Hello everyone!
Welcome back to Lavendaire.
I have a special guest today.
-Hello!
-My dear friend, Liah Yoo.
-I'm finally here with Aileen.
-Yeah, welcome to LA!
-Thank you so much for having me.
-I know, I'm so excited to see her.
She is a skincare expert.
If you don't know, she has a YouTube channel.
She's the founder of Krave Beauty and I love their stuff.
I've shared it on my channel before.
But she's just so amazing, I'm so happy she's here with us today.
So we're going to talk about how to build your skincare routine.
-Yes, from scratch.
-Ideal skincare routine.
So I guess, what's your story?
[Laughing]
-To give you guys a little bit of background on my skin journey:
I used to struggle with acne-prone skin for about four years,
and I was someone who would go into a really maximalist approach of skincare.
So at one point, I was using 12 different skincare products at once
and that was just way, way, way too much.
But I didn't know because I didn't really have
the right knowledge of how our skin naturally works.
And I think if you do have acne-prone skin,
it's so easy for you to become really desperate,
become really obsessive about buying new skincare
because a lot of the beauty brands to sell hope in clearing up your skin.
And they tend to advertise that this is the miraculous, magic fix or quick fix.
So you do kind of jump into that rabbit hole
and it becomes a very vicious cycle
because those products can give you that instant gratification,
but in the long term it's not really going to be healthy for your skin.
Your skin becomes reliant on those products.
And also, your skin is pretty smart and capable,
but sometimes you just gotta let your skin perform.
And a lot of the times, if we do mask our skin with so many different products,
that's when your skin kind of breaks out and get sensitized, gets inflamed.
And I kind of realized that,
after applying so many different products for about three years,
it just came to a moment where I needed to press reset
on what I was doing because it wasn't working.
-Right.
-So I guess the #1 tip that I can definitely give you guys
is to press reset on what you know
because we've been trained to apply so mindlessly.
A lot of times we just follow that really typical conventional skincare routine.
-And you came from Korea,
so you were in the culture of all the steps of Korean skincare.
I mean, I'm guilty of that too.
I love applying all the different steps on my skin,
but I think it's really important to –
It's kind of like minimalism with your skincare.
Decluttering and figuring out what's the most important steps
because all the different steps, yes they're fun,
but if you don’t really know what each step is doing,
you might be hurting your skin without realizing it.
So let's talk about how to build your ideal skin routine from scratch.
-Definitely, there's not a lot of difference in
what toner does, essence does, serum does.
-Really?
-So choose the product that sparks joy, to be honest.
It does go back to minimalism where you can definitely translate
that minimalist mindset into your skincare as well.
Leave the products that serve purpose.
The second tip that I could definitely give you is to
be more intuitive with your skincare and don't believe in routines.
Don't believe that you need to stick to
every single product every single day and night,
and you have this rigid skincare routine
that you need to follow every single day and night.
-I'm with you on that, because I love switching up my routine every single day.
It just depends on what my skin needs.
Sometimes my skin is more sensitive, so I'll use aloe vera
or I'll just dial back on the products that I use.
Sometimes my skin is really dry,
so I literally pack on a lot of layers of moisture.
-Yeah, it's exactly correct.
Our skin physiology really changes every single day by different weather.
And if you are on your period,
your sebum production goes through the roof,
so therefore your skin is going to be oilier
and your skin is going to be more vulnerable and weaker.
So you want to treat it like a baby during that time.
-Oh, so when you're on your period, treat your skin with more care.
-Mhm!
-So going back to what you really need in your skincare routine.
It's really simple: You just need a good cleanser.
I mean, personally, I like to double cleanse.
Do you like that too?
-Yeah.
-So personally for me, I need an oil cleanser
and then another regular cleanser after that.
And then you just need a good moisturizer, something to moisturize your skin.
And then a great sunscreen
because sunscreen is something you should wear every day.
-Every single day. -I kind of wish I was taught that when I was young.
I didn't realize it until later in life.
Or maybe I didn't take it seriously until later in life.
-It's still good.
So yeah, those are going to be your core,
every single day essentials that you'll apply.
And then, if you want to spice up your routine or if you do have
specific skin concerns that you want to combat or you want to work with,
that's when you want to add some supplementary products.
With acne-prone skin, it's very, very easy to be deficient in linoleic acid.
Linoleic acid is one of the oil components on top of your skin,
and if you are deficient in linoleic acid,
what happens is that your sebum or your oil becomes thicker,
it becomes more pore-clogging.
