A few weeks ago, I had this nightmare that felt so real, I woke up to much relief… and cold sweat.
I dreamt that I was about to go on my 3-week Euro trip (sure started off on a good note) and I was at the airport, checking in and waiting to board my flight to Narita, Tokyo, my first point of transit.
As I waited in line to clear the mandatory customs check, my excitement quickly dissolved into horror, as the immigrations officer pulled out my toner, cleanser, and a few other skincare items in my carry-on toiletries bag, and told me they couldn’t be brought on board.
He then proceeds to throw all of them into the trash bin… I think the shock and the thought of surviving 3 weeks without my essentials woke me right up.
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The Realization
This nightmare of mine served as a wake-up call to me. This dream is trying to tell me something about my skincare regimen.
Some may call it comprehensive, for the fact that I have something for every occasion, but my nightmare that seemed all too real made me question my approach to caring for my skin.
Am I doing a little too much with too much?
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The “Skinimalist” Approach
A routine Google search on makeup regimens and how to improve them got me exposed to the term ‘skinimalist’, something that is fast picking up pace as a beauty trend across the world, with a decent number of hashtags keeping it trending and relevant.
This approach to skincare is actually the direct opposite of mine; gone are the laborious, multi-steps that are required to cleanse, moisturize or exfoliate.
In its place, hybrid skincare products that fulfill more than one purpose for your complexion. Instead of 5 to 6 bottles of skincare products, anyone taking the skinimalist approach will only have two bottles that serve the same amount of functions.
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Better Late than Never
It seems like I’ve been going about my skincare routine all wrong, but it took me all of five seconds to get over that, because I was already scouring the web for these hybrid skincare products before I knew it.
This is my haul so far:
Gold Flakes Illuminating Facial Scrub, by chái
This product allows me to streamline my cleansing and exfoliating routine, and is loaded with natural ingredients and vitamins (C and E) to stimulate blood and collagen production. While exfoliation is not recommended to be done daily, I’ve been using this everyday, because its contents are so gentle to my skin, I barely even know it’s scrubbing dead skin cells off my face.
Another product by what is fast becoming my go-to skincare brand. While there are many eye creams in the market these days, not a lot of brands can boast a product that can not only remove your eye bags and dark eye circles, it even removes wrinkles and fine lines as well. This eye repair cream even doubles up as an undereye primer for your makeup! One of my favourites to use before I go to bed. The lavender scent just lulls me right into slumber.
CC Lumière Correcting Skin Primer, chái
Chái takes a clean sweep for my skincare routine overhaul with this final item. Since the primer’s become a staple in almost everyone’s makeup arsenal, I had to look no further for a hybrid than this one. Not only does this primer let you dictate how the fairness of your complexion, the CC Lumiere actually doubles up as sunscreen. YUP, sunscreen! Gone are the days where you step out of the house without UV protection for fear of ruining your makeup – you can now have your cake, and eat it too!
These 3 items have easily served the function of what 6 to 7 seven products I use on my skin, be it for maintenance or beautification. My makeup table looks way cleaner now… much like my complexion.
Some nightmares do have dream endings after all!
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