Quick Takeaway: My non-toxic skincare routine is intentionally simple. In the morning, I splash my face with cold water, sometimes use a Vitamin C serum, and finish with facial oil. At night, I cleanse, use a toner/essence, peptide serum, facial oil, and sometimes eye cream. If I wore makeup, I remove it first with a cleansing balm.
I’ve stuck with this routine because the products meet the ingredient standards I care about, my skin looks and feels amazing, and—maybe most importantly—I genuinely love using them.
The short version? I started this routine because I was paying attention to what I was putting on my body. I kept it because every time I see my girlfriends, they tell me, "You're glowing."
I will take it.
But somewhere along the way, this became about more than glowing skin.
I genuinely love doing my skincare.
These little routines have become non-negotiable ways I take care of myself, and there’s something about having an actual skincare routine that makes me feel strangely grown-up.
I know that sounds silly.
Apparently this is adulthood now.
For years, beauty products were things I chose because they looked good, sounded good, or felt like what I was supposed to be using.
Now I know what I’m reaching for.
I know why I chose it.
And I actually look forward to using it.
There is a lot of confidence in having one little corner of your life that feels figured out.
So if you’re looking for a simple non-toxic skincare routine that doesn’t require 14 steps, I’m going to show you exactly what I use in the morning, what I use at night, what I add when I wear makeup, and why these products have earned a permanent place on my bathroom counter.
Why I Started Paying Attention to My Skincare
Ingredients never crossed my mind.
Like...at all.
I shopped at Sephora because Sephora felt high-end, aspirational and like the place to buy quality beauty products.
I noticed the packaging.
The price.
The claims on the front of the bottle.
Whether something felt luxurious.
I did not turn the bottle around and read the ingredient list.
Why would I?
No one had ever really given me a reason to think about it.
That started changing during a much harder season of my life.
At the end of 2020, after nearly a year of trying to conceive, I found out I was pregnant.
Then I miscarried.
Afterward, I started seeing an acupuncturist who specialized in fertility. I was also learning to chart my menstrual cycle and, for the first time in my life, beginning to understand what my body was actually doing.
I started asking questions I had never thought to ask before.
About my cycle.
About food.
About the things I used every day.
About what I was putting in my body—and eventually, what I was putting on it.
Looking back now, one detail makes me laugh at myself.
At one point, I was rubbing progesterone cream onto my lower abdomen in an effort to support my cycle.
Now I look back and think:
Duh, Olivia.
I was intentionally putting something on my skin because of what I hoped it would do in my body...yet somehow I had never really stopped to think about everything else I rubbed onto my skin every single day.
It made me curious.
And once I became a mom, that curiosity became much harder to ignore.
Motherhood Made Me Read the Back of the Bottle
By the time Bode was born, I had already started reading labels and thinking more carefully about ingredients.
Then there was diaper cream.
I remember standing at the changing table, rubbing diaper cream onto one of the most sensitive areas of my baby’s body, reading the label, and thinking:
What is actually in this?
That question started following me around.
What’s in his lotion?
What’s in my skincare?
What’s in my makeup?
Why did I know more about the marketing on the front of these bottles than I knew about what was actually inside them?
I also watched the documentary Not So Pretty, which pushed me further down the rabbit hole of looking differently at beauty and personal-care products.
And then there was fragrance.
FDA says fragrance formulas can be complex mixtures of many natural and synthetic chemical ingredients, and U.S. regulations allow those ingredients to appear collectively on a cosmetic label simply as “Fragrance.”
For me, that’s the problem.
If I use something repeatedly—especially every single day—I want to know what’s in it. “Fragrance” doesn’t give me enough information to make that decision.
I wasn’t trying to become afraid of everything.
I just wanted to know what I was choosing.
And that distinction matters to me.
What “Non-Toxic Skincare” Means to Me
“Clean,” “natural,” and “non-toxic” can be messy terms. There isn’t one universal FDA definition for what makes a cosmetic “clean” or “natural,” and different brands can mean very different things when they use those words.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have standards.
I believe repeated exposure matters.
Skincare isn’t something I use once.
These are products I put on my face morning and night, day after day, year after year.