But if you add an oil, a facial oil such as hempseed oil or rosehip seed oil,
that has a higher percentage of linoleic acid,
it kind of balances your oil fluidity, if that makes sense.
So your sebum gets so much more flexible and less pore-clogging.
-Interesting.
-So it's kind of like a supplement concept, to be honest, literally.
There's a lot of great active ingredients that you can play with in this spectrum.
Vitamin A (retinol) is really great for anti-aging.
It's really great for combating acne-prone skin.
And it's known to be the gold standard of all active ingredients out there.
But it does need to be approached with care, for sure,
because it can be a little bit too irritating at first.
So you want to really baby step into it.
Vitamin B3 (niacinamide) is a really great choice for all skin types.
It's a great hydrating ingredient.
It's a great skin brightening ingredient.
And it's also called "niacinamide" in a lot of skincare products.
And there is Vitamin C.
It's a really great skin brightening ingredient,
but it's also a really great antioxidant.
Antioxidant is somewhat crucial or somewhat more needed
in the day that we're living right now,
especially if you are living in a very hectic, busy, metropolitan city.
There's a lot of glutens, there's a lot of UV damage.
There's a lot of environmental stressors that your skin is exposed to on a daily basis.
So we want to really strengthen our skin's natural defense systems with good antioxidants.
-Random note: You know how you eat Vitamin C to strengthen your immune system?
So you're saying applying Vitamin C strengthens your skin's defense system?
-It's naturally having another antioxidant to fight against the free radicals…
-Interesting. -That your skin reacts with.
-Okay yeah, cool.
-Yeah! -It helps me make sense of it.
-Vitamin C is also really, really great
when it comes to anti-aging, especially ascorbic acid.
There are many different types of Vitamin C,
but ascorbic acid is the pure gold standard of Vitamin C.
Look for ascorbic acid if you are really serious about anti-aging.
You can look for a higher percentage of L-ascorbic acid, such as 20% to 30%.
If anti-aging is not your concern,
I don't think you should go out of your way
to apply that high percentage of Vitamin C products.
-What about chemical exfoliants: AHA, BHA? -Oh yeah!
Chemical exfoliants such as alpha hydroxy acid, beta hydroxy acid –
AHA and BHA – those are really, really useful
if you do have congested skin, if you have acne-prone skin,
if your pores get easily clogged
or if you do get blackheads and whiteheads altogether.
AHA and BHA is going to be really beneficial in letting your skin unclog.
-And you prefer chemical over physical exfoliants?
-Yeah, 100%. -Why?
-I think a lot of the times,
physical scrubs or manual exfoliation can work to a certain extent
in getting rid of the physical patchiness.
However, if you look on a microscopic level,
it's not really effective in getting rid of the micro dead skin cells
that are just living on top of your skin.
Chemical exfoliants, what they do
or how they actually do exfoliation is not abrasively attacking your skin,
but it's really working with your skin.
You know how a lot of dead skin cells are just clumped up together
and that's why it's not leaving your skin?
It's really dissolving the bond between the dead skin cells.
So when your skin is turning over – which your skin, every day, does –
your skin is able to naturally push... -Sending them up.
-...the dead skin cells away.
-I think of using nail polish remover to remove nail polish.
It's the thing that loosens it to get it to get it off. -Yeah!
-It's not as harsh as the nail polish remover.
-I was just imagining dead skin cells.
-How often do you use chemical exfoliants in your skincare?
-For me, I use it once a week.
-Okay.
-I think that's something that really needs to be tied with
paying attention to what your skin needs
because you don't want to overdo chemical exfoliation
because it can damage your skin barrier.
So if you do feel like your makeup is not sitting well,
or if you do feel like your complexion is extremely dull
or you have more congestion just because of
the heat and humidity during the summertime,
that's when you would want to add chemical exfoliants.
But don't rely on it every single day.
-Yeah, and I have a question about sunscreen
because I know it's important to wear it every day.
I put it on in the morning, but what do you do later on to reapply?
Do you put it over makeup?
What's your solution?
It's a struggle, right?
-It is a struggle, for sure.
To be honest, the best way is to carry a little sample pack of a moisturizer
and a cotton pad together and a sunscreen.
And what I do is – a moisturizer can actually remove your makeup a little bit
because it has an emulsifier in it.
So the emulsifier can dissolve the oily parts of the makeup
so it kind of breaks the makeup a little bit.
So rub it off, clear it, wipe it off with a cotton pad, and then apply sunscreen.
And if you are really dedicated, do the makeup again.
It's a big hassle. -Is that your method you use?
-That's what I do. -Oh really?
-Or there is a Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen which is
a completely sheer sunscreen that goes pretty beautifully on top of any makeup.
