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Devon Windsor is a 27-year-old Victoria’s Secret model turned swimsuit designer with 2.5 million Instagram followers. She’s pregnant and expecting her first child—a girl. She’s on TikTok. She recently took a babymoon. She’s thriving. And until very recently, her skin was great.
“I honestly had never struggled with acne in my whole life,” she says. “Within the past year I’ve really, really been struggling with acne and cystic acne. It’s cleared up, but I have a lot of scarring left over.” She says. “Had I spoken to you a year ago, I would have said, ‘No struggles at all!’ Now I’m like a new woman.”
Anyone who’s had an epidermal event bring on an existential crisis knows this pain. But Windsor took it in stride. “Honestly I’m obsessed with skin care,” she says. “I love trying new products.” But she wasn’t about to just layer on anything in a cute package and hope for the best. “I feel like it’s really important to establish a routine that works for you and your skin,” she says. “Sticking to a routine, at least for me, is where my skin is the happiest. I don’t want to be all over the place, one day doing one thing, one day doing the next. A routine is how I’ve found success in achieving any skin goals that I might have.”
And Windsor’s routine is killer. She sees a derm (Adriane Pompa, M.D., at Mayoral Dermatology in Miami). “I was seeing her religiously before I was pregnant, trying anything and everything I could do for my acne,” Windsor says. “She put me on a super-basic routine at the time, ’cause I didn’t want to do Accutane or anything really intense.” It helped, but now dermatology is mostly on the back burner because of the pregnancy. “Post-baby, I plan on going in and maybe getting some laser treatments and all that good stuff,” Windsor says.
“I used to kind of bop around to a bunch of different facialists in New York, but since struggling with my skin has become a thing for me, I’ve seen the importance of finding a great facialist and sticking to that one person who knows your skin and isn’t going to do anything to make it worse!” she says with a laugh. “The facialist I see is Miami-based; her salon is called Flawless by Melissa Fox. I like to see her every now and then, whenever I can get in. I think it’s important to stay on top of facials and just get cleaned out by a professional. I always see a really big difference in my skin when I do that.” Windsor opts for the Jet Peel facial. “It’s basically like a power washer for your face,” she says. “There’s no downtime, no bleeding—it’s not like micro needling—it just penetrates super deep into your skin, and it’s supposed to help alleviate the scarring. I’ve done it two or three times now. I’ve been really loving that.”
Windsor found that getting pregnant, of all things, helped bring down her cystic acne, though she still gets flare-ups. Let’s assume that even the most die-hard skin-care lovers among us will stop short of making major reproductive choices in exchange for better skin (though it is certainly tempting). Here is the breakdown of Devon Windsor’s skin-care routine, give or take having an actual baby.
My cleanser
I have a few cleansers that I love. I have a top two that I use all the time. One is Dr. Barbara Sturm’s basic cleanser. I’m good friends with her, and I just love how clean this is. It doesn’t dry you out, but it doesn’t break you out. And then she also has an enzyme cleanser that I’ve found really helpful, just because sometimes an actual exfoliant is a little too rough for your skin. An enzyme cleanser is basically a powder you get wet, and it uses enzymes to eat off any dead skin on your face, so it’s not as rough as an actual exfoliant.
Those are my go-to daily cleansers. I use the basic cleanser every day, and exfoliate twice a week.
My makeup remover
I try to avoid makeup if I’m just going to the office or not doing anything that day. I try to let my skin breathe; I think that’s really important. If I do have makeup on, the only product I will ever use to remove it is Bioderma. I’ve been using it for years. It’s just a micellar water, and honestly every major makeup artist in the world uses it. It’s so gentle and easy—no harsh chemicals, no oil, no residue. It’s like my holy grail of makeup removers.
My toner
After I cleanse, I usually tone. I have two toners that I love. I’m currently using the Barbara Sturm toner. I’m going to sound like a broken record saying it, but I just love Barbara Sturm’s products. I also have a Caudalie one that I love. It’s more of a beauty—it’s a spray-on, and I’ve been using it for years. I trade off those two.
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My serums
After toner I usually go into my serums. For face serums I honestly love a hyaluronic acid, and I love a vitamin C serum. There are so many brands out there that are doing hyaluronic acid now. I happen to use the Barbara Sturm one, but I know that her items can be expensive and I’ve seen some alternatives online and in Sephora. For vitamin C serum, I use Drunk Elephant. I love all the Drunk Elephant products, honestly; they’re great.
My placenta serum
It sounds so weird, but…I did a questionnaire on my Instagram asking people what their favorite pregnancy-safe serums are for fighting off dark spots and scarring, and I discovered this. It sounds so weird! It’s a placenta serum by Biologique Recherche; I’m sure people will have a cow when they hear that, but I swear it’s really working for me, so I do use that for my scarring. I only put that right where the scars are. This one was recommended like tenfold compared to everything else, over and over and over again. I use the serum, and I pair it with the moisturizer.
My belly care
Body treatments specifically is a very big concern for pregnant people—stretch marks and using things that are only using clean ingredients, because they’re being absorbed right into your skin. I use the Evereden Golden Belly serum. Also Evereden has a nourishing stretch mark cream. I’ll usually use the serum in the mornings or at night and then the stretch mark cream as a topper throughout the day or whenever I feel a little itchy in certain areas.
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Everden also has a belly mask, which is so fun—it’s like a sheet mask for your stomach. I try to do one of those every few weeks, to just kind of penetrate deep into the skin on the belly, and it just instantly hydrates or relieves any dry or itchy skin. I’m sure as I get bigger, I’m going to be using those on the daily. Those are my three body products that I’ve been using religiously.
My spot treatment
I occasionally use a spot treatment on my acne. I have one by Murad, and I’ll do a tiny little dab on any acne that I’m experiencing; that’s my go-to.
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My face oil
I haven’t been using a lot of oils because it’s summer and my skin is very sensitive and weird right now. But in the winter months, if my skin is really dry, I have an oil by Drunk Elephant called Marula Luxury Facial Oil. That one’s really great, especially if I’m doing something like gua sha.
My at-home tools
I have a little microneedling at-home thing, and it’s much more gentle than if you go to the salon or the facialist. I don’t bleed when I do it. Pre-pregnancy, I had a high-frequency wand, which you can just buy on Amazon. I used to do that all the time; it’s great for skin tightening, wrinkles, and spot-treatment on pimples, so that’s really fun. But it’s not pregnancy safe, so I haven’t used that one in a while. Mine is called NuDerma Clinical. I’ve heard tons of models and makeup artists talk about these wands, and I got into it a few years ago. They’re really easy to use; they’re not painful at all. It’s just something you can do whenever you remember.
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I also bought an at-home UV light; there’s a red and a blue light that my facialist recommended. Obviously the highest-rated ones are the ones you can only get when you go into your dermatologist and facialist, but they sell smaller ones. I bought one through my facialist; the brand is Celluma Pro.
My eye cream
My eye cream is also from Drunk Elephant; it’s the multivitamin eye cream. I do love their products; they’re on the cleaner side as well, which is definitely something you look for when you’re pregnant.
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My moisturizer
In the mornings I use the Barbara Sturm face cream—the light one, not her heavier one. And then at night I use the Biologique Recherché placenta cream.
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My lip balm
I love lip balm—I have so many! My favorite one that I use the most is probably Lanolips. It’s just super thick, super hydrating. And you can’t really go wrong with Aquaphor, which is what I have by my bedside table, and I just slather that on whenever I need.
