Updated AM/PM Skin Care Routine: Summer 2017

Hello, lovelies. I am back with a skin care update! If you'd like to see my review of these products in more detail, feel free to let me know :-).

N.b.: Please click >>HERE<< for my skin's 411.

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CLEANSERS

AM CLEANSING: In the morning, I usually reach for my Sukin Cleansing Gel cleanser (pictured above, left). I was lucky to have scored this cleanser from Winners at a fraction of the original price. I love that this gel cleanser keeps skin moisturized after washing. What caught my attention about the brand was the fact that it is paraben-free and seemed natural enough for my liking. I decided to first give their Hydrating Mist a try, which I LOVED, as I recently finished my first bottle. When I saw this cleanser, I did not want to pass up the chance to try it out!

PM CLEANSING: Before I use a facial cleanser, I first remove my makeup. This step is important because a regular facial cleanser does not completely remove your makeup (even though some products say they do). Nowadays, I swear by double cleansing. There are two things I reach for the most often to remove my makeup: my trustee Shu Uemura Anti-Oxi Cleansing Oil and the Life Brand 3-in-1 Cleansing Cloths (both pictured below). I use the oil mostly to remove eye makeup and the cloths for the rest of my makeup.
In my 2014 skincare routine post, I had mentioned that I only use the makeup-removing cloth to remove my makeup. But since I am getting older (sadly), I figured it is now more crucial than ever for me to take my skin care routine very seriously and pay more attention to my skin's needs.

After my makeup has been removed, I go ahead with the W Cleansing Foam, which I purchased from Sasa when I went to Hong Kong earlier this year. It's your regular cleansing foam, there's nothing too special about it. Although it claims to contain horse oil (a popular moisturizing skin care ingredient in Japan and other Asian countries alike), it still feels "strippy" on my skin. However, I do love how the foam feels on my skin and the floral scent is super nice, but can be a tad bit strong if you're not into perfume-y products.


TONERS

Toning isn't exactly a popular nor well-known step in the Western skin care world, but is a must-step in Asian skin care. While there are many a different purpose of toners, a few of which are:
- To fully remove residues of dirt, oil, and makeup after cleansing,
- To restore the skin's pH
- To provide additional hydration to the skin and prepare it for better absorption for serum, moisturizer, etc.,
- Even out the skin tone,
And the list goes on.

AM TONING: For daytime, I have been using and loving the Kiku Masamune Sake Skin Care Lotion (pictured above, right), which I also got from Sasa. Don't be thrown off by the name - "lotion" is basically the Asian version of the Western "toner". There is no English on the packaging whatsoever, so I kind of took my chances with this one. The sake scent reminds me of the Korean rice wine (막걸리) and this fermented Indonesian food, tape (read: tah-peh), which is fermented sticky rice; both of which I am obsessed with because they are absolutely delicious!
The toner helps to prep my skin for better absorption of the serum and moisturizer. I also found that after I started using this product on a regular basis, my skin seems to be brighter and more supple.
How I use it is I put a bit of amount into a plastic spray bottle, spray it evenly all over my face, and then pat it dry with my palms to ensure that the product is well absorbed into my skin.
According to the description on this website, sake brings a number of benefits to the skin, such as hydrating, brightening, and evening out the skin tone.

PM TONING: At night, I use the sake lotion in conjunction with the Pixi Glow Tonic (I apply the Glow Tonic first with a cotton pad right after cleansing and the toner next), which contains 5% glycolic acid for mild exfoliation. I prefer peels and exfoliation toners as opposed to scrubs because they are physically gentler and not as abrasive. I heard gentler exfoliation tends to be better for your skin. I have not used this toner for more than 2-weeks' worth, but it's looking good so far. The exfoliation claim does seem to hold water as I have noticed that it's helped to bring out my skin's impurities over the first couple of uses.
I only whip out the Pixi Glow Tonic at night because the glycolic acid content can make your skin sensitive to sunlight.


