Before I started my skincare Instagram, @amberskincarediary, I never had more than 1 or 2 products in a category. Ok fine, I did have a mask addiction, but in general my routines were pretty consistent. About a year and a half ago I took the plunge into the skinsta community. Now, my shelfies tend to be overflowing with products despite my best efforts to not take on too much. It comes with the territory; when your passion involves testing skincare launches and writing reviews, you inevitably have more skincare than the average consumer.
With all the products I’ve been fortunate enough to try, it takes something really exceptional to stay on my shelf for more than one bottle or jar. If a product is merely good, I’ll enjoy it, but I’ll probably move on to something else because – to be quite frank – newer is more exciting to my audience. They want my thoughts on the latest launches, and would probably get sick of me talking about the same cleansers and moisturizers day in and day out. So what makes me keep a product in my stash beyond the first bottle?
First, I have to really love the product. Whether it’s the sensatorial experience, the effectiveness, a unique quality that I lack in my current collection, or its aesthetic appeal (to be brutally honest, prettier products stay longer! It comes with being in the Instagram Influencer world), I have to be obsessed with it. I’m not going to spend my time or money on products I feel simply meh about.
Second, the ingredients have to work for my skin. Certain ingredients, or high quantities of certain ingredients, will irritate my skin to no end. No matter how much I like a brand or want a product to work for me, I won’t put my skin through the use of products that contain known irritants. One of the benefits of getting to test so many products is that I know my skin very well at this point.
Third, and most importantly, the brand itself has to align with my personal values. There have been products I’ve been interested in or even enjoyed, but if the brand has exhibited poor behavior, I won’t use or promote them.
I first heard of Romer Skincare when I applied for their summer Marketing & Social Media internship. A newly launched skincare brand with a focus on sustainability, efficacy, and simplicity, I was immediately very excited to get to try out their products.
In the 3 months since starting my internship, I’ve gone through at least one bottle/jar of each of their products: Cleanse, Moisturize and Treat. As I’ve discussed earlier, many products don’t make it past that initial jar with me. So what has made me keep the Romer regimen, especially their Cleanser and Treat mask, on top rotation?
I have found that I genuinely love the products. The Cleanser is a beautiful gel-to-oil cleanse that is super gentle. It works well as a morning cleanse or as a second cleanse. As someone with pretty bad acne, manuka honey is a superstar ingredient, so I love that Cleanse includes it. I’m also a fan of the aloe vera and caffeine extract. The Treat Mask is another standout that I find myself continually reaching for. With CBD, it’s amazing for my irritated, inflamed skin and I find myself waking up with glowing, soft skin. The Moisturizer is also well formulated with great ingredients, and has been a solid nighttime option for me.
The ingredients in the Romer line work very well with my skin. As I mentioned previously, the manuka honey in the cleanser is a godsend for anyone with acne-prone or oily skin. Each ingredient was intentionally included – no fillers or bad stuff here! Working with Lauren personally, I can see how carefully she decided what would be included in her products, with so much attention paid to how they would work for all skin types.
Most importantly, I love what Romer stands for. They are a clean, sustainable, gender-neutral skincare brand that focuses on being effective rather than trendy or flashy. Their three-step regimen is what celebrity-led brands such as Fenty Skin or Kylie Skin wish they were. Rather than relying on the power of a name to carry the products, Lauren has created a brand that can speak for itself.
Even after my internship with Romer Skincare ends (which will be a very sad day for me!), I will definitely be keeping the regimen on my shelf. Consider this a very high stamp of approval; it takes a very special type of product to earn a permanent place in a skincare influencer’s routine.
**Amber is a Marketing, Social Media, and Influencer Relations Intern for Romer Skincare. These opinions are all her own. Keep up with Amber at https://amberskincarediary.com/.