Let’s talk about ourselves. Having a healthy body, mind and soul are just some of the things that we considered in our life. As we grow up, we tend to realize the importance of taking care of ourselves in different possible ways. Self-care is one of the steps in achieving self-love. Based on my personal experience, I’m not conscious of my body and the way I look before. I started to invest in myself when I reach college. Looking back, I can say that I’ve been harsh to myself. Far from what a normal teen usually does, I don’t take care of my body especially my skin. When I started having acne breakouts due to stress and hormonal imbalance, I became conscious of my appearance. Having bumps in your forehead, cheeks and oily skin really makes you lose your confidence. I feel so shy to face the people around me. Besides, there is a concept that when someone is picky with something they put on their face or skin there are being labeled as “maarte” in Filipino (I don’t know the exact words for that in English but I think it’s closely related to being so hygienic). I want to elaborate that idea because for me it’s okay to invest on your skin. I think it is normal if you want to improve and make your skin glowing, there is nothing wrong with that. Now I am focusing on improving myself and let me share to you my different tips on how I practice my road to self-love.

Self-care tips 101

1. Stop Comparing yourself to other people

We often times tend to compare ourselves with everyone. The way they look, act and style can make us envious at some point. We may often feel that way and that is normal. But, we should not hold grudge towards that person. Instead, we should make it as a motivation to become better.

2. Overcome your insecurities

It may sound so easy but I know how it takes to do that. It may take you a while to overcome your flaws even me, I am also in the process of that. Time is really all it takes to finally accept our whole being. Soon, we will realize that our imperfections are the things that makes us truly perfect. Also, I think it is not always in the way we look that matters, but how beautiful our inside is.

3. Be bold

What I meant by boldness is that just go with the flow. Speak yourself in front of everyone. Make a habit of sharing what’s in your mind and speaking your ideas. Every opinion matters and there is nothing wrong with contributing your thoughts and action. Every voices should be heard. The more you make yourself get used to it, the more you build your confidence inside of you.

4. Prioritize yourself

Putting yourself first is not being selfish. I repeat, putting yourself first is not selfish at some point. Often people tend to say that when you put yourself first, it means that you are selfish. But hey, that’s not always the case. Sometimes we should prioritize ourselves too. We are not supposed to always feel accustomed of putting other people first. Do not feel bad about doing that for yourself.

5. Skin Care is life

Aside from taking care of our health, making our skin healthy is an important factor in the self-care process. It is just right to treat our complexion in a proper way. We’ve always wanted a younger, glowing healthy skin by having a skin care routine. As early as possible, we should maintain our skin healthy. Finding the right skin care products that we put on our face is essential. We have different types of skin and not all product can work in us.

6. Value over looks

Achieving a glowing skin may be overwhelming at some point, but never make how your body looks define your value. There are things that may distract you from knowing the truth, but never settle for it. Go and wear what makes you feel good and comfortable. You don’t have to rely on what other people might say about you.

Moving on, let me share to you how to build a proper skin care routine that will surely make your skin glowing! Are you into achieving a perfect glass skin look? Perfect! I love that too! Now here’s my list on how to maintain that glass skin. Know that morning routine may differ to your night routine because our skin needs maximum protection during the day from sun exposure while on night, we give our skin the rest it needs.

Morning routine

1. During the day as I wake up, I put some ice on my face to lift up the dead skin cells and the night cream that I had put on my face.

2. After putting ice, I take a bath and wash my face with kojic soap. The soap I used is good for an acne-prone skin slash oily type like me.

3. After taking a bath, I put the day cream on my face. The cream also serves as a moisturizer and a sunscreen too. The good thing about it is that it has SPF30, but usually if you are going out and will be exposing to sun, make sure to put SPF50 and up. As much as possible, do not stay too long under the sun on a hot sunny afternoon because it can damage your skin. That’s it and I’m ready to go.

Night routine

1. My night routine starts by taking a half bath. I don’t normally take a full shower at night because they say that it’s not good for our body. Before I wash my face, I use a mild toner to remove the dirt in my face then I proceed to wash it with soap. Double cleansing is also good because it removes deep-seated dirt that a mere soap can’t reach.

2. The next thing that I do is that I put a clarifying solution to my face. I use a cotton pad and put generous amount of solution before putting it in my face.

3. After that, I put the rejuvenating cream on my face. An ample amount of it would be enough. I do not use the rejuvenating cream all the time. According to some studies, 4-6 weeks of rejuvenating can be applied. After that, you can use other maintaining products to maintain your skin.

4. Without the rejuvenating cream, I usually put an acne spot treatment after using toner.

5. Then I put an eye cream in my lower eye part. Since I always stay up at night, having an eye cream can reduce the appearance of eye bags or swollen eyes the next morning that is why this eye cream is really an essential part of my night routine.

6. Lastly, facial oil is my latest add-ons in my list. This can soothe your skin over time. What I love about using facial oil is that it makes my skin bouncy when I wake up in the morning. You will really feel that your skin is smooth and healthy.