Skincare has been at the forefront of my beauty life last year and I alternate between a full blown routine to days where I just want it quick and easy. But the thing with products for quick and easy, they kind of have to really do it all. Now Happy Skin recently released their new #GoodForYouSkincare line and it feels like this can be that minimalist skincare routine I’ve been looking for.

Are you ready for 2021? What about your skin? A new year is a good place as any to start some healthy skin habits. As a dermatologist, here are a few things I recommend to get better skin on 2021!

Learn more about the best face essences for skin hydration and how it should be used as the first step of the moisturizing part of your skincare routine.

I hit my mid-30s halfway through this year, just a couple of months after our son turned a year old. My hobbies now include taking daily selfies with our hyperactive toddler. Being the beauty writer that I am, I cannot help but notice the huge difference between his skin and mine. Baby skin is just so plump and bouncy! And while I have nothing against aging, I would still like to delay signs of it when it comes to my skin.

Unfortunately, my skin is starting to tell a different story which can be attributed to the steady loss of collagen. A bit of sagging has started which can be seen on my eyebrow area and cheeks. My pores are more visible, and some fine lines are settling down around my eye and mouth area. I’m sure you can imagine just how excited I was when I first heard about Avon’s newest skincare breakthrough!

Wrinkles are a normal part of skin aging. Apart from wrinkles, when the collagen and elastin in the dermal layer of the skin gets broken down, the skin will look less supple and plump, and will eventually sag due to gravity. The areas where wrinkles and sagging appear the earliest are the areas frequently exposed to the sun like the face, neck, arms, back of the hands, and the upper part of the chest. Today, I’ll focus on the neck because it’s a direct extension of the face.

As a dermatologist, I come across patients seeking consult for brighter and smoother skin. More often than not, they would ask me what I think of rejuvenating sets and which one I can recommend them. If you’re not familiar with these, rejuvenating sets are skincare products that are grouped together as a set, usually containing a cleanser, toner, bleaching/whitening cream, and sunblock gel/cream. Here’s my take on them - they’re not meant for every skin type, for every skin concern, and for long-term use.

I’ve talked about acne last time but now let me discuss one of the two dreaded consequences from having a breakout – post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or PIH. This happens because any inflammation to the skin (e.g. acne, eczema, irritant/allergic reaction, trauma, etc.) will have inflammatory cells causing a cascade of events that will lead to melanocytes (pigment-producing cells of the skin) to produce more melanin – what’s causing the skin pigmentation.

With my face skin care good and done, I want to expand my routine Down There. Got to say, the marketing gods definitely agree! I keep getting ads for Mink, an intimate skincare company “made with passion, spunk, and a little bit of mischief”. They have several products formulated especially for taking care of boobs, butt and bikini line.

Skincare is a huge part of my beauty routine. Beyond the basics, I feel that it’s important that my chosen products contain active ingredients as part of my quest on how to get smooth skin on my face! On the other hand, my body care routine is kind of boring. I use moisturizing and scented body washes in the shower, but I don’t get any added skin benefits. If I were a billionaire I would buy face care for body use, but sadly I don’t have that kind of money!

I’ve always believed that prevention is better than the cure. I even started using eye cream way back in college! I’ve made it my goal to delay unnecessary skin aging, so when I first came across the Shiseido Ultimune serum in 2014, I immediately got hooked. I’ve been using this for six years.

It’s been three years since I founded In Her Element Skincare. In those three years, everybody kept asking me: “Why not makeup? I thought you’d do makeup!” This is understandable because I am a makeup geek and it has always been my first love in this industry, and what got me in to begin with. Skincare though has always been a bit of a challenge for me, because Fact #1 I am lazy when it comes to applying skincare and Fact #2, I’ve always loved expensive brands that’s painful on the wallet to repurchase. So, I thought I’d take it in my own hands to create something that would fit my budget and my needs!