Slowly but surely, I’m going to review all the sunscreens in Sephora’s Sun Safety Kit 2018. Today, we’ll be focusing on Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer All Day Moisture Sunscreen, which is a chemical sunscreen that includes a bunch of other antioxidants and moisturizing ingredients, including vitamins A, C, and E, pro-vitamin B5 (panthenol), aloe, and ceramides. But while writing this post, I also discovered just how confusing and unreliable ingredient lists can be—even when…

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.