Skincation Day 5: Lazy Sundays

Morning:

1. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
4. BIORE IS BAE sunscreen. Gosh, I've forgotten how much this sunscreen is BAE.

Evening:

1. Sum37 MRCS
2. Queen Helene Mint Julep, did a nice a even spread so when it dried I looked ghastly!
3. Son&Park Beauty Water
4. Moistfull Bookskin toner
5. Mizon Black Snail AIO

Skincation Day 4: Overnight version

Since I'm sleeping at a friend's house tonight I'm keeping track now.

Morning:

1. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. IPKN Dia Goat Milk Black Mask leftover goo
4. Mizon AIO Snail (regular) and still stinging my face upon application
5. Nivea Sunscreen

Evening:

1. SUM37 MRCS
2. booskin toner
3. Leaders Too Much Fun In The Sun Mask (Sheet mask)

will confirm tomorrow... if I remember

Skincation Day 3: Forgot to Mask, Keeping It Simple

Morning:

1. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
4. Nivea Sunscreen

Evening:

1. Sum37 MRCS
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
4. IPKN Dia Goat Milk Black Mask leftover goo
5. Mizon Snail AIO (regular) which STUNG MY FACE?!?!? WTF.

Kept it really simple today. Thought I was going to do the Leader's mask and/or Tazorac, but instead I ended up passing out waiting for the Mizon Snail AIO to soak into my skin.

It's not been terribly humid, or really hot, and yet my skin is a greasy mess. 

I'm thinking that this is what happened-- the first few days of vacation my skin was so, so, so, so dry and I was layering up the Mizon Snail AIO (regular) and it just wasn't working. Then, over the next couple of days, and worst of all the last few days, it was really hot, sweaty, humid, and I put oil sunscreen on my face not thinking it'll fuck me up this much. WRONG. Now I am back to being greasy and having to adjust my skin properly in order to counteract all the acne and pimples and close comedones on my face.

Trying to use acids, but have to be careful not to over exfoliate. Trying to renew my skin, and make these closed comedones regular pimples because I know how to combat those over that. It is a mess, my face is a mess. It is also itchy and I find myself touching it way more than I should. So much so that it has spread to under my jaw on my neck and is just unsightly.

This is so upsetting.

Skincation Day 2: No Oils, No Tazorac

The second day has come and gone. My face feels greasy, looks greasy, and is slowly blossoming with pus-tacular white heads. This honestly sounds gross and borderlines a horror story.

Could feel the slime of Tazorac rinse off, and I wondered if it did any good. So instead of applying it again at night, I took a break. This is also because I fell asleep and forgot to get my Tazorac out of the little cat vanity mirror box I stashed it in. My friend got me this purrfect light-up vanity mirror that I like to use when I need to get up close and uncomfortable with my skin.

It looks just like this:

Anyway, my face looks flushed, my skin is a mess, I have white heads all over the place, and not a single patch of skin is smooth. It is taking a lot out of me because I want to pick, pick, pick at my skin. It itches sometimes too.

My skin is gross, I need not a skincation, but skin-salvation, skin-vation? Oh, I don't know, I just know that if it doesn't get better in the next month (ugh, it's only day two), that I am going to research dermatologists. My ego is taking such a blow, do you know how much your confidence and ego relies on your face?!?

Another concern I have is over-exfoliation. I have been trying to counteract this by hydrating my skin, but today, on day three, I realize that my skin is more sensitive and products like my toners, as my toners now give me a slight tingling feeling.

Morning:

1. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. Lovemore Pearl Barley and Milk Smoothing Mask leftover goo
4. Nivea Sunscreen

Morning Part Two (Post Gym):

1. Caolion Pore Blackhead O2 Sparkling Soap (bar soap for the face, I'm a big fan of non-liquids, can you tell? Haha)
2. Dear by Enprani Moistfull Booskin (hydrating toner)
3. Origins GinZing™ Refreshing Eye Cream
4. Clinique Dramatically Different Lotion Cream (from a pot)
5. Shiseido Senka Aging Care UV Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++

Evening:

1. Tosowoong Enzyme Powder Wash
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. IPKN Dia Goat Milk Black Mask (sheet mask)

Evening Part Two:

1. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
2. Son&Park Beauty Water
3. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
4. Origins Original Skin Retexturizing Mask with Rose Clay (clay mask)
5. Lovemore Pearl Barley and Milk Smoothing Mask leftover goo
6. Rosette Aqua Ceramide Gel (trying to counteract the fact that I may have messed up my moisture barrier!)