SERUM

Serum is a concentrated skin care treatment that provides various advantages to the skin. Different types of serums offer different benefits according to your skin's concerns.

AM/PM: I'm currently using the Oriental Beauty Tea Serum from NARUKO for both daytime and nighttime because of how light the texture is, and at the same time hydrating without making my skin unbearably oily. Those who know me know how much I ADORE Naruko products and how I'm always raving about them!
This particular serum from Naruko claims to hydrate, brighten, repair, and recharge tired and stressful skin. I love that it's moisturizing enough for nighttime use but not overpowering when worn under makeup.
I tried to find the product's description from the Naruko Canada official website but they didn't have it :(. If you live in Toronto, I believe you can find this serum at your local T&T store. I've seen it at the Warden-Steeles location. You can also sign up for their newsletter to receive deals and special offers they have pretty frequently!


MOISTURIZERS

Moisturizers are essential in any skin care routine to keep your skin hydrated and moisturized throughout the day. One misconception about moisturizers is that if you have oily skin, then you can skip this step. THIS, my friends, is a HUGE infraction. You must NEVER skip out on moisturizer. What happens when/if you do is that your skin will try to make up for this by producing more oil. When your skin produces excess oil, your pores will start to get clogged. When your pores get clogged, that's when dirt, oil, bacteria, and all that good stuff start to party and cause all kinds of skin issues (blackheads, whiteheads, acne, etc.). Trust me, I've been there and you don't want that to happen to you.
If you have oily skin, a solution would be to find a moisturizer that is a gel form or water-based. If you are interested in knowing more about the different kinds of moisturizers, I will post a more extensive guide on how to find the perfect moisturizer for your skin.

AM MOISTURIZER: Naruko's Apple Seed & Tranexemic Acid Moisturizer has been my best friend for the past couple of weeks. Its mattifying property and lightweight texture are the perfect characteristics for it to be a favourite daytime summer moisturizer! I've taken notice of the fact that it does a great job at controlling my oil throughout the day and it goes well under makeup. Click on this link to review the product's description or buy it for CAD$24.50. They have an awesome promotion of free shipping with the purchase of CAD$100 or more :-).

PM MOISTURIZER: Raw Job's Tears Supercritical CO2 Pore Minimizing & Brightening Cream by Naruko. As the name suggests, this product is supposed to minimize pores and brighten your skin's complexion. Honestly, I haven't really seen either of these claims working on my skin, but personally for me, I don't expect much else from moisturizers other than doing a good job on "moisturizing my skin and not making it a lump of grease ball", if that makes sense. This is why I use toners, serums, and other additional treatments, such as peels, essences, and facial masks to ensure that my skin is getting the attention it needs, depending on its condition from time to time.
Like the Apple Seed & Tranexemic Acid moisturizer, this product seems to contain oil control and mattifying properties that are perfect for summer. If you have normal-combination/oily skin like me, you'd really appreciate this moisturizer.
Unfortunately, I was unable to locate this specific cream on their website. I bought mine at their recent warehouse sale event in Markham. Anyway, there are other products from this line that you can view here.


EYE CREAMS

I cannot stress enough the importance of applying eye creams early on in life. As dramatic and cliche as that sounds, I'm sure you've heard of the phrase "prevention is better than cure". Once those lines have started developing under and around your eyes, it will be harder for you to go back and try to erase them.

All right, so I currently have 3 different kinds of eye creams on my line-up that I use interchangeably.

Let's start with the Loshi Rich Horse Oil Eye Cream in the middle :-).

This is what the Loshi packaging looks like. Since it's all in Japanese, I had to look up the description online.
The following is taken from this website:
- Combination of rich horse oil and Q10 works effectively to moisturize the skin around the eyes
- It targets under eye circles, wrinkles and puffiness.
- Remove dark circles & smooths fine lines
- Gives you a brighter, younger-looking eyes
From the few weeks I've been using this eye cream day and night, I haven't really seen anything extraordinary. I've heard and seen that with eye creams, it's best to use at least 2 kinds every time - one that functions to moisturize and the other to alleviate wrinkles and fine lines.

