My mother always reminds me that there is nothing more important than skin when it comes to looking good for any occasion, especially for my wedding day. As I'm not exactly the youngest bride (approaching 30 real soon), I want my skin to look as youthful and as radiant as it possibly can. Here is my skincare regime from now until my wedding day (~ 2 months time):
1. Beauty sleep - I try and sleep at least 7 hours every night. Prolonged sleep deprivation is the worst enemy to achieving a youthful skin.
2.
Daily cleansing - my skin is oily in the T-zone and dry in other parts so it needs extra care. After trying a myriad of products, I think I found my staple products.
Step 1: I use the
Shu Uemura cleansing oil line for both morning and evening cleansing.
So far I've tried the
High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil Fresh for combination to oily skin conditions (pink bottle), the
Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium a/o Advanced Formula for aging concerns (green bottle), and the
Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium a/i for dry and sensitive skin conditions (frosted yellow bottle). My conclusion is that the green bottle (Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium a/o Advanced Formula) is my favorite because of its hint of freshness and the super clean sensation that it gives me after use. My next favorite is the pink bottle (High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil Fresh), and my least favorite is the frosted yellow bottle (Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium a/i), even though it's the most expensive by far. I find that even though it's designed for dry and sensitive skin, it actually drys up my skin too much.
Step 2: following cleanser use, I proceed to apply some of this amazing non-abrasive, liquid exfoliant by Aveda (
Botanical Kinetics Exfoliant) using a super soft cotton pad by
Shiseido (Facial Cotton).
3.
Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize - My mixed skin type is very discriminatory when it comes to choosing the right moisturizer. I have tried a huge range of brands from different countries and price ranges. Here are the list of my favorite products.
Eye cream: if money were no objection, I would definitely religiously use the Swiss
CellCosmet line's Cellular Eye Contour Cream. However, at $225 per 29g of product, it's a splurge that's hard to justify, even for me. My cheaper alternative? Occitane Immortelle line's
Very Precious Eye Serum priced at $52.
Facial moisturizer: my current favorite (and probably will remain my facial cream of choice for a long long time) is
SK-II's Signature Cream. Although I've heard about its power for a long time, I didn't try it until last year when I was traveling in Japan. I must admit that I was stunned by its results, and even my super critical mother asked me what I had been doing lately with my skin, because it improved dramatically since the last time she has seen me. So I shared my little secret with her and bought her a bottle to try for her birthday. The only downsize with the SK-II products is that they are not available everywhere. For example, I haven't found any store to carry their product line in France. I had to go to London to retrieve them at Harrods. Luckily, I soon found out that
Harrods' online store ships to France (of course at an added cost), but I could get a hold of my miracle cream for
£123.00 + shipping. I believe that the American SK-II website sells them for $205. My alternative choice is Occitane Immortelle line's Precious Cream which is much more widely available for a fraction of the cost. Although I use it when I ran out of my SK-II cream, it is by no means a substitute. I warn you, once you try the SK-II's Signature Cream there is no turning back. You'll be hooked!
