Throughout years I learnt how to take care of my skin so I think it’s time to share some of the ways that I look after it. Now I’m 33, in case anyone needs to know.

It’s scary to see how many women, even young ones, turn to cosmetic procedures such as Botox when they reach the stage where the skin no longer renews itself as it did, which usually happens some time after 30.

There are so many natural ways to extend the youthfulness of the skin. There’s no need for such invasive procedures that keep clients hooked on them for life. But to keep the skin looking good, it does take a lot of effort, especially after 30, and especially if you were or are vegan or vegetarian.

Listen to “Some Beauty Products That I Use and About my Skincare” on Spreaker.

Firstly, it comes down to the lifestyle choices. If you give your body enough sleep, drink plenty of good-quality water, you’re not stressed and enjoy your life, this in itself will extend the youth.

And then there are other things to do to make sure the skin keeps glowing, such as lymphatic drainage by pressing or stroking gently on lymph nodes located on the face and neck each morning and/or evening, doing facial acupressure to relax muscles causing wrinkles, and learning facial yoga.

My skin lost collagen due to me being a long-term vegetarian (which I no longer am), so I even had to resort to using a derma-roller (this is the exact model that I used) to reverse the damage. Along with that, I started regularly eating beef, and now the skin looks firm again.

Careful facial cleansing before sleep

It’s important to cleanse your skin well before sleep so that your skin is allowed to properly breathe and repair itself. I got convinced of the importance of careful facial cleansing before sleep from Priyanka Chopra, who said that her skin looked good because she would always take time to remove all the traces of her makeup before sleep.

For me it takes about the same amount of time to clean the skin as to put creams and make up. I find that after I started taking a long time to clean it, I no longer get pimples except before the period due to hormonal changes.

Before sleep I remove my makeup using dry oil. I no longer use normal oil to remove makeup because my skin is oily already, so I find that if I use normal oil, my skin sometimes develops pimples.

So I use Eveline Cosmetics Luxurious Dry Oil to remove my makeup, though this product is used as moisturizer. I find it doesn’t work as moisturizer for me, because the skin doesn’t absorb it fully, so my skin looks very oily with it though I don’t develop spots from it. But when it comes to removing makeup, it’s excellent.

So I remove makeup with this oil, and then apply it all over my skin and neck and gently massage my skin for further impurities to be removed. I do lymphatic drainage then too, and I use a wonderful routine invented by Yukoko Tanaka, a Japanese hair and makeup artist (this is only the first part):

After massaging my face, I gently remove some of the oil with soft paper tissue and then apply something like a face pack with turmeric or Fuller’s earth for further oil absorption. I apply it in circling movements to gently exfoliate the skin, and then leave it on the skin to dry.

I do it daily because my skin is oily. But this kind of routine can be too drying for an already dry or even normal skin.

So I leave the face pack or Fuller’s earth on my face and neck and then I apply it to the rest of my body, to exfoliate it. Then I take a warm shower, washing off the powder from my face and neck as the last step.

I find that using Fuller’s earth is better because other face packs can be too harsh for daily use. But Fuller’s earth is so fine that it exfoliates in a very gentle way.

So after the skin is fully cleansed, I dry it by gently tapping it with a towel, though sometimes I make gentle circling movements with the towel to further exfoliate my skin as I have enlarged pores on my nose (an inherited thing) so it requires a lot of cleansing and care to keep the pores as small as possible.

When the skin is dry, I apply the toner. Currently I use rose water toner with aloe vera extract, a very gentle toner that I found when I arrived in South India. I’m including its link here, but I can’t guarantee if Amazon of your country has it as I believe this to be an Indian brand.

I don’t use toners with alcohol as this creates oil imbalance in the skin.

I apply the toner with my fingers on my face and neck and allow it to be absorbed by the skin. The next step depends on whether I’m going to sleep or I’m preparing the skin for makeup to be applied.

Facial care after cleansing

If I go to sleep, I then next either put a vitamin C serum or some rich facial cream, of first the serum, and then, when it’s absorbed, the cream. Currently I’m using an Irem Vitamin C Serum (again it’s an Indian brand so I don’t know if it’s available anywhere else in the world).

