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Growing up with a constant reminder that the wrong use of products will lead to terrifying consequences such as waking up one morning with a full face of pimples as experienced by my mum’s colleague, I’ve always been wary of what I put on my face.
Add to that the fact that certain ingredients in facial products can trigger a cycle of inflammation that is hard to stop on my skin, I feel like I’ll be engaging in a life-long struggle with skin sensitivity issues.
There are many types of skin sensitivity with different levels of severity, but I believe there are mainly two broad categories – (1) skin that is naturally sensitive to anything at all, and (2) skin that is aggravated by certain ingredients in skincare formula.
I believe my skin belongs in the second category because the first category sees skin that is REALLY, INNATELY sensitive with reactions such as pustules, skin bumps, or skin erosion, skin irritations, redness, itching or rashes and has a tendency toward blushing and skin flushing.
These are pictures of skin irritation with extremely sensitive skin.
SO OUCH. 
While my occasional breakout from products and bad sleeping habits suddenly seems mild compared to innately sensitively skin, I still do want to balance the level of sensitivity of my skin.
If you, like me, have sensitive skin and find that the quest for the ideal moisturizer is a tough task, remember that no matter what you MUST moisturize! Don’t give up searching because moisturizing products for sensitive skin help skin hold on to moisture so it resists drying and abrasion.
What Causes Sensitive Skin?
While factors like skin disorders, allergies, injured skin and genetics like age and gender differences contribute to skin sensitivity, it is largely due to the loss of Cermamide in the skin that causes more sensitive skin. Increasing stress and environmental allergies also make skin more prone to problems, so…
MUST MOISTURIZE!!
What Is Ceramide?
Okie, let’s learn some Science-y stuff for a bit.
Ceramide is found in the stratum corneum (surface layer of the epidermis) that helps to maintain the integrity of the skin’s barrier later, protecting it from dryness and other external irritation. When this barrier is intact, your skin looks smooth and glowing.
However with age and environmental exposure, the skin’s natural Ceramide is compromised. The skin is then unable to retain moisture and becomes vulnerable to humidity and fluctuating temperatures. It is where we start to experience roughness, fine lines and wrinkles. BOO.
Curel moisturizers prevent and treat sensitive and dry skin, but that’s not all they do.
They contain Ceramide, the magical ingredient that fortifies the skin and helps it lock in all the essential and hasten the skin’s ability to heal damages that any of its layers have undergone.
So smart right? The skin loses Ceramide and Curel puts it back. On top of that, Curel Face Cream has the HIGHEST Ceramide concentration in the market!
Ceramide-based moisturizers work great on sensitive and dry skin. Where regular moisturizers fail to make a difference, the Ceramide-enriched Curel moisturizer does the trick as the ideal moisturizer for sensitive and dry skin.
ARGH!! I tell you, even the smallest ‘mistake’ in the formula is likely to be rapidly reflected on my sensitive skin. What I do like about the Curel moisturizers is that they did not, in any way at all, aggravate my skin nor caused breakouts on my skin. I’ve tried a wide range of skin care products, with many promising hopes of non-irritation and non-comedogenic-whatever, but still caused clogged pores and unsightly allergic reactions.
Proper skin care can already be quite challenging regardless of skin type, but sensitive skin takes it a notch higher and makes everything else even more complicated due to the numerous factors that can influence the overall result.
So I’m really glad both the Curel Moisture Face Milk and Curel Intensive Moisture Face Cream did not make my skin develop any kind of irritation.
You can observe from the picture above that the Moisture Face Milk has a runnier consistency while the Intensive Moisture Cream is thicker and creamier. The former is recommended for normal or combination skin for use in the day as it is supposedly lightly textured and easily absorbed into the skin.
I honestly would not recommend people with extremely oily skin to use Moisture Face Milk under makeup or as a day moisturizer. When I applied Moisture Face Milk under primer and foundation in the day, my skin oiled up pretty quickly. This has nothing to do with the Curel moisturizer though, it’s just a good product on the wrong skin. Lol. If you study or work in an air-conditioned room for most part of the day, the Curel Moisture Face Milk might even work on oily-combination skin.
Surprisingly, even though the Intensive Moisture Face Cream is significantly thicker in consistency than the Moisture Face Milk, the former doesn’t feel thick or greasy like some other moisturizers I’ve tried before. The Intensive Moisture Face Cream is recommended for dry skin, but oily-skinned me has no problem using it as a night cream. 
Great sunny day for phototaking! =D
It is imperative to keep your skin moisturized especially if you’re in an air-conditioned room. When the weather’s so hot I have to turn on the air-con in order to fall asleep, I often wake up feeling my skin extremely dry and parched. If that’s any indication of how dry skin feels all the time, then it must be really frustrating!
Don’t forget your neck and decollete (cleavage and bust)! The skin in these areas is actually thinner and sensitive than most parts of the body and they tend to dry out easily and need to be moisturized too!
Curel is available at selected Watsons and Guardian Stores and National Skin Centre.
Curel Intensive Moisture Face Cream – For Dry Skin
SGD 38.80
Curel Moisture Face Milk – For Normal or Combination Skin
SGD 32.80
If you’d like to try some free Curel samples, just go to the Curel Singapore Facebook page and click on the free sample app!
https://www.facebook.com/Curel.SG
Do you have sensitive and/or dry skin? Do share the problems faced if you have with dry, sensitive, or even combination skin. I’d like to learn more about it!
