Vitamin A – what does it do for your skin?

Vitamins are amazing for your body, but what do they do when you rub them on your skin? Earlier we looked at vitamin C and what it does – now let’s take a gander at vitamin A, one of the most amazing products for your skin!  Stephen Ausmus Vitamin A is found in vegetables (such as carrots), egg yolk, liver …

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Is mineral oil dangerous? Part 2

Angela Mabray I’m looking at whether mineral oil, an incredibly common moisturiser – possibly the most common moisturiser, check your moisturiser’s ingredients – is dangerous again. Read part 1 here! 3. Mineral oil is comedogenic and will make you break out – FALSE Mineral oil appears on a large range of “comedogenic ingredients” lists. Once upon a time (well, in …

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Is mineral oil dangerous? Part 1

Angela Mabray Mineral oil gets quite a bad rap… why? We’re going to take a look at the most common reasons people give for why you should avoid mineral oil this week in a 2-parter: 1. Mineral oil comes from crude oil… I’m not putting gasoline on my face! – FALSE Flcelloguy While it’s true that mineral oil comes from …

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Big 3 – Formaldehyde

Reminder: Only a few days left to enter my giveaway! Good luck everyone 🙂 This is the last of the Big 3. The other two were covered earlier: DBP – Toluene Formaldehyde – form-AL-de-hide – MSDS Other names: methanal. When mixed with water, formaldehyde forms methanediol, which is also known as formalin, methylene glycol or formaldehyde monohydrate. Not to be …

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Big 3 – Toluene

Second in Lab Muffin’s Big 3 series is toluene. Part 1 – DBP Toluene – TOLL-lew-een – MSDSaka toluol, methylbenzene, phenylmethane Where is it found? Nail polish, permanent markers, paint. Why is it there? Toluene is a solvent – in other words, it dissolves up all the other bits in nail polish so you’re not putting chunky powder across your …

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How does the “vampire facelift” (aka PRP) work?

  The “vampire facelift” (aka Selphyl, platelet-rich plasma injections) is an increasingly popular wrinkle-reducing treatment that involves taking your blood, separating it with a centrifuge, then reinjecting it into your face. It’s not a “real” facelift (i.e. it doesn’t involve cutting you open). It sounds really weird and mucky, but it’s actually fascinating how it works! Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has …

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Flashback: Big 3 – DBP

I’ve decided to finish off the Big 3 (maybe even Big 4!) series I started on at the beginning of this blogging journey, and thought revisiting my original DBP post would be a good way to start – read on… If you’ve ever looked at the ingredients list on the back of any of your cosmetics, you’ll see a massive …

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Q&A: Why does nail polish stain your nails yellow?

  Q: Why does nail polish stain your nails yellow? A: As you might’ve guessed, it’s the coloured pigments in the nail polish! Generally, the pattern is that the staining is darker at the tip and fades towards the cuticle. It’s a bigger problem when the dyes are dissolved rather than suspended in the polish (e.g. with stearalkonium hectorite). If …

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