How to shrink pores on the face?

There are many factors that can result in enlarged pores. High sebum excretion, clogged pores, hormones and decreased skin elasticity can all lead to enlarged facial pores. During my first pregnancy, I noticed my pores becoming bigger thanks to the hormones but I brushed it off thinking it might shrink back after giving birth. But no, recently I randomly stared at myself in the mirror and realised my pores are so enlarged!

Above is a photo of my skin in June 2022 and in January 2023, without any makeup base or filters. Wonder how I shrank my pores? I went searching for solutions to shrink my pores and here's what I did!

5 Winter Skincare Must-have

Now that many countries have opened up, I can finally go on our winter holidays again! I went on a "winter" trip to Taiwan in January and here's what I brought with me. Their winter isn't that cold but it's still quite dry so proper hydration is very important!  

[Review] IDS Skincare Intensive Moisturizer

This newly formulated IDS Skincare Intensive Moisturiser (IM) is so good it deserves a review post on its own. Just to share a little about my skin (in case you are new here), I have oily-combination skin so I've been using the Oil-free Moisturiser (OM) and Recovery Serum (RS). I've used the original version of IM before, but only when I travel to winter countries as it's rather creamy, works great for super dry conditions though. 

Meaningful Yet Affordable Push Present Gift Ideas

Happy Mother's Day to all the mummies and mummies-to-be! Need some ideas for a push present? A Chanel bag (hint hint hubby) sounds like a good idea but here are some other suggestions for you that can reflect the significance of the child's birth and not break your bank!

"Push present (also known as a push gift); A present a partner or woman’s family gives to the birthing mother to mark the occasion of her giving birth to their child."

I've Been Using IDS Skincare for 8 Years Now!

Omg, time flies! I have been using IDS Skincare for almost 8 years now, from a uni student to now, a new mummy! So what do I love about IDS that made me use their products for so long?

[Wedding 101] How I Prepped My Face For My Wedding

Those that follow my blog would know that I have acne issues since young and IDS Aesthetics and IDS Skincare helped to control it. However, after my pre-wedding shoot in Taiwan (and maybe I was stressed with the wedding planning), my skin went haywire. To make things worse, my makeup trial gave me an allergic reaction (they suspect it was cause the brushes weren't clean) and I only had 3 months to fix my skin before the big day. IDS helped make it possible again, so I'm sharing some common bridal concerns and solutions in this post!

I didn't use skincare for a month, here's what happened!

If you think you can survive without skincare, think again. I've been using IDS Skincare for 6 years and it's the only brand that my skin wouldn't get "immune" to and it stays effective! I keep my skin quite exclusive to IDS and have been rejecting sponsorships from other skincare brands cause I have extremely sensitive skin. So yes, I only use mainly IDS Skincare products for now. But cause they don't add frangrance their products, my hubby didn't like how they smell. He didn't believe skincare is compulsory and so... after I got married, I went 2 months without skincare and my skin totally went crazy. 

[Event] Launch of IDS Skincare’s Neulastin and The Honest Campaign

Did you know that wrinkles, acne and pigmentation spots are all skin wounds? IDS Skincare developed and launched Neulastin, a wound healer to enhance absorption and deliver active ingredients in selected products with an added 'repair and restore' property! It works to stimulate elastin and collagen production for effective skin repair to help your skin recover as much as possible to its ground zero state.

[Review] IDS Aesthetics Oxy V-Lift Facial Treatment

Did you know IDS Aesthetics is now at Robinsons The Heeren? I went there for a facial before my pre-wedding photoshoot and really enjoyed the experience there! For those who don't know IDS Aesthetics is right behind IDS Skincare's counter so you can get your products there too!

[Event] Launch of IDS Skincare DermaShield Serum and DermaShield Mask

IDS Skincare launched two new products last Thursday, the DermaShield Serum and DermaShield Mask, and held a luncheon at the Open Farm Community. These products are really special cause they are most probably the first-in Singapore products that are developed to protect your skin against the harmful effects of HEV, Infra-red and blue light, as well as environmental damage!

[Review] IDS Aesthetics Cryo Therapeutics Treatment

I was recommended to try IDS Aesthetics' Cryo Therapeutics Treatment for one of my facial visits cause my skin was dry and irritated after one of my overseas trips. And I have to say... this is the most skin-calming facial I've ever done, it really helped soothe and hydrate my skin! Also, it somewhat controlled my skin too cause I stopped having the mini breakout after that. Continue reading for my full review and a promo code (more than 50% off)!

