I try a lot of different skincare products and have more or less positive experiences with a fair number of them, but these days, it’s rare for a product to delight me so much that I actively look forward to the next time I get to use it, or to excite me so much that I can’t shut up long enough for my full testing period to finish before I start blogging about it. My current obsession, Hyggee Balance One Step Facial Essence, took me completely by surprise–but maybe this first look will keep it from taking you by surprise, too!
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I don’t break out often, but when I do, I’m off to PIH City for weeks afterwards. That’s just how skin rolls. (Straight to PIH City.)
Then again, a ticket to PIH City gives me a chance to really put “brightening” products to the test. So when my experiments with a 20% mandelic acid serum convinced a clog in my forehead to purge out spectacularly, I tore my beauty closet apart looking for something new to throw at the thing. I came up with a box of Naruko DermaLane Zero Dark Spot Brightening Renewal sheet masks, which the brand sent me to try a while back. (more…)
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There’s a bin on a shelf in my beauty closet where I hoard my empties until the bin is full. Then I take a picture of the containers before I recycle them. Usually that picture goes on my Instagram, but this time around, I felt I had more to say about the products I’ve used up than I could fit in an Insta caption, so here they are. (more…)
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(Beauty) dreams do come true! At the age of Almost 37, I’ve acquired the long, lush, always curled, (semi)permanently fluttery eyelashes of my wildest (beauty) fantasies. My eyelash extensions are my absolute favorite thing right now, and I’ve been dying to tell you guys about them! (more…)
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After a couple of low-buy months, my wallet’s vacation has ended. My favorites need restocking and my new address apparently puts me in an Amazon Prime Free Same-Day Delivery Zone(!!!). While I normally share my hauls over on Instagram, this month’s skincare purchases revealed so much about what I’m loving these days that I thought I’d go into a little more detail than usual. (more…)
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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 treatment essence or FTE) became a thing.
These confusingly named products are credited with near-miraculous powers of beautification. In addition to hydrating and balancing skin and preparing it for optimal absorption of other skincare products, first essences supposedly brighten skin tone, lighten dark marks, firm and tighten skin texture overall, smooth out fine lines and wrinkles and prevent future ones from appearing, and impart radiance, taking complexions from so-so to DAAAAAAMN DAT GLOW. In the last several months, I’ve used three different ones consistently, for several weeks each. Let’s talk (briefly) about the famous SK-II Facial Treatment Essence and more extensively about Secret Key’s Starting Treatment Essence (Rose Edition) and Naruko’s Face Renewal Miracle Essence! (more…)
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Getting older is a natural, inevitable, and wonderful thing. Getting older shows that we’re surviving all the crap that life throws our way. I have very few problems with getting older and only a couple of problems with the concept of my own mortality. I just don’t want my mortality to show up on my face right now because I’m enjoying the way my face looks right now, and since right now is pretty much all the time because that’s how time feels because I haven’t recently consumed any psychedelics that might alter my perceptions of that, I’ve built a very involved anti-aging skincare routine to keep my skin looking the way it looks right now for as close to all the time as is possible. (And to help it look more youthful wherever I can, giving me an extra head start on the years of aging to come.) Sometimes people request that I explain my routine in more detail than I generally do on my Instagram routine posts. This post is for those people. (more…)
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The skincare routine post is a staple of AB blogs, and I’ve done my fair share. Routine posts are challenging for me because my own routine changes constantly as I choose what my skin needs the most from my unreasonably large beauty stash. Most of the time, I prefer to document what I’m using on my Instagram instead of in a lengthy post that will be outdated pretty much the next day. But when a commenter on one of my (more excessive) routine pics asked for a walkthrough of my routine, I got to thinking. Even if the products change from day to day, maybe I could write something helpful by talking about my decision-making process. If you’re curious about how I put together a morning skincare routine, read on! (more…)
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It’s here! The COSRX snail sheet mask that COSRX snail lovers like me have been dreaming of ever since our favorite kooky-clinical-affordable-whimsical K-beauty skincare brand let me announce it all the way back in May is finally here! I’ve had mine since Saturday, and I’ve been busily masking and thinking and second-guessing what I’ve been thinking. Now down to just
a coupleone out of the seven I got, I’m ready to talk. Read on for my review of the COSRX Holy Moly Snail Mask! (more…)
