You should not open this many products in a month. I have a problem. I also have a long skincare routine that keeps my aging, dry, dehydrated, seborrheic-dermatitis-prone feeling good, so arguably that problem is more of a solution. Enough justification, though: here’s what entered my skin- and body-care routine last month.

Wash-Off Products

🍏 Pyunkang Yul Deep Clear Cleansing Balm

I love everything I’ve ever tried from Pyunkang Yul, so of course I had to try their Deep Clear Cleansing Balm. My initial impression? It smells delicious. Like green apples. This is, of course, added synthetic fragrance, so if that’s not your jam steer clear but honestly I find I enjoy the onerous team of cleansing more if it smells good. The balm emulsifies and rinses easily, with macademia, camellia and rice bran oils, as well as licorice root extract, panthenol and ceramides.
Price: $18 USD / 100 mL

🧼 Naturium Niacinamide Cleansing Gelee 3%

If you’ve been reading for a while you’ll recognize the Naturium Niacinamide Cleansing Gelee, but it’s new to me. After seeing my husband continues to not enjoy it, I ended up getting him the Farmacy Clean Bee, below, and taking this for myself. This cleanser’s claim to fame is it’s serum texture, which you can really feel if you pump it onto dry skin. This rinses clean and isn’t stripping. They say you can also use it as a mask but the few times I’ve tried that it did start to feel tight, as it basically immediately started to lather.
Price: $18 USD / 210 mL

🐝 Farmacy Clean Bee

My husband has been slowly getting into skincare, as his two Hub Take posts will attest, so I was eager to find a cleanser he’d actually want to use. Farmacy Clean Bee was recommended to me as a non-stripping cleanser that smells delicious, and we’re both obsessed with bees, so I got it for him. It’s very gentle, though weirdly it smells more like honey to anyone standing near you than you, the person using it. Works out well for me, though.
Price: $28 USD / 150 mL

🍯 I’m From Honey Mask

The I’m From Honey Mask is a cult favorite for good reason. It was one of the first wash-off masks out there that was actually suitable for dry skin, and one of the few that you can basically forget you’re wearing with no deleterious effects. My skin struggled a bit earlier in the month recalibrating to the upsettingly low humidity of Colorado from everything-is-damp-all-the-time Belize, and this helped my irritated cheeks not want to jump ship. It smells incredibly good, but don’t lick it.
Price: $38 USD / 210 g

Toners & Essences

🍶 One Thing Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate

I’ve had my eye on One Thing for a while due to their minimalist aesthetic, and so when I was due for another galactomyces product I had to pick up their Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate. I’ve waxed eloquent about the merits of galactomyces for pore and redness reduction. One Thing recommends mixing and matching their various products — all, unsurprisingly, mostly comprised of “one thing” — together, but I’ve just been using two layers of this as a first essence. It’s not as deeply hydrating as Missha or Mizon, but it is moisturizing.
Price: $24 USD / 150 mL (price varies by retailer)

💧 Rovectin Skin Essentials Activating Treatment Lotion

The Rovectin Skin Essentials Activating Treatment Lotion has been an iconic k-beauty product for a while, and probably one of the first to give western audiences a “wait, that’s not a lotion” moment. In Japanese skincare, toners are frequently referred to as lotions. In this case, this lotion is more of an essence toner texture — I actually think it’s reasonably similar to the Klairs Watery Oil Drop in slip. This is a meticulously formulated product that I use immediately after my first essence, before my other essences. It includes seven forms of hyaluronic acid (yawn, but whatever, they probably did it before other brands so I suppose it deserves a call out, and this is the first time I’m seeing potassium hyaluronate, so that’s novel), caffeine, panthenol and niacinamide to boost and hydrate the skin.
Price: $29 USD / 180 mL; shown in a sample size

🍓 SkinRX Lab MadeCera Cream Double Essence Toner

I picked up the Skin RX Lab MadeCera sample kit (which also included their cleanser and cream) earlier this year, and I’m just finally getting to the MadeCera Cream Double Essence Toner. This is one of those two-phase toner products like the currently-hyped Dr Ceuracle Vegan Kombucha Tea Essence, though it’s often photographed mixed (like here) because of its strawberry milk vibes. This has a yummy fragrance, though I preferred it in the Madecera Cream. This has madecassoside, ceramides, panthenol, beta-glucan and, of course, milk proteins, to make it nourishing.
Price: $26 USD / 150 mL for the full size; shown in a 30 mL travel size

🥛 SANA Soy Milk Wrinkle Care Lotion N

The SANA Soy Milk Wrinkle Care Lotion N is another lotion that’s actually a toner, though SANA is a j-beauty brand so we’ll give it a pass for potentially being confusing. This line is actually one of the few j- or k-beauty products I’ve seen that includes retinol — actual retinol, not just retinyl palmitate, though it also has that. Given the name, of course, it focuses on soy ingredients: fermented soybean milk, soybean seed extract, soy protein, soy isoflavone. SANA doesn’t disclose the percentage of retinol in this product, but it was enough to trigger a bit of a purge for me. I don’t tend to purge much, but I did get a few blackheads which caused some consternation.
Price: $22 USD / 200 mL

