REVIEW: SOMEBYMI AHA-BHA-PHA 30 DAYS MIRACLE SERUM

After their viral miracle toner that I’ve tried (click here for the review), this Korean brand came up with some new stuff online. This serum is just one of them.

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Of course, they named it (yet, again) the Miracle Serum. Unlike the toner with AHA, BHA, PHA + Niacinamide 2% on the ingredients list, this serum contains AHA, BHA, PHA + 14,5% Centella. They both have high dose of Real Teatree 10,000PPM. And being a devoted fan of centella and tea tree, I don’t mind the addition of Centella as one of the ingredients into this serum.

Packaging: 50ml dark green droplet bottle, just like the toner. And I guess this is my first plastic serum bottle (usually serums come in glass bottle).

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Texture: a mixture of oil and water, so it has to be shaken well before each use. I warned you, this looks oily once applied (I use 4 drops as recommended on the entire face). It didn’t absorb well, instead leaving an oily layer on top of the skin. Therefore, I only use this as my night serum.

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After using this serum for about 3 days, two big zits popped out on my chin and upper lips (unusual spots for me to grow pimples). Oh no, I experienced breakouts not purging. And I believe this serum triggered Malassezia on my cheeks (yes, fungal acne is a freaking biatch!). Then I deep dive on cosdna for ingredients. Olive Oil is one of the main 5 ingredients! No wonder my skin reacted so badly. Another lesson learned, never buy anything before deep diving on ingredients.

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Final Verdict: After two weeks, I decided to cut this serum out of my skincare regime. And the after quitting effect was quite drastic. My skin was recovered quickly after just two nights of quitting using this serum.

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PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

 

REVIEW: YVES ROCHER WHITE BOTANICAL RANGE

They already had me at their claim: No Silicone, No Mineral Oil, No Paraben and Tested on Asian skin.

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Three products were sent to me by the good people at Yves Rocher Indonesia: LIGHTENING SLEEPING MASK, EXCEPTIONAL TONER, EXCEPTIONAL YOUTH CREAM. Their two hero ingredients: White Licorice Powder with its’ lightening power and White Lupin extract with its’ anti-aging power, said to offer uniformity and youthfulness.

Here’s my review:

 

EXCEPTIONAL TONER
Clear with no viscosity. This comes with a quite a strong scent when first applied, but that scent will disappear soon. I applied this with cotton pad as recommended on the bottle, and check out the dirt it picked up! I am impressed, even though this is not an exfoliating toner.

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EXCEPTIONAL YOUTH CREAM
This is a night cream. Comes with a recyclable glass jar with plastic cap. Among all three products, this one has the lightest scent. I applied this after toner to hydrate skin at night time. I kind of enjoy the whipped cream texture that instantly melts on the skin.

LIGHTENING SLEEPING MASK
To seal all the hydration while we were sleeping. Texture like gel, therefore it absorb really well. I do wish the scent would be lighter, though, as I’m used to scentless sleeping mask. And this contains licorice, which is known to calm sensitive skin. I use this as the very last step on PM skincare routine.

CONCLUSION
I believe this range is good for drier skin, with problems like dark spots and fine lines. Those with sensitive skin, please be aware that these are fragranced. Patch test is always recommended.

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

EXPERIENCE: SKIN DEWI ORGANIC SKINCARE FORMULATION WORKSHOP

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN. This mid-July, I had a chance to join this 3 days workshop by Skin Dewi. It’s a local skincare brand, and the owner, Dewi Kauw guided us (like about 20 of us in each workshop) throughout those three days.

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So, what did I learn over those 3 days? Pretty much a lot! See my pics below to see what I’ve done throughout the workshop.

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Cleansing Oil. Yes, now I know how to actually formulate and make one. Check out that tiny weight scaler that I got to bring home. Cute, yes?

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Personally, not a fan of ingredients with butter in it, but it is nice to know how they rawly look like. That cocoa butter on the right looks like white chocolate coins, don’t you think?

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I have to admit, body butter was the hardest to make. Need some hand power to whisk them to perfection.

 

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But I did it, my way! So proud of myself when I put the body butter inside these cute jars that look like Tatcha packaging. So gonna keep the jars!

 

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The easiest to make: Lip Balm. Seriously, it was just mixing this and that, melt and pour inside the container. Voila, done!

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And it was such a satisfaction when my formulation meet the PH 5 standard. I felt like a real chemist (LOL).

