#pm regimen

[tcobeauty]

Mix & Match Millennial Pink Regimens

Hi babes. I know it’s been a hot minute (all minutes feel hot these days tbh, and not necessarily in a good way), but work and personal stuff have been infringing on my skincare time, as they so often do. I wanted to share these two #MillennialPink regimens with you, because #aesthetics, am I right?

This first one was heavy on the brightening products, because I’ve been feeling dull and splotchy lately. Saturday Skin cleanser first, which I like, but I’m still not sure if I want to make a regular product, followed by the Huxley toner, and a super luxurious Polatam Sheet Mask. I actually didn’t need the Lotus essence afterwards, since the sheet mask was so emollient, so I followed up with the Saturday Skin eye cream and The Lotus sleeping mask. This felt like a really good combination of products, but ideally I’d like to get that essence in there too, maybe before the sheet mask?

Then I got a couple new Huxley products focused on brightening, so I figured I’d pair them up with the Saturday Skin products to see if I could level up my overall routine to that truly coordinated Millennial level. I cleansed and toned, and followed those with the Saturday Skin brightening sheet mask, which was more of a bio-gel fabric texture than the Polatam. It was hard to apply at first, but stayed on beautifully and soaked up for the better part of an hour.

Then I slapped on the Huxley brightening essence and cream, which seem to me to be basically two versions of the same product. They both have the same active ingredients, and the essence is more oil-based than I usually prefer, so it just feels like putting the same product on twice. I’m glad I got these on sale—so far I’m relatively underwhelmed by Huxley for the most part, but it might also just not be right for my skin type, either. I’ve been getting breakouts lately, so I need to focus more on exfoliation and pore cleansing than extra moisturization at the moment.

How are you babes adjusting to the all-over-the-place weather these days? It seems like winter just kind of came out of nowhere, so I’ve been experimenting and trying to adjust my regimen accordingly, but sometimes I’m lucky just to get my makeup off before I fall asleep at night. Y’all know how it is.

[tcobeauty]

DID YOU KNOW: That you’re technically supposed to wash/rinse after most cleansing waters? I only recently found this out, and my lazy ass is not pleased at this. However, I’ve found a pretty good workaround for those nights when I’m too lazy for more than four steps total, but still in the mood for some kind of skincare. It’s a delicate balance, truly.

Step 1: Remove makeup. Burt’s Bees White Tea cleansing wipes are my OG, all-time favorite. Non-irritating, almost all-natural, and really good at getting even the most long-wearing gunk off my mug after a tough day.

Step 2: Cleansing water. Dr. Jart Dermaclear has been my fave for a hot minute, but I picked up this May Coop White Birch Sap Water and I am really feeling it, especially when followed with some Raw Sauce. But before that…

Step 3: Rinse! The White Birch Water specifically states in the directions that you need to follow up with a cleanser or at least rinse. The water does leave a bit of lovely, tingly film behind, so I don’t think that a quick rinse with warm water and a light pat dry are unwarranted.

Finally, Step 4: Seven-Skin Method with May Coop Raw Sauce. This is clearly not my laziest late-night regimen, but I really do like using the Seven-Skin Method with the Raw Sauce before bed. It’s moisturizing enough to where I’m not worried about a night cream, especially after at least 5 layers (I tend to lose count tbh), but it also has wonderful little tingle that tells me it’s doing something good for my face while I snooze, right? I’ve also had two travel-size vials of Raw Sauce for literally ever now and I need to use them up.

I’ve done this semi-lazy pm regimen a couple of days now, and while I wouldn’t add anything else to these, they do give me the satisfaction of doing more for my face than just a wipe and a cleansing water (if that much, tbh). I was concerned that May Coop products might be for more mature, drier skin than mine, but so far this little duo has gotten me through the night and ready for a brighter day each time.

[tcobeauty]

Another Sunday night, another green tea multi-masking session!

Green tea remains one of my favorite ingredients for skincare: it’s so nourishing and refreshing, great for skin that can’t decide whether it wants to be oily or dry. I started out with my trusty Green Dr. Jart Dermaclear Trans-Foam for a quick deep cleansing and followed it up with Mario Badescu’s Aloe, Cucumber and Green Tea Facial Spray as a toner.

The only really new product I tried in this regimen was the H2O+ Aqua Defense Refining Matcha Peel-Off Mask, which I found deeply underwhelming. It didn’t take off the two layers of my dermis to reveal a magical new version of me underneath, and at $40 for that tiny-ass tube, I can’t abide anything short of magic.

The BioRepublic Green Tea Detox Purifying Mask was also fairly meh, if I’m being perfectly honest. I think I’m at a point in my Kbeauty skincare journey where I know which brands, products, and ingredients are my favorites, and I only really want to try something new if it meets, like, two of those criteria. Fortunately, my Innisfree Green Tea goodies always come through in the end to keep me feeling refreshed and moisturized just time for some much-needed beauty sleep before the work week gets going.

