My Skincare Routine- Facewash & Clarisonic

Washing my face is the most crucial step in my skincare routine as no product is going to cure your acne if you don't make sure that your face is completely clean of any makeup residues before you put on any skincare product. To make sure that my face is completely clean, I usually use my Clarisonic Mia along with my nighttime facewash. I'm sure all of you know about the Clarisonic by now, but in case you don't it is basically a vibrating facebrush that helps to deep clean your pores and exfoliate your face- a skincare staple if you're a makeup wearer. I usually use this every other day, which is how often I wear makeup.

The two facewash I use with my Clarisonic are the Michael Todd Charcoal Detox Cleanser and the Origins Zero Oil Cleanser. These two are both targeted towards oily and acne-prone skin, and are both effective at making my face squeaky clean without being drying. I've noticed significantly less breakouts and smaller pores since I've started using these two products. The Michael Todd one has charcoal as one of its ingredients, which helps to draw out the impurities from your pores. The Origins one also has great natural ingredients in it including saw palmetto and salicylic acid which help to prevent future breakouts.

In the morning, I like to use something that's more gentle while also slightly exfoliating to get my face bright and smooth and ready for makeup. I usually will alternate between the Alpha Hydrox Foaming Facewash, Meishoku Detclear Fruits Peeling Jelly, and the REN Micro Polish. The Alpha Hydrox one has glyoclic acid in it, which works as a chemical exfoliant to gently exfoliate my face, while the REN one acts like a physical exfoliant. The Meishoku Peeling Jelly is a really cool and unique product in that it comes out like a jelly, but as you massage it into your skin it turns gritty, and you can actually see your dead skin coming off of your face, which gives me a strangely satisfying feeling. This contains both AHA and BHA, which again just helps to clear out your pores and exfoliate your skin.

One thing that I want to emphasize is that all of these cleansers are sulfate-free, which is the most important aspect that I look for when I buy cleansers. Sulfate is an ingredient that's found in many cleansers and shampoos; it acts as a surfactant and is what makes your cleansers foam. It is very harsh and drying on the skin, so I would recommend to read the ingredient lists before you buy any cleansers to make sure that it's sulfate-free. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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My Skincare Routine - Makeup Removers

Being a beauty addict I have quite an extensive skincare routine, so I've decided to break it up and go through each step one by one in details.

The first thing I do when I get home is to take off my makeup; I like to do it as soon as possible because as much as I like makeup I want my skin to be able to breath and repair itself. Nuxe Reve de Miel Cleansing Gel is my latest favorite makeup remover for my face. It is an oil-based makeup remover which I prefer because the oils in it really help to break down and dissolve the makeup. It has great natural ingredients in such as honey and sunflower oil which help to leave the skin moisturized. It's great for all types of skin, especially dry and sensitive skin.

Kiss Me Mascara Remover is a must-have if you wear waterproof mascaras everyday like I do. You just put it on like you would with a mascara, and it just instantly dissolves your mascara. I then take the Neutrogena Eye Makeup Remover to remove the rest of my eye makeup. These two as a combo takes off my eye makeup like a dream without tugging at my eyes.

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My Go-To Skincare Products

My go-to skincare products are products that I always reach for when I have a bad skin day, whether when my skin is being extremely oily or dry, or when I'm breaking out like crazy, or if I just want to pamper my skin and make it look extra healthy.

I've already talked about the Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads in an earlier post, so click here if you want a more detailed review. It basically comes with 60 exfoliating pads saturated with glycolic acid and salicylic acid that helps to treat breakouts, minimze pores, and even out the skin texture.

Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask is just a miracle worker. I don't know how it does it, but every time I put it on overnight, I just wake up with healthy glowing skin. Everything just looks better- pores look smaller, acne scars are faded, and my skin just looks more moisturized and supple. If you're lazy and don't want to pile on a bunch of different skincare products every night, definitely check this out because it just does everything. It is also very cost-effective considering that it comes with 100 mL of product and only costs  $27; a regular good moisturizer usually comes with 30-50 mL of product and costs  anywhere between $30- $50. It also smells amazing, which always helps me to sleep better during the night.

Got blackheads? No problem- IsQueen King Olive Sebum Care Mask will solve your problem. It is a black thick paste that you put on your nose area; it dries after about 15 minutes and you can just peel it off. I usually use this mask after a shower because the warm water in the shower helps to open up your pores, letting the mask do its job better. This is much gentler on the skin than nose strips, which can be really damaging for your skin and sometimes can even enlarge your pores in the process. It is also much more effective than the traditional nose strips because as it dries, it really gets deep down into the pores and holds on to your blackheads and whiteheads. You can find this on Sasa.com for around $10.