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Learning about how to make emulsion. Not as hard as I thought. But, if you asked me, will I do my own skincare formula from now on, now that I’ve learned those things? The answer is: probably NOT (lol). But it’s super awesome to understand the ingredients and formulating stuffs (I felt like I was back in my high school days doing chemistry class).

At the end of the workshop, we were given the certificate from Skin Dewi. And we’ve got to go home with those ingredients left from the workshop. So yeah, maybe I will try to make my own facial mask if I had the time. Anyway, I felt blessed to be able to join this workshop, to learn about stuffs that I actually passionate about and met new friends along the way.

Here’s me with Dewi Kauw, the owner of Skin Dewi.

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PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

REVIEW: KRAVE MATCHA HEMP HYDRATING CLEANSER

I believe this is my first ever face cleanser that didn’t foam up as much. I used to think that lots of foam would cleanse my face better. Boy, was I wrong.

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As the name stated, it was made from Matcha (that’s green tea) and Hemp Seeds, along with other ingredients like oats, almonds, vitamin B5 and Sodium PCA. After I tried their Kalelaluyaha and met Krave’s founder, Liah Yoo in person when she came to Jakarta, Indonesia, I decided to try this cleanser.

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I purchased this from local online shop for IDR320K. Definitely not cheap, but considering that Krave didn’t ship to Indonesia, I bought it anyway.

It is a light brown colored gel cleanser with subtle green tea scent. It didn’t bubble up as much, when mixed with water.

Weirdly, my skin still feels clean despite the not so much bubbles situation. I use this mainly as first cleanser in the morning, due to layers of night-time skincare routine. I didn’t use this as my PM cleanser as I believe I need stronger second cleanser at night-time (because I use heavy makeup).

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They claim this won’t strip or affect our skin barrier while it cleanses and can be use day and night. Well, if you are looking for squeaky clean feeling post cleansing, you won’t have it. This cleanser will give that moist feeling instead. It’s super gentle, and won’t give a tight effect too.

On my sensitive and fungal acne prone skin, it didn’t give me more break out. But, I believe it didn’t help with my skin problems either. So, don’t expect this to clear up acnes or textures. People…please…you need more than one product to fix skin problems.

So, if you need to wash off the nasties, but never want to give away any moisture (like they said), this is the perfect cleanser for you.

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

REVIEW: SOMEBYMI AHA-BHA-PHA 30 DAYS MIRACLE TONER

If you followed my IG (@shintarosvita), you will know that I purchased this under the influence of their super heavy rotation ads on Instagram, randomly on local online shops.

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So, I thought what the heck…it’s not expensive (I bought this for IDR 180K), if it caused me purging or break out, the worst that can happened is I loose my faith in local online shops.

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Initially I was skeptical about this so called ‘miracle’ toner. 4 reasons why:

  1. It contains AHA and BHA. Trust me, I’ve had my experiences with these two and they were not a good ones.
  2. It also contains high level of real tea tree, one ingredient to avoid that specifically mentioned by my previous dermatologist.
  3. This is my first encounter with PHA, oh nooo….after A, B, now P? Can my skin handle this?
  4. They recommend to use this twice a day as regular toner. Whaaaatttt???? After my skin got angry with me because I over-exfoliate (here’s the post), the last thing in my mind is to exfoliate.

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Thankfully they also contain Niacinamide, which is acceptable on my sensitive fungal-acne prone skin. And since they claimed this is a low PH toner, I decided to give it a go. Anyway, how would you know this will work unless you tried, right?

Surprise…surprise….it didn’t cause me any purging or break out! Let’s just see my skin improvements for the proof.

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From my experience with this toner, I believe:

  • This works well for bigger acnes, not for closed comedones and blackheads.
  • It just lightened the redness left behind by acne scars (PIE: Post Inflammatory Erythema). Don’t expect this to erase PIH, too.
  • It made my skin tone and (ooopsss) my embroidered eyebrows lighter too! (might have to touch up soon).

Of course, this is not the only thing I use to make my skin clearer. I read online, those were people who expected this to work miraculously as it claimed, but only use this and nothing else. People, you still need to do your skincare regime before and after you applied this toner. I also didn’t use this to compress my skin, I just wipe as I would with my regular toner, and pat to absorb. Even after double cleansing, my cotton pad still looks this dirty!

