Skincare
A cleanser has one job, and the tight feeling means it overdid it
Squeaky-clean skin is surfactant damage wearing a compliment. What a cleanser is built to remove, what it should leave behind, and…
Mehak Chhabra
Contributing writer, Kiss Me Miss
Mehak writes about skincare and the barrier-first approach she came round to slowly.
Contact Mehak through our contact page — mark your message for their attention and it will be passed on.
21 articles
Skincare
An SPF number is a ratio, which is why how you apply it decides everything
SPF is measured under laboratory conditions almost nobody reproduces at a bathroom mirror. Understanding what the number describes…
Skincare
Broad spectrum matters more than chasing a bigger number
Ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B do different things to skin, and only one of them is what SPF measures. Here is how the second half…
Skincare
Sunscreen under makeup: what survives the morning and what does not
Layering a base over a filter film disturbs it, and reapplying over makeup is genuinely awkward. What holds up, what pills, and…
Skincare
Exfoliation is subtraction, and most faces get more of it than they need
Removing surface cells changes texture and light reflection quickly, which is why it feels so effective and why it is so easy to…
Skincare
Patch testing works because reactions need time and a small stage
Trying a new active on your whole face is a bet with poor odds. A patch test is a cheap experiment, but only if you run it for long…
Skincare
Stinging is a signal to stop, not evidence that something is working
The idea that discomfort proves efficacy has survived because some effective actives do tingle. The correlation is much weaker than…
Skincare
Fragrance-free and unscented are two different claims on the same shelf
One says nothing was added for smell. The other can mean something was added to hide a smell. The gap between them matters for…
Skincare
Clean beauty is a shelf category, not a safety standard
No regulator defines the word, so each retailer writes its own list. That makes it a merchandising decision dressed up as a…
Skincare
Dry and dehydrated skin are different problems with different fixes
One is short of oil and the other short of water. Treating dehydration with a rich cream, or dryness with a hydrating serum, is why…
Routines
One new product at a time is the only way to know what caused what
Introducing three things in a week guarantees that any reaction is unattributable. The discipline is boring and it is the whole…
Routines
What every step in a long routine is actually doing
Ten-step routines contain real products doing real things and several that duplicate each other. An honest audit usually removes…
Routines
Weather, travel and central heating change what your skin needs
Humidity, temperature and air movement affect how fast water leaves your skin. A routine that ignores them will be wrong for half…
Routines
A five-minute morning that is not a compromise
The steps with the strongest evidence are also the fastest. A short routine done every day beats a long one done when there is time.
Skincare
Pore size is inherited, and only some of what fills them can be lifted out
A pore is the visible opening of a follicle, and nothing topical shrinks the opening itself. What can change is how full it is and…
Skincare
Toner stopped meaning what it used to and kept the name
The word once described an astringent that stripped what soap left behind. The bottles sold under it today have almost nothing in…
Skincare
Eye cream is thinner skin first and a different formula second
The skin around the eye is genuinely built differently, which changes what suits it. Whether that requires a separate jar is a much…
Skincare
Occlusives do not add water, they refuse to let it leave
Petrolatum, waxes and heavy silicones work by physics rather than chemistry. Understanding that decides where they belong in a…
Skincare
Body skin is built differently, and it wants different products
The same person can have oily skin on the face and cracked skin on the shins. Thickness, gland density and how often an area is…
Routines
A travel routine is triage, not a smaller version of home
Decanting everything you own into small bottles misses the point. What changes when you travel is the environment and the time, and…
Routines
The minimum evening routine for nights with nothing left
The routine you do on a good night is irrelevant if it collapses on a bad one. What genuinely cannot be skipped, and what can go…