Nine out of 10 little sisters agree: Big sisters are expert authorities when it comes to discovering cool new stuff first. I read my sister’s books after she finished reading them, I wore her clothes after she outgrew them, and I listened to the music that she played in the car. So when I visited my sister a few weeks ago, I was more than happy to try out a new product that she picked up a Costco: the Karuna exfoliating foot mask.

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,…

Out of all the products included in the Sephora Sun Safety Kit 2018, the one that perplexed me the most was Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Glow Pads. These self-tanning towelettes contain glycolic acid and lactic acid, two alpha-hydroxy acids (AHA), which increase your skin’s sensitivity to UV radiation. That sounds like the opposite of safety to me. I guess maybe Sephora assumes that you’ll use this product in conjunction with one of the other sunscreens included in the kit?…