Glow Recipe Toner Pads: Because Sheet Masks are Annoying

Glow Recipe Toner Pads are potent, smaller and thinner and more of a pleasure to use than a full face sheet mask.

When I was a dewy forty-something, I read that Martha Stewart began each day with a hydrating sheet mask, so I filed that away for the distant future when my wrinkly self would need that kind of morning assist.

Well, the day came more quickly than expected, and with it the complicating factor that I hate sheet masks. They’re clammy, they’re cold and they feel claustrophobic. And I’m always snipping off the bit that goes over the nose, because who needs a moisturized nose?

Enter Glow Recipe’s take on K Beauty ‘toner pads’ ($42 CAN, Sephora): fabric circles the size of a generous cookie are submerged in potent, yet gentle, serum that you spot apply only where needed and leave on for five quick minutes. The Glow Recipe ones even come with tweezers cleverly nestled in the lid to help fish the pads out of their lavish serum bath, so you’re not digging around fruitlessly with a fingernail.

There’s brightening pads with five different types of vitamin C and antioxidants, multi-acid exfoliating pads to refine and my favourite, the Repair and Soothe pad with PDRN to calm skin and repair a cranky skin barrier.

PDRN, best known is the key ingredient in the of-the-moment (ick) ‘salmon sperm’ facial, aims to boost collagen production and reduce inflammation. Glow Recipe’s vegan PDRN, derived from rice and prickly pear claims superior brightening to the salmon version and has added centella for de-reddening. A bonus for us, because the dry skin that comes with menopause can be weirdly sensitive and easily reddened.

You can get creative: pop an exfoliating pad on your nose, vitamin C pads onto each upper cheek to tackle sun damage and the PDRN on any dryish, red bits. Then go ahead and choke down your menopause-recommended 30 grams of protein and 30 grams of fibre breakfast and start your day.

Beauty Gifts for the Aesthetically Tightly Wound

Happy Holidays! If you have deeply particular people on your list, the sort who are absolutely shattered when ugly labels cross their threshold, a beautiful, considered (and use-up-able) beauty gift is the perfect solution.

Astier de Villatte Nara incense ($80, Advice from a Caterpillar) doesn’t smell Christmassy per se, but the warm sandalwood and amber room filling scent is decidedly seasonal and the delicate pale blue box is beautiful enough to leave on a side table. Sure, $80 is steep for incense, but it’s not a lot for Astier de Villatte. This is what the kids call girl-math.

Soft, lint-free Cle de Peau Le Coton cotton pads, Sephora Canada, $45. are extravagant to buy for yourself, but pretty reasonable as a gift. Gentle and cushioning, they are an if you know, you know gift that, once you try them, it’s hard to go back to the pedestrian, scratchy ones from a plastic sleeve.

A mood-enhancing beauty gift should seamlessly improve your life without a lot of what the Brits call ‘faffing about.’ Steam On shower steamers $26, from Canadian essential oil mothership, Saje, are shower tabs that fizz and release spa scents on your shower’s steam. Add a Jute & Joy Tingle Mint soap filled wash pad, $17, for an energizing all over scrub and possible sensory overload (but the best kind.)

A tube of drugstore toothpaste, with a bold, brightly-coloured logo, seen first thing in the morning, or at the end of a long day, can rightly be considered a visual assault. But Marvis Whitening Mint toothpaste ($13 well.ca) , from Italy, elevates the brushing experience (the metal tube, the real tasting mint!) while also looking great sink side.

Any Kérastase Holiday Haircare set is a great gift, especially if you follow the ‘one for me, one for them’ rule. And this collection, from the Blond Absolu range, $144, Kerastase.ca. is a moisture and life-giving essential for anyone with blonde or silver hair. And equally important, the fragrance is top shelf (a Kérastase signature) as life is too short to suffer ‘mass’ (aka cheap) smelling beauty products.

Just look at the sheer beauty of this bath oil from Olverum, a spa line that began in Germany a century ago. ($84, detox market.ca) With its fir needle, eucalyptus and rosemary scent, this nourishing oil is perfect when you need to thaw out in the tub after a day on the frozen tundra (aka most of Canada in the winter.)

As candle prices detach from sanity, I am ever more grateful that Canada’s Lohn continues to release singular scented candles in their chic, frosted glass vessels. For the holiday season, their Nord candle $56, Holt Renfrew. which comes in a sleek white porcelain vessel is a black spruce and pine wonder that plops you down in the centre of an icy forest.

Fructis Frizz Tamer is a Heat Dome Must-Have

Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Frizz Tamer gives you portable hair smoothing on the fly.

If you’re a member of the frizzy-haired sisterhood, you know your hair will sproing into an untameable beast and you’ll become this Roz Chast cartoon (crazy eyes optional) the minute you leave the air-conditioned safety of your home and head outside.

