Ingredients
Niacinamide is the least dramatic active on the shelf, which is why it stayed
It does several small things reasonably well rather than one thing spectacularly. That profile makes it unusually easy to fit into…
Ridhima Passi
Contributing writer, Kiss Me Miss
Ridhima covers makeup and technique for people in a hurry.
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20 articles
Ingredients
Preservatives are the reason your cream is not a petri dish
Anything containing water grows microbes eventually. The preservative system is the least glamorous and most safety-relevant part…
Makeup
Foundation matching fails on undertone far more often than on depth
Most people get the lightness roughly right and the temperature badly wrong. Undertone is a separate axis, and it is the one shop…
Makeup
Foundation oxidation is real, and it is not usually the foundation's fault
A base that looks right at eight and orange by noon has changed, but the cause is often sebum and pH rather than the pigments…
Makeup
Primer is not one product, and the wrong sort makes things worse
Blurring, mattifying, hydrating and grip primers solve different problems by different means. Buying one because it is called…
Makeup
Under-eye concealer fails on texture before it fails on colour
The skin there is thin, mobile and prone to creasing, so the amount you apply matters more than the shade you chose.
Makeup
Blush placement changes a face more than blush colour does
Where colour sits alters perceived proportion and structure. Shade choice is a much smaller lever than most people assume.
Makeup
Long-wear formulas trade comfort for film strength
Transfer resistance comes from polymers that dry into a tough film. Everything people dislike about long-wear makeup follows…
Makeup
Why makeup looks different in a shop and at your desk
Lighting changes which wavelengths reach your eye, and mirrors change the distance you judge from. Both conspire to make counter…
Makeup
Makeup hygiene is a shelf-life problem, not squeamishness
Products near the eyes and lips have short recommended lives for a reason. The symbols on the packaging tell you what the…
Ingredients
Urea and lactic acid change job as the percentage climbs
Two ingredients that hydrate at low strength and dissolve surface bonds at high strength. The number on the pack is not a marketing…
Ingredients
Glycerin is the least glamorous ingredient that actually works
It appears near the top of almost every moisturiser ever made, costs very little and is never on the front of the pack. The reason…
Makeup
Coverage and finish are two dials, and most people turn only one
A foundation can be sheer and matte, or full and dewy, or any other combination. Shopping for one word while ignoring the other is…
Makeup
Eyeshadow is pigment held in a binder, and the binder decides everything
Why one shade grabs and another slides, why loose glitter behaves differently from pressed, and why the same colour looks like two…
Makeup
Three eyeliner formats fail in the same place for the same reason
Pencil, gel and liquid are built from different materials and all surrender to the same thing. Knowing what that is decides which…
Makeup
Bronzer warms and contour shadows, and swapping them shows
One product mimics sunlight and the other mimics a shadow. They sit at different colour temperatures, go in different places and…
Makeup
Highlighter is a particle size problem before it is a colour choice
The difference between a lit-from-within glow and visible glitter is the diameter of the reflective particles, not the shade or the…
Makeup
Colour correctors are the colour wheel applied to a face
Green, peach and lavender are not arbitrary. Each one cancels the colour opposite it, and using them well means using far less than…
Makeup
The SPF in your foundation is real and you will never apply enough
The rating on a base is measured the same way as on a sunscreen, at a quantity nobody applies to their face as makeup. The gap is…
Makeup
Makeup over texture is a light problem, not a coverage problem
Adding more base to uneven skin makes the unevenness more visible, not less. What actually reduces the appearance of texture is…