Hello everyone!

Summer is here and it's so fun! But not for my skin tho. My skin breaks out like crazy in summer. A few days ago, I was happy looking at myself in the mirror. My acne was getting so much better. But I noticed it yesterday that my face was getting painful. I ignored it and continued with my usual routine. And today I woke up with painful zits all over my face. And by painful I mean sooo painful. I couldn't even wash my face properly because of the pain. I didn't change anything in my routine, nor have I introduced any new product to my routine.

Is there any calming and soothing products y'all can recommend? It would be of much help. 

Also my skin type is dry and dehydrated with active acne.

How to calm down acne?

Negatives 🖤
– The instructions on the bottle says to use it once or twice a day. It is clearly too much. Using it once or twice a day is over exfoliation and you might end up damaging your skin barrier.

Paula&#39;s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid  Exfoliant 🖤

Smell 🖤
I don&#39;t know how to explain the smell correctly but it kinda smells like acetone?

Package 🖤
The exfoliator comes in a hard 118 ml plastic bottle with a white twist cap. There is also a mini version of this which is 30 ml.

Texture 🖤
The texture might feel a bit oily since BHA is oil soluble.

My experience 🖤
Even though BHA best suits people with oily skin, me having dry skin still gave it a try. I bought this product when I had some bad breakouts on my face. I use it in my PM routine after double cleansing. I pour a few drops on my palm and press it gently against my skin. It glides effortlessly into the skin without any tackiness. On the first application, it stung my skin a little bit. Maybe because I was new to BHAs. I used it once a week and later speeded up to twice a week. After some time the stinging sensation went away. I waited for a few minutes and followed up with my moisturizer (thicker one than usual). It never made my skin purge. After almost 2 months, I saw my acne getting better and my blackheads under control. My acne was so drastically controlled that it was unbelievable for me. My pores look so much better and the texture of my skin feels much smoother than before. It truly is magic in a bottle. My skin loves the toner very much! It is my go-to product whenever I have breakouts. 

Note 🖤
If you&#39;re new to exfoliating, start off very slow and be patient. Start it with once a week and gradually increase it to twice or thrice a week depending on your skin&#39;s needs.

-  Works slowly for healing acne
- Expensive (too expensive for me as I&#39;m a broke college student 👀)
- Not the best option for healing active acne the price can be a little too much for some.

🌿𝗜&#39;𝗠 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗠𝗨𝗚𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘🌿
Mugwort is a herb with lots of positive effects on the skin as well as the body.

It&#39;s antibacterial, detoxing, skin calming, antifungal, anti inflammatory and helps with rashes, irritation and even itching! It is good for treating acne, irritated and in general troubled skin.

Today we&#39;re going to review one of the most popular mugwort product in the kbeauty world. 

𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 🌿The essence comes in a beautiful sturdy card box packaging. Personally, I love the design and aesthetic. Lastly, the product&#39;s information printed in the box is available both in Korean and English.

𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹 🌿 I love the scent of the essence! It&#39;s a herbal earthy scent that I find to be very calming and relaxing. Consistency wise, it&#39;s definitely a watery essence, but there&#39;s some body to the product with a hint of viscosity, and you can feel that as you layer the essence, the level of hydration and comfort  that can bring to the skin.

𝗠𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 🌿This was one of the products that as soon as it was delivered, I had to try it right away! I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of product you get and I absolutely loved the smell! I could feel the hydration immediately on my dry skin type and I can understand why Mugwort is so hyped up! I completely agree the essence is undeniably hydrating, moisturizing and cools the skin down very quickly. The essence is extremely gentle and I never had a bad reaction.  So, I believe the product can be used by every skin type, but always do your research beforehand.

This product is great for all skin types. The ingredient list is sooooo good. I&#39;ve always struggled with acne and my sensitive acne-prone skin loved this product so much. It also lightened my acne scars.

Can be a little too pricey for a cleanser and the quantity you get.

🌿 KRAVE BEAUTY MATCHA HEMP HYDRATING CLEANSER 🌿

Claims :
– gentle cleanser that contains antioxidant ingredients and essential fatty acids in the form of matcha and hemp seed oil

– hydrates skin and doesn&#39;t strips any moisture from it

– ph balanced to 5.0-6.0

– free of fragrances, essential oils, alcohol, parabens and sulfates

There are multiple reasons why I think this might be the best cleanser so far for my dry skin. First of all, it&#39;s a gel that doesn&#39;t foam up, so it doesn&#39;t strip my skin. It does not leave my skin feeling tight or dry. The texture makes it easy to spread over the face. I&#39;ve always been skeptical when cleansers claim that their product will bring moisture to your skin and so far I haven&#39;t found any cleanser hydrating enough. But I assure you, this must be closest to what hydration feels like with cleansers.

If you have dry skin and usually look for hydrating toners, I wouldn&#39;t recommend this one to you. But it is great for people with oily and combination skin.

- It has a very watery consistency which might not be liked by some. Also, since it is very watery, I tend to find it hard for me to dispense the toner without spilling it everywhere. The problem can be solved if you use a cotton pad (which I hate to use).

🌿 Isntree Green Tea Fresh Toner 🌿

I&#39;m not really a toner person. I tend to skip the toner step a lot (because I&#39;m lazy 😂). And honestly, I didn&#39;t do enough research before buying this. Hyram talked about it in one of his videos and I saw people raving about it. So I jumped onto the hype-bandwagon. Quick note - I don&#39;t regret buying this tho 👀

Key notes 🌿

Alcohol free
Cruelty free
Fragrance free
Non-comedogenic
Fungal acne safe

Key ingredients 🌿

– Green tea extract from Jeju Island to protect, brighten and balance the skin. 
– Centella asiatica for reinforcing the skin barrier.
– Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate the skin. 
– Allantoin for soothing.
– Blueberry extract to relieve skin stress.


Texture and scent 🌿

It has a very watery texture. It is lightweight and absorbs easily to the skin without feeling greasy or tacky after use. The color of the toner highly reminds me of fresh brewed tea. Makes me crave for some tea and cakes haha. It has a pretty smell. It smells like herbal tea. The smell isn&#39;t too overpowering. Personally, I like the smell very much. But some people might not. 

My experience 🌿

Ngl this toner made me not wanna skip my toner step haha. A few layers of the toner hydrates my skin. It feels very refreshing (especially after a long day at college). It reduced my redness and calmed my acne to some point. Of course, it&#39;ll take some time to work. I usually apply 2-5 layers of the toner depending on my skin&#39;s condition and the weather too. On drier days, I don&#39;t find the toner hydrating enough for me so I switch to Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Toner. For the summers, this is going to work amazing.

skincarewithdi