Clean up your routine

The more complicated your beauty habits, the better they are for your skin? Not really, says

actress fann wong once revealed that she had a 10-step routine in her younger days. Reality star Kim Kardashian supposedly spends at least two hours on her comprehensive morning prep. And — it gets better — Korean singer Jessica Jung is said to have a whopping 15-step beauty regimen.

We did the maths. To fulfil 15 steps, one would have to double-, OK, triple-cleanse and exfoliate, next apply the usual toner, serum, moisturiser and eye cream, then slather on a couple of masks, maybe throw in pre-serum, softening lotion, neck cream and skinsoftening bedtime face powder (yes, it’s a real thing).

It sure takes a lot of product, time and effort to achieve baby-soft, eternally glowing skin like Jung’s. Another problem with having an overly rigorous beauty routine is that if your skin reacts negatively, you can’t pinpoint the culprit easily since the line-up of suspects would be a long one to whittle down — more so if you like to mix and match products from different brands and lines.

Then there’s the issue of over-application, under-absorption. If you don’t wait long enough between each skincare step, chances are your skin will act like an overloaded sponge and won’t soak in the nutrients from every product.

Nicolas Travis, who founded skincare brand Allies of Skin in 2016, tells us there is nothing wrong with a 10- or 15-step regimen if you have the time and discipline.

“My gripe with these ambitious regimens is that a user always starts off with great intentions but then life catches up with her and she finds herself dreading the multiple steps. What happens after that is just lots of wasted time and money.”

When he launched his brand, which is available on net-a-porter. com, he had just three products — not because he didn’t have the resources or fortitude for more. “Taking care of your life while you take on life should never be a chore. I wanted to show that you don’t need a 10-step regimen for great skin. You just need good, clean formulas.”

Even now, the Allies of Skin repertoire is tightly edited with a few different mask formulas and facial mists. And the names of his products hint at a preference for

easy efficiency: Cue the 1A AllDay Mask which is a quick-toapply, one-step, leave-on mask that’s also a moisturiser and a pollutant protector ( and a darn good accidental primer on sleepdeprived days), and the Clarity Creator – 30 Second Facial Series.

Travis isn’t the only homegrown entrepreneur who thinks minimalism is a beautiful thing in skincare.

The DRGL line, founded by Dr Georgia Lee, is also largely about cleansing your skin well (and choosing the right cleanser for your needs) and moisturising it. If you need just a little more help, there are skin-specific serums and toners.

Dr Lee believes it’s not so much about using as many products as you can but about choosing those to meet your skin’s goals or cater to its concerns. For her, the three key products in any routine should include a good cleanser, an exfoliant ( it makes skin more receptive towards skincare products) and a sun care product ( because photo-ageing is the root of all evils, from wrinkles to pigmentation). Those that you can leave out of the equation would be a neck cream and a hand cream — just use your face moisturiser on these body parts.

Quips Dr Lee: “If there is only one choice, I’ll choose the right product over many. It’s just like love!”