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I use 5 drops each use, morning and night after face cleansing regime and before anything else. I don’t like to use more because it can turn a bit foamy. It smells like tea tree and a bit minty, with no sting sensation when applied. The 150ml bottle is enough for 30 days of use for me. The big question is: do we have to continue using this exfoliating toner after 30 days? Anyway, below is my skin condition on day 30 after using this miracle toner religiously.

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I’m just writing my thoughts about the product, as I personally know that finding the right skincare products for your skin needs is like finding a soul-mate. It might have worked for me, but not necessarily for anyone else.

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

HOW TO SURVIVE MUSEUM MACAN: YAYOI KUSAMA LIFE IS THE HEART OF A RAINBOW

Last week, still on Lebaran’s holiday (for some), I went to this museum, not knowing a lot of things.

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Don’t be clueless like me, let me share you some things I’ve learned during my visit there to avoid any disappointments.

  1. Don’t bother using big tote bag. They only allowed small bag which can only fit your phone and wallet. Otherwise your big bag must be stored in their cloakroom.
  2. Don’t bother bringing your super hip mirrorless or DSLR camera. They only allowed you to shoot with your smart phone (bring a good one!). And no selfie sticks are allowed too!
  3. Wear summer clothing, as it can be hot inside (even with their AC on).
  4. Wear something plain if you’re planning to take lots of selfies, as the background are (obviously) dotted.
  5. Be patient. Security guards are annoying, especially on long queues.
  6. Hold your temptation to touch things aka don’t you dare touch anything. Don’t worry, you’ll be constantly remembered by the staffs (another annoying stuff).
  7. Wear shoes that can easily be take off, as some area forbid you to wear shoes.
  8. Act fast, and take photos faster. Some room only allowed 15 seconds.
  9. One session (two hours) can accommodate 800 people, so imagine having to share with them.
  10. Some lines will be closed at 6 pm and 7 pm, so arrange your time of arrival accordingly.

Here are some of the pics I’ve taken with my smartphone during my day at this museum.

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THE INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM was the longest queue in this museum. It took me 45 minutes. Luckily, we are allowed to enter this room individually, even though only for 15 seconds.

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Finally, on the 6th floor, you’d find THE OBLITERATION ROOM full of colorful sticker dots, sticked by previous museum visitors. They allowed you to stay in this room for 3 minutes (the longest in this museum), so take your time and lots of photos here. They will give you a sheet of those stickers, but if you didn’t use it, they’ll get it back. They didn’t allow you to stick the stickers on your body, by the way. So, just stick those stickers somewhere!

YAYOI KUSAMA LIFE IS THE HEART OF A RAINBOW will be available until September 9, 2018. Last words from me, buy ticket(s) online and ride online taxis there (or park across the building).

Good luck!

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

‘ANGRY SKIN’ AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT

Just when I thought my fungal acne is getting better (sigh).

Actually they are quite calm now, but suddenly bigger acnes popped out of nowhere, on my temples only! Stressed? Check! Lack of sleep? Check! Too much dairy and sugar? Definitely! Oh man, like seriously nothing helped at this point of my skincare journey.

I can’t believe I posted this before-after picture, when the after picture looked worse than the before (I so hate my life right now).

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On those horrible days, I’ve tried almost everything from Benzoyl Peroxide, Azelaic Acid, Niacinamide, BHA, AHA, Lactic Acid, Centella Asiatica to heal those two spots. Unfortunately, none worked! I assumed, I might have been over-exfoliating and my skin became confused by too many active ingredients. So, I decided to completely cut down my skincare regime, morning and night. I also limit my chemical exfoliation to once a month, rather than twice a week like I used to do. And I tried sulfur as spot treatment, using a local brand product. Why? Because according to simpleskincarescience.com, sulfur can treat fungal acne because it produces penthationic acid which is toxic to fungi, and it may also directly inhibit malassezia (read: my nightmare).

Without further adieu, here are my (much) shorten skincare routine.

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AM ROUTINE
Cleanser: COSRX LOW PH GOOD MORNING GEL CLEANSER. Not very foamy with quite heavy tea tree scent. I was worried that it’s going to cause purging, but it’s not. Pheeww!!!

