2019 Skincare Empties and how I ended up with the basics

We are already in the last two months of the year!!!
can you imagine how fast this year has gone by??
It is in early 2019 that my face experienced the worst acne during my adulthood.  And so my in-depth search for the best skincare to help my skin had begun...

I have a very simple skincare routine

Facial wash, toner, vitamin c serum, moisturizer and sunscreen.

Wow! Typing this may seem a handful, but it’s really that simple!

During my first winter in the United States, about February of 2019, with the cold dry air of Los Angeles, my super oily skin became so dry that it becomes flakier than croissant. And small bumps kept popping in my face, it got annoying, I even went to a facial aesthetician and tadaaa! It got worse..

Soo, this is a very long introduction.

To give you an overview this is what my face looked like at the time. I thought it was already the worst for me yet I felt it got worse every day that I didn’t want to look at the mirror anymore.

I am already wearing full face of makeup in this photo . :(

worst nightmare!!!!

even full coverage makeup can't hide the bumps and acne!

So I decided to stop all the skincare, introduce them one by one again and then my face started to clear up.

I also changed my diet to low-carb (ditching all the sweets) and kept away with dairy. It was a struggle as I so loved cheese.. but anyway.

Of all the products I tried for 2019

Here are the ones I gravitated to more and more, and kept purchasing for my routine

CLEANSERS:

Krave Beauty Matcha Hydrating Cleanser

It is my everyday go-to cleanser day and night, does not strip away too much oil and very hydrating for a facial wash

But whenever I am breaking out, or if it’s the time for hormonal acne, I use

Human Heart Nature Acne Defense  Facial wash

Very mild for  an anti-acne product, does not lather but I love it. keeps my skin in check. Mild and effective enough for a cleanser

Whenever I wore a lot of makeup, I double cleanse using:

Farmacy Green Clean

I love this because it can break down water proof mascara and makeup which makes cleaning your face a lot easier. This was only sent to me and I am in the process of thinking to repurchasing this again because of the price point. I may look for affordable alternative for a cleansing balm.

TONERS/ ESSENCE:

SKII Pitera Essence
(use my code MAYAX30 when you purchase from yesstyle for additional savings)

There are times I wish this didn't work out solely because of the price point. I already consumed 2 100ml bottles of this and this is really a holy grail. However when my face is not acting up again, I felt I was wasting money for this. If this was just a little less costly, I may continue it for my routine, but then I'll be reserving this for bad face days.

Son and Park Beauty Water
(you can use my code MAYAX30 to get additional discount)

 While I am in the hunt for SKII alternative, this was sent to me by Ipsy and another 60ml by yesstyle. This is not an essence but it is very good as a toner. So I kept using this as a toner, contains willowbark extract and papaya extract, not only soothes but helps lightens the skin

SERUMS:

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
I don’t use this everyday, maybe every other day. Whenever I feel my face needs some clearing and lightening, I find myself picking this one up. Almost all "The Ordinary" products are effective and affordable. Some can be bought for just around $6! Could you believe it, why not give this a try?

Neutrogena Hydroboost moisturizing booster

My experience is that I had irritant contact dermatitis on my face as a result of using one of these products (I have a separate post on that) that made my face a lot worse. I've inevitably come to learn that keeping my routine simple with only this hydroboost serum and moisturizer really helped my face.

MOISTURIZERS:

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Moisturizer

Simple, inexpensive and effective, what more can you ask for?

SUNSCREEN:

Just one:

Krave’s Beauty The Beet Shield
The Beet Shield

It is a chemical sunscreen that is not greasy at all. Feels like a moisturizer. And it has some antioxidants too! My face reacts well with this and I’ve been using this for more than a year!

current self: Oct 2019. with minimal makeup

That was a very long read. It took me a year and a lot of products to try in order to come up with the basics I am willing to stand by for a long time. Some of the above products are samples that were sent to me, others I bought with my own money, a few are from yesstyle.com where they gave me a couple of discount coupons for use in their website.

So the bottom line is, our face/ skin changes as we age. What we were using during our twenties may not be applicable when we are approaching 30. We must pay attention to what our skin needs. Skin care products can be overwhelming because there are so many out there.  My personal take is don’t panic, just build your basics and then slowly incorporate other steps as your skin gets used to it!