it's winter. queue the dry skin.

 this is what my skin looks like when i have a "natural" makeup look going on

and this is pretty much my everyday "no makeup" look, but i do have some under eye concealer, a little bronzer and a tiny bit of watercolor blush, and eyebrows done, but i'm not wearing foundation here or any concealer on my face (except under eye) and my skin is looking more clear and glowy than it has in awhile

oh my goodness.  so, one of the "perks" of aging, for me, seems to be dry skin in the winter time.

ever since starting on this skincare adventure last spring, which has turned into an all out obsession over korean skincare products and routines, my skin has been getting progressively more soft, glowy, plump, and less prone to breakouts.  everything was great.  i even went a little over a month in the summer where i didn't break out once and my skin looked so good!  it was glorious!

and then the seasons changed.  and then it got colder and drier.  and i got a cold that lasted forever and in that time my skin freaked out.  it was uneven in tone, with splotchy redness, and i was breaking out everyday.  i didn't know if it was because of the weather change or the fact that my body was fighting off some nasty virus or what.

so i started being conscious about the amount of water i was drinking in the day.  and i got more multi-vitamins and started taking those.  and then i noticed that the skin on my face was feeling tight. and when i wore makeup, it started looking flaky and not as smooth.  and my skin was not as radiant. it looked dull.  and although it seemed dry, it was oily?  and the breakouts!  grrrrr!  what the hell?  i hadn't changed my skincare routine, so i didn't understand what the problem was.

and then it dawned on me that i probably needed to switch up my skincare routine a little bit for the winter.  and i did my research on the inter webs.  and i read a bunch of articles on my trusted korean beauty websites.  and apparently this is a thing!  in the winter, most of us need to switch up our skincare products!

i learned that probably my skin was dry but also dehydrated.  and i was breaking out because my skin was producing more sebum.  because it was dry.  and so to compensate, it produces more oil.  which causes breakouts.  and my skin didn't look radiant and plump because it didn't have the moisture it needed.

so i indeed started drinking more water.

but i also switched up some products in my skincare routine.  the ones that i ended up tweaking were the cleanser, moisturizer, and then i added a serum.  and just like that my skin cleared up, looked dewy and plump again, and just started looking so much better.  i was actually really amazed that the reason that i was breaking out was because my skin was not being moisturized enough and once that was remedied, so were the breakouts!

to go into a little more detail about the products; i changed only my water based cleanser, not the oil based cleanser (because i double cleanse with an oil cleanser and then a water based cleanser); i was using the NeoGen Green Tea Foaming Cleanser, which i really like, but switched it out and started using the Cosrx Low pH Good Morning Cleanser.  apparently your skin is actually supposed to remain a little bit acidic (to protect your body as a first line of defense from all the stuff outside), so if you use a cleanser that is too high of a pH it actually disrupts the function of your skin and that can cause moisture issues as well as irritation and breakouts.  i also had read a lot about this cleanser and the recommendations and reviews that it was great for sensitive skin or skin that is prone to breaking out.  i like it so far.  it has tea tree in it which is also great for calming breakouts, and is a gel that foams up nicely.

then, since i ran out of my moisturizer anyway i ordered Soon Jung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream by Etude House.  it had been recommended by some dermatologists as an occlusive moisturizer with 93% naturally derived products, it has no fragrances, colors or parabens and has a low pH (which is good).  so an occlusive moisturizer means that it seals in all the moisture and creates a barrier.  and that's exactly what i was looking for.  because...

i added a serum, baebody hyaluronic acid, it had good reviews on amazon and wasn't too pricey.  i wanted a hyaluronic acid serum because it's a humectant, which means that it's a type of molecule that can hold 1000x its weight in water, and draws moisture out of the air and onto the skin.  we naturally have hyaluronic acid in our skin cells (as well as in connective tissue and neural cells) but the body produces less as we age (just like collagen) thus resulting in less hydrated skin (which equals wrinkles, bags, sagging skin, etc).  so the hope is that by adding hyaluronic acid to my skincare routine, it will absorb into my skin and keep it hydrated.  and i really like this serum because it has vitamin e and c, green tea and jojoba oil, which are all great for the skin as well.

so after all that!  the plan to protect the skin barrier by using a low pH cleanser, adding a serum to penetrate the skin and keep it hydrated from within, and a moisturizer that seals everything in---has actually been working!  since i switched up these products, my skin has been clear, glowy, plump and hydrated.  it's amazing!  i really did not think that moisturization was the issue.  and my skin is not overly oily or anything, it's shiny because it's healthy, but i haven't had a problem with too much oil, surprinsgly, after adding all these moisturizing agents.

so, if you are struggling with the same issues that i had mentioned above, give something like this a try and see if it makes a difference!