[Review] Hydro Therapeutics Facial at IDS Aesthetics

Many of you have been writing to me and asking how I kept my acne under control. Here’s the trick - use the correct products for your skin and go for facials to clean your pores. The range of IDS Skincare that I’m using have been keeping my acne under control. However, sometimes stress or environment can clog up my pores, causing a breakout. When this happens, I will go to IDS Aesthetics for a facial and my skin will clear up and be under control again. By right I’m supposed to go for monthly or bi-monthly facials to maintain my skin. However, due to my schedule, I only visit when a breakout happen and I won’t recommend this cause… hyperpigmentation takes time to go away.

I haven’t been able to blog about the previous facials cause I can’t take proper photos with my eyes covered during facial hahahas. But this time, I made my bf visit IDS Aesthetics for a facial with me! Since both of us had our facials done, here is a review by him and her. Fyi, IDS Aesthetics has a really good promo (it’s more than 50% off), scroll to the end of the post to find out what it is!

IDS Skincare's New Counter at Robinsons The Heeren!

Other than getting your IDS Skincare products at IDS Clinic or on IDS Skincare's online shop, you can now get them in town - IDS Skincare is now at Robinsons The Heeren! Yes, you can now get your products more easily.

Btw, if you are wondering what is enHAnce, it is IDS patented ‘enHAnce’ Transcutaneous Delivery System which enables active ingredients to penetrate and be delivered into the target areas at therapeutic concentrations. This enHAnce system is in all IDS products, making their products extra effective!

Skincare I Cannot Leave Home Without!

I've been using IDS skincare for about or even more than 2 years now. I decided to do a post on my favorite IDS skincare products that I cannot leave home without since I brought them with me on my recent Japan+Korea trip! Also, this is actually a guest post at JYSK's blog. You can view the guest post over at their page too - #IDSSPOTLIGHT Katelyn Tan. p.s There's even one product that is always in my bag!

Photo taken at my guesthouse in Korea!

Above are the four items that I always bring with me when I travel and they are (left to right):

Lyco-White, S2 Sunscreen (Non-tinted), OM Oil-free Moisturizer and DD Diamond Dust Perfector

[Review] JYSK Skin Solutions Diamond Dust Perfector

I'm back with a product review and this time it's a product that I really love and have been using for months! It's IDS Diamond Dust Perfector (DD Cream), an exclusive product from JYSK Skin Solutions that works in seconds, instantly improves skin tone and reduces redness. It can be applied to the face, hands, neck or any external part of the body. [From JYSK Skin Solutions]

This DD cream is said to be able to minimize the appearance of enlarged pores, smoothen and mattify the skin and softens the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Hard to believe cause it sounds like a miracle product right? Trust me, I was a little skeptical too cause it sounded so miraculous but it is really true! And... there are a lot of "undeclared" benefits too. Continue reading the review to find out more! ;)

Katelyn's Skin Evolution with IDS Skincare #6

Back with another review post for IDS Skincare a.k.a JYSK Skin Solutions! Btw, I'm pretty sure most of you know by now that I started working this year. But what I haven't been updating is that I wear basic makeup to work everyday and I think it resulted in quite a few breakouts.

I try to visit IDS Clinic once a month for facials to clear up my pores and the photo above was taken right after one of the sessions during the period I was having a bad breakout. I have very sensitive skin so my face is always red after facial extractions.

The thing about breakouts is that facials help to reduce the chances of it happening and my IDS skincare products can clear my pimples quite quickly. On average, each pimple can heal in 2 to 3 days. But sometimes the pimples are just so stubborn, or maybe cause of my itchy fingers, they end up as hyper-pigmentations after they heal! :(

That brings us to the product I'm sharing with all of you today - AA, one of the newer products from from IDS Skincare!

[Review] IDS-Lyco White

Hello! I'm back with a post for JYSK Skin Solutions! This time it's a product review and it's none other than their Lyco-White supplements!

As usual, here're some of the info of Lyco-White. Lyco-White is an Oral Skin Supplement with 4 main ingredients for different functions:

Katelyn's Skin Evolution with IDS Skincare #5

I am finally back with the product review post!

Above is my current skincare routine.

But I will be reviewing every single product that I've used before in this post!