So when I have the option to choose products that perform beautifully and are intentionally formulated without ingredients I personally want to avoid, that matters to me.
I don’t need someone to prove that one bottle of conventional moisturizer single-handedly disrupted my hormones before I decide I’d rather use something else.
For me, it’s about the bigger picture.
If I can remove one potential stressor from my body without sacrificing performance, why wouldn’t I?
This also isn’t me saying that changing my skincare regulated my cycle.
I was using acupuncture to help regulate and understand my cycle long before I ever worked with my dietitian.
Later, working with my dietitian helped me understand how foods like gluten and dairy affect inflammation and hormones in my own body.
Those experiences have only made me more interested in the cumulative picture:
What am I eating? What am I putting on my body? How am I moving? How am I sleeping? What am I exposed to repeatedly? And where can I make a better choice without making myself crazy?
That last part matters.
I’m not trying to live in a bubble.
I’m trying to pay attention.
That’s why I personally choose to avoid ingredients such as parabens, phthalates, and undisclosed synthetic fragrance, among others.
I’ve gone much deeper into the ingredients I look for—and the ones I choose to avoid—in this post:
5 Toxic Ingredients I Avoid in Skincare (and What I Use Instead)
The goal isn’t fear.
It’s reducing the things I don’t want where I reasonably can, and choosing products I actually love in their place.
That’s the standard I use for my skincare.
Now let me show you what’s actually on my bathroom counter.
My Simple Non-Toxic Skincare Routine
I am not interested in a skincare routine that requires a spreadsheet.
My mornings are extremely simple.
At night, I do a little more—but even then, I’m not layering 17 different things onto my face.
Here is exactly what I use.
My Morning Skincare Routine
Step 1: Splash + Wake Up
✨ Cold Water
Very technical.
Every morning I splash my face with cold water and pat it dry.
I don’t normally cleanse again after doing my full nighttime routine. I prefer keeping mornings minimal.
My take: This is what works for my skin. It’s not a commandment that everyone needs to skip cleanser in the morning. But I think it is way more productive to cleanse at night, to wash the day away.
Step 2: Sometimes Brighten + Protect
✨ I AM Bright® Vitamin C Facial Serum
Why I use it: When I want an extra serum step in the morning, this is the one I reach for. It’s designed to visibly brighten, even skin tone, and support the skin against environmental stressors.
Key ingredients:
- Stable Vitamin C — Ascorbyl Glucoside: Helps visibly brighten skin and reduce the appearance of dark spots and post-acne marks.
- Ferulic Acid: Supports the effectiveness of Vitamin C.
- Niacinamide: Helps visibly brighten and even the look of skin tone.
- Kakadu Plum + Snow Mushroom: Provide antioxidant support against environmental stressors.
My take: I don’t use this every single morning, usually a few times a week. Goldenlight is the serum I consistently use at night, so I don’t feel like I need to force another serum into every morning just for the sake of doing more.
If I’m feeling it?
Vitamin C.
If not?
Straight to my oil.
Step 3: Nourish + Restore
Why I use it: This lightweight facial oil is my ride-or-die for hydration. It's designed it to help balance oil production, replenish hydration, calm the appearance of redness and irritation, and improve the look of dry or flaky skin.
Key ingredients:
- Sea Fennel Extract: Helps visibly balance oil production and minimize the appearance of pores.
- Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil: Helps soothe irritation and visible redness.
- Organic Argan Oil: Helps visibly smooth skin and reduce the appearance of flaking.
- Sea Buckthorn Berry Extract: Supports balanced hydration.
- Pure Neroli Essential Oil: Provides antioxidant benefits and the most subtle smell I am obsessed with.
My take: I freaking love this oil.
The texture.
The smell.
How my skin feels and looks afterward.
This is the product I use morning and night, and if you told me I could only keep one skincare product, this would be a very serious contender.
Cold water.
Maybe Vitamin C.
Facial oil.
Done.
That’s my morning.
Quick SPF note: I don’t use a standalone facial SPF every morning. On makeup days, my tinted moisturizer contains SPF. You can see the exact makeup products I use on my 5 Clean Makeup Products I Use Every Day page. Otherwise, my SPF usage is day dependent.
