My Skincare Journey

Unlike most people, I started getting acne at a rather early age. I started puberty a bit earlier than usual (around 3rd-4th grade), at 9-10 years old. It started out with some whiteheads on my forehead and blackheads on my nose. Puberty hit me like a truck (a fucking big ass U-Haul truck going at 150 mph local that couldn't see where the fuck it was going). During elementary and middle school, no one ever correctly guessed my age. I always looked older due to my skin. During middle school (my school only had 7th and 8th grade, so I was 12-14 at the time? I don't recall correctly), I started looking for a change and getting into beauty. I watched countless videos on YouTube where it seemed like the only beauty-bloggers that were well-known were Ricebunny (aka Michelle Phan, who I've been proudly following since her Xanga days) and Bubzbeauty. I mean, I've always loved beauty-related things, but I never actually took a charge and bought any beauty related items except for drug store face cleansers. I had very oily skin. VERY oily skin. I could make an entire sheet from edge to edge of one of those Clean & Clear blotting papers transparent within 30 seconds. I used to never wear sunscreen, and the skin tone on my body versus my face had a very huge difference because my legs, chest, and shoulders never got to see the light of day while my face was always exposed. My face beginning highschool I would say was around NC25-NC30, but my body would be at an NC10. No, I am not Caucasian. I am actually northern Vietnamese (my parents fled to the South before the war) which tend to be lighter-skinned.

I started wearing moisturizer with SPF in it. 7th grade was where I bought my very first sheet mask. I remember very clearly, a box of My Beauty Diary sheet masks off of Amazon. They were a gift from my brother that I asked for when he visited. I continued buying them off of Sasa. At the time, Korean brands weren't as popular as Taiwanese (Naruko or My Beauty Diary) or Japanese brands (Hadalabo) in the Asian beauty world yet except a select few (I remember Skinfood's rice mask being super popular and increasing in popularity as soon as Bubzbeauty's skincare routine video was up, along with the Laneige products that she used) . My very first cleanser was Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power Scrub bought in 5th grade (I'm not very good with the whole what age I got/did this sort of thing, so I can't tell you the exact age), and it worked well for my skin at the time. Minor acne on my forehead, and the salicylic acid in the cleanser helped it a lot, along with the microbeads that was gentle enough for daily exfoliation. Highschool happened and I found myself with even more acne, so I went to my general practictioner and got put on antibiotics (Doxycycline), and benzoyl peroxide. Turns out, Doxycycline is too strong of an antibiotic for me and continued to make me throw up. A lot. I have a really strong stomach and I don't throw up easily, but Doxycycline managed to help me do it. Oh, I also found out I am very allergic to benzoyl peroxide and continued using it for over 2 months which fucked up my skin to its entirety but wouldn't stop using it because apparently it's supposed to make me break out in even more dry and painful blistering cystic acne, and I was told it would eventually get better. It didn't. It didn't get better until I stopped using it and was put on a Minacycline topical gel. To make matters worse, I went to my general practioner again a year later to check up on everything; he said my skin was a lot better and he tried putting me on BP again, completely forgetting I was allergic to it until I mentioned it to him, and that he was the one that diagnosed my allergy. My acne was so severe, causing my skin to look like a big, blistering, red mess. There was so much damage to it that I just started looking older than I was and could pass for late 20s when I was barely into my teen years.

I'm 20 years old now. People now guess that I'm younger, usually around 15, rather than older. It could be due to me taking care of my skin or genetics. I have a sister that's a year younger than me, and most people guess that I'm the younger one (including my own relatives such as aunts/older cousins who haven't seen me in years because growing up in an Asian family typically means you have some relatives you'll only see once within five years because your family is so large). I am no longer in highschool. I found myself with some spending money as I got my very first job. I still struggle to take care of my skin. I'm in college now, and I am now a very broke college student trying to make some money to feed her skincare hobbies and pay for her education. The websites I used back then to get my fix of Asian beauty were Sasa, iMomoko, Cosme-de, amd BonjourHK (these are ones I used because they were cheap and I didn't mind waiting times, but there were also sites like Adam Beauty which I never used). There are now many overseas sellers on Ebay and especially from Korea since the Hallyu wave started. Some of these sellers have their very own websites now that Korean cosmetics have come a long way & gained a larger audience, such as Jolse, RoseRoseShop, TesterKorea, KoreaDepart, Beautynetkorea, & Cosmetic-Love. Things are different now, to say the least. So many things have changed. Michelle Phan became sponsored by Lancome and is now viewed as a beauty-guru legend, and her video quality has gone up a lot to say the least. Bubzbeauty is now married, with a chubby little child (I really want my kid to come out chubby... so adorbs. -gawks-).

