13 Asian celeb-approved beauty tips for women in their 30s

In a blur of job promotions, Pinterest-worthy bachelorette parties and baby showers, you find yourself in your thirties. Just like how your body can no longer handle staying up till 3am to party, your skin has also undergone changes, so what worked for your skin and hair in your 20s is probably not going to cut it.

While you may (and should) feel young at heart, there are some unavoidable telltale signs that can reveal your age.

With the hormonal changes that come with age, your complexion and hair naturally have new needs. Ahead are 13 celebrity-approved gems of hard-earned beauty wisdom that will serve you well into your prime years.

Sandara Park (36): Use a retinol skincare product

As we get older, the vitamin A is our skin starts to gradually deplete, causing signs of ageing such as wrinkles and fine lines. Incorporating a retinol skincare product in your routine like K-pop idol Sandara Park can help to stimulate collagen and elastin production, speed up cell turnover and keep skin looking radiant and youthful.

Yoona (30): Incorporate clay masks to your routine

Our ears (and eyes) perked up when Girls’ Generation’s Yoona revealed the secret to her flawless skin on Instagram. After removing toner-soaked cotton pads from her cheeks, Yoona completes her DIY facial with a detoxifying clay mask.

Once you enter your 30s, skin starts to lose elasticity and as a result, pores get more noticeable. Clay is one of the best ingredients for cleaning out pores and removing blackheads.

Joanne Tseng (32): Start using a deep conditioning hair treatment

As a busy thirty-something, chances are you don’t have quite as much time to spend on your tresses as you’d like. That said, hair ages too, so just as you are caring for your complexion, you should be deep-conditioning your hair.

To get the full shiny hair of your dreams in a pinch, Taiwanese actress Joanne Tseng recommends towel-drying the ends of your hair ever so slightly before massaging the treatment into your tresses.

Jessica Jung (31): Wash your face with a gentle cleanser

One beauty habit that shouldn’t change as you enter a new decade? Cleansing your face once in the morning and another at night. That said, you can choose to switch out the facial cleanser you use, depending on your skin’s needs.

“Fly” singer Jessica Jung uses Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple Cleanser, an all-around gentle cleanser that removes dirt and oil, all without irritating even the most sensitive skin.

Rebecca Lim (34): Load up on supplements

We are what we eat. Our skin, hair and nails reflect the state of our gut health, which is impacted by factors such as the amount of caffeine and other additives we consume. As you get older, your body starts to enter the “maintenance phase” and you need to replenish it with adequate vitamins and minerals.

Queen of barely-there, luminescent makeup Rebecca Lim is a fan of Swisse Women’s Ultivite which she says, “contains over 40 of our daily nutritional needs to support a healthy heart to keep energy levels up (so important with my erratic work schedule and lack of sleep) and has lots of antioxidants.” Which is all good news for getting a glowing visage.

Charlene Choi (38): Hydrate and protect skin from harmful UV rays

When you hit your 30s, the visible signs of sun exposure start to show up on your face – not just pigmentation, but also discolouration and fine lines that are stubborn to treat and hard to conceal.

Even if you have a busy schedule, don’t skip out on sun protection. Instead, use a multi-purpose moisturiser formulated with broad-spectrum SPH properties like Charlene Choi’s pick the Enfantskin UV Protection Cream SPH 40+++ which combines moisturising and sunscreen application into one.

Fiona Sit (39): Embrace thick, lush brows

Thick, filled-in arches are the hallmark of youth. The soft texture of thick, bushy brows can help to soften your features and divert attention away from pesky sunspots and fine lines. Thankfully, unlike other features, brows can continue to look 21-years-old forever – provided you use the right products and learn how to fill them in convincingly.

To create the illusion of fuller-looking brows seen on Hong Kong starlet Fiona Sit, you can fill your arches in with a brow powder or brow mascara. Alternatively, if you are looking for a more permanent solution, there is also microblading or brow embroidery that is similar to tattooing but uses a thin pen to create a natural-looking brow that can last up to three years.

Park So-ra (32): Highlight not contour

If your goal is to look younger, skip out on the contour and incorporate highlighter in your makeup arsenal. As we enter our 30s, we start to lose volume in our face and contouring actually emphasises the hollows in our complexion.

To restore volume and add a youthful glow, apply highlighter strategically on the temple, tip of the nose, eyes, upper lip, and chin.

Kim Jae-kyung (31): Pretty in pink

Dark lip colours tend to make lips appear thinner and accentuate patchiness and fine lines. Rosy pink shades, on the other hand, add fullness to your pout, and make you look more youthful.

As a rule of thumb, opt for a MLBB or rose hue as seen on former Rainbow member Jae-Kyung that matches your natural lip colour and top it off with a gloss to add plumpness and volume.

Son Ye-jin (38): Pretty from head-to-toe

Your skincare routine doesn’t and shouldn’t stop at your face. The skin on the rest of your body needs TLC as well. After all, who wants glowy, supple face with dry, rough décolletage?

Crash Landing on You star Son Ye-jin keeps her complexion at goddess level by smoothing a hydrating product over her jawline, neck and décolletage. Bonus tip: While your skin is still damp from your shower, smooth a hydrating cream or lotion over your entire body, letting it absorb before putting your clothes on.

Irene Kim (33): Treat yourself to a facial

Facials boost radiance and keep your complexion healthy. Don’t just take it from us, just take a look at how glowy and dewy model Irene Kim’s skin looks after a facial session.

As you approach your mid-30s, opt for treatments like micro-needling to help stimulate collagen production and minimise appearance of fine lines and pores.

Shin Se-kyung (30): Exfoliate with toner pads

If you haven’t been exfoliating periodically and are approaching your 30s, now is a good time to start. When you approach your 30s, cells turn over more slowly, leading to dull, dry, flaky patches. That said, adding an extra step in the form of an exfoliating serum or cleanser can be cumbersome.

Enter exfoliating pads. These pads work just like a serum, gently exfoliating the skin while delivering potent active ingredients into the skin, but in a convenient disposable form. South Korean actress attributes her unrivalled complexion to Banila Co’s Clean It Zero Pore Clarifying Toner Pads.

These pads contain healthy concentrations of AHA, BHA, LHA and inflammation-fighting tea tree leaf extract to seriously brighten skin, shrink pore size and fight breakouts. What’s not to like?

Michelle Chen (37): Don’t forget your lips!

You should exfoliate your pout once or twice a week to keep it soft and supple. And no, we’re not talking about rubbing your lips vigorously with a toothbrush.

“You are the apple of my eye” star Michelle Chen took to Instagram to share her secret to ridding every trace of chapping to reveal smooth, kissable lips.

She said, “Apply a thick layer of lip balm before sloughing away any dead skin cells with a q-tip that has been dipped in hot water. Watch and learn!” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

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This article was first published in Her World Online.