My Nighttime Skincare Routine
Nighttime is where skincare becomes more of a ritual for me.
And interestingly, our skin has a rhythm of its own. Research shows that processes involved in skin barrier function, cell turnover, and repair follow a circadian rhythm, with some repair activity increasing overnight.
I love knowing that while I’m winding down, my skin is moving into its own nighttime rhythm too.
There’s something about washing the day off, putting on my products, and ending with hydrated skin that tells my brain:
Okay. We’re done now.
Here’s my exact order.
Step 1: Remove Makeup + Hydrate
Why I use it: On makeup days, this is my first cleanse. It melts away makeup and SPF without leaving my skin feeling stripped.
Key ingredients:
- Turmeric Root Extract: Antioxidant-rich and helps soothe and visibly reduce redness.
- Plant-Derived Squalane: Helps hydrate while dissolving makeup, SPF, and impurities.
- Prickly Pear Oil: Provides fatty acids and antioxidants to nourish and smooth.
- Almond Oil: Helps soften and hydrate.
My take: I only use this cleansing step when I’ve worn makeup.
If I didn’t?
I skip it.
Bonus: I’ll occasionally use the Cleansing Balm as a hydrating mask when my skin feels like it wants a little extra love.
You can see the makeup products I personally use here.
Step 2: Cleanse + Clarify
Why I use it: This is my everyday nighttime cleanser. It helps remove impurities and excess oil without making cleansing complicated.
Key ingredients:
- Charcoal + Kaolin Clay: Help remove impurities and balance the skin.
- Organic Lemon + Tea Tree Essential Oils: Brighten and promote a clear complexion.
My take: Easy. Effective. Lasts forever.
Exactly what I want from a cleanser.
This one is recommended especially for normal, combination, or acne-prone skin, so if your skin is very different from mine, that’s worth keeping in mind. They have a gentle facial bar for dry or sensitive skin.
Step 3: Exfoliate + Hydrate
Why I use it: This toner/essence hybrid is my bridge between cleansing and treatment. It gently exfoliates, hydrates, and preps my skin for the serum and facial oil that follow.
Key ingredients:
- Birch + Willow Leaf Extracts: Help improve the appearance of skin tone and radiance.
- Fruit Extracts: Provide naturally derived AHAs for gentle exfoliation.
- Hyaluronic Acid: Delivers hydration and helps minimize the appearance of fine lines.
My take: This is the step that makes my routine feel like an actual skincare routine instead of just washing my face and slapping on moisturizer.
It gives me that little extra layer of hydration and gentle exfoliation, removing any impurities left behind after cleansing.
Step 4: Firm + Smooth
✨ Goldenlight® Multi-Peptide Facial Serum
Why I use it: This is my every-night serum. Crunchi designed it to support firmer-looking skin, smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and boost hydration.
Key ingredients:
- Multi-Peptide Complex: Helps support the skin’s collagen and elastin network for a firmer, smoother appearance.
- Sea Buckthorn Extract: Rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants.
- Arnica Montana Flower Extract: Helps soothe the skin.
- Hyaluronic Acid: Supports hydration and a visibly plumper appearance.
My take: I love what my skin looks like when I’m consistent with this.
My skin feels hydrated. The texture looks good. Goldenlight has become one of those products I don’t really think about anymore—I just use it every night because I love what it does for my skin.
It’s a staple in my nighttime routine.
Step 5: Nourish + Restore
Yes.
Again.
Clearly she’s the favorite child. 😂
Why I use it: This is my final moisturizing step every night. It replenishes hydration, helps visibly balance oil production, and leaves my skin feeling soft and nourished.
My take: I know some people hear facial oil and picture looking like they dipped their face in olive oil.
That has not been my experience. A little goes a long way—I use just three drops for my entire face. The bottle suggests a full dropper, but trust me, you do not need that much.
I love the way it feels on my skin and how hydrated my face is afterward without feeling like I’ve slathered myself in oil.
And yes, I love the neroli smell enough that apparently it deserves a second mention.
