Day and Night Routine - 1Q'16

Day Routine

 L-R Clockwise direction: Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner, Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, Biore UV Perfect Face milk and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream

Night Routine

 L-R Clockwise direction: Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner, Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate, Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado, Namu Snail White and Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

For as long as I could remember, my mom has always stressed how important our skin is to us. 12 years old Amelia and all that adolescent acne/whiteheads/icky stuff coming up on my forehead. Thankfully, that didn't last too long, about a year into that.. the lady working at my mom's facial place made a face at my forehead and I did my first extraction, cried a little and was given some cream that was meant to help. It did help. It helped a lot. I am so thankful for that lady. 

I started off simple, with Nivea, Simple, .. Neutrogena, found out my skin didn't work with Salicylic acid so OXY was a big no-no for my skin. L'Oreal skin care too for that matter.  All trial and error. My first proper 3 step system was Clinique and oh how I love that brand. Looked forward to every Christmas when they would come out with the extra large bottle of toner. 

Anyway, fast forward to 13 years later on and a lot of moisturizers and toners and sunscreen later... my skin has now moved on from oily-combination to sensitive-combination skin. Much to my heart's dismay I can no longer use Clinique's toners or else I'll have dry flaky skin for days.

So here's what I'm using now that I feel has been working for me for the past few months. 

Day Routine

I start off with the Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner which smells amazing, feels like I'm using chamomile tea all over my face. It's refreshing and so good for my sensitive skin. Followed by Clinique's  Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel which is my all time favourite moisturizer.. but as you can see this one's finishing so it'll be replaced with Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream. I end my day routine with a sunblock of some kind. The one I'm currently using which is Biore UV Perfect Face milk  which I feel is great at mattifying and perfect as a makeup base. I usually have my makeup on for about 12-14 hours a day and by the end of the day it's still decent-ish looking! 

Night Routine

I use the same toner as the day, which is great because this Kiehl's toner is great at removing all the excess dirt that I hadn't been able to wash off with my cleansing oil (I switch between Shu Uemera Porefinist Anti-Shine Fresh Cleansing Oil and Biore Cleansing Oil). I follow with Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate which I had tried multiple samples off before splurging and getting the full sized version. This stuff's amazing! I wake up to glowing and smooth skin and I *love* it, don't think I could live without it anymore. My night moisturizer is Namu Snail White which I always stock up on when I'm in Thailand. You can buy it here in Malaysia but it'll cost a good RM60 more. I finish off with an eye cream (Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado - super value for money. Tons of product. I don't know when I'll ever finish using it) and because I am prone to dry lips and I love lipstick too much to not do something about it, Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask  comes to the rescue.

I also do a paper mask (that I keep in the fridge) whenever I can - about 2 to 3 time a week. So nice to come home after a tiring day and popping a cold mask to the face. Sometimes  I fall asleep which isn't the best thing to do - but it happens. 

Also, another thing that I'm a big advocate of is to *ALWAYS* take off your makeup at the end of the night/day/before you sleep. Always always always. Even when I'm home at 4am and still drunk af, I'll always take off my makeup. It's really important. Like I can't even stress how blinkin' important it is.

If you have any recommendations for sensitive-combination skin.. let me know! I'm always up for trying new products - mostly because I get bored so easily and I just like buying things. Heh. 

xx,

Amelia.