“Nature gives you the face you have at 20; it’s up to you to merit the face you have at 50.” Truer words were never spoken, Coco Chanel, but earing that merit calls for a lot of dedication, persistence and resilience at the bathroom vanity. It’s something I’m mastering and about to divulge the secrets to skin, hair and body success.
Strangers’ admiration of my clear, soft and supple skin is not something I am accustomed to. “Holy, your skin is so soft. Touch mine, I am not as lucky as you,” is a new concept to me as I was gifted with admirable skin “LATER” in life, after many an experiment and plenty of dedication to a torturous daily routine. I am not one of the born lucky ones. I actually had dry skin and suffered lots of related problems in my teenage years, went to school with them extra dry knees and I remember wishing I knew a miracle affordable cure actually called skin-lotion by then that I could use to solve all my related problems. By then, it was only for fixing my appearances, but years later I realized, like healthy skin, hair and body, lots of things take time, resilience and dedication to the end result.
That dedication paid off and my skin lived to tell the tale of the results of successful beauty secrets. My journey started 10 years ago and after a grueling decade of patience and resilience to the daily beauty grind, I am proud to say I have glowing healthy skin! Yay! I’m about to save you the ground work and share my secrets to clear, soft and supple skin. You’re welcome.
Just like most other things in life, healthy glowing skin is not something you can achieve overnight. It does not cost you lots of money, but it does cost lots of effort and patience. There is a very famous Chinese saying – “坚持就是胜利” – “Hold on tight you will win, or Consistency equals to success“.
While it’s easier to bust open a fresh flavoured body butter and test it out once or twice, only for the bottle to be destined for the back of the bathroom vanity, the dedication to the every day routine will make or break the end result. I does take extra effort to force that squeeze of lotion on the back of your hand and force yourself to slap it on that-very-hard-to-reach-part on your back, neck and waist before bed. But it’s so worth it. The best way to make a daily routine an achievable part of your life is to make it fun. Shopping for different lotions and creams from time to time, choosing different flavours and textures is a great example.
Good skin lotions or creams can help you replace nutrients in your skin and protect your skin from getting dry and polluted.
If you have oily skin, it is equally important that you use quality shower gel and body wash to clean it regularly. Most people who have bad skin issues such as pimples and clogged pores are those have really bad lifestyles – not showering regularly, living in a humid area or washing bodies with cheap soaps, eating junk food, drinking and smoking a lot and staying up too much. If you can try to fix your lifestyles, you will realise life can be much easier, I learnt from Beige Renegade a minimal lifestyle.
I spent a lot of money on expensive shampoo, conditioner and hair masks before but all the experimentation resorted me to use any kinds of gentle cleansers, as my hair just glows itself with a healthy diet and lifestyle. I try to avoid extra sugar, take-way food or junk food as much as I can, avoid drinking or smoking and workout with a timetable and schedule. All these these things seem to have been talked about for generations, but they actually work just fine without a huge portion of investment financially.
You don’t have to look for the most expensive brand or luxury ingredients to start with, even the supermarket aisle 7 would benefit you more than you can imagine. I used to think cheap household brands wouldn’t do you any good, but I was wrong. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula is one of the best I have yet to discover. I literally tried everything Coles and Woolworths skincare aisle have to offer, but I always come back to Palmer’s. Their scent, texture and fast absorbing ability means the whole routine is something you get to enjoy everyday after a shower and before bed. Vaseline is good, but the texture or scent is not as luxurious as Palmer’s, plus Palmer’s is made in US with a competitive price-tag.
Nivea is something basic and trust-worthy, since they are innovated in Germany, and I have been using it on and off since 2006. That’s literally 10 years! Plus Rihanna was also on board, so… yeah! The in-shower-body-lotion is actually great, but sometimes life seems just too busy for that extra effort. It’s a bit like your hair conditioner, you just don’t have time for that when life is chaos. Plus it’s super slippery on the shower floor so it’s best to avoid any potential beauty routine miss-haps.
If you are really bored with your current body lotions, try some new flavours from the Body Shop and L’occitane. These two brands have more scents for you to choose from than imaginable and also they have a great range of body butter to suit different skin types.
New Zealand lifestyle Brand Triumph & Disaster offers an amazing scented body lotion (for men) in the subtle aroma of sandalwood and Neroli which quietly intoxicates the moment with a mystical combination of sweetness and wood. I’m simply addicted to the scent moreover the deep moisturizing ability. It is more expensive than any brands I mentioned above but it is one of the brands I have been addicted to for years.
And my newest discovery in 2016 was Muji Store. I tried their “Muji Face Soap“, a gentle yet super powerful deep cleanser. I have never met a cleanser before that erases your make-up and also works as a facial cleanser 2-in-1. Did you? While we would normally have to remove makeup with a makeup remover and then cleans with facial cleanser (girls, how do you do it everyday?), this product does it all in one go. This Muji cleanser really has blown my mind. The obvious effort put into the innovative ingredients and technology has really paid off. The fact the brand doesn’t need Kendall Jenner as the face of marketing to make sales is also a positive sign. So trust me on this, give Muji store a try. Sadly Muji store products are not available anywhere, plus they are not available online in most parts of the world. I have seen lots of Japanese entities make a fortune selling them on eBay. You can see how popular they are!
So, what is your healthy skin secret? Comment below and share with people who have skin issues!
(This blog post is my true experience, not sponsored)
Creative Direction & Drafting Bloggers boyfriend
Editing Emma Clarke
Credit: Salt and Pepper Home Black Timber Tray, coffee mugs || Kate and Kate Home stripe bath towels || Mecca Cosmetica Elixir body oil || Tom Daxon Sicilian Wood Body Lotion || Aesop Body Cream || Muji Store Moisturising Milk || Vaseline Cocoa Glow body lotion ||
