Every brand swears its moisturizer is the one. Most are water, glycerin, and a very expensive story. I test each formula in real-life scenarios: morning and night, under SPF, on top of actives, through a scorching Madrid summer and a radiator-blasted winter. Then I read the ingredient list to figure out why it worked. Or why it didn’t.
This is where I review all of it: luxury creams, pharmacy staples, K-beauty gel creams, balms, and face oils.
Chasing firmness? Start with my edit of the best peptide moisturizers.
Skin that drinks everything? Here are the face oils I actually layer.
The eighth formula in Kiehl’s iconic Ultra Facial range is also its most targeted. Kiehl’s has been plastering Madrid with it. Bus stops, social media, the works. That unmistakable red jar is impossible to miss, and clearly that was the…
View Post
From African Botanics to Vintner’s Daughter… These are my top picks. Dry skin wasn’t an issue for me until my mid-40s. During a Tammy Fender facial, my aesthetician casually mentioned my skin was dry. Moving to Spain last year didn’t…
View Post
The Inkey List Bio-Active Ceramide Repairing and Plumping Moisturizer wants to firm, plump, and repair your barrier for around twenty bucks. That’s a lot of promises at that price. My skin runs dry-ish and firming is a year-round goal, so…
View Post
I did not buy this cream. It came as a GWP with an online order, which is usually where my expectations go to die. Also, I tend to ignore viral skincare. Especially the kind pushed aggressively by very young creators…
View Post
Peptides have become one of skincare’s most overused words. Not because they don’t work, but because the term has been stretched to mean everything and nothing at once. In creams especially, “peptide-powered” can signal anything from a thoughtfully built formula…
View Post
U Beauty’s retail journey matters here. When the brand launched in 2019, it debuted at Net-a-Porter, a platform that, at the time, approached beauty with the same level of editing and discretion it applied to fashion. That positioning felt intentional.…
View Post
Why I Still Reach for Embryolisse Ten years ago, I turned to goop’s newsletter on French Pharmacy must-haves for my Paris shopping guide. I only know that from a quick search of my Gmail inbox, because does anyone delete emails?…
View Post
Dr. Loretta formulated a liquid step you didn’t know you needed. For a long time, I considered the liquid steps in a skincare routine optional. In most cases, toners or essences filled in gaps where other products fell short. In…
View Post