Skincare products come and go, but these regularly repurchased holy grails are here to stay.
Beauty Monogamy: My Long-Term (Skincare) Relationships
Category: Essences
One of the more confusing steps in a Korean skin care routine, essences can be either light, watery, and intended for use immediately after cleansing, or thicker and more gel- or serum-like in texture. Either way, essences deliver a skin-quenching boost of hydration and a healthy dose of actives to improve skin health both immediately and with long-term use.
Spring 2017 Empties Report
Today I opened my skincare closet and a massive pile of empties fell out, so I decided to divert some time and energy from the reviews I'm working on and write (some of) those empties up. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk(*). Some of the products featured in this post were provided by Fifty [...]
Review: Amorepacific Intensive Vitalizing Eye Essence
Christopher Walken once said that Winston Churchill once said that "the eyes are the windows of your face," and I've been thinking about that quote a lot lately as I've gathered my notes for this review of Amorepacific Intensive Vitalizing Eye Essence. The product reviewed in this post was provided by a Fifty Shades of Snail [...]
The Best and Worst Skincare I Used in 2016: A Holy Grail Skincare Routine
2016 was a pretty wild year in a lot of ways. Even my face got a taste of the turmoil. I tried a lot of different products from a lot of different brands this year, and while some of those products were truly great (and I appreciate the opportunity to try them all), others...weren't. I took [...]
December 2016 Empties Report
My skincare closet is overflowing with bottles and jars, and not all of them have stuff in them anymore. It's time for a purge! Some of the products in this post were provided by Fifty Shades of Snail sponsors and are disclosed individually in the text. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk(*). Holy grail [...]
Review: Olivarrier Dual Moist Hyaluron Essence
Lately I've felt conflicted about new beauty brands. They simultaneously attract and repulse me. Attract because who doesn't love a new shiny? But repulse because there are just so many duds out there that I mostly want to hide in a cave lined with Sulwhasoo and Naruko and COSRX and forget the world. But that wouldn't be [...]
Fiddy’s Flops: The 2016 Dud Report
Amid the love and positivity of the holiday season, I think it's important to remember that everything is not, in fact, awesome. Actually, for every one stellar skincare product out there, there are probably about twenty duds. As hard as I try to avoid those duds, sometimes they land on my doorstep and then on [...]
First Look: Hyggee Balance One Step Facial Essence
Hyggee's Balance One Step Facial Essence packs a nourishing skincare routine into a single super cool product.
Fermentation, First Essences, and that FTE Glow: Secret Key vs. Naruko Facial Essence Review
Years ago in a meeting room in faraway Asia, hardworking cosmetics marketers discovered that the story they'd spun, of peasant sake brewers with mind-blowingly soft and youthful hands, could sell bottle upon bottle of the novel new skincare product they were tasked with promoting. And thus, the first essence (or fermentation essence, or facial treatment essence or first [...]
2016 Sun Care Megapost: Fighting Wrinkles with After-Sun Skincare
Yesterday was a hideously beautiful SoCal day, so I dragged the family to the beach for a few hours. Lord Fiddy came home with a vibrant sunburn ("Hey look! I got some color!"). Young Master Fiddy and I were, of course, wearing sunscreen and remained Unburnt. I was, however, sandy and desperate for a shower, so I did [...]