Even diligent use of hair-smoothing shampoos and conditioners can’t overcome the sheer power of “it’s 28°C but with the humidity it feels like 40°C”.

Years ago, John Frieda sold hair-smoothing serum in a tube with a mascara wand applicator, but as much as I loved it, it was too silicone-y which can make your hair look greasily lank if you use too much. I used too much.

New Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Frizz Tamer ($14, Shoppers Drug Mart) is probably meant for young girls (by which I mean anyone under 45) who want glossy, sleek ponytails and tamed baby hairs, but it is an excellent purse addition for when you catch your reflection in a shop window and the Roz Chast cartoon lady is staring back at you. With its mascara wand applicator and hair-smoothing plant keratin and argan oil, Fructis Frizz Tamer will gently calm the frizzy bits into something a little less crazy cat lady. Best of all, it contains no silicone, so you can’t overdo it.

And, like lip balm and sunscreen, you need one for the house and one for your purse, so you can whip it out for instant hair-smoothing when the weather, or shop windows, demand.

Revlon Glass Shine: the Best Chanel Dupe is Back

Back and beloved and now in a snappy new, white case.

In some frivolous good news, Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine lipstick is back from the dead, after TikTokers tirelessly championed the discontinued lip colour, begging for its return.

A hydrating lip colour that occupies the notional space between lipstick and tinted balm, Revlon Glass Shine ($13.99, drug stores) subtly amplifies lip colour, which is especially good if your lips are pulling that disappearing act that can happen as you age.   

When it first launched back in 2020, Glass Shine was a hit. And Glazed Mauve (#007), a ‘your lips but better’ rosy mauve, was the perfect dupe for Chanel’s beloved (then cruelly discontinued) Rouge Coco Shine in the shade ‘Boy.’

Why brands discontinue iconic colours is beyond me. A favourite lip colour is like a security blanket that you carry around in your bag. So welcome back, Revlon Glass Shine in Glazed Mauve. May you live forever and never again be discontinued.

One final thought: because it has a hydrating balm texture, it’s not a bulletproof lip stain that lasts through meals. So reapply often and maybe even buy an extra one, because who knows? Like so many things in life (freedom, happiness, youth) it’s ephemeral.

Calm #winterface with Weleda Smoothing Eye Cream & La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Spray

Maybe it’s the viciously dry air, or my skin getting thinner by the minute, but I’ve taken to applying eye cream in the middle of the day with the same fervour that I swipe on lip balm.

Eye creams are such Goldilocks products. Many are so rich you look freshly buttered while constant reapplication can leave you with under-eye bumps (milia) that need to be lanced by a dermatologist with a very sharp blade. Or they’re so lightweight they feel great but don’t do anything. Weleda’s new Smoothing Eye Cream, $45, well.ca) is unfragranced, has caffeine to depuff and rosa moschata (rosehip) oil, which is loaded with fatty acids and vitamins, to calm redness and strengthen your skin barrier. It’s perfect when you need to fight the ridiculous seasonal chill and low ambient moisture air. Damn you, winterface! (Shakes fist at sky.)

My latest ‘get home after being frozen solid outdoors’ routine is to plug in the kettle (obviously, before anything else) and then spray my face with La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5 spray for a dose of soothing and skin barrier protecting madecassoside and panthenol. (Full disclosure: the spray is available in Europe and the US. Not Canada. In the meantime, just slather on Cicaplast B5 Soothing Relieving Balm.)

Then I dab dab dab a few drops of the Weleda Smoothing Eye Cream on my upper cheekbones and the outer corners of my eyes. I’m not in an office with other people, so I could conceivably spend my days unmoisturized and wizened, but why would I do that? This combo gives me a midday lift and makes me feel less desiccated which is my favourite word and so apt this time of year.

L’Oréal Infallible Brow Lamination is the Lift We Need

I will not list all the physical indignities that menopause wreaks on your body. Suffice it to say, they are numerous and unwelcome.

Even though downward-pointing brows do not rank up there with, say, bladder issues, it’s still a shock to unexpectedly catch your reflection in a shop window and see sad, old Eeyore staring back at you. Brows that used to be obedient, if rather thin (thank you, 1990s tweezing) are now skimpier and coarser as they wing off in any direction but most often south.

To combat this, there is L’Oréal Paris 24H Brow Lamination, $18.49, Shoppers Drug Mart.) Made for Gen Zs, for whom ‘brow lamination’ is shorthand for a brow perm that lays brow hairs flat against your skin while pointing straight up, L’Oréal’s take home version is an industrial strength brow glue that turns curly, menopausal brows into obedient little soldiers and keeps them lifted which makes you look more awake and un-Eeyore-ish.

Brush it on, first downwards to get as much product on the brows as possible, and then brush them up and they will stay put for hours. Anything that makes one look more rested and just better without looking like ‘makeup’ is a total win, right?

