Vitamin C Esters: Are ATIP and THDA the Same Thing?

THDA ATIP structures

Vitamin C is an amazing skincare active, but ascorbic acid can be annoying in products. That’s why vitamin C derivatives were developed – these are slightly altered versions of ascorbic acid that can get around these issues (irritation, instability, stained fingers, fake tan smell). Two of the INCI names for derivatives that you might’ve seen on ingredient lists are ascorbyl …

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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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Cheap Australian SPF Reviews: Coles, Woolworths, Aldi

Coles Woolworths sunscreen review

A lot of my favourite sunscreens aren’t the most budget-friendly. Unfortunately sunscreen testing and development is pretty expensive, and if you want to formulate an SPF product that’s really pleasant to use as well as being effective, it can be a long expensive process of trial and error. Enter: economy of scale. We have two major supermarkets in Australia: Coles …

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Affordable Acne Routine: Bumper Guide

I talked about my terrible teenage skincare routine before (check it out here if you want all the gory details). I have oily, acne-prone and dehydration-prone skin, and that skincare routine made everything so much worse. It took me about 15 years to figure out a good skincare routine (we didn’t have as much skincare info on the internet back …

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My Favourite Heimish Products

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Heimish is a Korean skincare brand that’s best known for their cleansing balm, which has a cult following (and well deserved – more on that later). But they have a whole bunch of other great gems too! Here are my picks from their range so far. The video is sponsored by StyleKorean, but this blog post isn’t. StyleKorean currently have …

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Reviewing My Teenage Skincare Routine

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Did we all have horrifying teenage skincare routines? I recently came across a photo of a TV Hits magazine cover from the early 2000s, and remembered how it was my first introduction to the concept of a skincare routine. I was a little obsessed with music magazines, and they often came with little samples of Clean & Clear’s 3 Step …

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Favourite Moisturiser? Lagom, Atopalm, Neogen Reviews

lagom cellus products

I recently reviewed a bunch of Korean products from Lagom, Atopalm and Neogen for a sponsored video with StyleKorean. Unlike my usual collaborations with online stores, they chose the products for me, which I was initially a bit skeptical about. But to my pleasant surprise (and honestly, relief) they chose some products that suited my skin and had some really …

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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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