It’s mid-April and with more than a hint of spring in the air (finally!), it seems like a very long time since the end of January when, as I bemoaned, my skin was dehydrated, rough and flaring up with rosacea. Now, it is calm, smooth — dare I even say satiny — and I’m getting compliments. The end of winter helps, but I also think that my current regimen is just perfect for me.

What’s working for me now includes some new finds as well as the tried and trusted. My choices are mostly task-driven. For example, I am putting some serious effort into tackling lip lines and the cross-hatching at my outer eyes. My little regimen for these problem areas starts with ultrasound (I alternate the mouth and eye areas with 10 minutes each on evenings when I have the time) and then apply Sciote’s Advanced Retinol Crème ($64 in the shop) and finish with a smear of LiftLab’s Lift + Perfect ($250 in the shop). For some reason this combination of ultrasound, Sciote’s gentle but effective 2% retinol and LiftLab’s marine actives seems to be doing the trick.

Bouts of rosacea had me heading to the drugstore for a tube of Exederm, the only thing that really, really works. About a week later, all was calm and my instincts told me to go for E’shee’s KI ($189 in the shop). This has been a favorite serum for a couple of years and it quite simply seems to suit my skin, leaving it smooth and supple. I top off with I Pekar’s food-for-the-face Moisturizer ($78 in the shop), which is not only super nourishing but also gently resurfaces with willow and aspen bark. My skin looks mostly clear and thoroughly silky and refreshed.

MitoQ ($119 in the shop), an excellent ubiquinone-based serum, is reserved for the deeper lines on my forehead and the sun-damaged skin on my neck. With regular and continued use, I am definitely getting on the right side of these challenges. Recently, I swapped out the mighty MitoQ for a trial run with a new serum from Stemulation, one that I found excellent at hydrating and tackling wrinkles. Read my review of Stemulation’s Hi Impact.

I’ve really been enjoying Moana’s Instant Lifting Mask ($106 in the shop) for a weekly pick-me-up. I love the marine glycans and New Zealand plant extracts that are unique to this mask. A new find that I’ve incorporated into my regimen is Sciote’s Micro Derm Crème ($60 in the shop), which buffs with silica and nourishes with shea butter. I try to limit this to once a week because the polished results are likely to become addictive.

For cleansing, I am alternating between I Pekar’s new honey Facial Cleanser ($65 in the shop) and an old faithful, La Vie Celeste’s Exfoliating Cleanser ($40 in the shop). I also use La Vie Celeste’s Toner ($35) to remove any traces of my Truth Vitality Treatment Gel ($49 in the shop) after my Lux Renew ($279 in the shop) sessions.

After some eye cream tests that didn’t go too well, I’ve reverted to Your Best Face Correct ($150 in the shop). Or given that this reliably effective eye cream has been reformulated, perhaps I shouldn’t use the term “revert” since Correct is better than ever at lifting lids and smoothing crepey skin.

On the days when I need a little more coverage than Osmotics’ sheer Inner Light ($35), I use DuWop Foundation of Youth ($38), which has even coverage and a smidge of the anti-aging peptide Matrixyl 3000. My minimalist makeup pretty much ends with a smear of Osmotics Blue Copper 5 Lip & Tuck ($35), which gives me a little lip color and the hope that the copper peptides are helping my lip lines.