If you’ve ever seen the package for an Asian sunscreen before, you may have noticed a lot of plus signs on the bottle. They aren’t just there to make you feel positive (get it? ha!)—they actually refer to the sunscreen’s level of UVA protection. SPF measures a sunscreen’s UVB protection. Europe and Asia actually have established UVA testing and labeling standards (hence the PA+++ on labels). However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t ask companies directly,…

When I first visited the DECIEM store in NYC last April, I picked up a bottle of The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% upon the store associate’s recommendation. I’ve been using a pea-sized amount every morning for months now, per instructions from The Ordinary customer service team (I emailed them for help). In this post, I’ll finally be sharing my honest thoughts on The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% (spoiler alert: this post is categorized under “disappointing…

Recently, I was browsing Brandless’s website—more specifically, the beauty and personal care section. When everything is priced at $3, it all looks dangerously attractive. But don’t forget to price check how much quantity you get for those seemingly low prices—for example, Brandless’s organic cotton rounds are more expensive than my favorite ones from MUJI, on a per-round basis. Brandless bans 400 ingredients from all of its beauty products, including “aerosol…