陳心怡

ucla 2021 about | i-ntel | skin x

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haha hello, long time no see. here’s me figuring out what’s been happening in the last 3 weeks of physics for now lolll

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UCLA Chemistry 14CL: Gas Chromatography notes

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pickups from The Ordinary!!

Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution (acid exfoliation): Ngl I was kind of afraid to try this because my skin had been behaving for 2 months and I didn’t want to mess anything up. I started by patch testing, and then I only used a small amount so my skin could get used to it. I then saturated my cotton pad and went for the full face and there were no adverse effects THANKFULLY. I use it about twice a week, but I haven’t been able to see any significant effects so far. On a lighter note the formula is a light pink color and it’s cute. xp

Update: I’ve been using this for ~3 months and it actually does helps with texture (like when I get small bumps near my jaw/cheeks). However, if I saturate a cotton pad too much, my skin burns for a minute or two. The burning does subside afterward.

Wishtrend’s Mandelic Acid 5% does a similar job (it’s more expensive but still a pretty good price). Mandelic acid has a larger molecular size so it’s a more suitable AHA for sensitive skin. I usually don’t get any burning sensation from this, but sometimes I do when I use too much. The burning from this subsides much quicker than that from glycolic acid. I’ve noticed that this also helps with reducing redness and evening out the skin tone the next day.

Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA: I originally started using this as the step before my moisturizer. However, I recently started using it as my first or second step and noticed it was more effective at lightening dark spots. The only thing about using it as the first/second step is that it doesn’t have much slip and can be a bit hard to spread over the face unless you put at least a drop on your cheeks/chin/forehead. It also makes the products afterward harder to spread, so I usually end up using fewer layers on the days that I use this.

100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil: this smells like the heat pack I use when I’m cramping on my period LOL. I mean it does a good job of moisturizing bc it’s an oil…rose hip is supposed to help dry and dull skin but so far it’s just moisturizing to me.

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UCLA Chemistry 14CL: Intermolecular Forces and Raoult’s Law

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11.25.18 sunday Another trip home, another drink (this drink tasted like liquid dessert tho it was so sweet and filling). Had a SUPER restful few days of Thanksgiving break after a lot of stress from the last week. Met up with a few people, saw most of the people on my dads side of the family over Thanksgiving, and ate a lot of good food. Made a few online purchases throughout the week (Black Friday deals were tooo good for some skin stuff). Also caught up on all the lectures I neglected while studying for midterms LOL

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staples from COSRX

aka the brand I can count on to calm and hydrate my skin

COSRX Oil-free Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion with Birch Sap: This thing seriously saves my skin everytime it starts flaking. Legit is my dry skin panacea. Last winter I went through a bottle of this, and it just kept my skin super hydrated despite the wind and the cold. I tend to use different products every day just to switch it up, but I did notice that my skin was flakier and tighter on the days that I didn’t use this. 

This is formulated with 70% birch sap, which is calming and hydrating. It is a bit tacky, so I usually don’t use it in the mornings. If I really need to (like when my skin is flaking big time) I’ll use a moisturizer that kinda gets rid of the tackiness + a sunscreen that also helps on top. At night, I tend to layer this under a thicker moisturizer or some type of sleeping mask and it’s just amazing in the drier seasons. This is my second bottle and I DEFINITELY would repurchase.

COSRX Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence: Ah yes catch me always adding to my fermented garden of products. Love fermented. This is supposed to be like a FTE apparently, so you’re supposed to use it as a first layer right after you wash your face. Sometimes I use it like this, other times I use it after my toner. It just depends on how viscous my toner is—if the toner is less viscous, I’ll use this essence afterwards. Honestly I have no preference for the order.

So this contains 95% galactomyces ferment filtrate, which is said to brighten and hydrate. This actually soaks into my skin super fast, but I noticed some pilling when I used it under my sunscreen during the day. So, I just use it at night now. I haven’t seen any adverse effects, but I’m not entirely sure if it has made a difference in brightening my complexion. It has helped with hydrating my skin though LOL so I just use it has a hydrating step (which I really need anyway) with the added psychological benefit of knowing it should have some brightening effect LMAO. Not sure if I would repurchase, hasn’t seemed to help or harm my skin.

