What About My Neck and Chest?

I spend a lot of time fussing over the skin on my face. I fuss for a variety of reasons: because I'm often mistaken for a college student instead of a college professor, so I want my face to look clean and professional; because I've fought chronic hives for years and the itchy, unsightly buggers completely torpedo my self confidence; because I am, frankly, a little vain and I want to have clear skin. But for some reason, I haven't fussed as much over my neck and chest.

It's not like I ignore these two areas entirely. After cleansing, I always run a little moisturizer over my neck and rub it in, and I lotion up my chest with body cream. If I have a bad blemish on my throat, I'll use a bit of spot treatment. I exfoliate my body from time to time. And when I'm applying sunscreen, I make sure I'm completely covered with SPF.

But it's a sign of how much more I care about my face versus my neck and chest that I buy separate sunscreens for my face, then just use whatever spray or lotion I have handy from the chin down. I exfoliate, hydrate, and serum my face on the regular, but I stop at the edges of my jaw. I notice the deep lines in my neck, developed from years of staring down at books and student papers, but I don't do anything to fix it.

So I think I'm going to spend more time appreciating my neck and chest. I'm going to start cheap, of course--baby steps, guys! There's a slew of skincare samples that I can't use on my face, for example, but that should be safe on the rest of my body, so I'll be using some serums and oils and moisturizers on my throat and decollete. When I exfoliate, I'll be sure to bring the product down my neck. I think my regular body sunscreens still work best for covering large swaths of skin, but I'll treat my throat to the elegant sunscreen milks I usually reserve for my face.

I've been doing this for a few days now, and it feels amazing. Packets of Dr. Hauschka's Regenerating Serum, sample tubs of stupidly expensive Algenist moisturizers, and a few First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads have given my neck and chest a  bit of a glow-up. It's probably a silly, somewhat boojie exercise that probably won't actually improve my skin in the long run, but damn, is it relaxing.

For the past few months, I've also knocked around the idea of using self-tanner on my neck so it better matches my face. After annoying everybody with the "BUT MY NECK IS SO WHITE!" comments, it seems like my best option is the Clarins Liquid Bronze, so I'll likely use my last Sephora gift card for that bad boy. (Yes, I've checked out the awesomely cheap drugstore options like Jergens, but when I tested them, they seemed to turn...really orange.)

If you have any recommendations for taking better care of your neck and chest, let me know. I'm turning 30 soon, I'm getting more serious about my skincare, and I'm ready to try new things.