfoliator, keeping the dead skin cells off, signaling your skin to create new skin cells, and reducing signs of aging, such as age spots, fine lines, and more. But that’s not all glycolic acid does. Once it has removed that dead layer of skin, it penetrates deeper, reducing any excess oil production, and helps to keep your pores unclogged. Does it sound too good to be true? It is! Which is why you should search for products that contain glycolic acid to keep your skin looking as healthy and radiant as possible.
Vitamin C
Who would have thought vitamin C would do more than just help with the common cold? Vitamin C is a key player in the skin care world. Vitamin C increases collagen production, minimizing those fine lines, wrinkles, and even scars that you may be struggling with. It helps your skin to look restored and refreshed, evening out your skin tone, and keeping your skin looking young.
Antioxidants
You’ve probably heard about antioxidants in many diet conversations. When it comes to diet, the conversation revolves around how antioxidants are essential for keeping the inside of your body functioning and healthy, and keeping away any illness. But antioxidants are just as important for your skin as well. When you age, your skin cells become damaged. This speeds up the aging process, which you’ve likely noticed if you have dark circles under your eyes, dull, dry skin, and more. Products with antioxidant ingredients (like caffeine, grape seed oil, edelweiss, green tea extract, and more) all help to repair this damage, keeping the signs of aging at bay and healing your skin from sun exposure.
Exfoliation
Sunscreen
Portman is a dedicated sunscreen user, never heading outdoors without applying. Are you as dedicated in your sunscreen use? And is it really that important to do so? Sun exposure is the leading cause of aging. The more we expose our skin to the UV rays of the sun, the faster the aging process goes. Which makes applying sunscreen even more important. Luckily, most daytime moisturizers include sunscreen, which makes this process simple. Try and select a moisturizer with SPF 20 or higher to get the best protection. And be sure to apply every 2 hours when you’re outside for the best protection.
Natalie Portman has skin we all admire. It is youthful, glowing, and supple. And unlike other movie stars, who maintain their youthful appearance through thousands of dollars’ worth of specialized skin care treatments, Portman keeps her glowing skin through treatments and habits that we can all adopt without breaking the bank.
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