A Fall (Faux) Tan With Tanologist & Caudalie

Dear beauty industry: why is self-tanner easy to buy in the summer, only to vanish from store shelves in the fall? Now that it’s chilly (hello sweaters, my old friends) my skin has dried out and paled out overnight, and I could really use some moisture and colour.

The same November week that I assess the contents of my tea cupboard in preparation for winter, I also pull out my Tanologist Daily Glow Hydrating Gradual Self Tan Lotion, $38.01, Walmart.ca, the moisturizer-slash-self-tanner that will be my staple during these ‘dark by four thirty p.m.’ days. It does double duty, resuscitating desiccated skin with ingredients like squalane, hyaluronic acid and fatty acids, and providing natural-looking, buildable colour so I look healthier than I probably am.

Now comes the clever bit. Once I establish my ‘I do sunrise yoga on the beach’ (faux) colour, I apply my favourite Caudalie Smooth & Glow Oil Elixir, $70, Caudalie.ca. I evangelized it at length here. Its name in French “Huile de soin” means ‘care oil’, and I find that much more accurate and less of a mouthful. The fig in question is figue de barbarie, aka anti-oxidant rich prickly pear, which along with argan and shea oil gives your skin a light-reflecting gleam and a really elegant, definitely transporting fig scent. It’s some much-needed happy frivolity for these times.

Rush Hour: Maybelline Lifter Plump Lip Gloss

Maybelline New York Lifter Plump in Blush Blaze.

Maybelline New York’s Lifter Plump lip gloss in ‘Blush Blaze’, ($12.99, drugstores) is the perfect fix when you’re in a makeup as afterthought state of mind. This hefty tube lives by my front door, so I can swipe on some colour before hurtling myself out the door, invariably late for something.

I love this shade because it’s both sheer and just bright pink enough, so it enlivens my whole face even though it only goes on the lips, which is a neat trick. There’s also added chile pepper to make your blood vessels swell up for a brief lip plumping effect. And best of all, because it’s gloss, not lipstick, you don’t have to be too precise about application. Which is why mine lives at the front door, waiting patiently, ready to serve.

Towards a Better-Smelling Bathroom

I have officially given up doing things I don’t want to do. I refuse to engage with tricky parking spots (no more backing into traffic at the mall) and I will not let air fresheners with scents like ‘Clean Linen’ or ‘Mountain Air’ cross my threshold. I want my bathroom to smell like the spa at a fancy resort, not the cleaning products aisle at Sobeys.

The best spa scent for home is Lotus Aroma’s Eucalyptus Home Spray, $21, Shoppers Drug Mart. And it’s Canadian. I give the air several blasts before my shower, so when I emerge, it is into a herbal, steamy fug. Just like the spa, but with no towel-wrapped strangers in my sight-line.

The internet discovered the joys of eucalyptus-scented bathrooms in a ‘complicated, but makes for a nice picture’ way early in Covid lockdown. Soon Pinterest was littered with images of twine-wrapped eucalyptus branches suspended from shower arms. But steam alone wouldn’t release the scent. It turns out you first had to crush the eucalyptus leaves with a rolling pin to release the volatile oils, which was a step too far.

I enjoy a silly craft as much as the next person, but spritzing Lotus Aroma Home Spray is much easier and way faster. And most importantly, you won’t be picking up dried eucalyptus shards for days afterwards.

Milk Makeup Jelly Blush Looks Real, Stays Put

Milk Makeup Jelly Tint in Splash (a deep berry).

Does your blush vanish by noon? My face eats makeup and I’m certain that my blood is 25 per cent blush and concealer by this point.

Applying a metric tonne of colour on your cheeks to ensure there is still some left at midday will only make you look dementedly clownish. Topping up with powder blush, although it’s easy to brush on, can add a dusty, dowager aunt vibe if your skin is dry. For a believable-looking flush, a sheer stain works best.

Enter Milk Makeup’s new Cooling Water Jelly Tint lip and cheek blush stains ($33 CAN, Sephora) that once applied, stay bullet proof for the whole day. They work as wonderful transparent lip colours as well (just add a wee dot of lip balm, because they can be drying.) The four shades look vivid when swatched (see below), but sheered out on cheeks, the effect is quite natural. The only caveat is that, as stains, you have to blend them out quickly before they set on your cheeks.

This means using your fingers (you’ll have to wash them afterwards) or, if you’re so equipped, a blush brush. But for this effort you will be rewarded with a glow that lasts well past lunch.

And not just any glow, but the lit-from-within glow of someone who attended a reformer Pilates class this morning while everyone else was still in bed.

I did swatches! (OK. Those four arms of various skin tones aren’t me, but they are helpful.) The colours, from the top down are Burst, Chill, Spritz and Splash. While swiping makes these shades look alarmingly bright on the lighter arms, once blended in they provide a natural looking healthy glow.