My Oily & Acne-Prone Skin Care Routine

Dear beauties,

Those who have a super oily and acne-prone skin, you might be interested to read through my post.

As I mentioned many times earlier through my previous blog posts, I have been struggling with acne (and dermatologist) since I was in Junior High School. I consumed everything; high-dose vitamin A, infused vitamin C, antibiotics, other supplement, etc just to keep the zits away from my face. What I really hate of having acne-prone skin is that we cannot just stop the doctor's medication since the skin would be back to its 'original' condition after a while. This non-stop vicious cycle was once really, really irritating me.

When I got pregnant and had a baby around 3 years ago, I decided to take care of this problem on my own, since some of the medicines were not allowed for pregnant mom. I mean, my last dermatologist said that my acne caused by hormones, and there was nothing I could do about it. Only less than 20% factor came from outside, for instance; make up residue, dirt, etc. I can prove this to you, that even if I didn't wear any make up in daily basis, and tried to wash my skin 3 times a day, my skin is never ever free from acne. The new acne would still be forming when it was close to my menstruation period, and yes, as you could already expected, the acne scars left behind are so annoying and looked like it would stay forever in my face. That is soooo sad.

Thus, last year, I started to tried on several products (skin care) on my face, and as you can assume, I started it from the least expensive or drugstore products. The consequence of doing trial & error, my face could become worse after trying one products. Please be noted that in terms of make up, I have never experienced any case of irritation or severe breakout (only once, with Body Shop compact powder. strange, huh?). But for skin care, yes. In conclusion, I am very allergic to Clinique skin care range and Hada Labo. That really made my skin in trouble. US products are generally safe for me, but I have to admit that Japanese products and me are not good friends. I've never felt satisfied with them (perhaps, except my current most-wanted Majolica Majorca mascara!). As for Korean products, they usually didn't make my skin bad, but definitely not better too. I would say that they just have so-so products for my skin.

Jump to my skin routine (I hope you feel enough with my intro above), let me just tell you that I am wearing regular make up in daily basis. You name it: foundation (or BB cream at the least), powder, blush on, highlighter, eyeshadows, eyeliner and lipstick. I sometimes only skip mascara if I am in hurry. You can imagine that I applied this make up at around 6-7 in the morning, and remove at around 6-7 in the evening. In total, I always wear make up for approximately 12 hours a day, almost 7 days a week (I will let it bare only when I don't go out of home).

I know that it sounds too harsh for my skin. But once again, my skin is not very sensitive and I didn't get much benefit if I let it bare for a quite long time. Below I wanna share with you about how I deal with my skin care routine everyday. I started to realize that skin is a very important asset so I was trying to find a higher end moisturizer and night serum to get this long-term investment.

CLEANSER

How I love using local product Sariayu milk cleanser to remove the make up and dirt on my face everyday. It feels light, the texture is nice, it also has a very good scent from natural ingredients: lime, rose, kenanga, gambir, etc. My favorite is the rose one, because it has a fresh floral scent and it's so gentle. I have never had any bad experience using this product so I never think the need to buy expensive milk cleanser for my daily routine. Yes, once or twice I tries other products too yet so far my second favorite was the Body Shop Cucumber Milk Cleanser which has been discontinued here :(


EYE & LIP MAKE UP REMOVER

To be honest, I don't like using eye & lip make up remover until I found this from Clarins. I simply love this and I think this eye & lip make up remover is very refreshing. It doesn't have terrible scent, too. Though it's a bit pricey, but it can last up to 4 months because we only need a little to remove eyeshadows and lipstick residue.


FACE WASH

Speaking of face wash, I think this is the best product and the best range from the Body Shop that suits my skin condition. Yes, I love the Tea Tree range since long time ago and always fall in love with its scent. This facial wash is quite light and it gives a decent benefit for my acne skin because it has anti-bacterial agent and also reduce impurities. For me, this product would always be there in my bathroom stash.


