My Skincare Routine

A lot of times people asked me what is it that I do differently now that makes my skin condition improves a lot better than before. What is it that I do now that I did not do then?

Let me share with you my daily skincare regime:

Step 1: Cleanse
I cleanse my face with non-drying cleansers. I have a combination skin, with oily T-zone. But that doesn't mean I need soapy cleanser (I actually change my cleanser according to my skin condition at the moment). The last thing I want to do is drying my skin by using soap. That will only make my skin produce more oil as it cannot produce water to counteract the dryness.

I either use my middle and ring fingers, or rotating cleansing brush to massage and cleanse my face at the same time (all the while avoiding my eye areas). I then take a wet, soft wash cloth to wipe the cleanser off my face before rinsing it with water. I just use room temperature tap water to wash my face.

My favorites:

1. Skinvigorate™ Cleansing Brush

2. Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser

3. Botanical Effects Cleanse (Formula 2)

Step 2: Mask
After I cleanse, I will mask my face. However I don't do this everyday. I probably do this twice a week. There are two types of mask that I use, a hydrating mask, and an exfoliating mask. Hydrating mask will give extra hydration that my skin needs. For hydrating mask, I normally put it on before bed and wash it off the next morning.  The second type of mask that I use is exfoliating mask. This is one of the most important things you need to do for your skin. This mask will absorb extra oil that my skin excrete and at the same time slough off the dead skin cells. This is the step that will help your skin achieve its optimum brightness and gives you that glow. It also allows the makeup to sit on the skin properly without all the nasty dead skin cells to make the foundation looks cakey or patchy.

So every week I shall mask my face every three days or so.  First with exfoliating mask, followed by hydrating mask three days later.  I also use a mask specifically for my lips when I use the face mask. The lips is often neglected as part of skincare routine. They also have dead skin cells accumulating if you don't exfoliate. I always use soft wash cloth to wipe the mask off my face and lips.

My favorites:

1. TimeWise® Moisture Renewing Gel Mask

2. Botanical Effects Mask (Formula 2)

3. Satin Lips Lip Mask

Step 3: Freshen
I choose alcohol-free freshener and softener to freshen my skin everyday. This step will make sure the skin is completely cleansed from the step before and prepares it for better absorption in the next step.  I used facial cotton pad to freshen my face from the neck upwards.

My favorites:

1. TimeWise® Moisture Renewing Softener

2. Botanical Effects Freshen (Formula 2)

Step 4: Supplements
This step came later after I started really caring for my skin. When I was still learning to familiarize with my skincare routine, I didn't have any supplements at all. Only about four months after I started, that I introduced the supplements into my routine. I just didn't want my skin to be overwhelmed by all the products, that's all.

The supplements that I use on my skin is in the form of serum. I have a day serum with SPF 35, a night serum and a whitening serum (whitening serum that I'm using is non-peeling and non-abrasive, it only allows my skin to be the brightest that my skin can). So I'll use the serums (day/ night serum and whitening serum) before my moisturizer.

My favorites:

1. TimeWise® Day Solution Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF35

2. TimeWise® Night Solution

3. melaCEP plus+ Ultimate Serum

Step 5: Moisturize
After my serums, I'll put a little moisturizer all over my face. I dot it on my cheeks, forehead, nose, chin and neck, and spread them using the tips of my middle and ring fingers.

I also use the eye cream for my eye areas. Nobody like crows feet before its time, right? I spread the eye cream using my ring finger from the outside corner, going down towards inside corners, and upwards towards outside corners again. Once it spreads evenly, I use a light tapping motion around my eye contour areas using my ring fingers.

For my lips, I use the lip balm so that it won't feel lonely and dry and left out from the whole routine. I always reach out for the lip balm whenever my lips feel dry, so it's always with me.

My favorites:

1. TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer

2. TimeWise® Age-Fighting Eye Cream
3. Satin Lips Lip Balm

(Note: For all of the above steps, I avoid my eyes and lips, unless I use products that are specific for my eyes and lips, or water on the wash cloth. Also, I don't forget my neck.)

Step 5: Protect
Depending on my mood, I either use only CC cream with SPF 15 for this step or I'll do full on makeup. There are times when I do makeup almost every day in a week.  For this step, I will not regret my eye areas ;)

My favorites:

1. CC Cream Broad Spectrum SPF15
2. TimeWise® Matte-Wear Liquid Foundation

So there you go, this is what I do now - twice a day - well, on most days :P.  However I skip the last step for evening routine. It seems a lot, but once you get into the rhythm, it's not that hard. It may sound like a lot of things, but then, I'm thinking, it's the only one skin that I have.

If you must know what skincare routine that I had before, I only cleanse and moisturize my face. That's it. I hardly put any protection as I didn't like having foundation on my face and all the BB creams that were available didn't have my shade. Funny how I live in a country that has people from different backgrounds and ethnic groups, and yet, most drugstore makeup brands only have foundations and BB creams that only cater for those with light skin color.