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm is what I use when I have a dry, flaky skin day. It acts as a moisturizer and primer in one to help to make the skin look moisturized and glowing. This completely takes away the flakiness of my skin while also providing a smooth base for my foundation. This is a cult favorite and apparently many celebrities also use this. You can also use this as a mask but I just find it to be too wasteful as this is not a cheap product.

Clarins Lotus Oil has been my go-to moisturizer lately; I never thought that an oil could do so much for my skin. Many of you may be afraid to use oils on your skin, especially those with oily skins. But the reason why your skin is oily  is because there is an imbalance between the lipid and water content in your skin, leading to dehydration and an over-production of oils, so putting back oil in your skin will just help to balance your skin and make it less oily, which is exactly what this product does. I've noticed a significant reduction in the oiliness of my skin, and because the oil content in this product are all natural and plant-derived, it won't clog your pores. Clarins also makes other versions of this product for normal and dry skin. I find that I can use this year-round because it's very hydrating for my skin without being greasy. It does take a while to be absorbed, but when I wake up in the morning my skin just looks glowing and hydrated.

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Current Favorites #1

I want to start this new segment on my blog where I talk about my current favorite beauty products. Although I'm constantly trying out new beauty products, I do want to make sure that I use a product for at least two weeks before I mention it on my blog, so I will try to do these posts every other week.

First up is Buxom Lipcream in Berry Blast, which is probably the only lip gloss that I wear on a daily basis. It glides on the lips buttery smooth and doesn't feel sticky at all. It is extremely pigmented and can be worn alone. This is great for those of you who want bigger lips because it will make your lips look super juicy, glossy and moisturized. It also has a slightly tingly sensation when you put it on, which doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. Berry Blast is a gorgeous hot pink color and I definitely want to go back and pick up more shades. I used to hate lip glosses, but this has me totally converted.

The Clarins Evermatte Foundation is an oil-free foundation that gives medium coverage yet still feels light and natural on the skin. Clarins is a brand that never lets me down; all of their products that I've tried so far have been super impressive and this one is no exception. This is definitely gonna be my go-to foundation for the summer.

The Dollywink Volume Mascara is my newly found holy grail mascara. For many years, I relied on the Kiss Me Long & Curl Mascara as my go-to mascara; it is extremely waterproof and smudge-proof, which is just a godsend for my extremely oily eyelids. Personally, I find that Asian mascaras in general are better at being smudge-proof and waterproof than a lot of the Western mascaras. I have to say that the Dollywink mascara is just a little bit better at giving my lashes length and volume than the Kiss Me mascara does, while still being waterproof and smudge-proof. I still wear the Kiss Me one for everyday just because it looks more natural, but if I'm going out or if I just want my eyes to look extra big, I will go for the Dollywink one.

This is a fiber mascara which I prefer because the fibers really help to lengthen my lashes. It has a pretty big wand with a small tip, which helps to get to the really hard-to-get corners of your eyes. You can find this on Ebay or any other Asian beauty sites for around $15.

Turquoise has been the IT color this spring and summer; I've been seeing it everywhere from the runways to magazines. Dior and Lancome have both came out with a turqoise liner in their latest spring collections, and I've been coveting them for a while, but I wasn't about the spend almost $30 on an eyeliner. So I did a little search online and stumbled onto the Holika Holika Waterproof Eyeliner in Emerald Green, which is only $6 on Ebay. Color-wise, it is an exact dupe of Dior's Diorshow Liner in Aqua Green. It's also super creamy and pigmented, and lasts all day on both my upper lash line and my waterline. This will just give your makeup a bright pop of color that's super on-trend for the spring and summer.

Since the weather has been getting warmer, I've been opting for more simple makeup. I've just been wearing Benefit's Buckle Bunny all over my eyelids lately. It is a beautiful shade that has so many dimensions to it. When worn sheerly, it gives your lids this beautiful rosegold color; when you build up the color, it looks more like a warm bronzy brown. What I do is that I put a sheer layer all over the lids and build the color in the crease. This color works to brighten and define your eyes at the same time.

Here are the swatches:

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My Current Obsession- Cream Blushes

For me, spring means glowy skin, and the best way to achieve that is to use cream blushes. I think that cream blushes can do so much for your skin- a sheer layer of it on your cheekbones can give you that really healthy dewy glow; you can also build up the color to give your face a natural tint. Cream blushes are suitable for all skin types, even for people with oily skin, as long as you have a good primer underneath and set it with a setting spray.

In general, I prefer blushes with a peachy tone, just because I have a lot of redness going on on my skin so any blushes that are too pink will just emphasize the redness. I know  that these colors all look pretty similar in the pan, but I promise you that they will give you different looks when you actually wear it on your face.

