Read Part 1, and Part 2!

Now I see various friends posting about skin care, and it’s my turn to help out and offer advice!

1. Costs

It’s not cheap. A lot of people just use cleanser, toner and moisturizer, and from local brands too. Korean skincare products cost quite a bit more, and are not really readily available at your local drugstore or grocery. Still, each bottle or tube can go a long way, so your biggest expense will be in the beginning, when you’re just designing your routine and figuring out which products work best. When you know what you need, you’ll also figure out how much of the product to use, and how much of it you need to buy. Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. Listen to your skin!

To each his or her own: Cosmo.ph: 10 Pinays Share How Much They Spent On Their P.M. Skincare Routines

2. Trial and error

What worked for me might not work for you. Even if we have the same skin type, your body chemistry, lifestyle, diet and habits are different from mine. And your body is always changing, no matter what age you are. The products that worked great for your skin when you were in college might not be so effective now! So if you’re giving this a try, be ready for a few hiccups. This one might actually cause you to break out. That one might make your skin dry. This brand of toner might not work well after you use that cleanser. Maybe this moisturizer should only be used at night. You really have to experiment.

You also have to be smart, and to look up the ingredients of the products you’re trying. Maybe there’s something there you’re allergic to? Snail essence is one ingredient that pops up in a lot of Korean brands, and some women report that their skin sort of smarts when they start using it, but the feeling goes away soon enough, and the product seems to work fine.

Trial and error also means you have to give the product time to work. You can’t expect perfect skin after using a new serum or moisturizer just once!

Maybe you also shouldn’t use too many new products in one go. That could wreak havoc on your skin! Add or change one thing at a time, so that if your skin reacts badly, it won’t be catastrophic.

3. Morning or night?

In the past, the only difference between my morning and evening skincare routine was the use of makeup remover and a facial scrub.

Now, I have a routine!

Morning:

1. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser – I swapped this out for Human Nature Nourishing Facial Wash when I found out that Cetaphil is full of parabens!
2. CosRX Galactomyces Alcohol-Free Toner – This one doesn’t seem to do anything, plus I had a breakout! So I went back to Céleteque Dermoscience™ Acne Solutions Oil Control Toner just this week.
3. Power 10 Formula VB Effector, just one drop on my T-zone
4. CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence, just one drop
5. Céleteque Dermoscience™ Sun Care Matte Moisturizer SPF 30
6. Mizon Snail Repair Eye Cream

Evening:

1. Maybelline Micellar Water or Banila Co. Clean It Zero (Classic), depending on how much makeup I’m wearing
2. Mizon Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser or Céleteque Dermoscience™ Gentle Exfoliating Facial Wash, depending on how much makeup I’m wearing and if I’ve been outdoors a lot
3. CosRX Galactomyces Alcohol-Free Toner – I went back to Céleteque Dermoscience™ Acne Solutions Oil Control Toner just this week.
4. CosRX Acne Pimple Master Patch as needed
5. Power 10 Formula VB Effector, three drops on my T-zone
6. CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence, three drops, patted gently all over my face and neck
7. Human Nature Night Moisturizer with Jojoba
8. Skin Genie Anti EYEging

Don’t worry, it took me a while to figure this out too. Research helped a lot! BeautyMNL: Morning Skincare Routine vs. Evening Skincare Routine

4. How often and how much? And which comes first? It’s so confusing!

When I first got the Mizon Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser, I used it morning and night. Then I realized that it felt like the cleanser was a little strong, and worried that it was stripping my face of its natural moisture. So I decided to use it only at night, and to use a minimal amount. It seemed to work fine!

Years ago, I used Céleteque Dermoscience™ Gentle Exfoliating Facial Wash every day, until I finally read the instructions, which said that it should be used only every other day! No wonder my skin felt so abused!

With a ten-step skincare routine, the sequence can be pretty confusing. And apparently there are also ingredients that you shouldn’t mix! Fortunately, there are a lot of articles out there that give you advice on this.

BeautyMNL: The Editors Answer: The Correct Way to Apply Every Single Skincare Product

It sounds confusing now, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

I did, and I’m pretty happy with the results!

Good luck, and enjoy!