you're not in my veins

We’ve all seen those concept text posts where somebody has made a list of aesthetically pleasing, stress free, and healthy concepts. Something that has made every single list I’ve seen is clear skin. So, that got me thinking, with even colder days coming up, finals ending, and new semesters starting, a skincare master post would be nice to make.

But first, here’s my skin story. I always knew I was going to get acne somewhere along the way because of genetics. However, I get stressed very much very easily and I always pick at my skin, creating scars that killed my confidence. So, my once clear Asian skin was ruined. When my mom realized what was happening, she told me she also suffered with acne but got clear skin because of a skincare routine that she followed religiously. This routine treats skin carefully, focusing on layering and balancing. Needless to say, it saved me. So, I’ve explained every step and the products that I’ve been using lately.

1. First clean your face (duh). No matter what you do, always wash your face day and night. Here’s where science comes in. Remember polar dissolves polar and nonpolar dissolves nonpolar? That’s important here. To get all of the crap out of your face, start off with an oil cleanser. My personal favorite is the BANILA CO Clean It Zero Purity. So, we got all of the nonpolar gunk out. To get the polar gunk out, use a water based cleanser. The one I use is the COSRX Low-pH Good Morning Cleanser. It’s curated specifically for sensitive skin and has a pH of 5 (perfect for skin).

2. Once you’ve got all of the gunk out, I like to exfoliate my skin twice a week. It’s not good to exfoliate skin too often because that can leave behind micro tears in your skin. However, once or twice a week allows for turnover and revealing of newer skin cells, making your skin more healthy and radiant. My favorite one is the Ole Henriksen Walnut Scrub. It smells great and has tiny little beads that feel like sand.

3. Okay back to science. It’s all about the pH here. Remember Honors Biology? pH out of a specific range usually means disaster. Same goes here. That’s what toners are for. They help balance your skin’s pH levels and also hydrates your skin to help it better absorb the treatments you’e going to use. My favorite is SON & PARK Beauty Water.

4. Treatment time! This is different for everybody because everybody has different concerns for their face. Mine is mainly acne. You first start off with an essence. It begins the treatment process and is considered the heart of this routine. The one I’m currently using is the COSRX BHA blackhead Power Liquid. Next is serum. Think of this as the mitochondria of the cell, it’s the powerhouse in the routine. It gives concentrated amounts of treatments. Mine is the COSRX Centella Blemish Ampoule, and just like the name suggests, it gets rid of blemishes. Remember the holy grail product I mentioned before? This is it.

5. The new step is face masks. You know those sheet thingies that make you look like those villains with ski masks? I actually don’t use these that often because I’ve honestly had really bad experiences with them. But I do use them at least 1 a month on stress relief days. I don’t have a favorite, but I usually go for masks that have the word “clearing” on them. 

6. Eyes!! The only cure to dark circles is sleep. But wrinkles and dry skin overall is a whole other issue. Solution? Eye cream. The skin around your eye is the most delicate and so when applying eye cream, use your ring finger and slowly tap around the entire orbital bone. The one I’m using right now is the MIZON Snail Repair Eye Cream.

7. Moisturizer. This is pretty self explanatory right? Don’t skip this. It’s good for your skin. Just like you need water, your skin needs moisturizer. My favorite right now is the COSRX Natural BHA Skin Returning Emulsion.

8. Finally, if it is daytime, do not forget sunscreen. Sunscreen goes into the category of never forget no matter what along with cleansing and moisturizing. The most dangerous enemy to your skin (other than unhealthy foods and anything hitting it) is the sun. So protect against it. Mine is the COSRX Aloe Sooting Sun Cream SPF 50+. The best thing about this sunscreen is that it doesn’t live that white cast over your face that most other creams do.

So that’s my skin care routine. I do this day and night. It seems like a lot and in our busy extracurricular and academic filled lives, it may seem like you have no time for this, but brushing my teeth and running through this skincare routine take 10 minutes tops for me and it makes me feel more refreshed to study for the rest of the night or face the day. Even when I was at an intense 6 weeks research program at Boston University, I was able to keep this routine up and still get all of my research done. 

This is not a strict routine and other things can be added but I like to follow this as a general outline (like the one I’m making for my Euro essay right now XD). Also, a lot of the products that I used are from Korea and other East Asian countries. They are catered to more sensitive skin so if you’re asian or I have sensitive skin I really recommend it (also they’re all really really affordable!!)!

Just remember that this routine can’t do everything for your skin. Sleep as much as you can and eat healthy. Without that, your skin won’t be the least of your concern. Good luck to everyone with finals (if you’ve already had them all the ways to you!!!), take a break and get ready for next semester, and bundle up for the cold.