The essence step in a skincare routine can sometimes be hard to pin down. Is it a watery fluid focused on brightening and hydration, or something with more weight that brings nourishment and soothing to dry skin? Luckily, more and more brands are coming out with a variety of products they deem as “essence”, meaning more options for more skin types.

It’s peak summer heat—sweat galore, skin greasy, pores clogged—the last thing you want is a heavy moisturizer that packs richness where your skin needs none. And yet, moisturizers are still an important part of your skincare routine and should not be skipped even in the summer. Moisturizers help protect your skin barrier, and hydrating moisturizers in particular will allow your skin to produce a normal amount of oil and sebum.

We don’t know who needs to hear this, but we can’t emphasize this enough: up to 90% of premature aging is caused by sun exposure. (Not to scare you, but even high exposure to blue light from electronic devices can cause premature aging too!) It’s common knowledge to always wear sunscreen before going out and reapply sun protection once every two hours for maximum effect! And yet, even after all the precautions we take before and during our day in the sun, we don’t talk nearly enough about what we should do to take care of our skin AFTER a long day of attempting to fight off UV rays.

With the heat of summer bearing down on us like never before (in so many places), it can really be hard to find a way to keep excess shine, oily-ness, and greasynes at bay. Here in Colorado, we have been lucky enough to avoid the worst of it until recently, when temps have popped up to the high 90s pretty quickly.

Vitamin C is one of those ingredients that I’ll always seek out to add into my skincare routine. It has an amazing plethora of benefits and can help your skin look really plump, dewy, and glowy—you know, the skin benefit trifecta.

If you’ve browsed enough skincare, you’ll definitely have seen the words “moisturizing” and “hydrating” used interchangeably. But are they really the same?

Japanese Beauty, or J-Beauty for short, has been around for a long, long time. From as far back as the Nara Period, women in Japanese society were obsessed with the idea of fair skin. In the Edo Period, we see this sentiment echoed again in a “skincare bible” of sorts that documented various methods and recipes for achieving translucent, blemish-free skin. Fast forward to 2021, J-Beauty is now a stronghold in the cosmetics and skincare industries globally: Shiseido, one of the oldest beauty companies in the world at 149-years-old, is the FIFTH largest cosmetics company in the world. Scientific advancements in J-Beauty laid the foundation for worldwide trends in cosmetics and skincare. (Fun fact: Shiseido was the first company to produce hyaluronic acid from non-animal sources!)

People might complain about the Internet being a cesspool of garbage—but for me, the Internet has brought people in my life that I consider friends—even if we’ve never met.

It's that time of year again—seasonal changes often upset not only our lungs and brain, but also the skin, with external irritants. Particularly around May to July, blooming trees, grasses, weeds, and flowers deliver pollen into the air, causing a cacophony for the especially sensitive. On top of seasonal allergens, the month of June marks the official end of spring and the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, with temperatures shooting up in mid-July and mid-August.

Moisturizers are one of the most important products you need in your routine, but which one would work best for your skin type? Which textures would work best for your skin type and what types of formulas would provide you with the most protection and hydration? I’ll be testing out four different moisturizers from three different brands so you’ll have a better idea of which one to choose for yourself!

K-beauty has become such a large category within the skincare world, sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. The quality is top-tier, the packaging is gorgeous, and the active ingredients are unique and alluring. How do you find the best Korean eye creams when they all look and sound so amazing?

I’m going to get straight to the point. I LOVE niacinamide. I honestly don’t think there’s a single skincare ingredient that has had such a positive impact on my skin (besides my prescriptions). I mean, she’s truly that girl and gives us what needs to be given.