Toner: SOMEBYMI AHA-BHA-PHA 30 DAYS MIRACLE TONER. I (sort of) ditched my regular toner (Nacific Calendula) for this. Thanks to their super heavy rotation ad on instagram, I am sold. So far so good, no purging. I will keep you updated, because they claimed this toner will bring miracle if used continuously for 30 days. Fingers crossed!

Serum: DR JART+ CICAPAIR SERUM. This is quite an expensive serum (must be the packaging price). I just tried to empty this bottle, even though I believe it didn’t show any magic result on my skin. But at least, it didn’t cause me any break out. I wouldn’t repurchase this, will try other serum (I am thinking Lee Gee Haam).

Moisturizer: SEBAMED CLEAR FACE CARE GEL mixed with THE ORDINARY 100% PLANT-DERIVED SQUALANE. To reduce the tackiness of the gel, I always mixed it with squalane oil. Squalane also add glow to the skin and not worsen my fungal acnes.

Sunscreen: SKIN AQUA UV MOISTURE GEL SPF 30 PA++. It’s not a clear gel, for sure. Milky white when poured, but luckily no white cast when applied. Easy to absorb and feels very light on skin. Best of all, did not cause any break out.

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PM ROUTINE
First Cleanser: BIODERMA SENSIBIO H2O. Long time favorite of mine, long before they legally sold in my local drugstores. Been trying this and that, but always go back to this (it’s da best, what can I say)

Second Cleanser: KRAVE BEAUTY MATCHA HEMP HYDRATING CLEANSER. Don’t expect too much foam if you use this, but trust me, my skin never felt cleaner and healthier.

In the shower mask: BLITHE PATTING WATER PACK SOOTHING & HEALING GREEN TEA. It’s a genius product, I might say. Who has time for facial mask to dry these days?

Toner: SOMEBYMI AHA-BHA-PHA 30 DAYS MIRACLE TONER. Yes, again in the evening. After swiping on face, I apply this on my neck too. Never neglect neck!

Spot Treatment: ACNE FELDIN LOTION. Local skincare product with 1% camphor and 6.6% sulfur as main ingredients. It smells weird at first and the super watery texture is a pain the ass to apply directly with finger on spots, but I got the hang of it. I also applied this on my temple where the fungal acnes are. Make sure to tap until they dried down.

And after 8 days of cutting down my skincare regime to the above routines, this is how my skin looks.

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Those two humongous zits are flatten (but still left red marks), some black heads are still there (one popped out in the shower accidentally-causing an open red wound), but I know it’s getting better. But it’s still day 8, so I will check back in 22 more days, just to see the efficacy of my skincare routine and the products I am currently using.

CONCLUSIONS:

  • Never ever over exfoliate. Just pick one acid that suits your skin.
  • Find one active ingredient that suits your skin the most and stick with it (trying periods are the worst, it’s like finding your skin soul-mate).
  • Avoid skincare overload. Less is definitely more, do not let your skin get confused (too many products = too many ingredients).
  • Being bombarded by so many new skincare products is hard (I know right). Search well about the ingredients and reviews before any purchases.

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

MY TOP 3 PRODUCTS FROM THE ORDINARY

Hence the name, trust me…there are nothing ordinary about THE ORDINARY.

Who doesn’t love high-quality skin care products at super affordable prices? Luckily, it’s quite easy for me to get this brand from local online stores.

It can be confusing to build a skincare routine from this Canada-born brand, because they are basically more active ingredient-driven products. If you’re not familiar with ingredients’ names, make sure you research a lot before purchasing. If I can have my way, I’d collect all of their minimalist dropper bottles, because they will look darn good on my vanity. But of course, I googled a lot before each of my purchase (just to be safe, because I do have sensitive skin with fungal acne problem).

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Here are my current top 3 favorites:

  1. AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution: I used to do peeling once a month at my dermatologist’s clinic. But it was so bloody expensive, I decided to do it myself at home (once a week). Warning you: this burned, especially if you are not used to any acids exfoliation. Tip: start with a low percentage of AHA & BHA first, before jumping in to this high percentage of acid cocktails.
  2. 100% Plant-Derived Squalane: 100% love! I used to hate facial oils, but this truly stands out from the oil crowd. I thought it’s going to smell fishy, but this is plant-sourced version. Odorless, anti-bacterial, won’t clog pores and best of all, can be used on sensitive (fungal acne) skin. Totally a winner, I use this every night as the final step of my skincare routine.
  3. Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%: if only I know about this ingredient earlier in my teenager’s days. Azelaic Acid is an antioxidant that is naturally produced by yeast living on healthy skin. Now that I have fungal acne problem, I was quite hesitant to use this at the first place, because why feed yeast with yeast, right? Apparently, according to Simple Skin Care Science, Azelaic Acid is an effective treatment for fungal acne. This really helped my clogged pores a lot.

