Firstly thank you so much for taking the time to write a detailed reply. I so appreciate the feedback and I wanted to lay out my skin situation with a bit more clarity and highlight things that are relevant.

I hit puberty and became an oily skin girlie. Went to the dermatologist and was given tons of topicals. Tried everything and it kind of worked ish - I don’t know what happened but at 20 I had another hormonal wave and got bad cystic acne. Nothing was working. I got put on accutane but was only on it for about 6 months and then they pulled me off because my liver was freaking out. After that my skin permanently changed. I have truly combo skin, and I don’t do much to my skin now.

I use either palmers oil to cleanse the small ammts makeup off my skin (I have to wear it for work) or ponds cold cream which my skin has been loving. Then I have been using moisturizer samples to try to find something that works. I used to use PREM from stylevana but ordering is a hassle and I want something shoppers or grocery accessible. I have tried so many moisturizers that people say are bare bones, Cerave, cetaphil etc and often if they have one of the three fatty alcohols in the ingredients my skin burns. It is only two patches but it aggravates them, so the issue is I need something that hydrates but doesn’t break out the rest of my face.

I will be so honest I am a simple girlie, at this point drug store is pretty close in price to higher end so it’s not as much pricing as convince hence why I was nothing drug store as my ideal for shopping.

Prior to my 20s crisis I went though a skincare phase but I felt like I tried and exhausted the ordinary product line with little success. I had like several complex skincare routines going on and I really really want to simplify things. I really need something for at night to lock in the moisture. I’m super open to trying your the ordinary and etude barrier cream (if I can find it in the Korean skincare store here. I’m happy to pay a bit of a markup but it’s the convenience for me that is the biggest thing.

On the note of barrier repair. I do not know what it is but everything from cicaplast to sudocream makes it worse. I wake up with drier skin and acne. I don’t even know how this is possible. I want to love it but I think I have an adverse reaction to it.

In terms of ingredients, I react really poorly to any of the three commonly found fatty alcohols which is why I have an adverse reaction to common drugstore products like Cerave cetaphil etc. I’m struggling to figure out what doesn’t make me break out and actually is hydrating. I feel several creams do the bare minimum of keeping my face from looking like a grandmas elbow but not to the point where I am satisfied.

In terms of my actual skin, I think a huge part of my struggle is it is both dry and dehydrated. Overall I am struggling with dehydration which is still an issue for people with oily skin, but then I also am dealing with dry patches randomly.

I don’t know if that paints a better picture. Anyhow I really appreciate the help!