Well, if you have any question regarding my skincare routine, or how you can get them do leave a comment down below or you can reach me via Whatsapp or email. Till next post, see ya!

Spot The Difference aka My Skin Story

OMG.. I found an old photo of meself! I was so shocked when I saw this 😱😱😱.

Anyways... Before we examine the differences, let me state the points of similarity for the comparison photo below:

• I am in both pictures :D
• Both pictures were taken while I was in a car
• I was wearing makeup in both pictures. Although the left one didn't look like it, I was wearing foundation and powder. On the right, I also had my eyes and lips done on top of my foundation and powder
• Both pictures are of high quality resolution - Left one taken by my Sony Cybershot, and right one with iPad (that's the camera I use for my daily #motd pictures anyways)
• I did not, in any way, edit or use filter on these photos. I simply cropped and stitched them together.

Can you spot the differences? I can :P

Picture on the left was taken in 2008, while the one on the right was taken this year, about a couple months back. So there's a 7-year gap between those two. In 2008, that was when I just ended my year long makeup artistry course.

If you notice in the picture on the left, my eye areas looked like there's a hint of green.. I was covering a very bad burnt effect due to bad reaction to cosmetics that I put on my face for the makeup class. So I was trying to use makeup to cover up, and it definitely wasn't enough. The surface of my cheeks also looking rough from the scars despite the foundation that I had on. Eye bags? Well those look very apparent as well. Besides that, there are also scars on my forehead area, even though I attempted to cover them with my fringe.

Back then, I learned about skincare and makeup from my makeup academy. But to be honest, the skincare was just in theory,as they concentrated on the makeup a lot. I was also advised not to wear makeup on the days that I didn't have makeup class to 'save' my face. I didn't understand it back then. But now, looking back, it's as if that it was expected that wearing makeup will somehow have damaging effect on the skin. So true enough, by the end of my makeup course, my face was burnt. I have the picture, but I don't have the courage to share it yet. I went to dermatologist and had and skin prick test for all the things I put on my face.  Apparently almost everything gave me allergic reaction, except for a couple of products. My skin is really really REALLY sensitive. My other classmates in the same course didn't have the same reaction I was having. That's how I found out. My dermatologist then consulted me with some medications (which I had to take for almost a year) and asked me to stop wearing makeup and the skincare that gave me the allergic reaction.

After that I just had to wash my face with really mild cleanser and use basic moisturizer with Vitamin E and sun block. Throughout this period, I didn't put makeup on my face at all, so imagine having to go to work with naked 'burnt' face. Not a confident booster for sure, I'm telling you. Everybody noticed and even asked if I was 'okay' cos I looked 'tired'. Yup, that was how bad it was.

My skin continues to be better but at a very slow pace. It took me a couple of years (yes, years..) to get the burnt areas to clear up. And after the makeup course I didn't really put on makeup on daily basis, just on special occasions and only on my clients' faces.

Then about a year ago, I learned about how to take care of skin from a friend, Waheeda. I was skeptical at first, not to mention was very cautious too, about putting on stuff on my skin since it's so super sensitive. But I tried anyways, since she comforted me, saying that we could stop at anytime if I had any reaction. So I went and tried on till the end. I was trying a new brand of foundation and so my friend shared with me the right way to care for our skin before testing the foundation on. I really appreciate her sharing and I absolutely LOVE the foundation (no joke!). Because of the foundation, I decided to sign up as a 'beauty consultant' with Mary Kay. Let me be frank to you, I always buy my makeup supply at a discount, regardless of brands. I really use my professional certificate to my advantage. So same with this instance :D. Signed up, and since I have discounts for the products, I bought my skincare as well because, why not? I have tried it and it didn't give me reactions. The starter kit that I first got came with an anti-aging range so I got another range for my personal use, which is milder for my skin - the Botanical Effects. After a month of using it, I notice my nose became smoother. The blackheads somehow melted away. I also found that my face became brighter. I was surprised for this as the range is not a 'whitening' range. It just showed that with the right regime, your skin will be as bright as it can and will be in its most optimum condition.

After 3 months, I graduated to the anti-aging range, the Timewise. You know, I thought my skin was already in its best condition with the previous range, but boy was I wrong. I COULD get better. I was so excited to see the changes, it motivated me to continue taking care of my skin.

The picture on the right hand side was taken a year after I started using Mary Kay skincare. My skin really got a lot better. AND...... nowadays I get to wear makeup almost everyday! Or whenever I feel like it - which I absolutely love. I don't need a lot of foundation, because the skin underneath is good, the makeup I need is just enough to even out the skin tone and to protect from the external elements. Sometimes, just a layer of CC Cream and I'm good to go. I get to play with colours everyday, I don't have to 'save face' because the makeup and skincare work together to improve my skin.

What's your skin story? I'd love to hear them :)