sweet cheeks

Fresh on the tails of my post on adventure comes this skincare post. Traveling is super fun and all, but it wreaks absolute havoc on one's skin--mine especially, since it's so acne-prone and sensitive.

Finding skincare that works well with my skin became all the more difficult as an adult. Oily skin became combination, pimply skin became flaky, etc. My skin is not a girl, not yet a woman. A lot of medicated skincare became too harsh for some parts of my face.

You know all those endless coffee scrub things you see on Instagram? I tried it for myself--and it works! Frank Body took the coffee scrub trend a step further and created an entire skincare line.

I use their coffee scrub about twice a week, to slough off dead skin cells when I feel like there's buildup. You scrub your face, leave it on for 3 minutes, and rinse off. It leaves my skin feeling smooth and tight without drying it out.

Their charcoal cleanser is one of my favorites. I'm a big fan of charcoal, be it in your cleanser, on your teeth, or in capsule form, because it draws out impurities like crazy. It smells kind of weird but that's charcoal for you.

And the last step is to moisturize. I never realized the importance of moisturizing until pretty recently, I'm ashamed to admit. Moisturizing keeps your skin from overproducing oil to compensate for dryness and also keeps wrinkles at bay.

I was inspired to post this skincare routine after I was FINALLY confident enough to send a no-makeup, no-filter selfie to someone a week or so ago. Here's the photo:

Granted, this is in forgiving lighting and my hand is covering a zit on my chin lol, but it was a huge step for me. I only started taking photos sans makeup and tentatively going out sans makeup after I saw results from Frank Body. Your skin is your biggest organ, and at times your biggest insecurity, so I wanted to share what worked for me!

The Look:

Frank Body "Sweet Cheeks" bundle.

photography by Randy Tran