Glow by Lady E

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Used to the Last Drop: Yes, There Was Probably More in There

I already reviewed this INK Velvet shade, and I still think it’s beautiful. On me, it’s one of those wonderfully natural shades that doesn’t announce itself before I enter the room. It just works. Oh, and it’s one of those very few matte lip products that don’t dry out my lips. So naturally, I kept using it. And using it. Until I reached the ridiculous stage of beauty-product ownership where I knew there was probably still a little product somewhere inside the bottle. Technically. But between the tiny opening and the doe-foot applicator, retrieving it had become a minor engineering project. Could I have fought for those final molecules? Probably. Did I? No. There are limits to my devotion. You know this, Glow Girls. I don’t like wasting time. Eventually the amount of product potentially remaining became less valuable than the time I was wasting trying to get to it. So I’m calling it. Used to the last drop accessible to a reasonable human being. Good enough. I...

Used to the Last Drop: The Sale Find That Surprised Me

I bought this MUMUSO Purple Perilla lotion on sale. It was sitting there on the till with a 40 or 50% off sign. I read calming. So I got it. But since it was on sale, it also meant my expectations weren’t exactly standing at attention. But my skin surprised me. It worked beautifully. No reactions whatsoever. No problems with the scent either, which matters to me because fragrance and I do not always have the most peaceful relationship. It simply became something I could use without thinking too much about it. And perhaps that’s an underrated quality in skincare. Not everything needs to transform your life, arrive with twelve actives and demand its own complicated ritual. Sometimes you just want to put lotion on your skin and have your skin say: Fine by me. Apparently mine said that often enough that I finished the bottle. Not bad for something I added last minute because it was on sale. —- With elegance and quiet fire, Lady E Founder, Glow by Lady E An editor...

Used to the Last Drop: My Long Hair Approved

My hair seems to have a thing for Lux Japan products. This Damage Repair hair mask was no exception. It worked well on my hair, but there was another reason I enjoyed using it: it was easy to rinse out. If you have really long hair, you already understand why that deserves its own sentence. A hair treatment can make all sorts of glorious promises, but if I have to stand there forever trying to rinse it out of several miles of hair, our relationship is already deteriorating. This one didn’t make hair washing feel like an endurance event. I could work it through my hair, rinse it properly, and move on with my life. And I appreciated that quite a lot because… (gestures toward completely demolished tub) Used to the last drop. Or at least every drop I could reasonably persuade out of it. —- With elegance and quiet fire, Lady E Founder, Glow by Lady E An editorial space for stories, art, and intentional living

Used to the Last Drop: The Ones I’d Already Told You About

There’s something particularly satisfying about finishing a product you’ve already written about. Not testing it. Not forming first impressions. Not wondering whether I’ll still like it three weeks from now. Finished. My Molang Honey sheet masks and this body scrub both made it all the way to the end. (Finally for the Molang sheet masks, right?) I’ve reviewed both before, so I won’t review them all over again here. But perhaps using something until there is nothing left to use is its own kind of review. Beauty products come through my bathroom rather frequently. Some are lovely for a week. Some get pushed to the back of a shelf. Some simply stop working for me. And then there are the ones that quietly disappear because I kept reaching for them. Maybe an empty container is the shortest review of all. I liked it enough to finish it. If you want to read my thought about these products, just type them on my search bar. —- With elegance and quiet fire, Lady E Founder, Glow by Lady E...

I Stopped Making My Skin Pay for the Money I Spent

For the longest time, I kept products I already knew I couldn’t use. Not because I loved them. Because I’d paid for them. My COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence stayed because I kept waiting for the day my skin might finally tolerate it again. Maybe when my skin calmed down. Maybe when the flare-ups stopped. Maybe later. Every so often, I’d try again. And my skin would flare up again. The purple moisturizer was different. That one actually worked for me for a while. Then the formula changed, and suddenly something my skin had been perfectly happy with wasn’t working anymore. Still, I kept it. And then there was my NARS primer. I stopped using that a long time ago. Yet somehow it continued living among my things, occupying its tiny piece of real estate as though we were merely on a break. 😆 Eventually I looked at all three and realized something. I was making my skin responsible for recovering the money I’d already spent. As though keeping the bottle made the purchase les...

Part 2: Yes, I Used a Christmas Foot Mask Months Later

Once I’d finally done something about all that dry skin, I decided my feet deserved the second half of the operation: moisture. Enter this extremely cheerful Christmas-themed rose nourishing foot mask . Did I use it at Christmas? Of course not. I only recently got around to using it because apparently this is where we are in my life now. I am so busy that even my seasonal beauty products have a backlog. 😂 Do you remember that I usually celebrate Christmas in January or February because of atelier work? Apparently, it’s the same for my beauty routines. 😑 The little reindeer had been patiently waiting for its moment. The masks themselves were essentially little moisturizing socks. I put them on, sat there looking mildly ridiculous for a while, and let them do their thing. They felt weird. I’m neurodivergent, so being able to stick through the 15 minutes was a big deal And afterward? My feet were happier. They’re not yet the ridiculously smooth, soft feet I want. We’re...