A routine of emptying is more important than filling, something I realized only in the middle of a winter dawn.

It's already well past 11 o'clock. The cold wind howls outside, but inside the room, perhaps because of the heating, my skin feels cracked. My lips are so irritated right now, I've practically smeared lip balm on them and am looking in the mirror. But what worries me as much as my lips is my skin texture. My skin is dry and flaky, but the area around my nose and the butterfly zone looks bumpy and bumpy because of the accumulated dead skin cells. It's really stressful.

If you just blindly apply heavy creams in winter, sebum will clog your pores, making your skin look dull. So, these days, I've been focusing on this midnight cleansing routine. I gently steam my skin with a towel, then gently rub it with a fine-grained cleansing oil to smooth out any unevenness. The key is to gently dissolve it, not force it out.

Afterwards, if you finish with a cold, moisturizing ampoule, you'll feel like the empty space is being densely filled with moisture. Honestly, I think the hardest part about winter home care is finding the right oil-moisture balance. I'm so tired I just want to sleep, but I think it's more efficient to pay a little more attention now than to stress about my makeup coming off the next morning. Everyone, don't just slather on lip balm. Take just five extra minutes when you wash your face to open up your skin's pathways first. That way, even if you apply good cosmetics, they'll be absorbed properly.