Remember when I visited the DECIEM store back in April? The store associate recommended mandelic acid for smoothing the texture of my acne scars, and alpha arbutin for lightening the appearance and redness of the scars. The store was sold out of alpha arbutin at the time, so I was only able to give mandelic acid a try. (Read the review here). Finally I was recently able to order some alpha arbutin directly from the DECIEM website. I’ve been using it once or twice a day for a few weeks now,…

I splurged a bit on a higher-end moisturizer about a week ago: Laneige Water Bank Moisture Cream. I have to admit that the beautiful packaging was 90 percent of the reason I reached for this moisturizer over any of the other options at Sephora. I’d say that this is a step above my normal drug store brands like CeraVe and Cetaphil, but still a tier below more premium options like Sunday Riley and Drunk Elephant. Laneige is the sister company of AmorePacific, which is a luxe Korean beauty…

I just spent the past week in Vegas, and boy, did my skin feel like it was actually sizzling in that 100-degree heat. The sun feels much stronger out there—and indeed, the UV index was 9 in Vegas today, compared to 7 in NYC. You can look up the UV index for your city here on the EPA’s website. It definitely served as a catalyst for getting serious about finding a quality sunscreen that I could apply on my body every day (without going broke). And I think I found it: Alba Botanica…