As a rejoinder to my column last week, allow me to share with you a list of products that I use and have used through the years. Like most others I, too, am a creature of habit and I stick to those that are tried and tested. And while some people have the impression that I have shelf upon shelf of beauty odds and ends, that is farthest from the truth. My regimen is ultra basic, especially when it comes to facial care and makeup. Admittedly though, in the past I was a victim of marketing and would buy them all on impulse, not so much for what they actually did for the skin but for how they were packaged and what they represented. In due course, I acquired a multitude of products that ranged from being barely used to half-used to not used at all. It was a waste of money. Now I know better and have successfully trimmed down my beauty box to include only those that actually work for me. But there’s always room to grow and every now and then I buy a new lipstick, try new powder – the difference is this time around I don’t buy the ones I know I’ll never really get to use anyway, either because I already have too much of the same thing or it just doesn’t look good on me, period.
In fact, the very scent of it stirs up memories of my Lola Carmen who religiously used it until her old age. She has since passed on but even at age 75, her skin was still soft and beautiful. My mother and her sisters took on the habit from when they were in their teens and naturally passed it on to my sister, our cousins, and me. I remember when, after a night out or a party in my lola’s house in Cebu we would gather in front of the huge mirror in our room and clean our faces together while we recounted the day that was. My mom started my sister and I early on (it’s never too soon to start taking care of your skin, she would always say) and would constantly remind us to use it nightly in a specific way: gently massage it all over the face and tissue off, repeat until tissue comes clear, massage again a small amount and leave it on the whole night. That way, the cream acts as both a cleanser and moisturizer. If you find it too greasy, use a toner or astringent before the last step. I also grew up with Eskinol until I discovered Block and White astringent that works better for me. I have a sprinkling of freckles on my face, which gets darker if I stay out in the sun without protection and it was only Block and White that faded the spots. An even nicer thing is the fact that it comes in three variants 1, 2, and 3, depending on how badly you need it. Because I also have freckles on my shoulders I have started using the astringent there as well and it seems to be happily fading away.
During the day, I just wash my face with water and tone it again with Block and White. My skin is naturally oily on the T-zone so I don’t really use moisturizer. A couple of weeks ago, Richard came home from S-Files with a goody bag of Pond’s products and I had a chance to try their Prevent and Correct Cream duo. Prevent is a day cream that I use now but I’m even more fond of their Correct night cream because the day after, my skin does feel even softer.
Yes, sometimes Richard uses the cold cream, too, although not as religiously as I do. But I always tell him that because looks figure considerably in his profession he might as well make an extra effort to take care of his skin. Luckily for him, he’s blessed with really good skin and I can count on one finger the number of times that his face broke out in a pimple or two. Only when he is required to wear makeup for pictorials or shoots in dusty locations do I insist on applying the cream to cleanse his face. Otherwise, he can pretty much get away with whatever he finds lying around in the bathroom.
If my complexion gets dry (which happens when I’m on the plane on a long flight or when in a cold country), ordinary moisturizer won’t suffice. Whereupon, I rely on Squibb Vitamin E capsule which I puncture, the oil of which I massage onto my skin. The result was very gratifying the first time, so much so that I kept at it daily only to have my face break out. It was a case of having too much of a good thing and I have since learned to use it only when needed. I always have it in my travel kit.
It would do well to have a foot scrub handy at home when you feel like doing it yourself. If you keep it in the shower though, a quick rubdown daily can lengthen the time between visits to the salon and will keep those steppers in tip-top shape.
When I have an affair to attend and time does not permit me to have the luxury of blow-dried hair, I automatically pull my hair back in a sleek ponytail. To tame rebellious strands, both Richard and I rely on Osis Stick Up and Kiehl’s Créme with Silk Groom. We were into Aveda Self-Control before but it smells like tart on the hair and has a tendency to clump. I prefer Osis since it holds just as well, minus the funny smell. I’m not too fond of using hairspray because I don’t want the hair looking untouchably stiff. I was only too happy when Juan Sarte tuned me in to Sebastian Zero Hairspray because it allows the hair to move without sacrificing the hold.
Richard and I also like to open two to three different kinds of shampoo at the same time. Perennial favorites would include Lux Super Rich (for its scent as well as for its being instrumental in bringing us together as a couple) and Pantene (makes hair really soft). On the other hand, Aveda Deep Penetrating Hair Revitalizer works really well as a conditioner. When I was growing up in Ormoc though, our yaya Hilda would prepare in a jiffy pure coconut oil that she extracts by heating the gata until it was reduced to its purest state. I love anything coconut and I remember my cousin and I loading it up and leaving it on the whole afternoon to condition the hair. As expected, afterwards it looked healthier and felt unbelievably soft. Come to think of it, I should do that again sometime soon.
My dermatologist can give me a quick fix for those pimples that I want to disappear overnight but I had a stubborn one that just didn’t want to go away despite repeated visits to her clinic. For that, I used Stieva-A Fortre 0.1%, a topical anti-acne tretinoin that is available in any drugstore, and away it went.
Sometimes people get careless about how they smell or sometimes they just get so used to smelling bad that their senses fail to tell apart stench from scent. Common mistakes are when one uses styling products without washing the hair or not taking a bath daily. Unpleasant.
Nivea and Fa remain favorites because these deodorants protect but smell shower-fresh. There are also a lot of feminine washes to choose from coupled with an assortment of panty liners. I grew up using Carefree and I’m only too happy that they have since cropped up with innovations in panty shield technology – the g-string panty shield and Carefree Black. It’s wonderful. Hopefully they can come up with a beige line too? Who knows?
Good hygiene habits are developed when you’re young and become a routine that you hone as you grow older. Every so often there will be products springing up that promise to do this or that and until you have found the ones that perfectly match your needs, by all means keep searching.
If there was one thing I have a lot of, that would be lipstick. My current favorites are Origins Sheer Stick in Cosmic Force and Pink Lemonade (looks really nice when used to fill in lips outlined with MAC Spice Lipliner), Origins Liquid lip Color in Candy Girl (has a minty feel on the lips), Herbench lipgloss in Tease and Diva, MAC Lipglass in Lychee and Prrr, MAC Liplacquer in Acrylicka, HB_Sixteen in Orange Sorbet and Choco Loco (I actually bought these for my daughter in an effort to keep her little hands off my stuff but it smells so good she licks it off thinking it’s candy!), and Origins Transforming Lip Glaze (you use it atop whatever lip color you have on and it gives a rainbow effect–especially good when the hue is too strong).
I’ve been using Mac Studio Fix for some time now but a friend of mine recently showed me her Bobbi Brown Compact Foundation and it looked interesting because it shifts from cream to powder. I went to Rustan’s to get one in Porcelain but they didn’t have it on stock so I guess I’ll have to wait. I also like Christian DiorLight Transparent Loose Powder because a dusting of this controls the shine but still lets the skin show through.
I’ve always been partial to cream blushes because they look more natural on the skin. The first time Richard and I went to the States together, I stocked up on Prescriptives Sheer Cheek Lacquer in Voodoo. Sadly though, they have discontinued that particular one and when I ran out of it, Pretty When Pinched from Herbench came along. It gives me the exact same effect. Three times when in Hong Kong, strangers have approached me asking what my cheek blush was and where I got it. Used also as a lip tint and topped with gloss, it looks very becoming yet natural.
Nothing still beats the mantra of a natural approach to beauty – drinking eight glasses of water daily, a happy disposition, enough sleep, no enemies (real or imagined), a clean and healthy lifestyle – but when all else fails, thank God for lipstick and blush!