Remember the Stanford marshmallow experiment, tested kids' ability to delay gratification? I might be able to delay eating a marshmallow, but I’m definitely terrible when it comes to delaying the gratification of trying out new skincare products. Why should I patch test when I could be one day closer to glowier, smoother skin? This, of course, has backfired more than a few times. The skin along my jawline started to break out more than usual shortly after I introduced three new products…

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,…

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…