Fifty Shades of Snail
Finding the best skin care products since 2014. Started with a focus on Korean skincare and grew from there. Skincare tips and beauty tips that work, maybe some hamster butts too
recent posts
- Protected: Fluorescent bulbs and SPF
- How I Grew My Thinning Hair Back Thicker and Stronger Than Ever Before (with no drugs or medical treatments)
- Sponsored: The Best of Skin1004
- How to Ask for Skincare Advice Online, Part Two: What Questions to Ask to Get Helpful Answers
- How to Ask for Skincare Advice Online, Part 1: What Not to Ask
about
Tag: Alcohol-free
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Lately I keep thinking about how long I’ve been using and writing about Korean skincare. It’s been a looong time. Almost ten years, to be exact. I wandered into Reddit’s Skincare Addiction community sometime in 2013 and very quickly followed the mysterious mentions of “Korean snail essence” to the much smaller but already fervently dedicated…
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9/16/2021 Update: NIOD CAIS2 is no more. It has been replaced by Copper Amino Isolate Serum 3 1:1*, which I reviewed on my IGTV here, and which I love just as much! If you still prefer to read a text-based review, read on. CAIS3 feels and performs exactly the same for me and contains the…
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Ingredient trends come and go (anyone else remember when starfish had a brief moment in the sun?). That’s why I’m so grateful when a trendy ingredient that works well for me ends up getting popular enough to stick around. Like propolis, the featured ingredient in the serums I’m going to compare today. I love propolis.…
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As many of you may know, I do some freelance writing, both because I like money and because I like having additional platforms from which to spew my never-ending thoughts about skincare. I’ve recently taken on the new AB e-tailer GlowieCo, which launched with a selection of awesome Taiwanese and Japanese skincare products. I really…
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One night a few months ago, a terrible thing happened. I went to put on my eye cream–at the time, I was using the Su:m37 Secret Repair Concentrated Eye Cream–and discovered that I’d scraped the entire jar empty. I further discovered a distinct lack of other eye creams in my beauty product black hole of…
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There are brands so familiar that despite regular use, I hardly ever think about reviewing them anymore. I take them for granted and project my shameful lack of appreciation on everyone else, too. My Beauty Diary, the first brand I ever wrote about on this blog, is one of the brands I often forget to…
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It’s the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere, but that doesn’t mean the quest for a good sunscreen can stop. If you’re trying to minimize visible skin aging, fight hyperpigmentation, and/or prevent skin cancer, then the sunscreen quest never stops. UV radiation (particularly the deeply damaging UVA radiation) is present whenever the sun is,…