The first color is NYX Boho Chic. I absolutely adore blushes from NYX; they're so pigmented, blend out easily, and last all day on my face. This one is the pinkest blush out of all of them; however, it is a neutral pink that won't bring out the redness in my skin. It also dries down to a dewy finish so you can always wear it as a highlight up your cheekbones. These NYX cream blushes are very high quality and they've got a pretty wide range of shade selection as well.

The next one is Topshop Neon Rose, which is probably the brightest shade out of all of them. It is a beautiful coral color that dries down to a powder finish, so it's great for people with oily skin. I love these blushes, but I just wish that they would bring out more shade selections in the future.

Stila Convertile Color in Gerbera is probably my favorite cream blush of all time. It is a light, almost pastel peachy color that dries down to a dewy finish, and just makes my face look healthy and refreshed. A must-have for those of you who like light, barely-there makeup.

Next is Paul & Joe Creamy Cheek in 01, which again is a peachy coral color that has very subtle shimmers in it and dries down to a satin finish. The shimmers in it help to give your face a subtle highlight without looking overly shimmery.

Lastly, Canmake Cream Cheek in 05 is an orangey coral color that dries matte. Canmake is a Japanese brand that makes affordable yet high-quality makeup. I found mine on Ebay for less than $10. I love the cute packaging and it's definitely great to bring on-the-go for touch-ups throughout the day.

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Drugstore Lip Favorites

In recent years, the drugstore has come out with some really great collections of lip products, which in my opinion are great competitors for some of the high-end lip products I own. These lip products shown above are some of my favorite lip products in general, and the great thing about them is that they are all under $10.

I tried to arrange these lip products by brand, so let's start off with Revlon. In my opinion, Revlon has some of the best lip products in the drugstore, and they are constantly coming out with cool new lip products, and I've never been disappointed. The Revlon Superlustrous and Colorburst lines of lip glosses are richly pigmented glosses that are beautiful either worn alone or over lipsticks. The ones shown above are Pink Pop and Bordeaux. Pink Pop is a gorgeous hot pink color, while Bordeaux is a dark red. These don't feel sticky on the lips at all, and last fairly well.

The Revlon Just Kissable Balm Stains are a fusion between lipbalms and lipstains in that they are very long-lasting stains that are still moisturizing and won't dry out your lips. What I love about them is that you can wear them as really sheer tint for everyday or you can build them up to give you very pigmented colors depending on how many layers you put on.

The Revlon Lip Butters are some of the most moisturzing lipsticks I own, so they are great to wear during the colder months. These have a really buttery consistency, hence the name lip butters, and give your lips a really natural tint. These are not the most long-lasting lip products, but if you have trouble with dry lips, these are a must-have.

Just like their name says, the NYX soft matte lip creams are very creamy when you first put it on, and dries down to a matte finish. They can be a bit drying, so you definitely have to exfoliate your lips before putting them on. These are very pigmented and usually last throughout the day.

The Rimmel Kate Lipsticks are developed by the supermodel Kate Moss in collaboration with Rimmel. I love the sleek packaging, and the lipsticks also have that very high-end feel to them. These have some really fun colors and are extremely long-lasting as well.

The Rimmel Apocalips are one of Rimmel's latest releases, and I believe that right now they are only available in the UK, but I bought mine from asos.com which ships worldwide. These are like liquid lipsticks  that are extremely rich and saturated in color. Even when they dry, they still give your lips a glossy finish, and they are extremely long-lasting.

Bourjois just came out with their Rouge Edition lipsticks. I absolutely adore the packaging and the feel of these lipsticks. They are moisturizing while still being long-lasting.

The Maybelline Vivids are a new collection of lipsticks that just came out. They feel very light on the lips while still being very pigmented in color.

Lastly, the Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipsticks are creamy and long-lasting lipsticks that remind me very much of Mac lipsticks. They have been around for a while but still remain to be some of my favorite lipsticks in general.


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A Dupe for the Bobbi Brown Corrector

I'm sure all of you have heard of Bobbi Brown's infamous under-eye corrector; it is a cult favorite of many beauty gurus here on the internet. I obviously had to get it after reading and hearing so many great reviews about it ever since I became interested with makeup. It is a creamy concealer-like product that acts to correct dark circles and brighten up the under-eye area; you can also follow-up with a concealer if your under-eye dark circles are especially bad. Since I don't have a lot of problems with dark circles, I use it on its own and set it with either the Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder or Baremineral's Well-rested. The reason why it's so amazing at brightening up the under-eye area is because it has a peachy undertone, which acts to cancel out the bluish or purplish undertone of your dark circles; a regular concealer just doesn't perform the same.