Step 6: Optional—Brighten + Depuff
Why I use it: This is an optional finishing step for me, although I have clients who never skip it. It’s designed to target the appearance of puffiness, dark circles, crow’s feet, and fine lines around the eye area.
Key ingredients:
- Bio-Positive Peptides: Help smooth the appearance of fine lines and crow’s feet.
- Hyaluronic Acid: Supports hydration and visibly plumps.
- Stable Vitamin C: Helps visibly brighten and even the look of skin tone.
- Niacinamide: Supports a brighter-looking under-eye area.
- Naturally Derived Caffeine: Helps reduce the appearance of puffiness.
- Plant-Derived Squalane: Supports the skin’s moisture barrier.
My take: I don’t use this every night, so I’m not going to tell you that you need it.
But if your eye area is something you specifically want to target, this is the extra step I’d add.
Occasionally: Exfoliate + Reveal Some Glow
✨ I AM Polished® Facial Exfoliator
Why I use it: This is more of a once-a-week treatment for me, not an everyday step. I use it after cleansing with my Charcoal Facial Bar, when I want a little extra exfoliation, and I love how smooth and refreshed my skin feels afterward.
Key ingredients:
- 10% Blend of Glycolic, Lactic + Fruit-Derived Acids: Helps exfoliate, smooth texture, brighten the appearance of skin tone, and soften the look of fine lines.
- Natural Pumice: Provides physical exfoliation.
- Paracress Extract: Supports skin elasticity and helps visibly smooth fine lines.
My take: It’s one of those extras that actually feels like a treat rather than another step I have to keep up with.
Why I Still Use Crunchi Years Later
I originally chose Crunchi because I wanted products that better aligned with my ingredient standards.
That still matters to me.
But it isn’t the only reason I stayed.
I freaking love the products.
They perform beautifully.
They look beautiful sitting on my counter.
I know what I’m reaching for.
I’m not constantly buying random products and hoping the next one will finally be the thing.
This is one little area of my life that feels figured out.
And honestly, beauty has always meant something to me.
I remember watching my mom put makeup on when I was little and being completely enamored with it.
Then in high school and college, getting ready with girlfriends became its own ritual.
Music on.
Makeup everywhere.
Someone sitting on the floor.
Someone borrowing someone else’s mascara—which, in retrospect, maybe don’t do that.
There was something joyful about it.
And I don’t think learning to care about ingredients means beauty has to become serious or joyless.
Beauty is fun and joyful.
I don’t believe the way we look is where our worth comes from.
But I do think there’s something very real about feeling your best when you look your best—and about the confidence that can come from taking care of yourself.
Those things don’t have to contradict each other.
And yes, I love the way my skin looks.
My favorite evidence comes from my girlfriends because I swear every time I see them I hear:
“You’re glowing!”
Obviously, approximately 4,000 things can affect what our skin looks like—sleep, food, hydration, hormones, stress, genetics, skincare, makeup, life.
Skincare is one piece of that puzzle, but I absolutely believe the products I use consistently have made a difference in how my skin looks and feels.
And after years of using them, I can tell you this:
I love my skin. I love these products. I use them consistently. And I have no desire to switch.
What Others Are Saying About Their Experience:
Are Crunchi Skincare Products Worth the Investment?
For me?
Absolutely. Something I use every single day that helps me feel good about what I’m putting on my body and good about the way I look is something I’ve decided deserves space in my budget.
Some of these products are an investment when you look at the checkout total.
But context matters.
For skincare and makeup combined, I generally place about three or four Crunchi orders in an entire year.
These aren’t things I replace every month.
They’re products I use over and over.
For me, the investment has a daily return.
I use them every day.
I feel good about the ingredient standards.
I love the physical results I see in my skin.
They look beautiful on my counter.
I genuinely enjoy using them.
And there’s mental peace in not constantly wondering whether I should be buying something different.
That matters to me.
Your answer might be different.
That’s okay.
Do You Need to Replace All Your Skincare at Once?
No.
But that’s how I did it.
In this particular area of my life, I pretty much did throw everything out.
I didn’t have much of a skincare routine at the time beyond a facial scrub and oil.
Once I decided I wanted to switch, I wanted a clean slate.
