Recently we looked closely at the most famous of the whitening agents, hydroquinone – it’s the most studied and very effective, but has some serious (though often overstated) side effects, is irritating to the skin, and has been heavily restricted in some countries as well. Today let’s have a look at some of the other whitening agents on the market …
I’m guessing this is the case for most beauty junkies, but I tend to think of my skincare routine as simple, but when I actually have to tell someone what’s involved, it turns out to be much more complex than I anticipated! Summer has recently hit Sydney (Sydney doesn’t really have in-between seasons – it was a high of 18 …
As a scientist whose PhD involved natural product synthesis and pharmacology (that’s where you get chemicals out of nature (plants, bacteria, marine sponges etc.) in the hopes that they’ll become, or lead to the development, of a useful drug one day), I find alternative medicine very interesting. While a LOT of it is hokum, designed to trap innocent people into …
I’m still on the quest to find my perfect shampoo, and in the last few weeks I’ve been road-testing these three from the Sydney-based Original & Mineral range. When I first saw these three products, I wasn’t expecting much – would everything-free be anywhere near strong enough to combat my super oily scalp? (For the record, by “everything-free” I specifically …
Lately I’ve had a few nasty pimples appear on my face, including a few of those deep, nasty bumps that hang around for ages and make you start to think you may have a tumour, as well as a field of little clogged pores. I mainly think it was diet and lifestyle (lack of sleep, possibly also my habit of …
For the past few weeks I’ve been trying out a bunch of Olieve & Olie products. Olieve & Olie are a boutique Australian brand who make gorgeous handmade skincare products based on real olive oil. 95% of their products’ ingredients are locally sourced from regional Victoria, and they’ve incorporated many sustainable practices into their production. My first reaction to these …
Plastic is unavoidable in modern society, and unfortunately the vast majority of the plastic products we use will long outlive us. While we can (and should) recycle a lot of our plastic waste, microplastics (including microbeads) are a form of plastic that is difficult to dispose of thoughtfully. (Photo credit: Kenny Louie) What is microplastic? Simply put, microplastic …
As many readers know, I’m not a fan of brands which expect consumers to pay a premium simply because they’re natural, with the implication that “natural” things are somehow safer, or less “unnatural”, because they “don’t contain chemicals” (see one of my earliest posts on this marketing claptrap here). A lot of “natural” brands rely upon consumer ignorance and spread …