The archive
Everything we have published
An Astro blog theme for beauty publications: product reviews, skincare, makeup, hair, fragrance, and the routines around them.
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Your Skin Barrier Is Not A Wall, And It Does Not Need Rebuilding Daily
Barrier repair became the category that sells everything, which is how a perfectly functional stratum corneum ended up being treated as an emergency four nights a week.
Cream Blush Won Because It Forgives Everything
Powder asks you to be precise with a brush you probably bought for something else. Cream asks you to have fingers, and that is most of the story.
Perfume Does Not Last Longer Because It Cost More
Longevity is a function of molecular weight, concentration and your own sebum. Price correlates with none of the three, and nobody selling it has a reason to say so.
Lumen Atelier Barrier Serum: Four Weeks On A Face That Argues Back
A short, sensible ingredient list at an unsensible price. It does what it claims, and the pump is the reason we cannot recommend it without a caveat.
Air Drying Is A Technique, Not A Default
Leaving your hair alone is the one instruction everybody follows and almost nobody follows correctly, because the shape is set in the first twenty minutes.
Sleep Is The Only Free Skincare That Actually Works
The evidence for sleep restriction changing how skin looks and heals is better than the evidence behind most of the shelf. It is also the hardest thing to sell.
Sunscreen Is The Only Anti-Ageing Product With A Straight Answer
Every other claim in the category is a probability. This one has a randomised trial behind it, and the argument now is only about how you get people to wear it.
Foundation Shade Ranges Got Wider. Undertone Matching Did Not
Forty shades is a shelf-space decision. Whether any of them matches you is a question about the two or three pigments behind all forty, and that has barely moved.
Verdal Repair Shampoo And The Myth Of The Reset Wash
Sold as a way to start your hair again from scratch. It is a competent, slightly harsh cleanser with an excellent scent and a claim it cannot support.
Double Cleansing Only Earns Its Second Step If You Wear Sunscreen
The method exists to remove things water cannot. If your evening face is bare skin and a moisturiser, you have been washing twice for no reason.
Notes Are Marketing. Accords Are What You Actually Smell
The pyramid on the box lists ingredients that may not be in the bottle. What you smell is a handful of blended effects, and learning those is what makes buying easier.
What A Salon Consultation Should Cover Before Anyone Picks Up Scissors
Five minutes of the right questions prevents most of the haircuts people cry about. Here is what a good stylist asks, and what you should volunteer if they do not.