FACIAL SCRUB

Let me tell you that this facial scrub from Kiehl's is a true winner. The Amazonian White Clay extract is really good to remove the excess oil and tighten gigantic pores like mine. I use this product three times a week or whenever I think I need just because my blackheads and whiteheads are sitting up on my nose. I also use this for my entire face but still I focus the pressure around the nose. Voila! The blackheads gone in second and my face feels really clean after that. Yes, its price is kinda steep, but this is a little goes along the way. So, don't worry. It will last up to 6 months for regular use. I have reviewed this product before, here.

DAY CREAM

I am going to tell you my deepest secret, that I've never worn any moisturizer in my life because I thought every moisturizer would only make my face greasier and oilier. Hey, where have I been? There are a lot of choices of moisturizer for oily skin, and we really need moisturizer to keep skin hydrated and balanced. I was so wrong before, I knew. So, after reading a lot of reviews for the best moisturizer for oily skin, I finally found Clarins Daily Gel-Cream Energizer that been said targeting young people in 20-ish. As my age is still 29, I thought, why didn't I give a shot? LOL :D Seriously, I am so freaking our with the rich moisturizer outside because even in air conditioned room, my face would be oily just after 4 hours applying make up. And moreover, I am living in a humid and sometimes-too-hot Jakarta. I am freaking out that somehow a moisturizer would melt my foundation in the middle of the day. After I found this (and tried this for 2-3 weeks), thankfully, I found that this one is a very good moisturizer. Its gel-like texture is kinda light, not too creamy and rich, it gives me a natural radiance during the day (I think that because its Vitamin C and turmeric extract), but the best thing is....it could reduce the appearance of acne scars in my face just within 2 weeks! I am not kidding you here as I have a lot, so I would notice if it's significantly changed. I super love this moisturizer and will keep buying this. Besides, it didn't cause any breakout (like Clinique) and the scent is very very fresh like citrus! How I love it made my skin supple, smooth and well-moisturized, just with the portion I exactly need.


NIGHT SERUM

Oh, hello all ladies outhere, let me introduce you to my HG serum; Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate. I think there are a lot of good reviews for this product as this one seems one of the Kiehl's best sellers. The price is yeah, just 3/4 cheaper than my mom's Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair (that focuses on more mature and aged skin), but it worth every penny. Seriously! First I felt doubtful and unsure whether this oil-based serum could give a good benefit to my skin as I already have a tons of oil supply :D But after using it for 3 months, I realized that this oil is veryyy goood to balance out my skin and makes it much more supple. It feels like heaven, smells like heavenly lavender, and it's also almost 100% purely extracted from natural oils (see the ingredients). No paraben and fragrance, so it will also be perfect for sensitive skin. I am using this every night and wake up with a baby-soft skin in the morning. It also successfully reduces my formation of blackheads. I am definitely SOLD for this product. A Rp. 630,000 per bottle could last for at least 6 months. Think about good long term investment for your skin :)

So, now, have you ever tried one of these products? What do you feel about them? Feel free to share : ~xoxo~

Skinfood Black Sugar Perfect First Serum; So Long, Blackheads!

As long holiday's coming (read: less work in office), I am now super busy working on my new beauty blog (like, posting something daily? oh, get a life, LOL :D)

So, it's been a week since the blog was launched, and I have hit 519 pageviews. Not so bad. I don't have any particular mission by having a beauty blog. I am doing it for fun :) Moreover, I am not a high school or college students anymore with bunch of friends to be asked as followers. At my age, being a beauty junkie is totally an option (moreover because we need to earn money by ourselves, not just using my Dad's credit card like I used to do several years ago, hehehe) and a good make up is not cheap.

One day in office toilet, a friend with similar age as mine, said: " I think we need to invest more in skin care, you know, there are fine lines that are already visible on my late 20s skin, so I'm using Olay day and night."