Today is Day Three on this road to healing my face and I've bought Mizon's AHA and BHA Cleansing Toner because I'm going to play around with acids while my skin is horrible. Sounds like a bad idea made out of desperation. Just like putting regular sunscreen on my face. So many bad ideas.

1 일1팩 is still being implemented. I think I am going to use Leader's Too Much Fun in the Sun mask, one of my favorites. Possibly followed by another Lovemore mask the next day.

Skincation Day 1: Face Peel, Mask, Tazorac

Oh goodness me, I cannot take not having smooth skin and these bumps are driving me absolutely up the wall. On one hand, I understand that patience is a virtue, on the the other hand I cannot HANDLE THIS ANYMORE.

So, on Day 1 of my return from the vacation that messed up my skin, this is how it went:

Morning:

1. The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light Cleansing Oil
2. Good Morning Low pH Cleanser
3. Holika Holika Smoothie Peeling Jam (in Grape Expectation, hahaha, I love a good pun!)
4. Son&Park Beauty Water
5. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
6. Mizon AIO Snail (Black)
7. Nivea Sunscreen

Evening:

1. The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light Cleansing Oil
2. Tosowoong Enzyme Powder Wash
3. Son&Park Beauty Water
4. Kikumasamune Sake Skin Lotion High Moisture toner
5. Kiehl's Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Masque (clay mask)
6. Lovemore Pearl Barley and Milk Smoothing Mask (Sheet mask)
7. Mizon AIO Snail (Regular)
8. Tazorac

Totally doing 1 일1팩 from here on out. I've got plenty in my hoard of stash, better put it to good use!

I need a SKINCATION!

It was probably a mix of different climates, pH levels in water, strong rays of sun, weird lack of humidity, sunscreen slathered on and on and on with dirty hands, forgotten bottles of toner, but HOLY HELL, my skin has never been this bad in my entire life.

Forget vacation, I need a SKINCATION, and ASAP!

My smooth skin, oh my chok-chok, never did I ever feel like you were ever so taken for granted. You are missed as my face is now full of the peaks and valleys of pimples, closed comedones, and basically is a landscape of upset skin that has not been able to been tamed for the last twelve days.

This kind of skin is what make people turn to tret, and I think my tazorac might make an appearance, especially since my skin is still an oil mine this afternoon. Ugh, the craters that is my skin! It makes me very sad and though people have commented that they don't really notice it, it bothers me so much that I can feel it and it feels so much worse than it looks, I guess.

HELP! I'm going to try to do 1 일1팩 for as long as necessary! Yikes, my poor skin needs so much help, I am so sad that I haven't even touched my face, and I am a perpetual hand-on-face leaner.

1 일1팩
1 일1팩
1 일1팩
Acids!
Tazorac!

Oh my smooth skin, oh my chok-chok, please come back to me.

Retinols: Body Merry 2.5%?

After my not so fun incident with Tazorac, I have been kind of scared off.

Retinols, I grouped in the same group as Tret-face scares, and though I know at my age I really should be wary and utilizing them (pro-action not reaction), I'd been too scared off to really do my research. Afterall, it really seemed to be a Western beauty sort of ordeal, and you can see how much more influence I am taking from Asian Beauty.

That being said, my friend brought down her skincare, and she uses a retinol moisturizer and retinol eye cream. The Algenist sample I got seemed to make my lines worse around the eyes, so I've refrained from doing anything more with eye creams. However, the concept that it would be combined with a moisturizer has got me intrigued. She uses an American brand of Body Merry, and it's a 2.5% mix, which seems quite high since Paula's Choice serums are for advanced acid users is "clinical" at 1%.

