I haven’t updated my skincare items for a while, so here I am introducing some old and new items in my routine!

I ran out of my old balm cleansers (previously used E Nature and Heimish). So I decided to give some new brands a try.

I originally thought Sioris’ milk cleanser was a second cleanser. But after reading the description and using it, I realized it’s more of first step cleanser where it cleans your make up and grimes haha (it doesn’t foam at all). It actually works as a 2 in 1 cleanser if you don’t use any makeup.

If I were to choose between these two cleansers for makeup cleansing, I would pick Klavuu’s Divine Pearl Cleansing Oil. The consistency is really light and it easily glides over the skin. And it doesn’t make ur skin dry! This oil cleanser made me deviate away from balm cleansers completely.

For summer, I don’t really use a lot of products as I like to keep it simple. Laneige’s Cream Skin is an all-time favorite and it’s really useful for all seasons. For summer, one or two layers of application is enough and I just seal it up with my trusty Canmake sunscreen. To be honest, I haven’t found any products that top up the hydrating ability of the Cream Skin. I understand why it’s so revolutionary and loved because you can really feel your skin getting hydrated upon application.

Of course, we can’t forget the supplementary products. Melano CC has never failed to get rid of my over-pigmentation from acne. It’s honestly an omnipotent product that will always have a spot on my skincare shelf.

Previously, I’ve been using COSRX’s AHA chemical exfoliator and I decided to try out the Mandelic Acid as it’s gentler. It does’t irritate my skin as much and has been working great to get rid of dead skin cells.

This ends the introduction of my minimized regime. If you notice, I didn’t mention anything about foaming cleansers. That is because I can’t really find the ONE face cleanser that I love, yet. I will surely update the post when I discover one!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about skincare and makeup. I’ve been switching from one product to another to find the one that complements my skin fully. Since it’s transitioning to summer now, I had to change my moisturizers as my previous ones are not just makes my skin feel so greasy. 😥

Cleanser: I’m still using my COSRX Good Morning Low PH Cleanser. I think it suits most skin types as this one doesn’t leave your skin feeling super squeaky clean (which is usually bad), but still leaves a refreshing and clean sensation. Doesn’t dry me out either!

Oil cleanser: My current oil cleanser is the Heimsh All Clean Balm. I think I like this one better than the DHC Deep Cleansing Oil that I once used because the application is easier and less messy. This one cleans thoroughly as well and is easier to bring around when traveling.

Toner: I’m trying out Klairs Supple Preparation Toner ever since my old Beauty Water expired lol. To be honest, I can’t tell if my skins improve by incorporating this toner into my routine. At first, I was a bit worried because it contains essential oils, but so far it didn’t break me out so I guess it’s good?

Essence: Usually cream moisturizers don’t suit me as I’m a bit of combination type. This time I’m trying out Huxley’s Oil Essence. It’s a best selling product and I’m pretty sure most skincare addicts know what this product is. It has a grass-like fragrance. It might smell strange but I actually got used to the smell after several uses. It actually makes my skin feel super moisturized (but not overly) throughout the day! My sebum production is undeniably lesser when I use this essence. Definitely my new holy grail!

Sunscreen: I’m still on my eternal journey in searching the perfect sunscreen. I used Biore’s Watery Essence previously and switched to Apieu’s Madecassoside Sun Cream through a recommendation on a Youtube video (yes, I’m a viral marketing victim). It’s not amazing but not meh either, just in the middle. But at least it doesn’t break me out and the white cast is minimal.

Spot treatment: I alternate two spot treatments. One is the Centella Blemish Cream from COSRX and the other one is Avene’s Cicalfate Repair Cream. Let me focus on the latter. This is my first time trying a skincare product from the French pharmacy and I must say it’s working amazingly so far! I use it more for hyperpigmentations, actually, but it’s great for acne too!

I had fun testing out these products and I’ll hopefully post another update on this soon! Also, if anyone has recommendations for a good spot treatment and sunscreen products, do let me know!

Let me be honest with you. I have been sucked into the black hole of Korean skincare world ever since I tried the Innisfree products. It worked very well for my skin and so I became more and more interested about other products. This haul is the result of me watching too much Youtube videos and browsing Amazon (I feel sad I couldn’t resist the temptation). As you may see on the preview picture below, I have tons of COSRX products that I wanted to try. I’ve heard great reviews for this particular brand and I thought my mom would also love to try some of these, so I gave them a shot. Several other products are from Tony Moly, April Skin and Son & Park.

These serum samples were given to me as a freebie. It’s for anti-aging, so I guess I will just give those to my mom later on.

These are the pimple treatment patches from COSRX. From what I’ve read, they could minimize the appearance of pimples that has already surfaced and suck all that yucky gunk out of it so you don’t need to dirty your hand to pop it or irritate your skin for doing so. Placing this stickers over your pimple also prevents you from touching it and further more irritating it.

I personally am not a fan of Tony Moly products, but I love their packaging because they always create cute designs of it. This one in particular is the Panda’s Dream So Cool Eye Stick (again, the long name). It’s job is to moisturize the under eye area and give it a cooling sensation when applied. It comes with a stick form and it glides easily under the eye. It also has a protective cap to prevent it from drying off.

I’m actually new to this kind of chemical exfoliant product. Until recently I’ve been using the foaming scrub prescribed by the clinic in my country for exfoliation, but apparently, I read somewhere that it’s not effective and actually makes your skin even more irritated. Using chemical for exfoliation works better because it works under your skin, which is what this BHA Blackhead Power Liquid is supposed to do.

I didn’t have any sleeping masks so I thought I’d give this one from COSRX a try. It’s quite popular as well among people. However, not everyone gave great reviews for this particular product. Some said that they experienced little breakouts after using. I’ve done a patch test for this and it doesn’t look like my skin is reacting to it. Hopefully it won’t break me out!

I think I shared the same point of view with most people who heard about snail extract inside a skincare product for the first time: ‘Snail? Ew!‘. That suspicion soon turned out to be raved constantly, though. Snail extracts are proven to be able to minimize scarring and basically heal your skin as a whole. It also helps with wrinkles, so I thought I’d give this to my mom to try later on!

Actually, I’ve read so many great reviews about this product and no one labeled this product as controversial. I called it ‘controversial’ because of the ingredient list inside this ‘Beauty Water’ toner. It contains a bad form alcohol which is denaturated alcohol (usually written as Alcohol Denat.) that can really dry and irritate your skin. (Note that there are good and bad types of alcohol.) But perhaps no one really made a big fuss about it because the alcohol was written at the bottom of the ingredients list, which shows that it’s the least used ingredient. I hope this does nothing bad to my skin, though.

I’ve never tried April Skin’s skin products, but this will be my first time trying out their hair product! I’ve been wanting to dye my hair ever since I graduated high school, but I was so scared that I’ll just end up destroying my already-weak hair if I do it, so I didn’t. This Turn-up Color Treatment is supposed to give temporary color to your hair with treatments instead of bleaching and damaging it. The color will fade after two weeks upon application (depends on how frequent you wash your hair) if you stop using the product, which makes this a great choice for someone who wants to try dye their hair without worrying it will go wrong.

That’s it for the whole haul! I hope you enjoyed reading them as I enjoyed writing about them. I will probably post a specific review for the hair treatment after I use it (I’m super excited and scared, to be honest) as well as a short review on the Beauty Water. I’m not sure if I should post about the COSRX products because there are tons of detailed reviews out there. So yeah,  hopefully these products will turn out great for my skin.  😉