I have been revising my skin care routine the past few weeks since discovering that products with high alcohol content were causing my skin to go nuts. In Part I, I more or less removed some of the L'Occitane facial products from my routine and replaced them with a few Dr. CiLabo products, which were purchased back in October. I had stopped using them then because they broke me out. I decided to give them another try a few weeks back as I thought the breakouts could be due to not having a proper cleansing regime at that time. Sadly, I broke out again after one week of use! My face is definitely reacting to some ingredient in them and I suspect it could be the collagen. Now, I'm using the Dr. CiLabo on my neck, collarbone and parts of my body as the skin in those areas seem to be able to take it. At least the products are not completely wasted.
My mum gladly accepted the L'Occitane "freebies" from me. She's been using their skin care without issues and I really envy that she does not suffer from sensitive skin like me. Sigh... why couldn't I have inherited my mum's good skin? Anyway, it's good that I have my sisters, mum, relatives and colleagues to re-home stuff to. I feel less guilty about spree-ing on beauty products :-)
I decided to check out some options from Sasa and local drugstores. I am a little disenchanted with expensive skin care brands these days. I have now switched most of my moisturisers over to Neogence, a Taiwanese brand that seems to be a huge hit in Hong Kong. Their products are available at our local Sasa and are pretty affordable too, around drugstore prices and the hyaluronic acid range (HA) do not contain alcohol. The first time I used their HA moisturisers, I was super impressed because my skin felt so soft, smooth and hydrated. It was love!
I am focusing on getting my skin care right because if I can fix my skin, everything else would look better on my face. Of course, I am watching my dietary habits too as certain foods tend to cause problems because I suffer from eczema and am pretty sensitive to a lot of things out there. And it's not just food and topical products. For example, I can never go jungle trekking because nature gives me hives... literally. But who cares about nature as long as it's been bottled and we use it on our face, hair and/or body, eh? (I am joking, by the way, as I try to be as "green" as possible)
Anyway, here's my updated skin care routine:
AM
- Hada Labo Moisturizing Face Wash
- Neogence Hydrating Lotion (this is a toner)
- Neogence Hydrating Eye Cream
- Neogence Hydrating Cream
- Neogence UV Protection Fluid SPF50/PA+++ (love this to bits!)
PM
- MAC Cleanse Off Oil (if using makeup / sunscreen)
- Paul & Joe Light Cleansing Milk (alternative to oil cleanser if not using heavier stuff)
- Hada Labo Moisturizing Face Wash
- Neogence Hydrating Lotion (this is a toner)
- Neogence Hydrating Essence
- Neogence Hydrating Cream
- StriVectin SD Eye Cream
- Cellnique Skin Action Sebum Gel
The evening routine may look like a lot but it takes me less than 10 minutes (including the cleansing bit).
I will continue using Neogence for the coming weeks to see how I am really getting on with this revised skin care regime. As long as I don't start having any reactions, it should be fine :-)
ps - The Neogence website is in traditional Chinese and I had to get my hubs to translate most of the blurb for me because Babel Fish did not really make much sense.
ps - The Neogence website is in traditional Chinese and I had to get my hubs to translate most of the blurb for me because Babel Fish did not really make much sense.
