Does skin need to breathe?

In short, for humans who are not premature babies, the answer is “no“. Not in the traditional sense of taking in oxygen for the rest of your body, anyway. Your skin’s essential function is to prevent things from the environment from entering your body, and things you need (e.g. water) from leaving the body. It’s very good at its job! …

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Sun Protection Basics

You northern hemisphere girls are heading towards midsummer, and us southern hemisphere girls are missing summer, so I thought I’d remind everyone of the most important thing to remember when going into the sun… sunscreen! During my research I came across this brilliant infographic which presents all the research in a much more interesting and clearer format than I could, …

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Review: Lush Angels on Bare Skin

I’m undecided about Lush. On one hand, you can follow a trail of lovely scent through your shopping centre to the store. On the other hand, walking in is like being clobbered over the head with a bucket of stenchy random perfumes. Their products are fresh and natural… but they’re also breeding grounds for bacteria and tend to go off. …

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Is an aspirin mask the same as a beta hydroxy acid treatment?

(Chaval Brasil) Aspirin masks are a popular DIY skincare treatment, but can some pills crushed in water be an effective homemade replacement for expensive salicylic acid exfoliants? Aspirin vs salicylic acid Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, which sounds a lot like salicylic acid, a beta hydroxy acid that’s great for exfoliation, with anti-irritant and anti-bacterial properties that make it great for …

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Review: Kosmea Skin Clinic Rescue Body Cream

This is another product from Kosmea’s Skin Clinic range, which has lots of products that offer intensive treatment for your skin. Skin Clinic Rescue Body Cream contains a bunch of ingredients that frankly sound awesome: Certified organic rose hip butter Certified organic everlasting oil Certified organic shea butter Chamomile essential oil Rosemary leaf extract Certified organic rose hip oil Grapeseed …

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Skincare 101: Exfoliation basics

(Fir0002/Flagstaffotos) Why do I need to exfoliate? Your skin cells are constantly renewing themselves – your entire epidermis (outer skin layers) is replaced every 50 days. Millions of dead skin cells are shed each day from the topmost layer (the stratum corneum) in a natural process called desquamation. However, many things can interfere with this process, such as ageing, hormonal …

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Review: Kosmea Replenishing Moisture Cream

I’ve always had a problem finding a good facial moisturiser. Overall my skin is oily, so in summer just rose hip oil is enough, but in winter my cheeks develop dry spots, and somehow my T-zone is both oily AND dry. So blackheads, greasiness, and flaky bits… the worst of both worlds! It took me a while, but I found …

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Review: Laneige Strawberry Yoghurt Peeling Gel

I don’t know why it’s taken so long for me to review this, since it’s on high rotation in my facial cleanser carousel (I have 9 different face cleansers in my shower at the moment, and uses whatever my skin feels like that day… yeah, I probably have a problem). As you can see from the worn-off label, I’m a …

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