Skincare, beauty, mental health, productivity, and hamster butts
One of the best things about Korean skincare is that there really is something for everyone. No matter what your skin type and skin concerns are, there are options for you. Often excellent ones. For example: If you have sensitive skin or just prefer gentle products with an emphasis on natural ingredients, but still want [...]
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 [...]
Over the past couple of years, I've developed a pretty serious addiction to gel creams. I generally have at least a couple of gel creams open and in active rotation in my everyday skincare routines, because now that my skin is fully adjusted to my very high (0.14%) Curology tretinoin prescription, I don't need heavier [...]
It's been a big couple of years for COSRX. They've expanded beyond their beginnings as a small and relatively unknown brand focused on bare-bones AHA and BHA products, into a global name with a presence in brick-and-mortar retail chains like ULTA. Last year, the big COSRX news for me was the expansion of their Advanced [...]
You know how I know 2021 is going to be a better year than 2020? Because it's January and I not only remembered that I want to write a best of 2020 roundup, but am actually doing it instead of pushing it aside for so long that it becomes pointless to even publish it (who [...]
How does the new COSRX Advanced Snail Radiance Dual Essence compare to the beloved Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence?
If you hang around online skincare communities long enough, you'll end up seeing at least a handful of variations on the "I Tried a 10-Step Korean Beauty Routine and My Face Burst into Flames" theme. And if you're newer to skincare or K-beauty, you may at some point be tempted to try this yourself. I [...]
These seven Korean and Japanese skincare products stand the test of time.
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 [...]
It's funny thinking about it now, but I actually didn't get into skincare at all until I was 33. Before then, I typically washed my face with whatever decently priced and usually scrubby facial cleanser was on sale at the drugstore. I thought the dry, tight, desperate-for-moisturizer feeling I got after every wash meant my [...]
Fifty Shades of Snail 