Glow by Lady E

  Sometimes trying a new skincare product starts with excitement. Or in my case, nerves. I have very sensitive skin and it’s not always fun to try a new product, especially on my face.  This one started because an old favorite stopped working for me. I’d been using The Face Shop White Seed facial wash for years. Then recently, my skin started reacting to it. (You can read me wax poetic about that facial wash in the archives. Just type ‘white seed’ in the search bar.) That is one of the particularly annoying things about sensitive skin. Something can live happily in your routine for years and then, apparently, your face calls a meeting and votes it out. So I needed a replacement. I’d already tried another Deoproce product, a body lotion or serum in the green caviar line, and had good results with it. When I saw their Green Caviar Facial Cleanser, I thought: why not? I’m glad I did. My skin has been very happy with it so far. No drama, no argument, just a cleanser doing what I w...

  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...

I have a weakness for little luxuries. Not necessarily the expensive kind. Sometimes it’s something as simple as putting gold eye patches under my eyes and walking around the house looking like I have a skincare appointment somewhere far more glamorous than my bedroom. These Bioten Hyaluronic Gold Hydrogel Eye Patches are exactly that kind of thing. They’re hydrating, de-puffing eye patches with hyaluronic acid and golden proteins, and they’re fragrance-free, which immediately made them more interesting to me. You know me and my sensitivity to strong fragrances.  But I also like the sheer ridiculous pleasure of them. They’re gold. They’re shiny. They make an ordinary few minutes of skincare feel just a little more indulgent. And they’re not flimsy like that pair I got from KKV that I used in Baguio.  There is something I love about finding products like this at the drugstore. Beauty doesn’t always have to arrive in a heavy glass jar with a three-digit price tag and a ...

  My favorite body scrubs I have been buying in bulk as far as I can remember.  Before, it was about need. Convenience. Sometimes even impulse. Now… it’s quieter than that. I look for beauty first. Not loud beauty. Not trendy beauty. The kind that sits well in my space. The kind that doesn’t tire me. Then quality. Something that lasts. Something that feels right in the hand, on the skin, in the everyday rhythm of use. And most importantly… I listen. Does my skin accept it? Does my body agree with it? Does my system feel at ease with it? Because I’ve learned this the hard way— not everything that works for others will work for me. And when I find something that does… I don’t hesitate. I keep it. I return to it. And when the moment is right, I stock up quietly. Not out of fear. But out of certainty. —- With elegance and quiet fire, Lady E Founder, Glow by Lady E  An editorial space for stories, art, and intentional living