Saturday, October 3, 2015

Skincare Routine! [PM]

Sorryyyyyyy! Sorry for the delay! I get distracted easily and procrastinate too much! But here goes, the second part of my skincare routine, the night prep! Before that, some before and after having a good skincare routine photos (yes it's small, only because I'm kinda embarrased about posting this much of photos of myself! You can still click to enlarge though) :

Jan/Feb was before I started on having a good routine. Forehead is congested with the pesky little pimples aka jerawat pasir as you can see in February. And now, just a some odd manageable pimples that sometimes decided to pops up.



Makeup Removing
Okay, my stance on makeup have evolved. My current stand is, you're pretty when you don't wear it and you're pretty if you wear it. Either way, be happy with you and you're a gorgeous creature with or without makeups. It's a totally personal choice so I do not think that not wearing makeups make you superior from those who do and vice versa. I personally do not wear foundation on a daily basis because it's a hassle BUT I do wear loose powder (currently using the Body Shop loose powder) and lipsticks. Admittedly, I LOVE lipsticks now but that would be in another post.

My makeup remover varies but I mostly use Maybelline or Silkygirl Eye and Lip Makeup Remover (I have both and both does the work just fine so I've no preferences). Sometimes I use the Biore Makeup Remover Perfect Cleansing Water if I have foundation on. And when I use my Stila eyeliner (will blog about this too, it's awesome), I'd use virgin coconut oil from my doctor's clinic to remove it.



Skincare
My PM routine has been totally different from before so if it looks weird, maybe it is but it works for me.

  • Biore Cleansing Oil
On a daily basis, I only need to get the sunscreen and the little bit of loose powder off my face, so I use this cleansing oil. Oh and I only use oil cleansing method (OCM for short) for my evening face cleanse. Yes, oil. Now, you'd probably think that I'm doing this all wrong because I have an oily complexion but hear me out. This actually lessen the oil on my face. Seriously. For more benefits of OCM, do visit this Skincare Addiction page on Reddit. This is my first time of OCM and this oil is really great. What I do is that I pump once and kinda massage the oil all over my face for a minute or two or just until I'm satisfied. Then I'd just rinse it with water and wash it off and that is it. 

  • Hada Labo Mild Peeling Lotion
No it is not a lotion, it is a toner and do not be freaked out with the 'Peeling' in it's name. Yes, it works by softly peels away the skin that you shed everyday (basically accelerating the skin shedding itself) so that the products that you wear after this can be absorbed better into your skin. Also, a toner balances the skin pH level so that the skin will be more receptive for the next product such as serum or cream or acne med that you put on. But what I love the most about this one is that the little pesky clusters of acne on my forehead is gone gone gone. Now it's just a normal bump or two that's totally manageable instead of a whole lot of jerawat pasir on my forehead. Another plus is that I think it helps with my oiliness too. 
Oh but because of its' peeling properties, you would need to wear a sunscreen in the day to protect the new layer of skin. And even though the instructions stated for it to be applied twice daily, I find just applying this at night is enough for me. I sometime skips this if I felt like my skin is a bit dry.

  • Hada Labo Retinol Lifting + Firming Milk
I know I know this is an anti-aging product and I'm only 22 why am I using this. Because: retinol. Apparently it can help to reduce the size of the pore and to manage acne but I am not sure if the amount of retinol in this helps, but I just want to introduce retinol to my skin and anti-aging is always good for me. I think it does have some effect in reducing the size of my pores but the jury's still out since I've experienced flaking but it's normal for new users of retinol. I'm giving it a month or two before deciding whether I'm keeping this in my routine. I only apply this every two or three nights for now.

More info on retinol here.

After that, I use the Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream that I've explained in the previous post on my AM routine. There are also days where I only wear the Cetaphil cream without applying any of the Hada Labo products.

  • Trigona Bee Propolis & Organic Olive Oil
On the night that I don't use the Retinol above, I skip the moisturizer and just apply this oil. I haven't done research on this yet but it works on me, calms down my acne and moisturize my skin and I wake up to a clean matte face. BUT, it's oil so I'd suggest anyone who wants to try this to lay a towel or some sort of cloth on your pillow or you'll stain your pillowcase with oil. As someone who's in a battle with pimples and acne, I have been sleeping on towels on top of my pillow - so instead of changing my pillowcase every other day, I just change the towel - so yeah it's normal to me. It does have some beneficial properties but I am not clear what is it and I don't want to mislead you guys. Sorry!


For Acne/Pimple/Zits

  • Oxy 5% Benzoyl Peroxide
Need I say more? Benzoyl Peroxide or BP for short, kills acne by drying it out. Do not smear it all over your face, that's just wrong. Even though you have pimples all over your face, that's not how you do it. What I do is kinda tap the cream on the particular acne and let the cream cover it up. Give it two or three days and it should be better.

BUT, for when you accidentally popped a pimple (I usually do it on purpose but don't follow my lead in this one okay!), I use this...

  • Nexcare Acne Patch
What it does is that it absorbs all those icky thing (called pus) inside of your (already popped) pimple. This is my go-to product for pimples since forever. Paste it, go to sleep, and when I wake up in the morning, the pimple is barely there!


Last but not least, just because these products works for me, it may not work for you, but if you are thinking of trying it, I hope you find this somewhat helpful. And if it doesn't work for you don't be discouraged! Keep trying to find one that suits YOU. Also, when you want to add products to your routine, do not try multiple new products all at once. Instead, introduce your skin to one product at a time. Example: start using product A for 3 or 4 weeks before adding product B into your routine. This is to ensure that you can see how your skin react to a particular product and to see if the product actually works.

But if you have a severe skin problem(s), you might want to consider seeking a medical attention a.k.a. going to the dermatologist. No, not the lady who do your facial, but a doctor. Because there are skin condition that you can't fix with the products in the market. Heck I have a friend whose doctor told her to stop using anything and prescribed her with medicine!

And that is it. That is all there is to my current skincare routine. I hope that it helps you if you have a question, feel free to comment here or reach me at Twitter or Instagram. I have a Facebook but it's pretty much dead and I don't approve strangers (sorry!).

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