I’ll admit it:
I was a "step-stacker."
If a beauty influencer mentioned a new brightening serum, it was in my cart within minutes.
At my peak, my nightly routine was seven steps long—Vitamin C, then Niacinamide, then an acid, then a "booster."
I thought I was being diligent.
I thought I was "attacking" my pigment from every angle.
But my skin was perpetually pink, slightly stinging, and those stubborn dark marks on my cheeks actually seemed to be getting darker.
I didn't realize that my obsession with "potency" was the very thing keeping my skin in a state of crisis.