The archive
Everything we have published
An Astro blog theme for beauty publications: product reviews, skincare, makeup, hair, fragrance, and the routines around them.
30 stories · Page 2 of 3
Buy Two Brushes, Not Twelve
The twelve-piece set is a merchandising format, not a kit. Almost everything you do with makeup is done with a dense flat brush and a tapered fluffy one.
Retinol Is A Long Game And Your Face Keeps The Score
Twelve weeks before anything is worth judging, and most people quit at three. The schedule matters more than the strength, and almost nobody is sold the schedule.
Nocturne Gel Polish Held Nine Days. Here Is Where It Failed
The colour payoff in two coats is the best we have tested at home. The removal is a forty-minute ordeal that took a layer of nail with it.
The Home Spa Night Is Worth It, For Reasons Nobody Advertises
The mask is not doing much. The ninety minutes of not looking at a screen while it sits on your face is doing a great deal, and that is a legitimate product.
How To Test Fragrance Without Ruining Your Nose By Noon
Three is the limit, four hours is the minimum, and the coffee beans on the counter have never worked. A method for buying scent you will still like in March.
A Year Of Nail Shades, And What They Taught Me About Undertone
Fifty-two manicures, one pair of hands, and a spreadsheet. The shades that flattered had almost nothing in common with the shades that photographed well.
Curl Products Are Sold By Hold And Bought By Hope
A gel's job is to hold a shape the hair already had. Almost nothing on the shelf can create a curl pattern, and the products that imply they can are the expensive ones.
How To Patch Test Properly, And Why Almost Nobody Does
A dab on the wrist for ten minutes tests nothing at all. Real sensitisation takes days to appear, which is exactly why the useful version of this is boring.
Aster & Fold Vitamin C 12%: Strong Formula, Fragile Bottle
One of the few L-ascorbic acid serums we have tested that still works at week eight. It is also in clear glass, which is how the previous batch died.
Nine Products On A Shelf, Two That Earn Their Place
We audited five readers' bathroom shelves against what each product was actually doing. The average was nine items and the average useful count was under three.
Every Red Lipstick Is A Different Red On Your Own Face
The shade in the bullet is a pigment blend meeting your lip's own colour and translucency. Two people wearing the same red are not wearing the same red.
The Case For One Bottle, Worn Until It Is Gone
A wardrobe of fragrances is the industry's preferred outcome and a worse experience than a signature. Scent works by association, and association needs repetition.
