My newbie attempt at building a skincare routine.

I feel like it’s only fair to start this post off with a confession… I never used to believe in skincare. I was blessed with pretty good skin naturally, with acne spots really only ever popping up when I ate poorly or was having a particularly bad period (oh the joys of being a woman). I have normal to dry skin (more so dry in the winter), but also extremely sensitive skin. For the most part due to having sensitive skin, any skincare products I ever tried to introduce typically made my skin worse, so I would stop using them as quickly as I started. For the last couple of years, my skincare by in large has just been Glossier’s milk jelly cleanser, Lush’s eau roma toner, *sometimes* Drunk Elephant’s framboos night serum (if I could remember), whatever moisturizer sample I had on hand, and the annual facial I get on my birthday every year. The only thing is… I would only ever do it if I was wearing makeup, it was never a daily routine.

Everything changed for me when I discovered the my holy grail moisturizer. I know, I know, bold claim for someone who knows virtually nothing about skincare. What you need to understand is, I hate moisturizers, and specifically thick cream moisturizers that leave you feeling sticky or gel moisturizers that leave your skin feeling drier than it felt before you put it on. But, this one was different. The second I started using Tatcha’s water cream, it was like a lightbulb in my head went off and I realized that a skincare product could actually make your skin better… Then I realized how expensive this moisturizer was ($84 before tax excuse me?!?!) and I was pissed. Of course the first moisturizer I actually liked had to be horribly expensive.

This got me looking at dupe videos trying to see if there was a cheaper version of this dream cream from Tatcha (spoiler alert, I still haven’t found one, and am now on my 3rd pot from Tatcha, prayers for my bank account please). I stumbled upon a video from the girls over on Beauty Within, and that’s where my trip down the rabbit-hole of Korean Beauty really began. Next thing I knew, I was hours deep into videos about different skincare ingredients, products, learning what does what and what doesn’t mix with what… and I was convinced. I needed to build myself a proper skincare routine.

I started off simple and kept with my products I had, but started using them day and night instead of the every few weeks I was doing before. I bought myself a lush face mask, and also picked up some more drunk elephant sample serums as the night serum I had from them was such a success. As it seems with the way the universe likes to work, my new discovery of K-Beauty obviously landed right around the time Sephora was hosting their bi-annual VIB sale where depending on your status you got 10-20% off everything in store. To say I did some light shopping would be a bit of an understatement.

*What I picked up:*
Tatcha Water Cream
Tatcha Bestsellers Set
Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Drops
Drunk Elephant Slaai Butter Cleanser
Drunk Elephant Baby Facial
Drunk Elephant C-Tango Eye Cream (sample w/ 100 points)
Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask
Summer Fridays Overtime Mask
Summer Fridays R+R Mask
Biossance Squalane + Tea Tree Detox Mask
Biossance Squalane + Vitamin C Oil (sample w/100 points)
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask
Laneige Pear Lip Balm
Becca Under-eye Brightening Corrector
Fresh Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask
Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner
Isle of Paradise Tanning Drops
Herbivore Coconut Milk Bath Soak

Okay… so I probably went a little overboard. But when there’s a sale, am I right? I have slowly been incorporating everything into a routine, testing out what’s working and what isn’t, and so far have been pleasantly surprised. There have definitely been some hits, but I still have lots to try out. I thought I could walk you guys through what my morning and night routines are looking like right now, and then in a couple months I’ll check back in and tell you what’s changed!