For the rich cream, I currently use Nature’s Gold Manuka Honey Jojoba Daily Moisturizer, but if I’m not mistaken it has glycerin in it which is fine as long as the climate where you live is humid. If it isn’t, do not use glycerin as it will dry out your skin.

However, if I’m preparing for the day, after applying toner and waiting it to be absorbed, I use Himalaya Oil-Free Radiance Cream because I don’t want my skin to be oily when I go out. I find that when I use oil-free products, my skin gets fewer pimples.

After it’s absorbed by the skin, I apply Lacto Calamine Face Lotion to keep my skin matte throughout the day. This is my most amazing find ever, and this is the only product that really keeps my skin matte without drying it out. It has Kaolin clay as its main ingredient which keeps the skin from becoming too oily. I still gets little oily, but nothing as compared to before.

Straight after applying this lotion, I apply a BB cream. I started using it whilst I was in Spain, after watching one YouTuber who got asked by viewers how come her skin looked so radiant. She said it’s due to the BB cream.

This is a wonderful product which keeps the skin looking glowing without it becoming oily, and it’s a light foundation too, together with sun protection. When I would use any kind of foundation in the past, my skin would develop pimples after several days, but this product doesn’t clog pores at all.

So I was blessed to discover it because it gives beautiful glowing complexion without it looking like you have anything on your skin. This is the Korean way of foundation – to use these tools to enhance the look of the skin rather than to cover it.

So you already need to have a well-looked-after skin to use this product; as its application simply enhances the look of the skin, without covering any blemishes. This gives the skin a natural appearance.

I use Garnier Skin Renew Miracle BB Cream, but there are many BB creams out there. I use the one in the link, except the shade that I use is the lightest one.

Also, you need only a tiny bit of the product as it’s highly pigmented. I don’t allow the lotion to dry out – I apply the BB cream straight after the lotion application so that I can spread that foundation throughout my face. This gives it a very natural appearance and nobody can tell that I use foundation. I apply some of it on my neck too, for even appearance.

To make the skin look even more natural, after the foundation I apply a lipstick that suits my skin tone to my cheeks (just a little bit) and I blend it into the skin so that a little bit of rosiness is on my cheeks.

In Spain I also got my first highlighter, again due to me watching many YouTube beauty videos of women praising this product. So I purchased Maybelline Master Strobing Stick and I’m very happy with it as it gives a very natural glow.

So after applying and blending a little of of rose-colored lipstic to give cheeks very slight color, I apply highlighter on upper cheeks and under the eyebrows, and my skin is ready. Then I use Lotus Herbals Eyeliner for my eyes (I can’t find that particular one online) and enhance the eyebrow color with the brow pencil and matte brown eyeshadow.

Then I apply the same lipstick on my lips that I applied on the cheecks, also by applying a small amount and blending it for a natural look. I use sometimes a lip pencil for a more defined appearance, but I make sure it’s shade is very similar to my lip color so that no big contrast is made.

I learnt the trick of lips looking fuller by applying the lip pencil slightly above the natural cupid’s bow line and slightly below the natural teardrop. This small enhancement creates a huge impact, making lips look much fuller without any lip fillers required.

Also, in Spain I bought another product – Ecocera Pressed Banana powder. This is again the only product found so far that my skin doesn’t react to. I use it once or twice a day to keep my face looking matte.

The color of it is very light with a yellowish tone, and I use it only to keep oil off my skin. So I apply only a small amount of it by pressing it with the sponge that comes with it on oily areas. I don’t know if it has any blemish-covering properties as this is not the purpose for which I use it.

I like that this powder doesn’t give any color to my skin but simply keeps excessive oil off my face.

And that’s all I do when it comes to skincare and makeup. It may seem like a lot of work, but when you get into this daily routine it’s very quick. And I’d rather take time to care for my skin naturally than needing to resort to invasive cosmetic procedures.

If you have more beauty tips to share which you found useful, please leave a comment below.