Firstly, I'll start off by saying that I have dry/combination skin with crazy, painful, ridiculous breakouts of deep, cystic pimples when it comes to that time of the month. My skin doesn't have any particular ingredients that it is sensitive or allergic to, except for one Laneige Skincare Line, which was the White Plus Renew (Blog post on my old blog can be found here).
I've tried every skincare under the sun and the only one that I always come back to is my old faithful of Mario Badescu. It took me SO long to find something that suits my skin perfectly and to top it all off, it is super affordable! I'm not going to say that I have found perfect skincare routine but the base and the steps that I take, cleanses my skin perfectly.
Cleansing:
My theory on cleansing is that you need to double cleanse, maybe even triple cleanse on days that I wear a tonne of makeup.
Step 1:
Oil cleanse
I use an oil cleanser as my makeup remover and I'm not particularly picky about which oil cleanser I use, as long as it is oil based. I even used sweet almond oil for a god few months because I was just too lazy to go out and buy a proper oil cleanser.
For those of you who aren't familiar with oil cleansing, you just pump out roughly 3 pumps into your hand and massage it well, all over the face. I mostly concentrate on my eye makeup and that's part of the reason why I love using oil cleanser, because nothing but oil cleanser can get rid of my Inglot Gel Liner. You then add a little bit of water to emulsify the oil and it turns into a milky texture which you massage in a bit more and then rinse off. At this point, if I can still see any residue on my eyes, I'll do another pump and just do my eye area again. I'll keep repeating this step until I know for sure that there is not a scrap of makeup left of my face.
Step 2:
Foaming/Normal Cleanser
Even though you can solely use the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil as a cleanser, I find that I need something else to actually cleanse my actual skin, to get deep down into the pores and get all the gunk out and frankly, I don't feel clean until I use a foaming face cleanser. I think that this step is just as important as taking off your makeup just because your face really does need that deep down cleansing or your pores will still be clogged.
This Aesop one that I'm using at the moment is pretty fabulous and totally reminds me of a spa session but my absolute favourite cleanser to use after I do my oil cleanse is the Mario Badescu Seaweed Cleansing Soap. I must've repurchased that one 4-5 times which is totally unheard of for me!
Toner:
I know many people who skip this step and it was such a difficult step for me to keep in my routine because usually by the end of the night, I want to just get into bed and pass out but I really do enjoy it now. This particular toner is my favourite one because it has exfoliating properties in it by using Glycolic Acid and by using this everyday, I have found my skin to be softer and also less clogged. I'm pretty sure I haven't used another toner for a good 3 years because I adore this one so much!
Moisturizing:
Ahhh, my favourite step of all skincare, where would I be without you! I have tried all sorts of moisturizers, from drugstore up to very high end and I swear to you, nothing works as good as this one. If I stop using it even for a few days, my skin goes beserk and then I'll have to go back to this to calm it down. To be quite honest, any of the Mario Badescu moisturizers are amazing. I use this Seaweed Night Cream one at the moment because during spring, my skin got SO dry and SO flaky that nothing else soothed it. I do also use the Kera Moisturizer (when my skin is acting up and needs something to soothe it really well), Buttermilk Moisturizer (when my skin is relatively normal and doesn't need too much moisture) and my other favourite, the Hyaluronic Day Cream.
Eye Care:
At the moment I am using the Shu Uemura red:juvenus Instant Eye Fatigue Corrector and to be honest, I don't love it, but I do need to put in something for my eye care.
Sometimes I mix my own eye "cream", more like a mixture of oil, which I find to be amazing but I've just been a bit too lazy to make up a batch lately. Isn't it funny that sometimes it's the simplest, cheapest thing that works the best? Who knew that a homemade eye cream could be amazing!
Extras:
These are things that I don't do everyday but more so every other day or whenever I feel like my skin needs it. These extras rarely change, the brands might, but I will always do a regular face mask (once a week), regular exfoliating (once a week) and regular pore strips (once a week).
I am seriously in love with this face masque. Just like the Aesop Fabulous Face Cleanser, it just smells really botanical and natural and it really does the job of deep cleansing. I use it once a week or sometimes more often, depending on how I'm feeling and how clogged my skin feels but it makes your face baby's bottom soft and really does pull out all the nasty gunk that's sitting in your pores.
I have very very stubborn pigmentation from my pimples/acne which I totally hate but Mario Badescu can do me no wrong, I swear. No whitening products has ever worked on me except for this one. I have found this mask to have made a significant difference to the pigmentation on my skin and I haven't even finished my first tub! May I also say this thing smells DIVINE, it smells like... grapes!
Since I do use the Mario Badescu Glycolic Acid Toner, I haven't felt the need to exfoliate as much as I use to but whenever I have the urge or I feel like I can feel the dead skin just sitting there, chillin', on my face, this is what I turn to to get my face back into tip top shape. The only thing that I don't like about this is the scent, it smells like the alcohol in hand sanitizer and that's all you smell as you stand there exfoliating.
I used to use the Biore Charcoal Strips and I honestly though that was the shizz until I tried this bad boy out. I've even gotten my husband onto using this and what comes out is absolutely amazing. I am one of those freaks who LOVE seeing what comes out of my pores and I get ridiculously happy when I see lots of little bumps on the strip but this baby will get the most stubborn black heads out. Just a warning though, this is not for the faint of heart or possibly people with sensitive skin because it is quite strong.
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I hope you all enjoyed reading about my skincare!
What's your favourite step in your skincare routine?
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