The smallest peek into my bathroom cabinet.
I’m somewhat enamored with the idea of time-specific masks. Japanese brand Saborino offers morning and night items meant to make your routine far easier by jamming as many steps into one thing as possible, while also paying close attention to the application medium. I’ve yet to encounter the nighttime products here in Seoul (I’m especially looking for their sleeping pack mist, which I saw in Osaka but neglected to pick up...) but when I saw the morning sheet masks I nearly screamed.
I, too, desire a way to jam as many steps into one thing as possible. Efficiency is so tremendously important to me because, while I’m perfectionistic about so many things, I know that I can do it 100% correctly when I get into the flow of things. I look for the most direct way to get the results I desire—in this case, skin that’s well taken care of—and then get into that groove.
Experimentation is a given within any skincare routine, because despite the best intentions of recommenders, their recommendations sometimes fall short. This happens more often than not with me, due to the sensitivity of my skin as well as the lack of efficiency that so often comes with single-purpose products. Getting into the aforementioned groove where I am happy with how my skin looks day in and day out is laborious at best, harmful at worse, and overall wasteful and disappointing. Especially since some products are fine for two or three months and then just suddenly stop being effective, and instead trigger an allergic reaction.
The more multi-purpose products I can get my hands on, the less I end up wasting, because this cycle of new-good-bad frequently happens to me. So while many single-purpose products are unavoidable—oil cleanser, facial soap, and that final occlusive moisturizer all come to mind—I’ve become obsessed with minimizing those in-between steps.
Which brings me back to these morning masks. I wash my face and put on a mask for all of 60 seconds, during which time it offers a hydrating boost that’s complemented by some cooling menthol feeling that wakes me all the way up. It’s better than a cup of coffee and far better for my skin. Follow that up with another multiple, the Ganbare Watashi Gel, which says it’s a lotion, serum, emulsion, and makeup base all-in-one. My skin still feels too light after this, so I finish with a gel moisturizer. A week in with this routine, and my skin is lovely. We’ll see how long this lasts, but these morning masks are going to be a repeat purchase.
I’ve never been the kind to embrace the delight of a multi-step routine. I don’t find pleasure in adding layer after layer, delicately and deliberately rubbing and massaging to promote absorption before adding yet another product. It’s dull and boring and quite frankly my skin doesn’t agree all that much with it, either. But I understand the benefit, and so I have taken the idea of it and smashed it together as much as possible. So far it’s working.