I stopped coming regularly to aesthetics and dermatologist since a few years ago, and I realized that I haven't spent much on skincare but cosmetics. After taking bath, I stood a little bit closer to the mirror and DANG, suddenly I saw some fine lines in my under eye area, and how dull my face looks overall.

Using Olay, or any drugstore skin care products, is the last thing on my mind. First, my skin is acne-prone, quite sensitive towards a 'new' skin care products (but luckily my skin is OK using almost all cosmetics). Secondly, I tried Olay White Radiance Serum sometimes ago, but after finishing 75% of bottle (in a religious way), i found no difference at all. Even the price wasn't that cheap (around IDR 130,000). Not only I didn't see any visible difference, but I also didn't feel my skin smoother from within :(

My other friend introduced me to http://cosme-de.com. I used to shop at www.strawberrynet.com before, but seems like the price hikes up a lot after the Rupiah was weakened. At this new online shop, I decided to try SKII collections, a four-pieces travel kit for USD 44. Sadly, it turned out that SKII is not for me. I had  severe breakouts after using it for 2 days (thanks God I managed to sell the travel kit to my friend, with 20% less price. She is SKII's regular customer and the products fit her skin well).

At my most desperate point because of tiny bumps here and there that created by World's No.1 High Selling Skincare, another friend told me that she has been using Skinfood Black Sugar Perfect First Serum and it works well for her. Her skin became softer day by day and brighter. I bought it right away, from Korean Noona, because they had it in a travel size bottle of 30ml. The price is not more than IDR 70,000 include the shipping cost. Good deal!

This photo belongs to www.skinfood.sg

Skinfood Black Sugar Perfect First Serum is the new innovation in Skinfood's Black Sugar Cleansing Range. Previously, it is well known as cleansing product that effectively removes dirt and dead skin cells. This serum claims to deliver similar benefit as in the cleansing range, it contains the sucrose from Brazilian Organic Black Sugar which deeply hydrate and keep its natural moisture. It is also enriched by multivitamins and minerals to bring goodness to skin.

The travel-sized serum, with 3 pieces of cotton pads

It has a runny texture, more like a toner. If it is a serum, it's usually much more thick and more concentrated. The smell is fine, it reminds me of Tonymoly Egg Pore Pack but a bit more subtle. Quite similar to the scent of candy, maybe because it contains sucrose in it :)

My take on the product.


Well, my friend is telling me no lie. After read some reviews and recommendation to use it with its original cotton pads, I feel that my skin is much more clean. The cotton pads itself is very unique. It has two sides, the one is to exfoliate/cleanse, and the other one is to gently penetrate the serum onto skin. After using cleansing milk, wash my face with lukewarm water, I was surprised that the cotton pads could be like this:

Heck?! How come I always sleep with these dirts make-up residue on my face? Since then, I have been using this serum regularly, but more on cleansing purpose because it doesn't dry out my skin like regular alcoholic toner, instead giving me a smooth and soft feeling, like applying a cleansing oil without giving me an oily finish. Even it is safe to apply this in the morning, before applying BB cream or foundation, because it will be absorbed quickly on skin and giving a smooth canvas for you to create your make up. After using it day and night for 1 week, I notice that my nose area becomes better. I used to have a rough surface on my nose because of the blackheads and whiteheads, yet now I find that the blackheads are gradually gone and it becomes softer. Now I can tell that its claim to remove the dead skin cells is true!

I recommend this to everyone who has problematic skin because it did not break me out.

I am rating this product 4.1/5.0

The smell, texture, formula, are OK. But I haven't seen any brightening effect until 1 week of using. I would  give it 4.5 if it deliver this advantage (then I realize I become so picky in skin care products but not in make up :D).

My face is clean and moisturized at the same time after using Skinfood Black Sugar Perfect First Serum. Now I can sleep with no worry. Don't you feel to try? ~xoxo~

UPDATE: After 2 weeks using, I found that my face is brighter! But unfortunately I had some new zits, too. So, now I am thinking twice whether I should repurchase, or not.