Yes, I indeed wrote ageing in my title. Even though my heart feels so far from ‘middle age’, my skin is definitely not agreeing with my soul. The skin starts to age from around age 25. Even more so for our facial skin, it suffers the most changes. From makeup to bad skincare to sunlight, smoke (even passively) to even smiling and scowling.
My mother, as a make up artist when I was growing up, have always taught me to look after my skin religiously. She would do the ‘scratch’ test before I leave the house as a schoolgirl, to make sure I’m sufficiently moisturised. I remember showering in baby oil when I first lived in Beijing, China. It was my skin’s first time getting blasted in icy cold wintry weather and really hard local water. And yet, I still suffered from the ‘crocodile skin’ syndrome.
Many Asian women will agree that we emphasise a lot on looking after our skin. This is the region that came up with ‘whitening’ products besides the normal anti-ageing and sun protection products. Of course these ‘whitening’ products were later correctly labeled as ‘clarifying’ products once they hit European and American shelves.
I love my make up. I could have been a make up artist in an alternate life. Putting make up on is like taking paint bushes and drawing the face like a canvas. Totally an artistic experience or expression for me. Even though I use a lot of make up (for a busy mum), I’m quite religious when it comes to my facial skin care routine. Years of performing my dance routine late into the night doesn’t mean I flopped into bed when I get home. No matter how late it is, I will stay awake just to clear my canvas off.
Over the years I’ve gone from soap (as a young girl) to foam (teenager) to cleansing water/oil/milk (20’s onwards). Our skin changes over time and through different periods. I’ve had slightly oily skin growing up to becoming combination (T zone) to now becoming slightly dry (mainly from my hypothyroidism).
I’ve tried different products to get rid of make up as efficiently as possible. Now with 4 kids and a household and business to run, I need a cleanser that will do its job without stripping valuable oils of my skin and not be loaded with synthetic chemicals and preservatives.
For a good few months now, I’m really happy with my rediscovered Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Cleanser. Founded in the Isle of Wight, it means I’m achieving my aim to buy as many local brands as possible. Like I mentioned in the video, I used it sporadically while I was in Singapore and Malaysia. I became lazier I guess as hot water tap is not a norm in homes in Asia. Regrettably, my skin broke out really badly after about a month of using shower gel to clean my make up as I wash along.
It has taken me a good couple of months and really strong serum and some anti acne cream to get my face BACK to the ‘zen’ of before.
For now I highly recommend this product especially to all my mummy readers.
Look after your skin well now and it’ll look after you later.