Today, August 7, is exactly three months before my 40th birthday. Okay, just hold on to that thought while I jump to another.
I've been editing the posts on this 10-year-old blog and I found a draft I wrote when I was 31 called, "My beauty plan so I will look fantabulous at 40." I never got to finish that post so I never published it and now I'm almost 40. Reading that plan and realizing that life happened so differently from what I planned my past 10 years to be, well, that just made me marvel at the folly of planning an entire decade!
I wrote: "I'm going to sleep at least 8 hours every day. I'm going to follow a 10-step skincare regimen like the Japanese and Koreans! I will cleanse twice, I will tone, apply anti-aging serum, eye cream, moisturizer, sunscreen and every beauty marvel. I will exfoliate my face and entire body twice a week then massage a deeply nourishing lotion on every part of me. I will apply a hair mask every weekend. I will drink 8 glasses of water and vitamins and beauty vitamins daily. I will do a beauty marathon once a day every month—visit Louis Phillip Kee's salon and spend the entire day getting a trim, a hair treatment, a color touchup, hand and foot spa, mani-pedi. With this plan, I'll be proud to turn 40 knowing I look nothing like 40!"
Hahahaha.
I didn't think I'd have kids and you all know what kids do to carefully laid out plans! I haven't slept well in 7 years. Average night's sleep is about 4 hours. I'm so consumed by childcare and home care and then my work that many days, I fall into bed too exhausted to wash my face, much less apply eye cream, anti-aging serum and moisturizer! My time in the bathroom—so sacred to me—is rushed. It's enough that I get clean. Get beautiful is out of the question!
This neglect has resulted to bad skin. My regular readers know I just came out of a horrible year suffering from really bad acne. I'm so thankful I went to Flawless Skin & Body Clinic, which really took care of my skin with twice-a-month anti-acne facials. I also stuck to a simpler skin regimen of non-foaming cleanser and just moisturizer (thanks so much, Physiogel Calming Face Relief*!), which really calmed down my skin. Still, my pimples are popping back every so often. Not so badly anymore because I've been managing my skin well. But I do long for the day that I need not see a pimple ever again!
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| I can now go out with just BB Cream on! But... (next photo) |
My gynecologist said that as soon as I stop breastfeeding, she'll prescribe a contraceptive pill that will also address my pimple concerns. Till then, because my 2-year-old boy has no plans on weaning, I guess I'll continue to suffer this adult acne.
But today is three months before my 40th birthday! And maybe, because I'm not planning a beauty plan spanning a decade, maybe it's safe to plan for better skin! And the reason why I'm blogging about it is so that you know what my plans are and that you will hold me accountable. Like maybe you can tell me, "Hey, Frances, are you still applying eye cream? Are you getting enough sleep?"
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| ... I still got a long way to go! |
This is my makeup-free face now. The terrible acne is gone but the dark spots and ice-pick scars they left are there. Dark and puffy circles under my red eyes. Uneven skin tone. Still a big improvement from last year's horrible pimple-ridden, red and sensitive skin but nowhere near perfect. I've been on this good earth for almost 40 years. I really truly need to care for my skin!
Here's my simple plan to look good (not fantabulous haha) by my 40th birthday:
1. Sleep as much as possible. As a mom of young kids, this can be impossible. But I have to get as much rest as I can not only for my skin's sake but for my mental health and emotional well-being. All these years of inadequate sleep have made me irritable, easily upset and weepy. I not only look bad, I also feel bad. And worst of all, the lack of sleep makes me a bad mommy because I'm so cranky all the time! So if I can't sleep the full 8 hours, I'll take naps whenever I can.
2. Wash face every night! Some nights, I really just fall asleep when I lie down beside the baby to breastfeed him. I get so sleepy and then I don't have the energy to get up and wash my face anymore. This is not good especially for my oily, acne-prone skin!
3. Eye cream, moisturizer and sunscreen—that's enough! I just got a new eye cream called Helix-D that promises amazing things so I'm looking forward to brighter looking eyes in a month or two! Will do a review in October. I also started using Marula Oil in the morning. Marula is said to be better than Argan Oil and can be used as a sunscreen. But I still like applying sunscreens from Bioderma Lancôme anyway, just to be sure. At night, I've added Philosophy Help Me retinol cream to my regimen. I apply Help Me before Physiogel. I'll do reviews on those in October, too, since two months is a good time to check if a topical product works.
4. Drink water! No more other drinks! No more juice, cola, milkshakes! Just water. And coffee hehe. I like my Kopiko coffee too much. Omigosh, this water thing has been my resolution every single year for the last 20 years! Will I ever be able to do this???
5. Take vitamins and beautymins so that my body and skin will be nourished even when I forget to do all of the above because mommy life is so unpredictable! I dunno what beautymins actually to take since I'm still breastfeeding and I don't know what's safe. I also want to take probiotic supplements. What's a good one? Either that or I'll eat kimchi every day!
6. Exercise. Yep. No need to explain this extremely hard to do part!
That's it! Oh, and be more joyful and peaceful, too. That means meditate on God's Word and pray! After all, what's inside of us really comes out on our faces, and if we're angry, bitter, hateful, anxious and sad, no matter what skin regimen we do, the ugliness inside will ravage our looks outside! I really believe this.
Well, with my beautiful family making me so happy this past decade, I've been absolutely wonderful inside. Too bad I still suffer from acne. Not so much anymore because I started taking care of my skin last November but I really hope that by the time I'm 40, I'll be perfect. Naks! Perfect talaga ang peg! Good luck, me! So I really hope this new skin plan will work. Will keep you updated, my dear Loyal Readers, and if you have any tips, do share in the comments below!
