Skincare
The skin barrier is a physical structure, not a marketing word
Bricks and mortar is a real description of how the outer layer is built. Knowing what the mortar is made of explains why some…
Tanya Sabharwal
Editor, Kiss Me Miss
Tanya edits Kiss Me Miss and removes any claim a formulation cannot support.
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37 articles
Skincare
Mineral and organic filters reach the same result by different chemistry
The reflect-versus-absorb story is mostly wrong. What actually separates the two filter families is texture, cast, photostability…
Skincare
A moisturiser does three separate jobs, and most people only want two
Occlusives, humectants and emollients are different classes doing different work. Knowing which one a product leans on explains why…
Ingredients
AHAs and BHAs differ by solubility, and that decides where they can reach
One family dissolves in water and works across the surface; the other dissolves in oil and can get into a pore. That single…
Hair
Hair is dead, and that single fact sets the limits on every product
Nothing applied to a strand can heal it, because there is nothing alive there to respond. What products can do is coat, fill and…
Routines
A routine has three jobs, and everything after that is optional
Cleanse, protect the barrier, protect from ultraviolet. Everything else is an addition you should be able to justify individually.
Makeup
Brushes, sponges and fingers move product in three different ways
The tool decides how much product is deposited, how it is distributed and how much of it stays on the tool. That is a bigger…
Lips
Lip liner works because the border is where colour fails first
Wear starts at the edges and in the centre, for different reasons. A liner addresses one of those directly and does it cheaply.
Lips
Lips are the gap in almost every sun protection routine
They have minimal pigment, no thickness and almost no products that protect them properly. The lower lip takes the most exposure of…
Lips
Feathering happens at the border, and the formula decides how much
Colour migrating into the lines around the mouth is a physical process involving oils and surface texture. Several things reduce it…
Hair
Shampoo is for the scalp and conditioner is for the length
The two products are aimed at different parts of the head, and applying each one everywhere is why so many people find their hair…
Hair
Sulfates are surfactants, and the argument is really about strength
Sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate are not the same molecule, and neither is uniquely harsh. The useful question is…
Hair
Split ends cannot be repaired, only hidden or removed
A split is a fibre that has failed lengthwise. Products can glue it temporarily, and a pair of scissors is the only thing that…
Hair
Porosity is a real property, badly measured by the float test
How readily hair takes up and loses water genuinely affects which products suit it. The glass-of-water test everyone recommends…
Routines
Layering order follows texture, and price has nothing to do with it
Thin to thick is a rule about whether a product can reach the surface at all. Every exception to it has a physical explanation…
Routines
Morning and evening routines answer two different questions
One is about the day ahead, the other about the hours after it. Treating them as the same list applied twice wastes both products…
Routines
Alternating nights beats stacking actives on the same one
Two actives applied together multiply irritation without multiplying results. Splitting them across the week is how people keep…
Routines
Purging and irritation look similar and mean opposite things
One is a temporary acceleration of something already forming; the other is damage. Location and timing separate them better than…
Routines
Waiting between layers: what needs it and what does not
Some waits exist for chemistry, some for texture and most exist because someone repeated them online. The difference is worth…
Routines
How long to give a product before deciding it does nothing
Most skincare works on timescales measured in cell turnover and in weeks. Judging in three days rewards hydration and nothing else.
Routines
Adding a product is easy, and knowing when to stop is the skill
Routines grow because adding feels like progress and removing feels like giving up. The opposite is usually closer to the truth.
Skincare
A mask is mostly contact time, and that is not nothing
Very little in a mask is unavailable elsewhere. What the format buys you is fifteen uninterrupted minutes of occlusion, which…
Ingredients
Antioxidants work as a network, which is why they arrive in pairs
A single antioxidant neutralises a radical and becomes one itself. What happens next depends entirely on whether anything in the…
Ingredients
Plant oils differ by fatty acid, and that decides how they behave
Jojoba, squalane, rosehip and coconut are not interchangeable. The ratio of linoleic to oleic acid in a bottle predicts how it sits…
Lips
Lip colour comes from three kinds of pigment, and one of them stains
Iron oxides, lakes and carmine behave differently on the lip. Which one dominates decides whether a colour sits on the surface…
Lips
The tube, the arm and the lip give three different colours
A lipstick that looked perfect in the shop and wrong at home was never mismatched. It was judged against three surfaces that…
Lips
Lipstick wears off in a pattern, and the pattern tells you what to change
Colour disappearing from the centre first means one thing and colour going from the edges means another. Reading the wear pattern…
Lips
Overnight is the only time a lip product gets left alone
Eight uninterrupted hours with no eating, drinking or talking is a condition nothing else in the routine gets. That is what makes…
Lips
Bullet, wand and crayon are three formats that force three formulas
A product has to survive its own packaging. What a twist-up tube, a doe-foot applicator and a chunky pencil each demand changes…
Hair
Wet hair is at its weakest, which is when people are roughest with it
Water swells the strand and reduces its ability to resist stretching. Almost every damaging habit in a hair routine happens in…
Routines
What price buys in skincare, and what it does not
Some of the gap between a ten and a hundred is real and most of it is not. Where money genuinely changes the product, and where it…
Routines
Reading the front of the pack without being managed by it
Clinically proven, dermatologist tested and up to ninety per cent all mean specific and surprisingly narrow things. Knowing what…
Routines
Where you keep a product changes how long it works
Heat, light and air degrade cosmetic ingredients on a predictable schedule. The bathroom shelf is the worst place in the house for…
Routines
Pregnancy and breastfeeding: the conversation to have first
The internet has a confident answer for every ingredient and no ability to know your situation. What genuinely changes, and why…
Routines
Building a routine around a prescription means asking, not guessing
A prescribed topical is the strongest thing in your bathroom and everything else has to work around it. Which questions to ask, and…
Routines
Where skincare fits around exercise, showers and a working day
The order of a routine is usually discussed as though the day has no other events in it. Sweat, showers and commutes decide far…
Routines
Skincare decides how a base sits, and most base problems start there
Foundation pilling, sliding or clinging to dry patches is almost never the foundation. It is the layer underneath, and the fix is…