Beauty On: Cassie Mak

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

2. What is your beauty regime? 

For my morning ritual, I always shower and wash my hair; I find it the most effective way to get me fully awake and ready for my day. After my shower, I follow up by applying toner; facial serum – B3, B5, EFG, Hyaluronic Acid, vitamin C, alone or in a combination, depending on how my skin feels; eye cream - LA MER The Eye Concentrate; facial moisturizer; and most importantly sun screen SPF 50 (SK-II). Keeping in mind humidity and weather, I use either coconut body butter, body lotion, or body oil if it’s extremely dry.

On a weekly basis, about 3 to 4 days out of the week, I use both facial and body scrubs to exfoliate in the shower. On alternating days, I’ll apply a sheet moisturizing mask and massage my face with a facial roller. I believe that everyone should use a facial roller as it promotes blood circulation and assists skin in absorbing all of the moisturizing serum, quickly and evenly.

In the past, I frequented beauty salons at least once a month for facial treatments; it was particularly important for me to visit them regularly to have the beautician deep clean my face with blackhead blemish extraction tools (針清). However, since I began microdermabrasion and HIFU treatments at home, I find myself rarely needing to visit a beauty salon. I can’t remember the last time I went to see my facial girl, to be honest, she might be mad at me.

3. Do you have any beauty secret? Or beauty miss-haps? 

All of my friends know that I am a very active person, and that I enjoy many outdoor activities: hiking, swimming, skiing etc. When I was in my teens and twenties, I never listened to my mom in applying sunscreen. This was a BIG big mistake! Now, I have freckles everywhere, and even though I’ve tried to laser treatment them away, they only came back stronger over time. So, lesson learned, apply sunscreen, even if it doesn’t look sunny out.

I also like to travel and I do so frequently. Without a doubt, it’s important to research a travel destination’s weather before jetting off, not only to decide what to wear, but I also pack my skin care accordingly. For example, North America tends to be drier in climate than Hong Kong, and thus I would pack a thicker moisturizing cream.

A few years ago when I visited Tanzania, it was drier than expected and very sandy. Amongst my 2 best friends and I, we had used up all of our hand creams, body lotions, body butter including a total of 50 sheet masks in the span of 10 days and still felt like our faces were about to crack. I learned my lesson then to always be prepared.

4. What are your must-have beauty products?

As mentioned earlier, I feel that facial rollers are such essential items that everyone should have, like a toothbrush or a good hairbrush. I travel with my facial roller and use it along with facial serums and sheet masks whenever I can as it’s also convenient to pack.

5. How do you balance between work, life, and self-care? 

I hear many people say that they are too busy to do this, and too busy to do that. In my opinion, everyone has to devote the time to take care of themselves and truly integrate a self-care regime into a daily life routine. When it is truly integrated into your life, it will be efficient, effective and effortless. You shouldn’t feel hassled to book beauty appointments to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Make it a habit, as part of your routine like eating and showering.

Time is money. And admittedly, I can at times be lazy, meaning I would never do anything extra unless it is absolutely necessary, but if I can put in the effort initially to save time/cost, I will. Therefore, I had permanent laser hair removal done to all parts I felt necessary, and a few years ago, I also had semi-permanent eyebrow and eyeliner embroidery treatments. I feel relieved and less hassled, even smarter, not having to worry about or deal with shaping my eyebrows or shaving my legs.

Last but not least, less obvious but perhaps the most important lesson to achieving work-life balance, I literally schedule “me” time into my calendar. I allocate time to be with myself away from all of the city buzz.

6. When traveling, how do you care for your skin and health?

Other than what I mentioned earlier about researching travel destination weather and adjusting your skin care regimen accordingly; I am always on the lookout for a good bathtub because I don’t have one at home. I enjoy taking baths; it is such a good way to relax your entire body and take a moment to treat yourself. So, I also always travel with bath salts, be prepared! 

Foot cream is also important to travel with. We normally walk a lot when we travel, by applying cream to moisturize your feet, this will help to avoid excess dead skin or thickening of foot soles.

7. How do you relax at the end of the day?

I relax by watching something funny, like a romantic comedy, on TV, this essentially helps to take my mind completely off of ‘reality’ and lets me unwind, so that when I’m ready to, I can fall asleep easily after a long day.

Swimming is also where I can take time for an electronics detox. Focusing on my strokes while swimming, instead of keystrokes at work, it’s important to be able to disconnect to relax fully, that includes removing distractions such as any WhatsApp messages or notifications.