In which I contemplate product joy

Various Sooryehan products and one from The History of Whoo gently held in a ruched, white silky bed of material

The Premise

I've been thinking. 

Dangerous pastime, I know. 

Every so often I contemplate giving up AHAs and retinoids (retinal for me at present). 

When I've given these up for a little while in the past (illnesses of various kinds, usually), I've noticed loss of plumpness under my eyes, sunken one might say. Possible emphasis of fine lines in addition.

Here's the thing

I'm using a lot of high quality products. Really high quality products - Sooryehan, The History of Whoo and recently, Sulwhasoo.

I'm about to add Decorte's Liposome Advanced Repair Face Serum - which the brand reports is the No. 1 selling serum in Japan. 

My routine wasn't so high end when I noticed sagging from lack of AHA and retinal use in the past.

Do I really need AHA and retinal as well as all these wonderful products? 

Lack of joy

AHA is a pain because your face needs to be completely dry or it will sting. 

Retinal doesn't take ages to absorb, especially when I put serum or emulsion (Sooryehan) on top. 

However, it's all extra steps that I don't find joyful.  

Whereas I really enjoy using the fancy stuff - it makes my routine an event, even if I'm rushing through it and jettisoning HGs left, right and centre because I am out of bandwidth for the day. 

Which makes me wonder: why keep using things that I feel I should but I don't enjoy that much? 

And the AHA and retinal are the first things I skip when I want a short routine.

I also use Melano CC AM and a 5% niacinamide toner - the Melano does bring me joy but the 5% niacinamide not so much for my face. 

Does lack of progress even matter?

On the one hand, I believe I want plumpness generally. 

But will I actually lose plumpness? After all, that is one of the key things all of my luxe products target. And even if I do, how much does that matter? Not really a question I can answer until it (maybe) happens.

I'll run out of the retinal first but I've got a ton of AHA as I mistakenly thought mine was out of PAO and purchased a replacement 🤣

I definitely want to keep using AHA on my arms and the 5% niacinamide as I'm dealing with a lot of blocked pores and pigment. I'm too lazy to add BHA too. Looool. 

Maybe I'll stick with the AHA a couple of times a week, which is more manageable than daily lack of joy.

What threw the lack of joy into harsh relief

Decorte Phytotune Refining Softener and Liposome Advanced Repair Face Serum on a pillow of silky black material 

Adding the Decorte Phytotune Refining Softener kinda sealed the deal on how little I enjoy the AHA and retinal. 

It's been such an amazing experience and it's been really fun testing it for different positions in my routine and instead of my entire routine! More on this in a future review, you know, once I've been using it for more than a week 🤣

I'm already finding that the joy of adding a new type of luxe product that is highly cosmetically elegant makes me very bored of the products that are functional only. Granted, they're also much cheaper than my luxe stuff but.... the lack of joy is the most significant thing.

So yeah, joy. 

That's what I want. 

That is what I shall have: a completely joyful routine.

Comments

  1. AB Muse25 August 2023 at 17:31

    I don't know how I missed this post, I hadn't realized that the pausing of the actives was from the joy factor. But I'm glad I came across this when I did because I had a thought yesterday (as I found out my Sansim Toner got an amazing packaging upgrade!): wouldn't it be an interesting discussion to ask what products people keep in their routine just for the enjoyment of it?

    Because maybe the enjoy factor is a good enough reason to keep it in a routine because there *has* to be something going on biologically with the joy we get out of skincare, right?

    And maybe I manifested the SK-II right out of purpose 😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Commercial Poem29 August 2023 at 00:25

      Yeah, that's pretty much the reason but also it will be cool to see whether my fancy products do continue to reduce the signs of aging, like pigment and fine lines.

      Ooh yay about the packaging! That can make such a difference :)

      Yes indeed - it would be really interesting to hear if other people keep products in their routine just for enjoyment or whether it's all about treating concerns....

      🤣 that's why SK-II didn't work for you - lack of joy!

      Delete

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