This year has been a intensive learning year for me in regards to makeup and skincare.  Since joining Mary Kay in April I have been taking more interested in my outward appearance.  Turing 37 I know that I’m no longer having the skin that I had when I was in my twenties.   It is time that I pay more attention to my personal grooming and I have been actively researching and testing out to find out which brands/ items are suitable for my skin.

I know that it is very important for a woman to take care of her appearance and to look presentable and good for her man. One has to look good to feel good.  There are lots of positive attributes to looking and feeling good.  I’m sure you agree with me on this point.

When I was in my twenties I didn’t really care about personal grooming. I never really had any issues with my skin and did not have the habit of daily maintenance. Fast forward today I know the importance of sun protection and keeping my skin in good condition. I have started cultivating good sun care habits in the kids too by ensuring that they cleanse their skin daily and apply sunblock before leaving the house.

I start out in April embracing Mary Kay and tried out their whole range of products from eye care to makeup. Through testing all the products I got to know the functions of the various products . They do have many different products which can help improve your skin quality. There are unique products like their lip spa kit and a there are products which have been ranked #1 in various beauty magazines in Asia.

However upon detailed research of the ingredients use in the items many products within Mary Kay are not paraben free.  It may not be an issue to some but for me personally if there is a cleaner alternative I don’t need to subject myself and my kids to potential toxicity which ill effect may surface in time to come. What FDA recommendation as safe levels are certainly questionable in my opinion. There are many grey areas regarding the issues of the use of certain chemicals within the composition of a makeup/skincare product which can be mind boggling at times.

The conclusion that I have come to after months of research is that only selective Mary Kay products are safe for use. The others are “use at your own discretion”.  My stance with my current Mary Kay clientele is to let them know what is the makeup of the products they are interested in and let them decide if they want to continue using/ purchasing the product. Getting sales or increasing my customer base is not an immediate priority of mine as being honest and truthful about the product.

Staying in ASIA we are often exposed to the harmful rays of the sun and it is important to use a good sunblock and constantly reapply it when we go out for long periods of time. The weather and climate that we live in also leaves our skin dehydrated. Many times we are unaware of the needs to hydrate our skin properly as we wrongly assume living in a high humidity climate we do not lack water in our skin.

I’m come to the conclusion that a Water based sunscreen would work best for me and the boys.  At the moment we are using Coola sunscreens that we purchased from iherb quite a while back. I’ll be testing out sunblock from Ininisfree once we have used up our existing stock as it is more affordable and sustainable in the long run for my pockets.

Frankly speaking I’ve been looking around for alternative products to Mary Kay which are “cleaner” and more pocket friendly in price. I’ve been looking at other American brands, Japanese and Korean cosmetics and skincare products.  The range that we have in the market nowadays is really overwhelming.

What I have realized is that not all products from a single range maybe suitable for use. I have to selectively choose the star products from each range which is suitable for my skin condition. As a result I have been testing  skin care products from Clarins, Laneige, Ininisfree, Shiseido , UV AQUA White, Sukin and Renew.  I ‘m also looking at makeup from BHCosmetics, ELF, Ininisfree, Lancome, Essence, Kate among others.   I guess it will take a few more months to conclude my testing and finalize what I want  to use in my daily personal grooming routine.