Because most of the people have problems with acne too…
I think I am finally ready to show you my bare face, how it looked and how it looks now, even though I still feel off when showing it because you know, it was pain to be with it…
Left cheek (bigger picture here):
Right cheek (bigger picture here):
I don’t usually take pictures of my right cheek, that’s why I don’t have a picture without makeup from March. This picture was while doing review for BCDation Cushion+ (review here).
I’ve never really had any problems with acne. Like a few pimples around my chin yeah but nothing this bad. But then I didn’t wear face makeup until last year when I got into Korean. I think the breakout was caused by that. My skin wasn’t used to wearing makeup, I only wore western stuff on some important occasions and suddenly I started wearing Korean makeup everyday and my skin was in shock because I didn’t prepare it in any way. The breakout started with a few pimples in November or December when I was sick. Since then it started growing and I couldn’t find a way to calm it back down. So my whole skincare, which was focused on adding moisture to my skin, was changed into acne skincare. And it helped. All the spots I have now are only acne scars (since I had cystic acne, the worst kind ;_;). The good thing is that I don’t get a new pimples! Maximum is one per week but that’s all! Before I used to get like… 5 new ones per day. God, it was so bad, I hated my face (to point out, my face was always the body part I loved the most about me so this was really painful for me ;;).
Also remember my ElishaCoy 3D Spin Cleaner review? Don’t use any brushes if you are dealing with acne! It will disturb the pimples and spread the bacteria all over your face, making it even worse! Trust me, I found out the hard way… Even tho everyone was telling me to stop using it, I couldn’t, I was so used to it that I felt dirty without using it. But the brush is one of the reasons why my acne was getting worse and was spreading all over my cheeks. So please, stop it. I started using it again only last week (and only in my night routine) since I finally don’t have any acne. Just trust me, okay? No cleansing brushes!
I’m adding my cleansing routine as well because it all starts there. If you put skincare on dirty skin, it will do basically nothing. Definitely use double cleansing because “wiping” your makeup with just some micellar water is doing nothing but clogging up your pores.
Night routine
Then I do my first cleansing with this Real Art cleansing oil from Etude House (you can buy it right here*). I really like it because it is REALLY mild, doesn’t irritate and does a great job. Recommend!
I use two pumps of the oil in my palm and massage it into my skin. Then I add some lukewarm water so it gets milky. The just wash off with water.
Following with my Acne Foam Cleanser from Etude House to finish my double cleansing. Recently they came up with a brand new versions of the whole AC Clinic Daily so my packagings are the older ones (I will have two more things here). It’s a great cleanser, however, the smell is so strong! If you’re sensitive to this, it might not be the best option for you. I can take it since I already got used to it (well I won’t throw it away when I already bought it, right?). It does a really good job with removing the remaining oil and makeup. Just put a tiny little bit into your wet hands and make a foam, massaging it into your skin. Wash with lukewarm water.
After the second cleansing, I towel dry my face and go to toner or a mask. Let’s look at the masks.
First I have my so loved Black Sugar Mask from Skinfood (you can buy it right here*). This is a manual scrub. I have a full review here.
If I don’t use the sugar scrub, I go for this Berry AHA! Bright Peel mild gel from Etude House (you can buy it right here*). It’s REALLY gentle. I was so surprised when I first used this. I highly recommend this, it’s interesting to see all the dead skin cells. This is a chemical peeling. Take some into your palm and start rubbing your face. You will see the small beads of skin cells form up. Wash off.
By the way, I exfoliate every three/four days, once with the manual scrub, second time with the chemical peeling. Exfoliating is important if you have acne! However, don’t do it way too frequently, your skin might get irritated and make the acne even worse.
On the days when I don’t exfoliate, I use this clay mask by Innisfree. I honestly don’t use it that much because I don’t like how hard it is to wash off… Maybe I’m weird and I don’t know how to properly wash it off, who knows. But it’s a good mask, it helps the the sebum production (mainly around nose). When I use this, I use it with my clay mask brush, which was like… $1 on eBay. Spread it out and wait for it to dry, then wash off.
Next is toner! I’ve been testing out this AC Clinic Daily Toner for quite some time and it’s really good. It smells really nice, in the contrast to the foam, heh. Once again Etude House recently came up with a brand new versions of the whole AC Clinic Daily so my packaging is the older ones. Use with cotton pad.
Now to the gross part. I got these in a 7 piece set on eBay, nothing fancy. I take my little enlarging mirror and look for whiteheads and blackheads. For blackheads I use the right side of the upper one. For whiteheads I use the right side of the lower one. Sanitize them before, in between and after using! It works really well. The zit might bleed a little but we will take care of it in a next step.
This is way better option than with your fingernails. Do you know how many bacteria you have there? TRY NOT TO TOUCH YOUR FACE WITH YOUR HANDS DURING THE DAY!
My lovely tea tree oil. There are many benefits of tea tree oil extract and one of them is that it’s really good with acne! Just take a clean cotton swab, dip it into the oil and wipe any blood or the yellowish liquid that comes out of popped zit.
If I popped a zit that night, I use these patches to cover it so a) I don’t pick it, and b) no bacteria gets into the zit. At first I didn’t like this at all. When you put it on a popped whitehead, it formed a white coating over it? And I thought it was how the bacteria got in but no! It actually sucks the bacteria out! I started using this again last week and guys, guys, guys. This is p e r f e c t. It prevents the bacteria from your bedsheets, the air and your hands to get into popped whitehead and make it even bigger whitehead! I noticed it two days ago: I put it on one popped whitehead and it was gone the next morning, but I didn’t put it on another popped whitehead and the whitehead was there again and bigger than when I popped it. So really, HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS, PATCHES ARE A MUST! You can buy them right here*.
As you can see, I don’t use a moisturizer at the night. And that’s because of what my dermatologist said to me. Acne is cured by dryness. You need to suck up all the moisture from the acne so the bacteria doesn’t have any ‘food’ to eat and to grow. Oily skin is something different. Oily skin is cured by adding extra moisturizing creams. But if you have acne, stay away from moisturizers for the night!
Morning skincare
I start my day with this cleansing water. I’m too lazy to use foam, this does the same thing but faster. I also use this one for the night if I don’t wear makeup. It’s fast and effective. I’ve tried to remove makeup with this and it work great as well. Highly recommend.
Toner again, same thing.
If I don’t wear makeup and stay home that day and have a zit from a night before that was covered with patch, I reapply a new patch on it.
On makeup days, I use this Hinoki Water Mist from Etude House on my puffs before using them with makeup. Sometimes I spray it over my face after the makeup is applied. The smell is amazing. However, I don’t use it every day.
Okay so that is all, you don’t have to use these exact same things, I’m going to try new ones once I empty these, it’s not really good for skin to use the same products over and over and over. I’m talking about the oil, foam and toner.
Thank you for reading~ If you found this was helpful, leave a like and comment and share the post, it would mean a lot to me~
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment down below or contact me.
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored or anything, these products really did help me!
* This link is an affiliate link (click for my full disclaimer).