The ingredients seem pretty harmless enough:

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Organic Aloe), Aqua (Deionized Water), Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil (Organic Sunflower Oil), Isopropyl Palmitate, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Cassia Angustifolia Seed Extract (botanical hyaluronic acid), Stearic Acid, Glycerin (Kosher, Vegetable), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Organic Jojoba Oil), Butyrospermum Parkii Butter (Shea Butter), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Retinol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (Organic Green Tea), Propolis Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract (Organic Gotu Kola), Equisetum Arvense Extract (Horsetail), Geranium Maculatum Extract (Wild Geranium), Taraxacum Officinale Extract (Organic Dandelion), Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 20, Pentylene Glycol, Alcohol, Lecithin, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin

However, though some reddit research, it was suggested that their base may come from this no-name lab that sells it through wholesale, Rainshadow Labs. This is their ingredient list:

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Organic Aloe), Aqua (Deionized Water), Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil (Organic Sunflower Oil), Isopropyl Palmitate, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Cassia Angustifolia Seed Extract (botanical hyaluronic acid), Stearic Acid, Glycerin (Kosher, Vegetable), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Organic Jojoba Oil), Butyrospermum Parkii Butter (Shea Butter), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Retinol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (Organic Green Tea), Propolis Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract (Organic Gotu Kola), Equisetum Arvense Extract (Horsetail), Geranium Maculatum Extract (Wild Geranium), Taraxacum Officinale Extract (Organic Dandelion), Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 20, Pentylene Glycol, Alcohol, Lecithin, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin. **updated February 15th, 2017

So wait, what's the difference?!?!?

Either I get Body Merry's cute labels and air-tight packaging at 20.99 for 3.4 ounce (100 ml), or I can get the 2 ounces (60 ml) for $3.95 in a sample amber bottle and see if I like it enough to buy the cute 100 ml version for 20 bucks or the 36 ounce bottle (1064 ml)..... for thirty bucks.

Skincare Routine Monthly Check-in: July 1, 2017

July 1st! check-in:

1. Oil Cleanser: After I started to break out earlier in May I stopped using this step because it was fairly new and I wanted to go back to basics.
2. Son & Park's Beauty Water: No idea what I am doing with this step. I use it and then I wash it off and then I slap it on again. I realize I don't like using cotton balls to apply or wipe product on/off. Seems like such an inefficient hassle to me. I have no idea what I am doing with this step, or if it's even helping.
3. Water-based Cleanser: Finally finished the sum37's Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick from Nov. 7, 2016. Instead I have found myself reaching for my sister's Cosrx Low Ph Good Morning Gel cleanser. The minty fresh part of it has grown on me, and I actually like using it in the mornings. Especially when my Rose Stick has been increasingly hard to dispense.
4. First Essence: Thinking of incorporating Missha's FTE, but also want to give my skin a break  because I still don't know what I am doing with Son & Park's Beauty Water.
5. Hydrating Toner:  A mix between Kikumasamune Moist toner and/or Enprani’s Dear by Enprani Moistfull Booskin. Whatever I feel like reaching for that day. Usually Enprani's because I want to use it up, but also because Kikumasamune has been mixing smells and makes a terribly stench with mixed with something I can't quite put my finger on it.
6. Serum:  I took a break. Laziness.
7. Moisturizer: Good ol' Mizon Black  Snail AIO. Skin's been a bit hormonal, but it loves the stuff nonetheless.
8. Sunscreen: Mornings I stick to using a pump of Nivea Sun Protect Super Water Gel SPF 50/PA+++. Only use Shiseido Senka Aging Care UV Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++ at the gym. Really liking my aerosol SPF 50 coconut sunspray from Alba. Cheap, smells like alcohol at first, but that helps it evaporate quickly and dry nicely. Really does well on my arms and feet (still wearing leggings or long pants because the office is like ice).

Kiehl's clay mask of Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Mask and Pacifica's Future Youth Enzymatic Resurfacing Mask on my neck. Perfect combo, though I don't really get a "wow" factor from Kiehl's and would probably not purchase it for myself. But I sheet masked twice last week, which was nice. Trying to use up my crazy stash.

Still keeping it simple since I have been having a weird period and hormonal acne jaw is still in the works.

Why did I buy Beauty Water? I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to be doing with it. Nothing seems right.