What Am I Doing Wrong Skin Regime

What is your secret to glowing skin?

Believe it or not, when I was young I had this policy: “utility is more important than beauty”. But as I grew up and entered into high school, facing harsh realities of this world, I learned “both beauty and utility are of equal importance!”.So I started working on my skin…I used to look like thisPs: sorry the picture isn't clear…but I had one picture of me from that time period.So, back to the point…I started to follow a regular schedule/habit for my skin:Indeed, as said “drinking water regularly”Washing my face 3–4 times a day (can vary depending on skin type, I had oily, hence 3 to 4)Using the correct product to wash my skin. Since I had both oily _and_ dark skin. I went for something which had a minute quantity of tea tree oil in it. ( It will give you both glowing skin and also control the oil)Applied various home made facepacks to see which suited my skin the best and then continued to use them. (you can browse for them on the internet easily, though the ones containing gram flour are the best, in my opinion).Sleep is must for beautiful skin, 7–8 hours a day keeps blemishes, wrinkles and other skin problems awayLemon-yes, Lemon. The actual secret of my glowing skin is lemon (& that tea tree product, too). It just cuts the oil off my skin and de-toxifies it. I just can't stop praising it.Healthy food. One really needs to work on one's diet to have good skin. Food which compliments your skin is a must. (References to sources supporting this claim, and your other claims, are advised, per Quora's policy).Patience. I really had to have patience. You may not find any changes in one day or one week…. But if you keep trying…then surely you’ll get the skin that you want one day :)Makeup. I don't recommend makeup much. I do makeup only on special occasions. For everyday basis, I just apply a moisturizer which also acts as sunscreen, kajal (so that I don't look groggy) and a lip balm.Result:This is my present skin condition.PS: Just woke up (has been nearly hour or so) and took this picture for this answer.Edit: For pessimists, I used Redmi 3S. And for the girls or ladies out there, who think why my kajal isn't messed up, I used Colossal brand, which advertises minimum 16-hour retention. I applied it at night and clicked this pic the next morning, so there is less chance of smudging. Even if it does smudge little, I do have two working hands, which I can use to remove the excess kajal around my eyes. :p

Does the Korean 10-step skin care routine really work or help?

Sorry for being skeptical and a bit demotivational but every time I see those multi-step routines, I can’t stop thinking about the marketing idea behind them:Don’t try to escape with buying a single product - you’ll need all 10 (which will cost 10 x more in) order to finally improve your skin!In my opinion, the skin does not require that much investment. You don’t need to spend almost an hour a day, every single day to have beautiful and youthful skin. I actually consider such routines harmful - most of them suggest exfoliating the super-soft-and-irritation-prone facial skin on a daily basis.Which is insane - even those dead skin cells and pollutants, constantly accumulating on the skin surface have their own roles to protect the fragile skin layer underneath them.For instance, I only use one product. It is not even a skin care formula, I use pure natural honey, for about 10 years now. It’s cheap, simple, and effective.I started using it when I was 16 - a friend of mine told me that it may help me reduce my acne, and it did. It literally helped me eliminate it - I only got 1–2 pimples just before my period starts. This ‘positive effect’ happened in no longer than 3 months.But I continued using honey (I applied a small amount on my face just before bedtime and washed it off in the morning, at least two times a week).After 6–7 months my acne scars started fading, as honey has a strong antioxidant effect on the skin + it promotes its regeneration. I didn’t expect that but it was like a bonus surprise for my efforts.Now when I’m 27 I no longer have problematic skin but I do perform my super simple treatment from time to time. The thing is that honey makes the skin youthful and radiant. It keeps it well hydrated and clean (there will be no dead skin cells or dirt) - all the targets of the Korean skincare routines…You can see the detailed answer about my pure natural honey routine here: Monika Hristova's answer to What are your daily skin treatments?No offense but I don’t think that applying 10+skincare products, some of which containing chemically-derived ingredients, on a daily basis can be good for anybody.Hope you don’t spend your savings on cosmetics, hope I was of some help and thanks for reading my answer!

Should skin feel sticky after applying moisturizer?

There are some moisturizers that are heavy in texture and take time to get absorbed into skin fully. They might feel sticky initially but should definitely sink into the skin after some 5–10 mins. They shouldn’t just sit on top of the skin, thus providing no moisturization.If it still feels sticky, it might be a good idea to go for a change.