You're 27 years old and you still don't use retinol?! Please, you've never even heard of Hada Labo hyaluronic serum?? Disaster.
I got into skincare, like everyone else, about four years ago. I spent HOURS watching videos and reading articles about serums, making shopping lists. Whatever Beauty Within recommends, I buy. "Hey, when you come to Serbia, bring me Haruharu rice toner."
Over these four years, skincare has taught me a lot about myself. For example, I will never be the kind of person who can do a ten-step routine every evening and stick to it faithfully. That's why the number of steps dropped to five (or four, because sometimes I skip toner). I've learned that sometimes it's better to put on just moisturizer than to quit everything simply because I won't do the steps in the right order.
I've also learned that scent is very important to me, and that I couldn't care less when YouTubers say skincare shouldn't smell because "it's natural." I've learned that I have beautiful skin, neither dry nor oily, with absolutely not a single problem. But nobody cares. Nobody is going to applaud that. On the contrary — in ten years everyone who started from a worse place than I did will overtake me. Not the beautiful one, but the persistent one.
I've learned that viral doesn't mean good, although I'll still buy everything TikTok recommends. I've learned that for people like us — lazy and hysterical — skincare is hard. Just like committing long-term to anything repetitive that doesn't produce instant results.
But I've also learned that it's actually a meditative experience, and that I love myself when I take care of myself. I needed skincare exactly when it happened to me. Now I'm ready for anything.