Next on my list:

  • Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution
  • Caffeine Solution 5% +EGCG
  • Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
  • Lactic Acid 10% + HA

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA 

 

MY MAKEUP DIET

As my skin is getting healed from fungal-acne, I am trying my best to stay out of any heavy makeup (read: full-coverage foundation). In fact, every Saturday and Sunday (read: non-working days), I try my best to go foundation free. If I need a rest from my working days, so should my skin.

To tell you the truth, I feel better without my foundation on nowadays. Not that I want to flaunt my better skin, but I feel like…if you don’t have anything much to cover, why bother? I used to pile on layers of concealers and foundations on my skin just to cover my uneven texture. But now I realized it was like pouring salt to the sea. Base can’t cover bumps and uneven skin. Great skin are the best base we could ever have, trust me.

These are my makeup routine before

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These are my makeup routine now

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Current faves:

  • Face Powder by Lizzie Parra: this super light powder really sets foundation beautifully and effortlessly to a natural matte finish.
  • Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation: recommended by Simple Skincare Science for fungal acne sufferers. It doesn’t feel heavy on skin with a light coverage.
  • Lakme 9 to 5 Pure Rouge Blusher: super intense blush, one dip is enough to cover one cheek. Because its’ long lasting power, I also use this as my eyeshadow.
  • Etude House Curl Fix! Long Lash Mascara: not a cheap Korean mascara, for sure. But this really did what it claims, long and curl. I love the short wand, very easy to apply.
  • Rollover Reaction Chunky! Lip & Cheek Crayon in Maccio: I left the liquid matte lipstick hype already, and opt for a subtle ones. I love this mid-toned pink shade and the creamy but not sticky texture (I skipped lip balm if I use this).

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA

MY SKINCARE DIET

You think more is better? Think again!

Well, that’s what I thought before I met Liah Yoo last month at JakartaXBeauty 2018. At the exclusive meet & greet event with the influencers (including yours truly), she mentioned about lesser products for her skincare routine. Imagine having 10 or more products with hundreds of ingredients layering on your face.

If you followed my IG @shintarosvita, you will know that I did stock up on many skincare products, mainly Korean brands (because most of them apparently worked for me). Along the way, on my skin-care journey, I found out that some ingredients didn’t work for my sensitive and fungal-acne skin. Now I’m becoming more picky when I purchased skin-care products by reading the ingredients list very carefully. I’ll stay away from Aloe, Alcohol and Yeast Ferments (specifically Galactomyces). Well… basically, things that will trigger my fungal-acne.

At first, it’s not easy for me to do what I called SKINCARE SIMPLIFICATION, because I want to put so much things on my face to get to clear skin, stat! But, I know that what I want and what my skin needs are two different things, so yeah….I am doing this now! These are my current skin-care routines

AM
Start with this gel cleanser

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Moving on to the others:

  1. Serum
  2. Toner
  3. Essence
  4. Ampoule
  5. Eye cream
  6. Moisturizer
  7. Sunscreen

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PM
Starting with Triple Cleanse (oil, micellar and foaming cleanser)

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Then moving on to:

  1. Splash Mask
  2. Toner Wash
  3. Serum
  4. Hydrating Toner
  5. Eye cream
  6. Moisturizer
  7. Oil

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Additional:

  • Exfoliate in between days: with Glycolic Acid, BHA & AHA, Lactic Acid
  • Sleeping Pack once a week after Lactic Acid

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Just sharing you guys, my before after picture (no filter, for sure!).

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Check out the improvement after about a month of cutting some products and actually using what my skin needs! Can’t be happier at this point of my life. And oh yeah, another simplified things in my life, MAKEUP! I tried to use lesser products, like I’d go #foundationfree on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll share more about my MAKEUP SIMPLIFICATION on my next post.

Remember, you know your skin best, so try not to use skincare products based on hype. Skin care is very personal. Like babies trying to walk for the first time, you will stumble and fall. But few trials will make us stand tall in the end. Good luck, dears.

PHOTOS: SHINTA ROSVITA