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COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid Review

What puts the power in this 'power liquid'? Plus, a bit of a refresher on BHAs and their role in skincare.

My mom enjoys Korean dramas, Sudoku puzzles, and extracting blackheads. That’s right, those annoying little black dots that appear when your pores get clogged but stay open. When I was a teenager, I had acne on my back (“bacne”), so my mom used to beg me to let her squeeze out my blackheads. She was excited for me when I got into college, she was happy when I made her favorite scones, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her more delighted than when I grudgingly agreed…

Clinique Pep-Start Hydrorush Moisturizer SPF 20 Sunscreen Review

This moisturizer/sunscreen is a bit too oily for my skin, but it might be right for anyone who has dry skin. Plus, it contains caffeine (to give it pep), sea whip extract, and other beneficial ingredients.

It’s 2019, but I’m still slowly working my way through the sunscreens in Sephora’s Sun Safety Kit 2018. My goal is to try them all before the 2019 kit comes out (I’m guessing sometime in April-ish?). The brightest (peppiest) option included in the kit was definitely Clinique Pep-Start Hydrorush Moisturizer SPF 20. It comes in a tiny, bright yellow squeeze tube, which makes it look like sunshine in a bottle.

EltaMD vs. CoTZ: Tinted physical sunscreen showdown

Which option wins in this head-to-head comparison?

I’ve been pretty happy with Australian Gold Tinted Face Sunscreen SPF 50, but if you ask me, you can never have enough good physical sunscreen options…so I’ve been keeping an eye out for new ones to try. EltaMD is at the top of my list because I’ve heard such good things about it on Reddit—and it looks like a pretty reputable brand. The company even shares its SPF testing results publicly on its website (even though my dad thinks this is suspicious).