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Tbh I enjoy using most of COSRX’s products. They’re just a brand you generally can rely on to not break you out (they’re have a lot of products to help acne-prone skin). I haven’t had a problem with any of their products and they generally help to preserve my skin or restore it to a hydrated, even-toned state

[jsy-c]

sometimes I feel like tumblr is an odd place to dump my skincare experiences but honestly it’s relaxing and I like documenting all the products I’ve used LOL (although I’m nowhere near documenting all of them...I have SO many more to write about..especially after I just bought hella stuff to brace myself for another dry, dehydrating winter...). mixing up my skincare routine everyday, watching other people’s routines, and writing/reading about skincare helps me de-stress and it’s so calming tbh

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November 14, 2018 // Wednesday

it’s been pretty busy recently. I finished my first round of midterms ~2 weeks ago but I have my second round in a few days 😭 it’s so fast. I also gave my research presentation this week–it took some time to make but it def helped me understand what I’m doing in the lab lul

I’ve gone home the past two weekends and got some good rest. I was able to meet with a friend I haven’t seen in AGES so that was really nice. I always went to coffee shops with her in high school, and we hit up a new one and got this drink which became the first post of an ig (@jslurps) that I finally made for all the drinks I get LMAO. And lastly, I got the new MacBook Air!! It was a semi-birthday present (and I say semi because my previous laptop was a 2013 Air with 4gb RAM so I needed an upgrade lmao) and this new laptop is so beautiful 

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am currently so thankful for all the new people I’ve met this year and all the people I’ve been able to grow closer to 😌

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UCLA MIMG research: CRISPR-cas9. Made this to help me understand what I’m doing LOL.

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October 24, 2018 // Wednesday

Ochem notes are back. I’ve been taking milk from the to go places and making matcha lattes in my room everyday. My matcha lattes are better than Starbucks or Peets ones in my own honest opinion he he. ALSO I got into the thing that I really wanted to join!! Honestly that made my day yesterday. I also got my chem midterm out of the way on Monday, so now I’ve just got bio and physics next week…which I’m more afraid for than chem. Idk why I struggle in physics so much. Maybe if I just believe I can do it then it’ll come more easily LOL. Also send help my bts phase is back and I literally scroll through bts tags on tumblr for like 30 min before I sleep and it’s taking out too much of my sleep time but I can’t put my phone down lmao

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this might be one of my favorite songs…kind of into korean soul/r&b lately

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Just a quick question I’m curious about: do you hand write your notes and upload them to your iPad? Or do you write on your iPad with a stylus?

For the notes I upload here, I write on my iPad with the Apple Pencil! Endless colors to write with heh. I still use notebooks for other classes tho

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skincare: cleansing

You may or may not have noticed, but I actually don’t have a “cleanser” category under my skincare page. And cleansing is a pretty important step, so I just wanted to explain myself real quick here

What my cleansing routine looks like:

Morning: water

Night: oil-based cleanser (KOSE SOFTYMO)

So in the morning I’ve found that using water is enough for me. Cleansing my face with a water based cleanser either makes my skin feel tight or is just unnecessary. If I can save some time and money by skipping this step, I’m gonna. LOL

At night I use an oil-based cleanser because I do wear sunscreen. However, I don’t wear any makeup like..pretty much ever. So I just need something to get the sunscreen off of my face. This oil cleanser actually doesn’t leave any residue on my skin, so I feel ok without using a water-based cleanser afterward (oil-based followed by water-based cleanser is the general order for most Asian beauty routines).

That being said, my cleansing routine is pretty basic mostly because I don’t really wear makeup. If I did, I’d definitely take the time to remove it at night with a few extra steps because I think it’s pretty important to get out all the gunk that you pack into your pores to get your skin looking flawless during the day. The way I think about it is: if I don’t get it out before I go on with my routine, I’ll just be packing in the bad stuff even deeper as I pat in my hydrating products.

So yep, don’t neglect this step. I don’t have it listed but it’s definitely important! Pls don’t fall asleep with makeup on legit just take a minute to remove it it’s rly easy. Preventative skincare. Amazing.

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UCLA Chemistry 14CL: Distillation notes

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Fellow physicist? 😂😏

Physics is actually my weakest stem subject so if you r one then please send help LMAO (I’m a bio major)

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October 17, 2018 // Wednesday

Time for some life updates. Somehow I feel like I’ve barely studied for my classes. Not even sure where all my time is going LMAO I do spend a lot of time in lab and I’ve been filling out some apps too but I definitely could be studying faster. I think it’s mostly because I gave up trying to study late and just go to sleep instead LOL. Also I got a plant for my desk and looking at it makes me so happy. I went home last weekend and got my eyes checked and both got a little worse ): I was expecting it though because it was getting a little hard to see the board in lecture. Ahh I’ve still been meeting some new people every week so this is nice lul I really shoulda tried harder last year but it’s okay because I’m making up for it this year. Also I’ve been keeping up my running streak; I try to run 1-2x a week with my cousin. OH I also made hella skincare purchases last week for some very good prices so I will have more products to share later. Lastly, I just got out of an interview for something I really really wanna join but I don’t hear back until next Tues so now I’ll just pray~

That was a mess of updates LOL but enjoy this pic of my cute plant