More Than Skin Deep

Taking a moment for yourself is so important. Pressures, expectations, and stress that you experience throughout your day can leave you worn out, depressed and overwhelmed. I have these days, too, and some are worst than others.

That’s why my evening skincare routine has become so important to me.

I found a way to make it even more meaningful.

Before I move on, please stop rolling your eyes at how cheesy this sounds. Are you thinking something, “It’s just skincare. Why so serious?”

I know. It does sound serious because I am serious! I’m going to get real for this post so if you’re not into it, jump to the TL;DR at the end of this post :P

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I know I’m not the only one out there that feels emotionally drained and stressed out at times so if you sometimes feel that way a little bit, this post is for you. I really, really hope that reading about how I’ve been reviving and and centering my mind while revitalizing my skin help will help you out — even if it is just a little bit.

How it all started

This is a spare basket I used for organizing my skincare stash. I bought it from Daiso months ago and it has been cycled in and out without really having a permanent use.

I’m not sure what came over me, but, one day, I picked it up after cleansing and I started placing items into the basket from my stash. Just stuff I was going to use anyway.

This tiny change in my routine was incredibly therapeutic and elating. I had so much fun and felt so happy.

I had all the treatments and creams I wanted for the night in my basket ready for me to use — all together in one place.

The stress I had from the day melted away.

I then realized —

Holy shit, this is what is means to shop your stash.

Sure, there is shopping your stash in the economical sense but this is a whole other meaning to shopping your stash!

How I usually unwind

Whenever I felt incredibly upset for some reason, I would go shopping. This is a habit I picked up this past year. Not a great habit but it just started happening as the stress and emotion I felt became more and more unmanageable. I mean, this year has been hard. The first day I opened Melody, a woman I thought I befriended on the internet had plotted to take me down by getting Melody banned on Reddit through her connections while turning a bunch of people that I chatted with every single day for the past few months (back then) against me.

But I digress. That’s a story for another time because I finally feel comfortable and confident enough to tell it. I still get pretty emotional, though because this person did a lot of damage to me. Whenever a new event relative to me and my shop happened, and I some how find out about it, I literally started feeling dizzy and couldn’t breathe.

I later found out that these were panic attacks.

So, stay tuned for that one. It is not pretty.

After feeling faint from a panic attack, I would unconsciously be drawn to shopping.

There was a particular shop I went to. It was a beauty shop in a Korean Grocery Store maybe a 5 minute drive from where I lived. Closer than any mall and it fulfilled a couple of my needs. Food (I always bought this brown rice kimbab I liked from there) and skincare.

#MelodyTip, a lot of Korean Grocery stores have a little skincare/beauty shop in them. Don’t question it — rejoice! A little haven after shopping for kimchi and kimbab!

After grabbing all my favorite ramyuns, I would spend a few minutes staring longingly through each section of that skincare and beauty store. This is actually the first place I bought Mediental masks from. I tried them here first and fell deeply in love…but, again, I digress.

Shopping at physical stores is how I de-stressed. For some reason, having something in my hand that I knew I was buying for myself really helped me forget the rotten feelings I was having.

While I discovered many new products that I have grown to love, this was definitely not conducive to to a healthy bank balance or a healthy mind.

I’m really happy to say that…I don’t think I have to shop to relieve stress anymore.

A new way to relax

Grabbing that basket and taking a minute to think about what would best help my skin was really the best spur of the moment decision I could have possibly made for myself.

The minute you use to think about what would be best for you and best for your skin is an act of love for yourself.

Each item you’re choosing, you’re saying “I deserve this, this is for me.”

With each item you place into your basket, you’re imbuing positivity for your soul.

After picking some choice products, my entire routine was more fun and more fulfilling that usual. I felt more confident about my choices and my skin felt even softer, smoother, bouncier — and this was just after a toner and a few treatment items I picked out for myself. Thanks to those feelings, I said, “I deserve to use a nicer mask,” so I pulled out one of my favorite herbal masks instead of my usual daily mask.

I really am happy I found this kind of love for myself with skin care through perusing my stash. I feel so much more empowered about my skin, and my heart feels so much lighter, too.

So this blog post is me passing a beacon of positivity and good tidings to all of you. I really hope that this way to shopping your stash will help you de-stress your day.

To wrap it up (TL;RD)

• Shop your stash for economic reasons but more importantly — to help de-stress your day
• The minute you take out of your day to think about what will be good for your skin tonight is an act of love for yourself.

I know that this blog post was a little cheesy but, I really felt that it was important to share this with everyone. Skincare isn’t just vanity. It’s a way to love yourself.

For more skincare and beauty reads by MelodyCosme, please visit melodycosme.com.