Matter of Fact Vitamin C and Bad Science Review

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You might’ve seen Matter of Fact skincare all over social media lately. Their star product is a vitamin C serum, and they’ve been doing a lot of sponsorships with influencers, particularly the ones that come across as “sciencey” (with a science background and/or make scientific skincare content). You might’ve been surprised to see me in one of their influencer ads …

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Good Molecules’ “Nothing to Hide” Ingredient Lists: A Critique

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Good Molecules is a brand with a pretty unique marketing strategy – they show their ingredient lists with the percentages of all the ingredients, saying they have “nothing to hide”.  They claim this is a “new level of transparency”, and that they hope that others in the industry will do the same… but is that really transparent?  The YouTube video …

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All About Cleansing & How to Choose a Gentle Cleanser

What Makes a Gentle Cleanser? All About Gentle Cleansing

Gone are the days of harsh cleansers that dried out your skin – everyone’s getting into gentle cleansers! What’s the science behind gentle cleansing, and how do you pick a gentle cleanser? Here’s the scientific background behind this skin-loving trend! Want more about the science behind choosing and using the right cleansers, moisturiser and sunscreen for your skin? Check out …

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Food, Diet and Acne: The Science

diet acne infographics

You’ve probably seen hundreds of these sorts of videos and infographics giving you lists of foods to stop eating to cure your acne. Is there any truth to this? Are all these foods actually giving us acne? Here’s a deep dive into the science behind food and acne. A quick warning: I’ve had a lot of requests for this topic, …

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You can mix foundation with sunscreen… sometimes

This is a sponsored post. If you’re a skincare nerd, you’ll know that mixing foundation with sunscreen is a Bad Thing, even though a lot of people do it, and some brands even recommend it. While mixing a couple of drops of foundation in with your sunscreen solves a lot of problems (takes the edge off any white cast, removes …

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Skincare Oils and Free Fatty Acids: The Science

Video: Skincare Oils and Free Fatty Acids: The Science

If you’re a skincare nerd, you may know that different skincare oils have different fatty acid profiles – that is, they differ in terms of which fatty acids they contain e.g. linoleic, linolenic, oleic and lauric acid. The fatty acids have interesting properties. For example, lauric acid is strongly antibacterial, and works better than benzoyl peroxide against Cutibacterium acnes bacteria. …

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Do zinc sunscreens stop working and go toxic after 2 hours?

Chemical vs Physical Sunscreens: The Science (with video)

There’s a new paper on zinc oxide sunscreens not working and becoming toxic after 2 hours of UV exposure. A lot of people have sent me this paper, so here’s my analysis of it. In short, the researchers found that sunscreen ingredients broke down when mixed with zinc oxide and exposed to UV light, and the degraded mixtures had lower …

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