Serums & Moisturizers

🧱 Cocokind Ceramide Barrier Serum

Long-time readers will know I swear by a designated ceramide serum, so I was excited to pick up the Cocokind Ceramide Barrier Serum from Target. This serum uses not one, not the usual three, but five ceramides, in addition to a ceramide precursor. Despite this, it has more of a standard consistency rather than what I’ve come to think of as a ceramide serum consistency (I blame Kate Somerville and RNW for this notion of ceramide serums — they’re both gloopy, fatty goodness). In order to promote skin barrier support, it also includes cholesterol and other fatty acids, which are critical.
Price: $20 USD / 30 mL

😇 Farmacy Honey Halo Moisturizer

I have been recommended the Farmacy Honey Halo Moisturizer so much, and am such a simp for bee products, that it was bound to happen eventually. Well, here it is, in all its jumbo glory. I couldn’t pass up a 25% off sale. I’ve been digging down the middle with the super cute steel spatula it comes with (the lid is magentized, how cool is that?), and because a little goes a long way due to the shea butter I’ve been able to use it AM and PM. It smells absolutely delicious, despite having no added fragrance. Worthwhile call-outs beyond the honey, propolis, royal jelly and shea butter are ceramides and sea buckthorn oil.
Price: $90 USD / 100 mL for the jumbo size shown; $45 USD / 50 mL for the standard size

Body Skincare

🛀 SOL Body Cleansing Oil

I picked up thee SOL Body Cleansing Oil during my most recent Colourpop splurge (SOL is a sister-brand to Colourpop and Fourth Ray Beauty). I’m always looking for interesting body oils, whether for in the bath as a bath oil or in the shower for a cleanser. This is actually intended as a proper first cleanse, to be followed with a standard body cleanser. I think that tracks with the smell, which is very piña colada — while in the tub this mostly just makes me want rum drinks with umbrellas, this would be a great option during the summer for removing stubborn body sunscreen.
Price: $16 USD / 170 mL

🩸Butters Hygienics The Blood of My Enemies Bath Oil of Vengeance

When AliceInTheRabbitHole mentioned the Butters Hygienics The Blood of My Enemies Bath Oil of Vengeance in a video, I had an immediate “adds to cart” moment (though it was sold out, so it was more of an immediate “email me when in stock” moment, followed later by an immediate “omg, buy 4” moment). This is a super fun bath oil that really does keep my skin nourished in the bath. It even gloops out a little bit like clotting blood, but then dissolves to turn the water a bit of a light burgundy color. The one major drawback? The oil makes the color cling to the tub like no one’s business. I try to make a point of using this right before the tub gets cleaned.
Price: $25 USD / 12 oz

🧈 Derma: B Mild Moisture Body Cream

Since I just finished the Derma: B Mild Moisture Body Lotion, it was time to bust out their Mild Moisture Body Cream — just in time for colder, drier weather. This is an apparently simple, straightforward cream that, in Derma: B fashion, is chockfull of goodies: shea butter, grape seed oil, camellia oleifera seed oil, squalane, witch hazel water, panthenol and allantoin. It can leave a bit of a greasy finish on the skin, but I think that’s mostly dependent upon just how dry (both literally and metaphorically) the skin is on application.
Price: $22 USD / 430 mL

🛢 Vaseline Original Healing Jelly

After hating Vaseline every time it was pulled out as a child, I’m officially on the Vaseline Original Healing Jelly train. It took me a while to finish a small jar, so I anticipate this will be on the edge of my tub till I’ll start wondering if it’s actually expired. Petrolatum is my secret weapon in the tub when all of my bath oils aren’t enough — I just smear a thin layer on my legs and lower back, and I’m good to go. (And, of course, the Derma: B has my 6 for when I get out, if the Vaseline didn’t quite do the trick.)
Price: $4 USD / 212g

Single-Use Skincare & Skincare Tools

🔴 COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch

Being nearly 34 is no protection against pimples, though I don’t get nearly as many as I used to. The problem is that when I do get them, I cannot not pick to save my life. So I now always keep the COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patches on hand. It can take three patches to get through a pimple, but it’s so worth it. I find that I also get less PIE (post-inflammatory erythema, not the baked good) using pimple patches, which is ideal — my PIE stick around for years.
Price: $4 USD / 24 patches

🤖 NuFACE Trinity

“Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.” The first time I used my NuFACE Trinity at the kitchen counter, I was pretty sure I had made a terrible mistake — mostly, in that the beeping drove my husband up the wall. I’m into a pretty long skincare routine, as my sheer number of openeds can attest, but I wanted an easy tool to incorporate to just make things a biiiiit longer if I was feeling it. My husband, my NuFACE and I have now worked out a good thing where I can use it for 5-20 minutes at a time while we listen to music or watch horror movies (wouldn’t recommend during A Quiet Place, though, because reasons). I’ve been using the Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel with it because it was open and I’ve heard not-great things about the primer it comes with, and it works well. I am starting to notice some superficial improvement, and am excited to see how extended use treats me.
Price: $150 USD refurbished; $340 USD full-price