[Routine Update] August 2024

 

I have a skincare (and haircare) shelf! After years of just piling my skincare around my sinks, the shelfie is actually a shelfie now! Little joys in life when your interest and success in skincare has plateaued (once again). 

I can't believe my last routine update was over a year ago. I meant to do this more frequently - r/AB is every...four months? - but my routine since my move has mostly been me trying to pan the skincare I don't want to have around cluttering up my shelf.

What's Changed

These are all separately pretty big changes and they've all hit very close together. So in descending order of what I think is greatest effect on my routine, skin needs, and overall appearance:

Moving

Yes, even though it was only a one block move. The previous place was an old building (meaning older pipes, dustier vents, etc.) and surrounded by construction. Once I moved, my skin very quickly, though subtlety, told me it wasn't happy with my old routine. One of the perks of being too into your skin and skincare, you can notice and troubleshoot an issue it pretty quickly. I had used the Cure Aqua gel daily to combat the dirt/dust/dry skin buildup, but I didn't need that here. For the first time in years, I can wake up most days and just rinse my face with water.

Water. I didn't think it would matter, it would still be the shitty hard water being in the same city and all. But I think older pipes added to the shittiness of the water in the old place. The water here tastes and feels a little softer and my hair agrees. 

Placement of my skincare tools, not just the products, have also changed. I used to have my ReFa Carat Ray and Gua Sha tool right next to my skincare by the sink so it was convenient to grab and use them with my am and pm routine. I can be both very forgetful and lazy, so since I have a smaller sink area and the tools are no longer in as convenient a spot, I've not used either regularly. I don't know if unsteady use of the tools have attributed to the "negative" changes of my skin, but wanted to throw that out there. 

I also get loads more natural light here. It has definitely lifted my overall mood, which I love. But I assume there's more UV damage being done to my skin.

Aging

A year older, whatcha gonna do. Specifically, I think this is the year aging is truly showing on me. 

I should probably stress that I observe my skin almost separate from myself. Some of these changes are likly not something people will immediately notice on me because this is the result of me standing too close to the mirror and pouring over every pore. And while I don't think it's affected my self esteem, I do feel annoyed that I'm aging. But it's a trivial annoyance, because what am I going to do? Reverse time?

So! Things I've noticed:

• Fat/collagen loss around the eyes = appearance of dark circles and slight undereye line deepening. I've also mostly had single eyelids my entire life that only became double when I was tired. One of the eyes is pretty regularly double eyelided now. The other one is playing catch-up. Unever eyes, fun. Oh, and if I don't get a good night's sleep, eye bags. Somehow my thinner skin has enough skin to make bags. Thanks, time.
  
• Fat/collagen loss in the mid-face region = my pores appear larger. I can pull my skin just a wee taught and the pores disappear, so it's not a physical pore issue. Pretty sure this is also contributing to my nasolabial lines being slightly more prominent.
• 11 lines. Barely. I never had them before because I thought I didn't furrow my brows much. Apparently I do.
  
• Sunspots are not coming in cute. I had hoped the sun exposure I had pre-AB would come in like cute freckles, it hasn't. But that's what fraxel is for down the line. I have been trying a dark spot serum for fun (more on that below), but I bought it thinking it wouldn't work anyways.
• Bone movement. I think it has anyways. I feel like my face is bigger despite the fat/collagen loss. I blame having done golki to be crazy enough to notice this.  
• Drier. I was already dry and I'm somehow even more dry. To the point of loving the sample of Waphyto facial oil from commercialpoem enough that I ordered a full size of it. I've always hated oils. I swear, if I end up loving heavy creams in 10 years time...who have I become?!
  

Mood

My mood in my daily life is better. My mood towards skincare...I'm just not into it again. What initially got me into AB was mostly to do with my adult acne. When I found a decent routine to deal with that, I lost interest. Picked AB up again during the pandemic...there's a whole host of theories of why I and loads of people did. Whatever the case, it became fun for me to play "can my skin get better," made more fun at the time because I was living in a novel environment. Friends, if you think SoCal is dry and the sun is fierce, try living in a high-elevation desert in the southwest.

Playing that game on the downslope after reaching the peak isn't fun, so I sustained interest longer than I actually had because I enjoyed helping people on r/AB. But that also lost its joy. Thanks techbros enshittifying everything.

