by Alexandra Nicole Nuralam
Suhina Cesenni: Conquering Eczema In Style
“Living with eczema is an absolute nightmare, to say the least.”
If you judge books solely by their cover, you’d probably be very wrong about the influencers you see on Instagram. Best known to her 60k followers as @luxitgirl, Suhina Cesenni will also respond to Dr Suhina Cesenni (MD). After practising medicine for 9 years in South Africa and London, her move to Singapore in 2012 saw her creating a community within the fashion and beauty world.
These days, Suhina devotes her time between her MBA course at INSEAD and curating content on her social media pages. Behind the gallery of visuals, she battles atopic dermatitis —AKA eczema—and shares her lifelong journey with the skin condition.
“I’ve suffered a lot in the past few years with bad eczema under my eyes and found the Dior Prestige Illuminating Micro-Nutritive Eye Serum to be an absolute lifesaver at keeping my eczema at bay.”
You’re in front of the camera often — how has eczema been a challenge for photo and video shoots?
I remember shooting a TV commercial for Nokia in South Africa back in the day, and the make-up artist used a foundation my skin didn’t agree with. 3 hours into the shoot, I broke out into severe eczema and ended up having to be on oral steroids for a week.
Keep in mind that different things work for different people, but usually, when I get an eczema outbreak, I stop all my skincare and switch immediately to Cetaphil. I keep my routine very simple, using more natural ingredients like coconut oil during the flare-up. If you’re experiencing the same thing and what usually works isn’t working, go to your dermatologist for advice.
How do you work your make-up routine around eczema?
My daily make-up routine is always the same – it takes me approximately 15 minutes at the most. Using a primer is of utmost importance in my opinion, to get the skin hydrated and ready for make-up. I’ve tried a few but my absolute favourite at the moment is the Dior DreamSkin DreamSkin Care & Perfect Global Age-Defying Skincare Perfect Skin Creator (SGD173).
I prefer to use a lightweight foundation, and I’m currently using the Dior Forever Skin Glow (SGD78) because my skin doesn’t react to it, and it helps that they have a wide enough range of skin colours for darker skin tones like mine.
“Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate! I don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol, and this plays a big role in maintaining a youthful appearance.”
Do you ever go out barefaced? If so, what type of product do you put on to still take care of your skin?
Yes, especially on Sundays! I tend to use the Diorskin Forever & Ever Wear Makeup Primer SPF 20 (SGD69) and the Dior Prestige Light-In-White SPF 50 (SGD249) for a moisturised and protected finish.
I love the Dior Prestige range – it’s my whole go-to skincare. It’s hard to choose one favourite, but I guess I’d say it’s the under-eye serum. It’s helped contained my eczema flare-ups and I haven’t had a trigger in a while.
What are some must-have products and regimes that help keep you looking fresh before a shoot?
Before any big shoot, I love to go for a facial but if I don’t have time, I will do a mini-facial at home with the Dior Prestige Rose Sugar Scrub (SGD660) and Dior Prestige Le Grande Masque (SGD338). The combination of the pair provides a much-needed moisture boost; nothing is worse than having dry skin in front of the camera!
At the end of the day, I make sure all the makeup comes off. A key secret passed down from my mom is to never sleep with make-up on your face. No matter how dead-tired I am, I always remove my makeup and apply my Dior Prestige Le Nectar de Nuit (SGD638) night serum, and the Dior Prestige La Creme de Nuit moisturizer (SGD600).
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