Ariel Lin’s secrets to looking youthful and glowy at 39

Ariel says her top beauty secret is not washing her face for more than a minute. The Taiwanese actress credits this strict habit as being her number one beauty secret. She claims that over-washing dries out your skin and strips of moisture, leaving it prone to other skin sensitivities. This is why she makes sure her entire cleansing process is under 60 seconds – from the second the cleanser touches her face until it is washed off. So the next time you’re thinking about giving your face an extra wash will help, you might want to reconsider.

Surprisingly, the svelte beauty never washes her face with either hot or cold water. She believes that hot water will drain her skin of moisture, making it lose its natural oils. Instead, she opts to wash her face with room temperature water. When asked if she felt uncomfortable doing so, she shared that this practice is part of her firm belief that our skin is best suited to all things natural, so using water at room temperature makes the most sense.

You may not realise it, but your activities vary from day to day. Even if you’re a regular office worker, your weekends may be filled with a trip to the park or a late-night get-together. These little things make a difference to your skin, and therefore, your skincare too. Ariel believes in tailoring her skincare to her daily activities. For example, if she’ll be out on the beach, she opts for greater sun protection. And for her night regime, she stresses the importance of investing in a great night cream, as the skin needs to ‘recover’ from the activities of the day.

Before you begin, this tip isn’t for the environmentally conscious. According to Ariel, towels have fibres that will rub against the surface of your skin, which is a big no-no for the actress. So how does she dry her face? The actress gently lays a piece of tissue over her visage and pats it really gently. This tip can be a bit time consuming, but if you saw the state of her skin, you wouldn’t think twice about ditching the face towel.

Ariel might not have the option to go makeup-free when she’s on camera, but she’s particular about how her makeup is applied. Instead of swiping motions (like most of us are guilty of), she makes sure that makeup is dabbed and lightly massaged into her skin. She explains that this lessens the friction between the makeup sponge and the delicate visage, retaining your skin’s elasticity and collagen. But what if you’re applying powder foundations? You can actually pat them on too. Simply take a smaller amount of powder, and gently dab away. The same principle applies to liquid formulations.

Sleep is very important to help your body repair and rejuvenate itself as you rest. And Ariel goes to great lengths to ensure that her sleep is optimised. For starters, she avoids reading or using her phone to reduce the mental load on her brain. When she’s ready for bed, she dons on eye masks, protective face masks, earplugs and switches on low-frequency sleep aids before switching off all the lights. ICYDK wearing a satin face mask during sleep prevents your skincare from transferring to the pillow while making it easier to breathe in cold air-conditioned environments.

Many of us just slap on our moisturisers and call it a day. But for Ariel, she takes extra time to give herself a facial massage. After applying her night cream, she massages areas that are prone to wrinkles and fine lines. She starts from the forehead, corners of the eyes, smile lines, chin and finally to the lymph nodes.

Hydration is key to youthful-looking skin. To maximise the hydration she gets from her products, Ariel applies her skincare in quick succession. In fact, each step is applied five seconds after the previous has been applied to prevent excess moisture from evaporating. However, if you don’t want rush through your skincare routine, you can always spray hydrating mist before starting each step.

Ariel maintains an 80:20 rule when it comes to her diet. 80 percent of the food she eats are whole foods that are minimally processed as much as possible. The remaining 20 percent are snacks to indulge in and make herself feel happy. Ariel always has a bottle of warm water with her, drinks a cup of red date longan tea every day, and eats fresh fruits twice daily.

The relationship between stress and ageing has been well-documented. To relieve stress, Ariel unwinds with activities such as painting and exercising. In addition, Ariel tries not to be so hard on herself whenever she’s going through emotional turmoil. She repeats the mantra “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you and I love you” to herself and gives herself space to stop what she’s doing to decompress.

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