This post may have some affiliate links so watch out for those. If you are unable to avoid them and would love to check out the products I mention on this blog, feel free to click on the links to the said products and purchase them on site! A click and a purchase of these is already a decent way to support this blog. :) To those that do support this one... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, as always.
Do feel free to comment and interact with me on the comments section. Don't be shy to do so. I don't bite. Also, I'd love to read what y'all think about the things I blog here. :)
Alright. Here's another skincare post! I'm on a roll these days on skin care, huh? Well...okay.
It seems many have been commenting about my skin lately. Last one was a good friend of mine in Davao City. Before her was my grandmother. The thing is, I don't really have a very strict skin care routine. I don't go to the dermatologist often either. I do listen to or read their advice on twitter. I follow the Nerdy Derma there. She's also on youtube, the Nerdy Derma, btw. She's just not that active in the latter.
Comments from my friend and grandma include: "your skin is glowing," "it's really nice," "it's soft," and etc. For these really nice comments, I'd thank them. I don't know if I've always had skin as they said they noticed, a really good one but I haven't really changed much on my skin care routine from many years ago.
One thing about my daily skincare routine is, like everything else in my life, I'm super lazy around doing it. Sometimes I just don't do it at all. Most of the time, I only do it when I'm going out. Lol. I also have a very simple skincare routine. My cardinal rules are:
- NO to whitening products.
That's generally just it, avoid whitening products. If you can't help it and you'd like to be whiter or lighter then go for the brightening ones. Whitening products aren't exactly the best for Filipina skin from what I know. They don't really work well either so brightening stuff is the better way to go if one wants to be lighter here.
- Keep it simple. Indulge in only a bit of the pricey stuff (to save up).
I very rarely use lotions, body butters and the likes from Victoria's Secret and/or Bath and Body Works (B&BW). I only get these when people, my aunts send me some of them from abroad. Most of the time, I will stick with local stuff like Myra E's moisturizing line I mentioned above. Oh and introducing my time tested---I've been using it for years and years now---carrier and essential oils mixtures as body oil, lotion etc. in one. I come up with my own mixes, of course.
You might want to ask, where do I get these oils? Carrier oils like coconut and sunflower oil are actually everywhere now. I use Human Heart Nature's, of course. You can get them on their shop on site or coconut oil in 200 mL here and sunflower oil here: 50 mL via Zalora in the old, classic packaging; and the 50 mL via Zalora in new packaging. I would get the 100 mL ones to last me a long time, maybe...2 months, tops? When mixed with other carrier oils and some essential oils. You can also go for the Sunflower Beauty Oil LUXE in 45 mL here that's sweet smelling. My personal favorite is, however, the Sunflower Beauty Oil Bloom. It's slightly pricier than the classic one but likely, less expensive than the LUXE one but it works well for me, yep. The Sunflower Beauty Oil Bloom is available 100 mL here and 50 mL here. Coconut and sunflower oils are my main carrier oils for my body oil (which can also work as a face oil, btw) mixture.
Other carrier oils I use are Vitamin E oil via Myra E and Avocado oil you can get at Casa de Lorenzo Philippines here. You can get Myra E's vitamine E capsules everywhere. It's in local chain drugstores or pharmacies like Rose's Pharmacy, it's also in Watsons Ph. Avocado oil is not available at Casa de Lorenzo Ph's site at the moment. It's also not available in Casa de Lorenzo Ph at Lazada, unfortunately. Their Lazada store only carries their castile soaps. I haven't really tried their castile soaps but I have tried their coconut and avocado oils and I love these two. Hopefully they restock the avocado oil soon.
After carrier oils, I would add in essential oils into the mix. Currently, I just put in 10-20 drops of Jojoba Oil (it's available on Zalora's Human Nature/Human Heart Nature shop in 30 mL here) into the current mix I'm using. You can use other essential oils, of course. Some would use sweet almond oil, maybe, argan oil, the more local ylang-ylang oil for fragrance---I'm not sure what its other benefits are but I love the ylang-ylang scent ever since I was a kid---and more. You can check our ylang-ylang essential oil, sweet almond oil and more at Casa de Lorenzo Philippines here. You can also check out more of their stuff at their site here: Casa de Lorenzo Philippines (or CDL Organics).
I heard on the grapevine Rosehip Oil works wonders for those who have stretchmarks. One of my best friends who's pregnant again used this one before. You can definitely add this in with the carrier oils if you'd like to preempt the appearance of stretchmarks around the waist and hips and other parts of the body if you're carrying or even after you've given birth. It's super pricey at Php 795 for a measly 15 mL bottle of it but Human Heart Nature's is pure and it can go a long way if you mix it with their carrier and essential oils.
You can read more about using and mixing carrier and essential oils on healthline here: Carrier oils and Essential oils. You might also find the body lotion vs body oil/s discussion article on healthline interesting. I use both interchangeably, along with body butters, but I stick to mostly my mix of body oils so yep, there's that.
The key to having good skin for me is simplicity and not overdoing things or overthinking these things. Sometimes, I use these body butters, body oils, body lotions when I remember I have them and other times, I just shower or take baths and that's good for me already. I do use exfoliating products once in a while but it's like, just a once a week or once every two-weeks thing for me. My go-to body scrub is the Sunflower Beauty Body Scrub. Alternatively, the Coffee and Vanilla Body Scrub should work too and if Human Heart Nature isn't up your alley, there's always St. Ives Philippines to explore. You can check out St. Ives Philippines' stuff at the Unilever Offical Lazada store here. Home made alternative for body scrubs: granulated sugar + honey + I usually added bits and pieces of papaya or mashed papaya in mine. Go for the ripe papaya, of course, yes.
All of those and if all else fails you, you can always go for a lifestyle change. Going vegan helps, I think. Or being more into seafood and vegetables and fruits. I normally am into those more than I am into meat.
A way to save up on Human Heart Nature stuff---as the cost of theirs can add up along the way---is to be a member or an advocate of their line of products or brand and get 15% discount off of every product. I'm already a member and an advocate so if anyone here is interested in being one, I can be a referrer. Just leave me a message here or email me at: kgrace_1987@yahoo.com. I check the latter almost daily. For Casa de Lorenzo Philippines' stuff, I think you'll have to email them to let them know you'd like discounts when you buy in bulk or so. They're likely still very active on the site and on their contact pages or so.
Human Heart Nature's products are totally available in USA and Canada through their HHN USA and HHN Canada websites, respectively. I think their products are quick to get sold out, however. You'll want to look out for the next dates their sunflower oils will be available there (I just read it's December 27 for CA).
For those looking for other oils like Grapeseed oil, maybe a cheaper rosehip oil, and avocado oil given Casa de Lorenzo Philippines doesn't have them...these, I found Jade Essentials Ph on Lazada. The carrier and essential oils they carry are pretty affordable. Some essential oils are expensive there but if they are the kind that's imported from elsewhere but the Philippines, then that's understandable. The only thing that Jade Essentials Ph on Lazada disappoints me in is how they don't have ylang-ylang essential oil. They're still pretty good with their lineup of affordable carrier and essential oils, though, so that can be easily overlooked here.
And if you're the type who can afford anything, there's Rodin Olio Russo but I think a good number of people aren't happy with their parent company rn, Estee Lauder. Apparently, the guy owning or heir to the business empire is a misogynist. As I can't afford ROR, I don't really buy and use it and make my own instead. :) Doing this is better on the savings, too.
And that's it for now. Until the next post! Or you can follow me on my fangirling twitter and personal instagram for timelier updates. :)