Well...I've found a dupe, and it's called the Salmon Concealer from Skinfood. You can find this on pretty much any Asian beauty sites; I bought mine from Ebay for around $10. It comes with 10 grams of product, which is absolutely amazing considering that the Bobbi Brown Corrector retails at $30 and only comes with 0.05 oz (approximately 1.5 g) of product.

As you can see, they look pretty similar in the pot, but on my hand, Skinfood swatches a bit lighter than Bobbi Brown. I have the skinfood one in the lightest shade which is No.1, and I have the Bobbi Brown one in light peach. They both have that peachy undertone, and perform exactly the same on my face. They both have that creamy texture that makes them extremely easy to blend, and longevity wise, they perform pretty similar as well.

The only downside about Skinfood is that it only comes with two shades, while Bobbi Brown has way more shade selections. If you're around Mac NC30, then both shades should suit you pretty well.

If you're in a budget and doesn't want to pay the hefty $30 for Bobbi Brown, then definitely check out the Skinfood salmon concealer.

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Nail Polish Haul

Now that spring is finally here, I've been in the mood to wear more bright colors. I typically don't wear a lot of jewelery on my hands just because I wash my hands a lot, so I find that wearing nail polishes is a great way to accessorize my hands.

The first color is Butter London Jasper, which is a pretty pastel yellow color. A good yellow nail polish is hard to come by; a lot of the ones I've tried are really sheer and takes forever to build up the color. But this one from Butter London doesn't disappoint, being $16 and all... It takes 2 coats to get an extremely opaque color, and lasts quite well on my nails.

OPI's You're such a budapest is a periwinkle color that I fell in love with at first sight. I love anything with hints of purple in it. 75% of my nail polish collection are some sort of shades of purple, so I knew I had to get this color as I don't have anything like it.

Next is Essie's naughty nautical, which I bought because it reminded me of Butter London's Slapper, which is a gorgeous turquoise color that I've had on my wishlist for a long time. Although I don't own Slapper, but just by comparing swatches online I'd have to say that Naught Nautical is a pretty close dupe for Slapper.

Essie's first timer has been highly talked about on Youtube recently; it is an unique shade that I've never seen anywhere and it is quite hard to describe. I wanna say that it is a darker version of mint green, but under different lights it looks turquoise sometimes.

I got Essie's meet me at the altar because I found it on clearance at a local beauty shop, and I remembered that someone on Youtube said that they wore this shade on their wedding day. It it's good enough to be worn on their wedding day then it's good enough for me. It is a pretty pinky purple color with hints of shimmer in it- a must-have if you're obsessed with nude polishes like I am.

The last two colors are from China Glaze's latest texture collection. In the rough is a gorgeous chartreuse color and Itty bitty & gritty is a dark pink color. These texture nail polishes have been pretty popular lately, and they gave your nails this really cool textured effect. The only negative thing I have to say about them is that they are extremely hard to remove, but nonetheless they look gorgeous on the nails.

The last item is the NCLA nail wraps (retailed at $14), which has been highly raved about by bloggers lately. I thought that these would be great to wear as accent nails. These come with some really cool patterns; the ones I got are a beautiful floral print. These last really long on the nails, so they are great for when you go traveling and want your nail polish to last the whole trip.

Here is a picture of my nails of the day. I'm wearing Essie's naughty nautical and NCLA nail wraps.

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My Latest Skincare Savior- Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads

My skin has always been congested and acne-prone, but lately it has been especially bad. I've been getting a lot of bumps in my T-zone due to congested pores, and I've also been breaking out like crazy. In desperate need for some new skincare items, I did some research online and stumbled onto the Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads. It comes with 60 pads and each contains 10% glycolic acid and 2% salicylic acid. It claims to minimize pores and even out the skin texture while preventing any future breakouts, which is exactly what my skin needs. This retails at $36 which is quite steep, but I was willing to spend the money to get my skin better.

Each pad has two different sides, one smooth and one quite gritty, which is great for exfoliating. The pads are also very saturated, so you're definitely getting your money's worth.

I can't say enough great things about this product as it has completely saved my skin. I use this during the night time and when I wake up, my pores are completely clear and any existing pimples are also visibly reduced. This has also helped with evening out my skin texture and skin tone, leaving my skin smooth and less red in the morning; any old acne scars that I have have also been less visible. I usually use this every other day as this is quite a harsh treatment, but if my skin is really bad, I'll use this every night.

For those of you who haven't had too much experience with acid products or who have sensitive skin, I would recommend you to check out the gentle version of this, which is just called Gentle Complexion Correction Pads, but as I've pretty much tried out every single acid product on the market, my skin is quite used to the different acids and so I have to use the Max version of this for it to be effective on my skin.

This has definitely become one of my holy grail skin care product, and I can definitely see myself in repurchasing this in the future.

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