So I'm just in sustaining mode again. It was a bare minimum sustaining mode since my move, and noticing my skin being drier has forced me to try a little harder. Sunscreen became a mostly daily thing, so I hope the fullerene is actually handling it as well as research thinks it can. I even got sick of the taste of my Fine Japan collagen powder, which I noted in my last routine update of how much weight it pulls. I keep trying to get myself to be more regular with it again and I can't bring myself to do it even three days straight.

OH! God. I should also confess my attitude about skincare is so low that I applied my Anessa Day serum ONCE before a 6 hour hike and purposefully chose not to bring it with me to reapply. I came home slightly tanned, not burned at all (Anessa you freaking queen). I have no excuse other than I was feeling lazy and didn't want to carry that tiny bottle.

This might be a good place to mention that mind-skin health connection, known as psychodermatology, is trending.

Routine

Skin profile: NW25, anti/well-aging, dehydrated normal to dry

Season & Type of Climate: summer, coastal desert

1st Cleanser: [MRP] Sekkisei Cleansing Oil, [MRP] BRTC Anti-Pollution & Full Makeup Cleansing Oil

2nd Cleanser: [HG] Biore the Face Foaming Facial Wash High Moist

AM Exfoliator: [HG] Cure Natural Aqua Gel (~every other day)

Actives: [WNRP] 0.1% Tret (irregular use), [WRP] Farmacy Honeymoon Glow (irregular use)

Hydrating Toner: [WNRP] Re:wake Moist Treatment, [MRP] NACIFIC Fresh Herb Origin Toner

2nd Toner: [MRP] Sansim YangMyungSoo Toner, [WNRP] SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion Toner

Fullerene: [WRP] KISO Care Moisture Serum RS (AM only)

PM Serum: [WRP] O HUI Prime Advancer De-aging Ampoule Serum

AM Moisturizer: [WNRP] Sooryehan THE BLACK Essence Moisturizer

PM Light Moisturizer: [HG] Stratia Liquid Gold (only as needed)

Face Oil: [MRP] Waphyto Regena Enriched Facial Oil

Eye Serum/Cream: [WNRP] Stratia Lipid Gold Eye Cream, [MRP] AHC Premier Ampoule In Eye Cream (Season 11), [MRP] AHC Premier Ampoule In Eye Cream (Season 12)

Mask Pack: [HG] Sulwhasoo Timetreasure Honorstige Serum, [WRP] Sulwhasoo Timetreasure  Invigorating Serum (both are sample packs)

Sheet Mask: [HG] JM Solution Water Luminous SOS Ringer Mask Black.

Sunscreen: [HG] Anessa Day Serum / [HG] Allie Chrono Beauty Color On Cheek UV (warm orange)

Lip Treatment: [HG] The History of Whoo Lipcerin, [Discontinued HG] UZU Lip Treatment -2 Sheer Green

Spot Treatment: [HG] Avarelle Acne Cover Patch, [WRP] su:m37 Time Energy Bright Spot Correcting Concentrate

Supplement: [HG] Fine Japan Collagen Powder

Other: [MRP] Kobayashi Eye Wash (black/medicated, as needed)

Thoughts/Future Moves

Since I haven't had much drive to do a review, I'll do a mini review of products here. Mini review would even be gratuitous...it's more like, blips of emotions. 

(I think taking pictures is the worst part of this. I was originally gonna take pictures of each but...it's not happening😂)

Cleaners

I've talked about the Sekkisei cleansing oil and the Biore The Face. So just to touch on the BRTC. I got a sample of it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like it budged my stubborn SFs even better than the Sekkisei. It felt like it stripped my skin a little more and left it more squeaky clean. So I don't use this daily, around once a week. Coincidentally, I had tried this product around the time someone on the sub was looking for a cleanser with an orange scent, so I got to recommend this. 

I can't say that it's HG to the point it'd replace my Sekkisei, especially since I have an unopned giant Sekkisei bottle in my backup, When I get close to finishing the Sekkisei though, I'll have to really weigh my options.

Actives/Exfoliators

I just don't like tret. I did try a sample of Isa Knox's Age Focus Prime Polynoid Wrinkle Cream that I really enjoyed, so I might end up buying that. The Farmacy Honeymoon Glow is old and I mainly use it for my bikini area to keep ingrown hairs and other bumps away, so I use it very slowly. Once in a while I'll throw some on my face, but I don't know, I'm just not really into actives.