The next up is Lupin Anti-Wrinkle Firming Eye Cream EX from Naruko (pictured above, left). I actually really like this eye cream. It does a great job at brightening my under eye area. Also, if you look closely enough, you can see some very fine sparkles and a slight pearlescent finish. It's so pretty! I apply this in the morning on top of the Loshi eye cream.

At night, I apply the blue eye cream pictured above on the far right. It's the Meishoku Placenta Whitening Eye Cream. Even though it has the word "whitening" in the name, I have not seen any whitening effects on my under eye, nor around the eye area. But I like how this cream is so moisturizing and just perfect for nighttime. Sometimes I layer this on top of the Loshi cream and other times I apply it under or on top the Naruko Lupin eye cream, depending on my mood.


NIGHT GELLIES/MASKS

On days when my skin needs a bit of a hydration boost, I apply a gel-based cream/mask that I leave on overnight. There are 3 that I currently use at the moment:

1. Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel Cream
2. Fresh Rose Face Mask
3. It's Skin Hyaluronic Acid Moisture Cream

All 3 of them pretty much serve the same main purpose - hydration. I just switch around between the 3 depending on my mood that day :-).

If I were to rank them, it'd be in this order: Fresh Rose Mask, It's Skin Moisture Cream, and the Neutrogena Gel Cream.

That's it for my skin care routine! If you're interested to see each product mentioned here in more detail, just drop me a line because I'd be glad to do an in-depth review :-).

I hope everything is having a great week!

xo
Hazel

New Contributor! (Ina)

Dear Philovesochic readers,

We are absolutely thrilled to announce its new contributor, Ina! Her posts will be under THIS label. We welcome Ina to the family and look forward to reading her helpful and exciting posts! :-)

xoxo,
PhilovesoFAM

Newly Married

Hello, my friends. It's been a while. If you didn't already know, my ex-fiance and I got hitched this past April Fool's Day. He put a ring on it forever - done deal! As a newly married woman, I've been having many revelations with regards to our brand new marriage, our roles as husband and wife, etc. The following is taken from today's morning reflection. Feel free to give it a quick read. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and here are some photos from 2nd wedding reception shoot in Indonesia!

Special thanks to our friends at Kairos Works Photography for these beautiful pictures.

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As a new wife, I'm trying to train myself in the art of giving without expecting anything in return - at least not immediately. I know this applies generally, but because I'm a new wife, it would be good to exercise this practice in our new marriage. When done continuously, this practice becomes an act of habit, and it will eventually shape your character.

If you ask, why the "not immediately"? Let me explain.

My partner's and my domestic chore arrangements are not determined by ratios or how much we each are entitled to which chores; instead, we decide on what we want to do based on what we like/don't mind doing. For example, the 2 things I hate doing the most are folding laundry and washing the dishes. I don't mind getting dirty socks and sacks into the washing machine, but boy, do I HATE taking care of the washed loads. Anyway, my man has voted 'yay' to take care of these, in addition to the task of giving our dirty dishes a bath as often as needed within the week.

I, on the other hand, has agreed to do most of the cooking, the vacuuming, wiping and swiffer-cleaning of all areas of our 600+ sq ft condo (not exclusive to kitchen and bathroom fixtures), laundry-washing and drying (including replacing bed sheets, etc etc). On some days, he squeegees the bathtub because I don't usually do it. Garbage arrangements are done 50-50 as I would replace the plastic bags in the bins and ask him to throw them down the chute. These are just a few of many other examples.