How did time pass by so quickly... I've upgraded/ventured from Neutrogena's Acne Stress Control Power Scrub to stuff like Clinique's Liquid Facial Soap and Shiseido's Perfect Whip (I learned a lot about pH breaking the skin's natural barrier and stuff of that sort, but I still use this once in a while when I want to have that squeaky-clean feeling). I actually still like that Neutrogena cleanser a lot. I don't use it anymore, but occasionally I'll take a whiff of it in drugstore aisles (I'm strange, don't judge me), and it'll give me nostalgia. As soon as I started wearing SPF, my face gradually crept to a true NC15 during the summer, and in between an NC10 and NC15 in the winter, and the skin on my face for the most part matches the skin on my body. My sister on the other hand, would probably be in between an NC5 or NC10 (do they even make these colors anymore?) year round until she went to Florida in May and got a tan and would now be an NC15 (if she ever wore make up). Very Irish looking skin without any redness or freckles of the sort. I give her some of my masks from time to time and try to get her to start a skincare routine, but she's too lazy to even wear sunscreen (she just never goes out). My blackheads have turned into lighter, unoxidized sebaceous filaments, & my oiliness is now more tamed, but has turned into combination skin. My cystic acne began clearing up towards end of 9th grade and was cleared up until... I stayed over a friend's house and had a pimple on my jawline. She told me to use her Murad spot treatment and... it had benzoyl peroxide in it. My fault for not looking at the ingredients. I managed to clear most of my cystic acne within a month or so and am now dealing with scars.

I am not a beauty expert. No. FAR away from that. Honestly, I don't care enough to be a beauty expert. I just want to share what works for me and works on my skin that I've read works on others. I enjoy snacks, & EVERYTHING beauty related. I also started getting into circle lenses, & bought my first pair a month ago (I'm actually fine with the size of my eyes, I just like playing around with them). I also recently discovered an Asian beauty subreddit and was pretty shocked because well, I never really thought about Asian beauty being Asian beauty. I'm not usually one to be lurking around forums. To me, it was always just beauty. They were just beauty products that happened to be made in Asia, like how French pharmacy brands happen to be made in France, or like how the chair I'm sitting on or how the iPhone I'm holding is made in China. These people on the Asian beauty subreddit take care of their skin way more than I do, and in Asia, beauty is not a privilege but a right. Thanks to them, I learned about actives like BHA and AHA which act as chemical exfoliants. You can get excellent products for the price in Asian beauty. As for me, I'm a sucker for cute packaging and I like what I like, western or eastern. My emails from Allure quite randomly mention Korean skincare secrets like they're an exotic mystery from far away that'll do miracles for your skin. While yes, it can do heaps of help for your skin, it is just what it looks like, a product. Not a miracle. Do not expect a miracle. Things like this takes time. The things I've seen mentioned in these emails are of items I've never even heard of that're always really expensive... Quite frankly, I don't think the brands they recommend are actually as popular as western marketing makes it out to be. Unless you've been living in Korea for a while, don't tell me what you think Korean trends or fads are because for the most part, the closest people get to Korean fads are K-Pop news networks which I see heavily catered to international fans. Being a broke college student, I'm not looking into buying those items when I could probably get more for less.

Currently, I have combination, slightly troubled & red skin. I am currently healing from a cystic acne outbreak due to the Murad spot treatment that's left scars and trying to treat it. I've bought several products online that I don't see too many reviews for, so I'll share what items I'm using and its results to you guys later (if anyone is reading this, lol)!