Despite my lessened use of the Cure, it remains my HG. I don't think I will ever not have a bottle on my shelf. My dry skin really relies on it too much.

Toners/Serums

Commercialpoem gifted me the Plodica since she was really enjoying it. It's unscented and feels very glycerin-y if that's what you've been looking for! I still have about 5 bottles of my long-time favorite Nacific Fresh Herb Origin Toner in my stash, so I'm returning to that after I finish the Plodica. 

My beloved Sansim toner! sigh. They reformulated it. It's now more of a hydrating toner, whereas before it felt more like a serum. It's great because I had been looking for a more luxe hydrating toner to graduate to from the Nacific, so I'm not mad. But knowing that they probably just upped the glycerin and lowered the percentage of everything else makes me feel like I'm being cheated. I've been using two layers (roughly 3-4 pumps total), so I am definitely going through it more quickly than the old formulation.

I keep thinking I'll write a review for the SK-II Clear somewhere down the line, so I won't go into that much detail here. But despite liking it more than the regular SK-II Treatment Essence, I think SK-II is just not for me. I've been using my SK-II clear as a carrier for my Waphyto Oil or Fullerene. Oh, about the Fullerene, it was previously named KISO Fullerene10. As far as I can tell it's just a rebranding/repackaging. I have some concerns about whether or not there is as much fullerene as they imply in there, but it's minor. (There was a whole discussion with marcelavy and Sol on the sub when we were into fullerenes about KISO having a history of misleading marketing on KISO's end, but because Sol compared the color of the fullerene serum between Kiso, Tout Vert, and Tunemakers, it seemed okay).

I finished my Nacific Fresh Herb Origin Serum and it has served me well. I will recommend it to anyone looking for a biphase serum in the mid-20s to mid-30s. I'm just so dry now and have reliable toners that I need a full on oil.

This will now be the third iteration of the OHUI Prime Advancer serum I've tried. I think I like the PRO version better than the De-Ageing serum, but it's based on my memory of it being more moisturizing for me...and my skin is now more dry than it was than when I was using the PRO, so it could be biased. I have a few sample packs of the PRO left, but I'm saving that for when I travel. Both the PRO and the De-Ageing version are better than the regular one that I had already enjoyed. 

My next serum might be an Isa Knox one, but I have another 50mL backup of the OHUI left, so I haven't really thought too much about it.

Cream/Eye Cream/Spot Treatment

As I said in my Decorte/Stratia Eye cream review, my plan was to graduate one of the AHC eye creams into an all over face cream to replace the Klairs Midnight Calming Cream that wasn't cutting it anymore. Thus far, I've used both Season 11 (am) and Season 12 (pm) that purpose and I gotta say...it's pretty great. Both TesterKorea and KoreaDepart have Season 10 for under $7 as I'm writing this so I might go ahead and do that (unless by the time I decide to buy, Season 11 will be as cheap!). AM, I "water it down" with the fullerene serum, PM I use the Waphyto oil. Saves a step too!

I plan on writing a fuller review of both Season 11 and Season 12 of AHC, so I won't go into too much detail, but I enjoy them both, and like them both more than Decorte and Stratia's. I feel like they work better, but I also don't have before and after pictures, so I might be tainted by the giddiness of finally being able to try AHC. I've been using Season 12 in the PM pretty regularly, Season 11 in the AM...just by habit, probably once every other day. It's not a testament of liking one over the other, it's just that with the applicator of Season 12, I decided it was better for the PM

The Stratia has been relegated to a travel version of the normal lipid gold because of the smaller packaging. 

The su:m37 spot concentrate was purchased on a whim, I knew nothing about it other than it came in a three pack😂 I like it! I don't know if I like it enough to write a standalone review though, so here's the ingredients list just in case.

I think it works, even on my old sunspot. It's still there, so the spot treatment isn't a miracle worker, but it seems a little lighter. This is also after I went on that hike and didn't reapply sunscreen and my dark spots looked darker after that. But it's faded again! It has sped up my healing of PIH left by acne though! Not as quickly as when I was 20, but about as quickly as it used to in my early 30s. If anything more miraculous happens, I'll write a full-on review.

Everything else is in the routine is same so I'm ending it here!