This Is What Fiddy Snail’s Skincare Routine Would Look Like If She Weren’t a Blogger Anymore

She’s tried them all and gets PR samples sent to her all the time. So if Asian beauty blogger Jude Chao, aka Fiddy Snails, is actually spending her own money on these skincare products, you know they have to be good.

One of the questions I get fairly regularly is a difficult one: What products would I still use if I weren’t a blogger?

If I take the question as meaning what skincare I’d use if I had never become a blogger in the first place, it’s impossible to know. One of the privileges of being a blogger and beauty writer is the amount of press samples I’ve been gifted over the years. Thanks to PR, I’ve tried (and ended up loving) many products that I might not have noticed or cared about enough to purchase on my own.

If I take the question as meaning what skincare I’d use if I stopped blogging tomorrow, took down my site and my Instagram, went totally off-grid, and no longer had access to any more PR from anyone, ever, it becomes a little easier to answer. So let’s go with that interpretation of the question.

My criteria

I know exactly what I want out of my skincare routine. I want gentle but thorough cleansers. Actives should keep my nose pores clear and my skin texture firm and smooth without excessive irritation. Serums should brighten and calm my complexion for a more even tone and provide supplementary anti-aging benefits. Toners, moisturizers, and sleeping packs should provide hydration and glow. And sunscreen should deliver reliably high UVA and UVB protection in a formula cosmetically elegant enough for me to use in the quantity needed for my #threefingers application method.

 

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A post shared by Jude Chao (@fiddysnails) on Sep 16, 2019 at 10:04am PDT

Beyond all these requirements, the products should be economical enough for me to justify buying them repeatedly, as well as reliable and, ideally, entertaining enough that I don’t feel the urge to go looking for something new.

Here’s my skincare routine if I weren’t a blogger anymore. In the morning, I’d only need cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen, but this list contains what I’d use in the evening as well.

First cleanser

I double cleanse in the evening, though not always with an oil cleanser. If I’m only wearing light makeup and non water-resistant sunscreen, I often just swipe some cleansing water over my face instead. My picks for this category would be Banila Co Clean It Zero cleansing balm, a travel-friendly classic that takes care of heavier makeup and more stubborn sunscreen in a flash, and Neogen Real Flower Rose Water Cleanser, a super gentle and affordable water-based option for the lighter days.

 

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A post shared by Banila Co USA Official (@banilacousa) on Dec 25, 2019 at 12:59pm PST

Second cleanser

It has to be low pH, obviously. It also has to have enough of an element of fun to prevent me from getting bored. For this category, I’d go with a bit more of a splurge: Holy Snails Kadi Cleanser, made by Holy Snails, where I work. With honey to leave skin soft and calm after cleansing, and a foaming pump that generates big fluffy puffs of marshmallowy foam, it gets my skin sparkling clean without being boring.

 

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A post shared by Holy Snails (@holysnails) on Dec 23, 2017 at 1:29pm PST

Actives

This was the easiest category for me, since I’ve had my actives game down for years. I’d go with COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid for my nose, since it keeps those pores clear without irritating my skin. The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution is a big, cheap bottle of AHA that’s mild enough for frequent use and that I also use on my scalp. And my Curology tretinoin prescription has been my front line anti-aging product for years. I’ve never even felt like trying OTC retinoids, since none will beat tretinoin for potency.

 

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A post shared by The Ordinary, NIOD, & more. (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2019 at 9:05am PDT

Hydrating toner

Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Lotion is the best purely hydrating toner I’ve ever tried. This thick gel toner delivers almost sheet mask-like levels of plumpness and hydration. It comes in a big, budget-friendly bottle and lasts forever. It also plumps up and softens lips quickly in a pinch!

 

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A post shared by Louise Austin Richards 🌸 (@louiseaustinrichards) on Sep 1, 2019 at 3:13am PDT

Essence and serum

The evening essence and serum steps are for maintaining my skin condition and continually addressing long-term skin concerns. Here, I’d go with the Great White Shark variant of Holy Snails Shark Sauce. Chel originally made Shark Sauce to my specs (optimal concentration of niacinamide for brightening, with sea kelp and licorice root extract too), and Great White also contains vitamin C, eliminating the need for a separate vitamin C serum. I’d also continue to use COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence. It remains the best and snailiest snail product I’ve ever used, keeping my skin feeling calm and protected at all times while also possibly helping to repair old UV damage.

 

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A post shared by Holy Snails (@holysnails) on Sep 24, 2017 at 1:08pm PDT

Moisturizers

I like a very lightweight moisturizer for day and a much heavier one for night. For day, I’d splurge on Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Emulsion, which I actually just repurchased for myself a couple of weeks ago. As I wrote in my review of it on this site, this emulsion provides the perfect amount of moisture for me for day while also evening out my skin tone over time. Meanwhile, for night, I’d stick with Banila Co Miss Flower and Mr Honey Cream. This silky honey salve smells like heaven, seals moisture in like nothing else, and leaves my skin super firm and glowy the next day. For eye cream, I could use COSRX Advanced Snail 92 All In One Cream until the end of time and still love it as much as I always have. It’s smoothed out and kept away my fine lines and crepiness for over a year now.

Sleeping packs

Sometimes I like a sleeping pack for a change of pace or a special effect. I’ve been repurchasing COSRX Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask for years for its ability to make my skin super bouncy in the morning. I’d also keep a tube of Sulwhasoo Overnight Vitalizing Mask on hand for those heavy drinking nights or nights I won’t get enough sleep, since this relatively affordable hanbang product always leaves my skin looking lively and bright no matter how badly I behaved the night before.

Sheet masks

No question, if I weren’t a blogger anymore and had no obligation to try new things, I’d stick with Taiwanese sheet masks at all times and rotate different ones in and out for variety’s sake. The vast majority of T-beauty masks have worked out well for my skin, so the risk here would be low, especially if I stuck to reliable brands like My Beauty Diary.

Sunscreen

The final non-negotiable step: sunscreen! For the last year of so, I’ve bought and finished countless tubes of Missha All Around Safe Block Aqua Sun Gel. This SPF 50+ PA++++ sunscreen spreads smoothly and dries down to a totally clear and utterly grease-free soft matte finish in record time. I’ve tried a few other sunscreens here and there in the past year but haven’t found any that can topple this one off the top of my list. So I’d keep using it, and I wouldn’t complain about that at all.

 

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A post shared by Jude Chao (@fiddysnails) on Aug 24, 2019 at 1:12pm PDT

And there you have it: my skincare routine if I were to stop blogging and never get PR again. While I first used some of these products because they were gifted to me for review, they are all products I’ve repurchased afterwards, usually repeatedly. For someone who could probably create routines entirely out of PR if I wanted to, I think that says a lot.

What products do you go back to over and over? Let us know in the comments!