The Post-Indulgence Skincare Routine

Chinese New Year is one of my favourite holidays as someone of Chinese descent – it’s a time to receive red packets (which to my surprise, I’m still getting a lot despite the fact that I am married and should not get any more) and to stuff our face with amazing food and yummy but no-so-healthy snacks with the excuse of visiting our relatives.

But we all have to deal with the consequences. After too many pineapple tarts, bak kua (an extremely unhealthy sweetened bbq pork which is my kryptonite) and peanut cookies with absolutely no nutritional value, my skin is definitely protesting and begging for me to stop the bingeing and start taking steps to reverse all the harm I’ve inflicted on it.

Over the last 2 weeks of celebrations, my skin has been breaking out but still suffering from a lot of dryness – it’s really weird. I literally have both spots and dry scaly patches on the same face, something that doesn’t usually happen at the same time. I couldn’t attribute it fully to all the snacks I’ve been eating or the fact that I’ve been taking measures against the breakouts that could have caused the dryness, which I’ll elaborate below.

So to deal with the breakouts which came first, I’ve been using the La Roche-Posay Serozinc and The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%. I’m wondering if the Serozinc is responsible for the dryness rather than the indulgence that I had and lack of proper diet, because it’s meant to mattify oily skin. But my breakout seems to be under control at that point and I didn’t want to stop using it so quickly, at least until it has stabilised.

To counter the dryness from all the anti-breakout products, I’ve been slapping on The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 on top. Initially I didn’t use any moisturiser because I felt as though I had too many things on my face already – as I was still using the above two products to keep the breakouts in check – and I didn’t want to aggravate my skin further.

I started this routine about 10 days ago, some mid-way into the 2-week indulgence, and I could see my skin recovering. The breakouts have stopped but I still have some dryness and light scarring. I’ve reduced my usage of the Serozinc and Niacinamide and switched in on alternate days with the It’s Skin Power 10 Formula VE Effector, which is Vitamin E to minimize scarring. I also use a little Omorovicza Illuminating Moisturiser in the day.

So far, I’m pretty happy with the results that I’ve gotten, given how much I have abused my skin and well-being during the festive season – and I definitely think that I am seeing the results much faster than I had expected. Now I just have to start eating better and drinking more water!