So if you can handle sunscreen over makeup,
I think that is a pretty solid product to go with.
-Are you saying that you don't do that
because it's too clogging for your skin if you do that?
You know what I mean?
Putting sunscreen on top of makeup. -It feels stuffy.
-I haven't tried it but it's always been a question of mine.
-Yeah, for sure. -I've tried a sunscreen powder before,
because I have those.
I just wasn't sure if it was working.
-You need a lot of powder.
-Exactly, yeah.
-You need a lot of powder in order to have a proper SPF protection, for sure.
-Just try not to go outside.
-So we were talking about skin barrier.
A lot of times, when you get too excited about new skincare products,
you tend to overdo things and you tend to overdo chemical exfoliation where,
with Vitamin C products or with retinol products,
if you get too excited, that's when your skin gets really compromised.
And that means your skin's natural defense system is becoming weaker and weaker.
And the daily habit that is always going to be
the most damaging step in ruining your skin barrier is,
surprisingly, using a really harsh cleanser.
Cleanser is really the enemy of skin barrier.
Your skin barrier is like a brick-and-mortar structure,
the brick being your skin cells;
the mortar, the glue part being your natural lipid, your natural oil.
And those are the good oils that you really want to protect
because with those oils holding onto the skin cells,
they're protecting your hydration.
They're protecting your moisture from not evaporating to the air.
But also, what they do is that they prevent other toxins or pollutants
coming into the skin system.
So they're kind of like a bouncer or a natural defense system, a gatekeeper, more like.
If you cleanse more than twice a day,
I think that's when you really damage your skin barrier.
If you use an alkaline cleanser,
if you use a very stripping, gratifying cleanser,
that's a sign that your skin barrier is already compromised.
In that case, it's not the end of the day, to be honest.
You can apply really great skin barrier replenishing products
or skin barrier repairing product.
-Like the Great Barrier Relief from Krave Beauty.
-That product was definitely designed in mind
to press reset on of all the instant gratification culture
because we are kind of addicted to seeing fast results from skincare products,
and that is the culprit of damaging your skin barrier.
So having something like Great Barrier Relief
which contains really amazing nourishing oils,
but also at the same time ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids,
which are the main components of your skin barrier system.
So by replenishing those, you're really kind of strengthening the skin barrier
and restoring it again so that it has a really solid gatekeeping system.
-I love that.
I feel like that's a tip where most people's skin problems come from.
-For sure.
-So if you have a skin problem,
it's not about buying new products and putting it on, right?
-It's about reducing, letting your skin rebuild its barrier. -Yeah!
-Yeah, so that's something that you definitely don't want to mess up with.
-So don't overdo skincare.
When you're talking about harsh cleansers, the funniest thing is –
So I live with my boyfriend now and we shower
and he has his Dove men's body wash.
And I read the label, it says "Face and Body Wash".
-Wow!
-And I was like, "That's not cool!"
-Maybe it is really hydrating! I don't know.
-Oh you don't know?
-Is it a moisturizing body wash?
-It's just a Dove men's body wash.
It's just funny because men, they use the same thing
for their hair, their face, their body. -Shampoo, and then everything.
-That can't be right.
We'll have to teach him.
But Wilson also uses the Matcha cleanser, he likes it a lot.
-That's really good.
Choosing the most gentle cleanser – -Gentle cleanser like hers
is going to be a big, big, big lifesaver or skin saver, to be honest.
When it comes to investing in good skincare,
it doesn't mean that you have to go out of your way
to spend $80 on good serum.
It really comes down to having a good solid core system
that is gentle, that doesn't do harm.
For instance, with cleanser, go for the one that is as gentle as possible.
With the moisturizer, go for the one that has no frills,
that just basically moisturizes skin.
And with sunscreen, go for one that gives you a pleasant sensorial
or pleasant experience, pleasant application to you.
Keeping the core basics as solid as possible
is the biggest skincare investment, in my opinion.
-I love that.
Thank you so much, Liah, for sharing.
-Of course!
-If you guys liked that, if you have more questions for Liah,
you can reach her on Instagram.
Follow her YouTube channel, comment on her stuff. -Thank you.
-We're doing a video together.
-Oh yes, we are, on Liah's channel.
-Yes, because all of you know she just launched a Dream Life series,
an online program which I'm so, so excited about.
So on my channel, I'll be sharing her tips and my tips
on how to figure out what to do after college,
which is a really big existential question.
-Existential life crisis, we'll talk about how to manage that and not feel so lost.
Awesome, thank you guys so much!
Love you, bye!