by Marie | Oct 20, 2025 | Facial Hydrators & Toners
Acne was the thing I was trying to fix when I started my DIY skin care journey over 15 years ago. I spent hundreds of dollars on every oil, butter, clay, botanical, and essential oil the internet said would help. Sometimes something would help, but it never lasted for long. I was still breaking out, and when those pimples eventually did heal, they’d often leave scars.
When I finally figured out what I was doing wrong I literally had fewer breakouts overnight, existing blemishes started healing faster, and my skin was glowing. Hooray!
The big thing that my skin was missing back then was hydration, so hydrating serums like this one are now an essential part of my skincare routine. And topical hydration isn’t only good for acne! It can help boost healing, reduce irritation, plump up fine lines, and generally help your skin be happy, hydrated, and glowing.
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by Marie | Jun 12, 2025 | Facial Lotions, Live Ingredient List Analysis, Patreon
I think this might be one of the first fancy formulations we’ve looked at where the cost of making it yourself isn’t several orders of magnitude lower than buying it—and mostly because of one ingredient! (I’m just talking about the cost of ingredients used in the formula—not the cost of buying all of them as that would certainly cost more than $70USD!)
by Marie | Apr 7, 2025 | Chewy, Facial Lotions
This beginner-friendly, 100% natural face lotion is lightweight, soothing, and perfect for new lotion makers. It’s packed with hydrating humectants and skin-soothing ingredients—and I’ve taken care of all the fussy stuff so you can start emulsifying with confidence!
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by Marie | Apr 4, 2025 | Eye Makeup, Face Makeup, Facial Serums & Balms, Live Ingredient List Analysis, Patreon
This was another fun one—apologies for the goblin cameo 😅 Ingredients: Aqua/Water/Eau, Propanediol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Sodium Stearate, Xylitol, Lactococcus Ferment Lysate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Oleth-20, Glycerin, Citrullus Lanatus (Watermelon) Fruit Extract, Lens Esculenta (Lentil) Fruit Extract, Caffeine, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract…
by Marie | Apr 1, 2025 | Lip Balm, Very Crunchy
Last year I was doing some archaeology-level digging into Burt’s Bees and I stumbled upon a corner of their website that left me feeling all sorts of unexpected emotions. Intrigue. Confusion. Disgust. Fascination. Curiosity. It was like the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, but in lip balm form.
In the years since I stopped buying Burt’s Bees lip balm and making my own, they’re really expanded their product line, and the source of my wonder and bafflement was a collaboration so unique—so innovative—that I thought there’s no way they actually made this… right? But they definitely did it, and sold out completely.
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by Marie | Mar 14, 2025 | Lip Balm, Live Ingredient List Analysis, Patreon
We found some fun blended ingredients in this one and settled out at a “I think this is a good place to start, but experimentation is definitely required” point. Extra thanks to Jeanette and Samantha for their insights and additional research 😄