Before I start, here is a short video review on some of the products I used in the past :)

I filmed that more than 3 months back when I first joined IDS clinic.

Just added the voice over recently :)

Hmm and maybe I will do a skincare regime video when I have the time?

I rarely do videos cause my house is noisy throughout the day lols.

All these voice overs are done past 12mn so sorry if I sound a lil tired :(

Katelyn's Skin Evolution with IDS Skincare #4

Back with another post for IDS Clinic!

Haven't visited them for 2 months cause school has been rather busy.

But... I have been diligently using their products okay!

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Photo at IDS clinic! I have countless photos of this wall already lols. Anyways, there's a reason why I could only take photo of this corner was cause... there are patients sitting on the other half of the sofa and also some at the dispensary and registration counter. Normally I will avoid taking photos when there are patients cause some might not like it? Also I will feel awkward lols. Oh and if you are wondering, my camera is always in my bag.

Katelyn's Skin Evolution with IDS Skincare #3

Mentioned in my previous post that I visited IDS for a review and facial.

So here is a review of the facial and a new product! :)

P.S pardon the photos though all taken at a horrible angle with my eyes closed :/

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The facial treatment I had was:

Advanced Acne Treatment Plus

It is a 5 step treatment that helps treat and control acne! :)

My therapeutist that day was Ms Ambria Tee.

STEP ONE: Dermabrasion

Many other clinics/salons use crystal or diamond peel but at IDS Clinic they use Hydrafacial! What Hydrafacial does is it uses a high power water jet stream to do dermabrasion. This is actually much more comfortable and also less painful compared to crystal or diamond peel. On top of that,  the water solution used contains multi minerals!

STEP TWO: Comedones Removal

Here comedones that are rooted to the pores are firstly cleared using ultrasound. After that step is completed, there will be some minor extraction of the more stubborn ones.

P.S I'm sure you can spot more red spots on my face after this step. The extraction actually wasn't that painful lols. It's just that my skin is very sensitive and it turns red very quickly. 

STEP THREE: Acne Light-based Treatment

Now for the main therapeutic treatment; a light based treatment with suction! What the light does is it kills the bacteria on your skin and hence controlling acne. I was told that the suction will bring he skin closer to the light so that results will be better ;) It's really unique cause I've had light treatments at other salons before but none had the suction. So what happen is that your skin will be lightly sucked by the machine then the light will be shone on your skin.  It's not super taut and not painful at all so don't worry.

STEP FOUR: Vitamin C Penetration

Time for some more pampering! Here the same ultrasound machine will be used to penetrate vitamins into the skin.

STEP FIVE: Mask

The whole treatment will be end after a cooling anti acne mask to ease off red marks. This is my favorite step and most of the time I will fall asleep haha. As you can see in the next photo, most of the red marks were gone!

Here's a photo after treatment! If you look at the photo collage earlier, you should be able to see that my skin got a lil red after the extractions. But the cooling mask managed to tone down all the redness! ♥ The whole treatment cleared all my clogged pores and made my skin super smooth too! I kept wanting to touch my face after that hahahas.

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Now for the next part of this review... a new product at IDS Clinic!
It's CLEAR 10, an improved version of their original CLEAR.
I ran out of the magic gel that they gave me and this was a replacement.
I believe that magic gel is in this too cause the texture is similar!
Initially CLEAR was rather sticky but this new version is not :)
The best part? It works as well as the magic gel! ♥

Here's a photo of CLEAR 10 and my receipt for the day!
As mentioned in the previous post, I'm currently a paying customer and no longer sponsored.
P.S I actually have two separate receipts, another for my top ups,
cause I only told that I wanted to top up some products after this receipt was generated.
I didn't take a photo of another receipt since I'm only gonna mention about CLEAR 10 in this post.

As the facial cleared all my clogged pores, I actually didn't need this product.
But thankfully for you all (not for me),
I had a breakout on my forehead after using a cosmetic product.
So I managed to take photos to show how well the CLEAR 10 worked!

TOP was taken BEFORE using.
BOTTOM was AFTER using for 5 days.
Something that I used on my face caused me to have a breakout (clogged pores) :/
It was especially bad on my forehead as shown in the photo above!
Thank god I had my CLEAR 10! It was actually cleared after day 5 of using :)
Godly right? Hurry and go to IDS to get yours hahas ;)

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That's all for this review!
Will see if I can find time to review the other products :)