So I replaced my skincare with Crunchi.
I also started with some of their makeup, including the tinted moisturizer.
Later I got to a point where I looked at all the old makeup I was still holding onto and thought:
Why am I keeping this?
Some of it I kept because I thought:
What if I need it for X, Y, or Z?
Some of it I kept because I’d spent money on it, and throwing it away felt like wasting that money.
Eventually I realized:
I’m not using it. I don’t feel good about using it. And it’s taking up space in my life.
So I let it go.
That lesson has followed me into other areas of my life too.
Sometimes, in order to make room for something better, something has to give.
But you absolutely do not have to do it the way I did.
When I started changing cleaning products and things in our kitchen, I approached those areas much more gradually.
You can replace one product when it runs out.
You can start with whatever you use most.
You can swap just your cleanser.
You can completely clean out your makeup drawer because you are done.
You can decide this isn’t where your budget needs to go right now.
There isn’t one perfect way to begin.
The goal isn’t to copy my bathroom counter.
It’s to start paying attention to your own—and make the best choice you can with what you know, what you have, and the season you’re in.
If You Want to Try Crunchi, Where Should You Start?
Start with what you actually need.
Not my entire bathroom counter.
If you’re running out of cleanser, start there.
If you feel like your skin desperately wants hydration, I’d look at I AM Luminous.
If you want a treatment serum, Goldenlight is the one I consistently use at night.
If your current skincare is working but you’re ready to replace your makeup?
Start with makeup.
The point isn’t to start everywhere.
Start where the question already is.
You’ve got my full skincare routine right here. If you’re curious about the Crunchi makeup I use too, I’ve rounded up all of my favorites on one page:
See My Crunchi Makeup Favorites
If you’re trying to figure out a routine specifically for dry, red, or sensitive skin, I created a guide for you:
Hydrating Skincare + Makeup Routine Guide
And if your bigger concern is making swaps through the lens of hormone health:
New to Crunchi?
Use my code ADVOCATE15 for 15% off your first order + free shipping on $50+.
Frequently Asked Questions About My Non-Toxic Skincare Routine
What order should I use skincare products?
My routine is:
Morning: Cold-water rinse → optional Vitamin C serum → facial oil
Night: Cleansing balm if I wore makeup → cleanser → facial essence → serum → facial oil → optional eye cream
I use the exfoliator separately on the occasions when I want some additional exfoliation.
What is the difference between a toner, essence, and serum?
The categories can overlap depending on the formula.
In my routine, Clarilight Facial Essence acts as the bridge between cleansing and treatment. It’s a toner/essence hybrid that gently exfoliates and hydrates while preparing my skin for what comes next.
Goldenlight is my concentrated serum step after that.
Why do you care so much about fragrance?
Because if I repeatedly put something on my body, I personally want to know what’s in it.
Fragrance formulas can contain complex mixtures of ingredients while the individual components may appear collectively on a label simply as “Fragrance.”
That doesn’t give me enough transparency for a product I’m choosing to use repeatedly, so I generally prefer products that meet a different standard.
Does your skin absorb what you put on it?
Skin is a protective barrier, and different substances interact with and penetrate the skin differently.
So I don’t believe that every ingredient you apply simply goes straight into your bloodstream.
My takeaway is more practical than that:
Repeated exposure matters to me, and when I can choose products formulated without ingredients I’d rather avoid, I do.
Can skincare products affect your hormones?
Hormones are complex, and I would never tell someone that replacing a cleanser is going to “balance their hormones.”
But hormone health is one of the reasons I became more interested in reducing potential stressors and being more thoughtful about products I use repeatedly.
For me, skincare is one part of a much larger picture—not a hormone cure.
How often do you order Crunchi?
I generally place about three or four Crunchi orders per year total, including both skincare and makeup.
How long each product lasts will depend on how much and how often you use it, but I find that helpful context when looking at the price of an individual product. Feel free to email me if you want more details.
Disclosure: I’m a Crunchi Advocate, which means I may earn a commission when you shop through my links at no additional cost to you. These are products I personally use, love, and recommend. This article shares my personal experience and is for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice.
