beauty
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My Evening Skincare Routine Now That I Am 45
This is the follow-up to my morning skincare routine that I posted a few weeks ago. Since then, the world has become even more unhinged than previously – a considerable feat – making me reconsider all the ways I spend my money. You will see a number of US brands here (The Ordinary, Glossier, Tatcha, Victoria Beckham), but I think my policy going forward will be to try to avoid them if possible. I will not be a fundamentalist about it and I may still want to support some smaller, independent US brands. The rest of the context is covered in the first post, so let’s get to the evening steps.
My Morning Skincare Routine Now That I’m 45
As I mostly write about books these days, I tend to forget that statistically speaking, it’s my skincare posts that have the most readers. I looked at my stats recently, after perhaps a year of not paying any attention, and it’s frankly insane that there are more than 100 000 people who have read me going on and on about The Ordinary. Most of the top 10 posts are about skincare, with a couple of perfume ones thrown in. So I thought it may be time for a skincare update, as it’s been almost a decade since I wrote some of these articles.
Best of 2024: Beauty
Like my style, my beauty consumption has also settled down. Not really to normal levels, but somewhat closer to it. Perhaps it’s simply an age thing? The most important elements of my skincare routine are Vitamin C in the morning and retinol at night, which do not change much, and then I can play around with the rest. My makeup tends to be relatively minimal (if I bother at all) and softer than in the past, so there isn’t too much to report on that front either. That said, I do have a number of things I enjoyed using this year – some new, some older. Here they are:
End of Summer Memo
I was planning to do an Early Autumn Memo for my re-entry into blogosphere, but it’s so warm in Brussels (up to 31 degrees expected in the coming week) that I cannot bring myself to talk about autumny stuff at the moment. Which is, in a way, good news, as I have quite a few things to share from this summer, and as they aren’t necessarily summer-specific, they may still be of use to you. So I am going to get them off my chest in this post, leaving all the talk of chocolate-coloured suede and plush perfumes for the next memo.
Best of 2021: Beauty, Style, Perfume
In the two years of the pandemic, my makeup, perfume and clothes purchases have slowed down – although not stopped by any means. Perhaps most irrationally, my habit of buying a few evening dresses per year is as strong as ever. But if you are expecting a proper ‘best of’ of fragrance or beauty releases, this I’m not able to provide. Still, perhaps this overview is useful as you are planning your own wardrobes or makeup buys.
Best of 2021: Skincare
I am happy to report that in general, I have been buying fewer things. Well, with the notable exception of books – things seem to be getting worse on that front. But otherwise, there has been progress. I still have a soft spot for skincare, however, and tried quite a few things this year, some of which were very good. So here they are, in a vague order of application.
A Korean Skincare Update
Sometimes I buy beauty stuff even if I don’t need it, or just out of curiosity or because I want to cheer myself up. I know I shouldn’t do that – it’s evidence that I’m trying to fill an internal void with meaningless objects, which in turn is all the result of a capitalist conspiracy to keep me unhappy and coming back from more. This is, broadly speaking, true. If I were a fully content, balanced, worthy individual, I could probably live without a ‘wardrobe of cleansers’. But sometimes I think that buying that new cleanser is a better option than despairing and berating myself over the fact that I haven’t yet reached complete enlightenment and still crave stuff. I mean – it’s just skincare. It could be drugs!
Skincare During a Pandemic: Discuss
A few people have asked me for a skincare update, which I’m happy to provide. It’s interesting that while attitudes towards clothes and fashion have almost uniformly moved in the direction of “less” and “not a priority”, beauty is a more complex issue. There has obviously been some rethinking and reassessment, especially on the makeup front. But while I know a number of people who have simplified their skincare routines, I probably know more of those who have found solace in pampering or have used the teleworking situation to engage in some hard-core retinoling.
Dr Sam: Skincare for Sensible People
When it comes to skincare, I’m definitely not a reasonable person. I like things to be effective, I honestly do, but I also like them to smell lovely and to come in nice packaging and maybe include some ingredients that sound good, but don’t really do much, ..
Great Affordable Moisturisers: The Inkey List
Somewhat unexpectedly, I’m having much better luck lately with reasonably priced moisturisers than I’m having with fancy ones. I really liked what Alex Steinherr did for Primark (and Sali Huges agreed!), found CeraVe lotion to be a solid basic and now, the n..