The underlying point in all of this is not about how much each of us do, but what we don't mind doing. I feel that if I didn't as much mind folding the laundry and washing the dishes, I'd probably volunteer to take those on as well. What I'm trying to say is, when we start applying numbers and ratios to our relationship, it becomes a calculation. When you start calculating your relationship, well... I mean, I wouldn't really know.

Going back to the premise of giving without asking for a return, the fact that I do most of the house work at home doesn't make me call for domestic justice or feel unfairly treated. Conversely, I am much happier knowing that I can serve the person I love to the best of my ability with all that I have.

I understand that many people would disagree with me if I said that we shouldn't be expecting a return AT ALL. Some people may able to work with that, but some are not. And then there would be others pointing out that the definition of a selfless relationship/marriage is exactly that: not expecting anything in return - which is true. But how true can we stay to that "truth"? Does true altruism exist? I digress.

Like an investment, married (and unmarried) couples, even friends, put contributions into the relationship/friendship. But UNlike an investment, we forgo the numbers and calculations of interests. We put in our contributions but we shouldn't be focusing on how much we get as a return. Rather, we concentrate on the small contributions that gradually grow and ultimately become an exponential phenomenon for our individual character, as well as our partner's. THIS is a result we want to see and achieve.

In my opinion, relationships, marriages, and friendships should all have give-and-takes; however, I don't necessarily think they must be equal. What I think NEEDS to be equal is your love and respect for one another. I'm completely fine with doing 75% of the work, but it does not mean that my love towards my husband is 75% greater than his love for me. Nowadays I'm less fixated on how high his love-o-meter is for me, because I believe that when I give him the best version of myself, I help to bring out the best in him. Perhaps you don't see an outcome right away, but it's about the accumulation of positive impact that you keep sowing within each other as you grow together.

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Something About Women

Growing up, I always wanted to be one of two things: a princess (inspired by Disney) or an a$$-kicking spy (as seen in "Totally Spies" - the girls here are both fabulous and heroic). Although I've always been a feminine girly-girl, there's something inside me that always tells me I can have the best of both worlds. What's wrong with being a feminine female fighter? Better yet, you can fight in major heels and wouldn't look as weird. As it stands, I don't think my fate of continuing a royal bloodline will take place in this lifetime, and I doubt there's a secret spy organization with gadgets that double as makeup. However, I do believe that women have been especially gifted with the most powerful weapon, namely knowledge. The knowledge we possess is our crown; we clothe ourselves with courage and dignity. Wisdom is our speech, and gentleness is our strength. Whether or not you are a regular heel-wearer, there is nothing a well-informed, knowledgeable woman can't do. #Letsgrabsomebooks! 📚💆
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Semenjak saya kecil, saya selalu berangan-angan menjadi puteri raja (seperti di film2 Disney) atau agen rahasia (seperti di film "Totally Spies"). Walaupun saya seorang yang feminin, saya selalu merasa bahwa saya bisa menikmati yang terbaik dari kedua sisi dunia. Tidak ada yang salah dari menjadi wanita pejuang yang feminin toh? Apalagi, kamu bisa bertarung memakai sepatu hak dan gak bakal kelihatan aneh✌️😁. Disaat ini, di hidup yang sekarang, kiranya saya belum mendapat kesempatan melanjuti keturunan darah biru dan saya pikir belum ada organisasi agen rahasia benaran dengan perangkat elektronik yang berfungsi dobel sebagai makeup. Tapi saya percaya bahwa kita sebagai wanita telah diberikan Tuhan senjata khusus, yakni pengetahuan. Pengetahuan yang kita miliki adalah mahkota kita; pakaian yang dikenakan adalah keberanian dan martabat kita. Hikmat adalah kata-kata kita, dan kelemahlembutanlah kekuatan kita. Meskipun tidak semua wanita bersifat feminin, akan tetapi dalam seorang diri wanita cerdas dan berpengetahuan luas, tidak ada satu hal pun yang ia tak bisa lakukan. #wanitacerdaswanitacermatwanitahebat