Ciara On Her Biggest Skin Care #Fail

In Bustle’s Pore Decisions, celebrities, influencers and Bustle’s own readers recount their personal skin journeys: the good, the bad, and everything in between. Here, Ciara reveals the worst thing she’s ever put on her face.

Ciara’s beauty routine has come a long, long way. Currently, she’s the founder of On A Mission (OAM for short), a clinical-grade line of skin care essentials that just launched today. Though she’s been dedicated to using her very own vitamin C-spiked beauty collection, her skin hasn’t always been so lucky: In fact, the multi-hyphenate star used to slather her complexion with something that, erm, was certainly not meant for the face.

“Clinical skin care was important to me because that is where you get the opportunity for real transformation,” Ciara tells Bustle. “It can't be frou-frou, surface level. Otherwise, I'd just keep using the body wash and body soap I was using on my skin, and that's not enough.” (More on her former routine later.)

To help others put together simple yet effective beauty regimens, Ciara made OAM as easy to use as possible. Each product is numbered so you know exactly when to apply it within your routine, and the five-product line includes all the staples — including a hydrating cleanser, an antioxidant serum, a moisturizer, an eye cream, and brightening pads, all starring vitamin C within their formulas.

Here, Ciara chats with Bustle about her not-so-savvy skin care practices of her past, why she loves vitamin C so much, and the beauty product she only recently started using.

On Her Skin Care Routine

“I’m a minimalist. That’s why I wanted to create this simple routine: It’s really straightforward, but really efficacious. Less is more, less is best — I don’t have time to do a 20-step thing.

I started creating this line two and a half years ago, so that would honestly be the time when I started taking eye cream seriously. My makeup artist [Yolonda Frederick], who’s on OAM’s advisory board, would always tell me to use my eye cream. I would hear her, but I wouldn’t listen. Over time, I was like, ‘OK, it’s time for me to level up how I’m loving on my skin and how I’m loving on myself.’ I started using my eye cream, and it was game-changing.

My beauty game plan that I do is wash my face at least once a day. Nighttime is my favorite time, and I’ll use my entire 5-step collection. Sometimes I don’t use the brightening pads — I just listen to my skin. Sometimes in the morning I’ll take a rag with warm water and wipe my face then I apply eye cream and face moisturizer, and then I go.”

On Her Favorite Beauty Treatment

“One thing that I really enjoy getting is microdermabrasion. That’s when they suck stuff out of your pores. It goes through the dead skin cells at a super high level — I’ve always loved how my skin felt after doing that. It’s great because in the process you also get your face washed and all the good stuff infused back into your skin. I haven’t gone in a while, but the OAM brightening pads are really great for getting that layer of dead skin cells off of the surface level in the meantime.”

On Treating Dark Spots

“Dark marks are probably the skin concern I really want to focus on the most. Vitamin C has been game-changing — using the [OAM] Eye Revitalizer has been awesome. When my makeup artist sits down to do my makeup, she’ll say, ‘Your skin looks so awesome.’ It’s because I’ve been on my stuff.

Over time I could see the transformation happening. I’d look in the mirror, and, over time, the consistency of my skin care regimen started to appear. I didn’t understand how important vitamin C was — so, for me, that was a huge discovery in the process of building my skin care line and using the products consistently.”

On Her Biggest Beauty Fail

“The worst thing I’ve done was use body lotion on my skin — especially fragranced lotion. I did that for a long time. I thought it was OK — I just didn’t put much thought into taking care of my skin, but it’s not good for you. The glow is just not there — it makes your skin dull. There’s a heaviness since it’s meant for your body... it’s not meant to be rubbed all over your face. I would also wash my face in the shower with body wash. None of it made sense, but I’m glad that I got it together.”

On Beauty Tools

“I love doing gua sha, especially before I do makeup. It helps with lifting and also feels good. You’re getting that blood circulating, and it really does make a difference. You see the skin pulling back a little bit. I love using those.”