[tcobeauty]

A Sunday kind of regimen: green tea to get ready for the week! I wanted to keep it light since it's still somewhat summery, so I went with my favorite cooling products and gels for moisture. The Organic Purist Green Tea cleanser is made for more oily skin, but it feels so refreshing and preps really nicely for further toning, treatment, and moisturization. The Mario Badescu spray is one of my new favorite products, and I followed it up with my old faves from Tosowoong and Innisfree. All in all, it was an easy late afternoon session that lent itself very well to a lazy Sunday where I didn't feel like doing much of anything at all.

[tcobeauty]

Still haven't been 100% back on my evening regimen game, but I'm getting there! The other night I wanted to do a sugar and fruit themed routine, but it turned into more of a mishmash, and I'm okay with that! I really love the rest of the SkinFood Black Sugar cleansing line in addition to the wash-off mask, so I've been trying to use those together more often. I forgot how emollient the mask is though, but it worked out because the Innisfree Acai sheet mask turned out to have more of a milky essence than a watery essence, so I followed it up with the Beauty of Joseon Dynasty Cream instead of the J.One Sleeping Pack. It was a little gummy at first, but it absorbed really nicely and seemed to deal in all those other goodies for a good night's sleep. Sometimes you just have to change your plans in the middle of your regimen, and I've found that it usually works out for the better, especially if you're trying a new product and it ends up being a different consistency than you expected!

[tcobeauty]

Night to Day: Simplified/Slacking

In case you haven’t noticed, I've been really slacking, especially on my nighttime routine lately. As much as I want to do a lovely, long, 10-step regiment every night, there’s only so much I can manage to do after long days at the office and hours on the commute. So I've been trying to really make an effort to simplify my routine while still covering all the basics in order to make it easier on myself to get it done and take care of my skin even especially when I'm exhausted. 

A good double-cleanse, no matter how basic or simple, always seems to get me in a better headspace and just enjoy the process of washing off the day and preparing my skin for sleep. Even though I usually prefer a cleansing sherbet- or balm-type first step cleanser, Shiseido’s Perfect Cleansing Oil does a great job of gently clearing off all the rest of the makeup and SPF that makeup remover wipes tend to miss. I’m underwhelmed by the Benton Honest Cleansing Foam, if we’re being perfectly honest, but it is nice and gentle and gets the rest of the job of cleansing done well enough. 

Y’all already know I love my Lagom and The Lotus, and this toner and essence in particular pair really well together. Following those up with the Lotus Leaf Extract Sleeping Pack adds another layer of simple luxury that really helps smooth and soften my skin in addition to helping me continue to relax before bed. It’s not as heavy as a lot of sleeping packs I’ve tried, and being from one of my favorite brands with my favorite ingredients makes a big difference too. Being tired all the damn time makes me really cognizant of my eye area looking droopy too, so I’ve been sealing the deal with Mario Badescu’s Hyaluronic Eye Cream to help de-puff and un-crease a bit while I snooze.

Mornings are a little bit easier, to be honest, primarily because I need to take a shower to feel like a human being, so that takes care of at least a morning double-cleanse. Which, I’m not sure if that’s actually a thing, but I’m making it a thing because I kind of love starting out with the Lagom Gel to Water Cleanser to clear away overnight treatments (and more often than not, take care of the cleansing I was too tired to do the night before) before a frothy second foaming cleanse. I’m of the school of thought that a lot of foaming cleansers are kind of similar, but because I’m a brand snob, I’m currently loving the Lagom Cellup Micro Foam Cleanser to pickup whatever else might be left behind and prep for daytime tone/treat/moisturize.

My daytime T/T/M has been varying lately, but I pretty much always will do a toner, an essence, and some kind of moisturizer. I’ve been a bit clogged lately due to slacking, which I will readily admit is my own damn fault, so the Mizon AHA & BHA Daily Clean Toner has been doing a good job of adding some extra exfoliation to get rid of excess gunk. The weather has been weird this summer (hm, wonder why?), so it’s been a challenge finding a balance between moisturizer that won’t make me greasy and makeup that won’t dry me out. Belif’s Hungarian Water Essence and True Cream Aqua Bomb are a pretty good balance when the weather goes from 200% humidity to dry and toasty. With this particular type of daytime regimen, SPF is usually courtesy of my makeup, so it’s an inside-day kind of routine.

And yes, I know Neutrogena’s Hydro-Boost line is a shameless American-market ploy to capitalize on Kbeauty gel moisturizers (much like Belif), but I needed a good, light daytime eye cream and this one was available via PrimeNow. This line is not going to replace or usurp Belif in any way, but this Hydro-Boost Gel eye cream is a pretty decent drugstore product that gets the job done by absorbing quickly and not feeling filmy or greasy.

So this has been my regular late-summer routine lately, and I always find that when I take good care of my face, the rest of the day always seems a little bit easier. I have some products on deck that I’m thinking will work well when my favorite, glorious season of fall finally arrives, but until then I’m going to keep it simple and easy, if only for the sake of my own sanity.