I’ve been toying with the idea of double cleansing for a while now—mostly because my tinted sunscreen doesn’t come off with regular face wash alone. I heard good things about the oil cleansing method, which is specifically designed to gently remove sunscreen and makeup from your face. Of course, it took me weeks to research various oil cleansers before I finally decided on to take the plunge and order Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil on Amazon. It has tons of good reviews, and its…

A few weeks ago, I bought this lovely, friendly-looking face mask at a local Japanese supermarket, pretty much on a whim. At the time, I assumed that it was a Japanese brand, but I found out later that it was actually a Taiwanese brand: My Beauty Diary (我的美麗日記). What can I say? Japanese and Chinese written characters look very similar, particularly if you’re not paying close attention.

I’ve harbored mixed feelings about the importance of using toner as part of one’s skincare routine. I’ve used toners off and on since my teenage years. I suspect that most of the positive effects were psychological—using toner made my face feel cleaner than using face wash alone. Recently, I’ve been using Thayers Cucumber Toner, and I think it might continue to play a regular role in my skincare routine, for a number of reasons that I’ll go into later in this post.