I originally planned to title this post “My Busy Mom Skincare Routine” but changed my mind because you don’t have to be a parent to want your skin to look its best yet rarely have time (or energy) in the morning for a multi-layered AB routine. My morning rush is dictated by the need to get my tiny dictator ready for school and then take him there on time, but you might be in a hurry to get to work or to your own classes or wherever else your presence is required during the dark nighttime hours before noon. The reasons don’t matter, only the results. Who doesn’t want a few more free minutes on a workday or schoolday morning without giving up their hard-earned glow?
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It’s here! Rafflecopter has randomly selected the 10 winners of my mega giveaway with Naruko Boutique US, I’ve gotten in touch with the lucky contestants and verified their information, and now it’s time to see who won a share of the massive pile of goodies Naruko is generously giving away!
The winners of the giveaway, by IG username, are:
- @betsyradelow
- @writeapostcard
- @nerfernie
- @hippylip
- @skincare.bunny
- @gracefulfaceblog
- @botanypuns
- @kristine.schulte
- @skinsationdiary
- @memebeautydiary
Congratulations to the winners! You’ll be receiving your prizes in the mail, and I hope I get to hear what you think of them!
Oh, and even if you didn’t win, Naruko’s Mask Holiday Super Sale* could still make a winner out of you. Currently, prices start at $7.99, and the house of Niuer is giving an extra 20% discount off of purchases over $100.
What Naruko products do you love the most and which ones are you most curious to try?
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In the insanely crowded and competitive Asian skincare industry, product repackaging and/or reformulation are common tactics for brands fighting the never-ending fight to retain customers’ interest in their products. Sometimes the product updates work, like when My Beauty Diary revamped their main sheet mask line last year. Other times, though, a product update feels like when wholesome former child stars grow up and decide to repackage themselves by taking off their clothes in public and discovering mind-altering substances (also in public): unnecessary and kind of upsetting.
Point is, an update to a perfectly good product is always a gamble. When the updated 2016 versions of My Beauty Diary’s core masks started showing up on Amazon, though, I wasn’t too nervous. It’s MBD! What could go wrong?
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Have you ever seen Sunshine? The 2007 Danny Boyle movie stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, and Hiroyuki Sanada as sexy space scientists sent to reignite our dying sun with nukesand pretty pretty blue eyes, because if the sun dies, it takes us all out with it. Sunshine is one of my favorite movies, but it isn’t perfect. Danny Boyle totally neglects to explore the silver lining of the sun dying, which is that we wouldn’t need sunscreen anymore.
In the real world, unfortunately(?), the sun isn’t dying, so we do need sunscreen if we want to prevent premature aging and reduce our risk of skin cancer. And in the real world, sunscreen, all sunscreen, even my favorite sunscreen, is more or less a giant pain in the ass. That is, unless you use my friend Chel‘s genius trick for getting near-perfect sunscreen application at practically the speed of light!
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While recording the Snailcast a while ago, Chel and I got to reminiscing about the early days of AB life. Just a couple of years ago, hauls were major events that demanded planning, patience, and possibly a Hangul cheat sheet. These days, US-based Asian skincare fans can get a solid routine and plenty of extras, like sheet masks, in two days or less from Amazon Prime–without the hefty shipping costs that things like sheet masks can incur on many other sites. Kids these days have it so damn easy. Get off my lawn (so the Amazon delivery guy can get to my door).
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A couple of weeks ago, I talked in a general way about how to decide whether to introduce actives into your skincare routine. Now, as promised, here are a couple of examples: one product that just didn’t have enough oomph to get the job done, and one that doesn’t need anything more than what it already contains to do what I want!
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It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these because I don’t particularly want to run giveaways of just random stuff that I can’t vouch for, but some things are worth the wait. Today I have a ginormous Naruko giveaway for you guys to enter, with over $1400 worth of tested-and-loved Naruko goodies as prizes! (more…)
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I had a great time pondering a common reader question in my last post about deciding whether to introduce actives into your regimen! So while I finish up a big old double review post for you guys, I thought I’d take a swing at a couple more reader questions that come up pretty regularly in the comments here (and in the AB community). Today’s questions often arise when people begin expanding their skincare routines beyond the basics. (more…)
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I know I haven’t been great about answering comments and questions here latelyand I’m super sorry and am working to catch up!, but since I manually approve every comment that comes through, I have still been reading them. Lately I’ve noticed one particular type of question come up more often than most. Lots of you have been asking:
Should I use actives in my skincare routine?
It’s a great question, especially with all the affordable and presumably effectively formulated actives on the market these days. I talked briefly about the actives I use and why I chose them when I wrote about my anti-aging skincare routine a while back, but not generally enough to really answer the question at hand. So let’s get down to it! (more…)
