I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve done a proper “what I’m actually using” catch up, and because I am constantly testing, rotating, abandoning, rediscovering, and generally having an extremely non-committal relationship with beauty products, I always hesitate to do these too often. But when things actually stick around in my routine for longer than a fleeting affair, that usually says something.
So here’s the current lineup.
Gentlerist Halcyon has always been a staple for me, and one I’ve loved more as time goes on. There are certain products that reveal themselves more fully the longer you use them, and Halcyon has absolutely been one of those for me. I thought as I got older, and my skin veered drier, maybe I’d shift to something else, after all, I stopped using most other gel cleansers. But I find myself continuing to use this, and more importantly, that my skin continues to love this.
Sometimes it becomes very apparent when a line genuinely loves the products they make, and I’ve always felt that way with Gentlerist. There’s care in the details, in the textures, in the overall experience of using them, and Halcyon in particular always feels like such a treat. Cleansing is one of those steps that can so easily become purely functional, something you rush through without thinking, and this never feels that way. It has that elegant gel-emulsion texture that feels simultaneously purifying and cushioning, where your skin feels beautifully cleansed without ever tipping into that stripped, squeaky territory that so many people have somehow accepted as the marker of a “good” cleanse.
Then there’s Decorté AQ Absolute Glow Radiant Brightening Lotion, which is exactly the kind of absurdly specific product I love discovering in Asian beauty because the naming makes absolutely no sense if you’re coming at it from a Western perspective. Lotion? You hear that and think cream, moisturizer, something emollient. This is entirely fluid. It’s essentially an essence.
And yes, there’s fragrance, which is always where Decorté can either fully lose me or fully win me. Their products tend to fall into two camps for me: I either love them, or I simply don’t use them. Some are too heavily fragranced, some just don’t perform in the way I want them to (their cream cleanser did absolutely no cleansing??), but this? This I love.
There’s something about it that makes me feel like a very sophisticated Asian woman of a certain age who has her life impeccably together, and frankly, I support any product that offers that kind of psychological benefit. It just feels nice. Plush skin, elegant hydration, that very particular Japanese beauty sensibility where the goal is skin that looks deeply conditioned, softly lit, and expensive in a way that’s all about the layering of slinky weirdly named potions.
French Farmacie has also been having a moment in my routine. If you’ve followed me for a while, you already know I’ve loved their Elixir Exfoliant for ages, which I still use as this hybrid face oil-acid step for evenings when I want something nourishing, but know that anything too rich could tip my skin toward congestion, especially once the weather warms up.
So naturally I’ve been testing their newer serums.
Solstice C Serum is a powerful Vitamin C, and you can feel that immediately. I certainly did. That said, it never crossed into actual irritation for me. My general rule with Vitamin C is that some people are always going to feel some degree of sting or activation with potent formulas, so my yard stick tends to be Skinceuticals CE Ferulic. If your skin tolerates that, you’ll likely find this dramatically gentler. The initial sensation passed quickly and never evolved into redness or lingering irritation, unlike the Skinceuticals which made my skin pretty red.
What’s interesting is that French Farmacie is using newer-generation Vitamin C derivatives like Bis-Glyceryl Ascorbate and Hexyl 3-Glyceryl Ascorbate, which are designed with greater stability and gentleness in mind, alongside niacinamide, which can be a phenomenal pairing for brightening and barrier support if your skin likes niacinamide. If your skin and niacinamide have unresolved issues, well… you already know yourself.
But Alchemy Serum? I genuinely don’t know what sorcery is happening there.
I looked at the ingredient list expecting to intellectually understand exactly why I loved it because, on paper, it’s very much part of that newer anti-aging category I’m deeply interested in, the peptide-growth factor-signaling conversation that I think is where sophisticated skincare is increasingly headed. And yet the actual experience of using it feels bigger than what I expected from reading the INCI. My skin took to it immediately. Calmer, better-looking, just… happier? Sometimes there are products where the mechanism is intellectually clear. And then there are products where your skin simply says yes. I know if I want my skin to look rested, and at its best, to use this the night before.
Gentler Essentials Jasmine + Green Tea Beauty Oil has also been in heavy rotation, and this one is simple to explain: it’s just beautiful with the perfect touch for summer. It’s what happens when face oil becomes a work in transparency. Light, elegant, no heaviness, and the ingredients are singularly gorgeous. Jasmine can so easily become cloying or overly romanticized in beauty products, and this sidesteps all of that. It feels refined. Green tea will always get my attention because I think it remains one of the most compelling botanical antioxidants in skincare, and the Tsubaki version is the silkiest and rarest. Together the formula just works.
And then Costa Brazil Kaya Jungle Firming Oil, which may honestly be the one product in the entire Costa Brazil line where my first reaction was: this should be the hero.
It’s everything the line stands for: The scent is lovely (grounded, Amazonian, smooth), the texture is light, it absorbs quickly, the skin is left soft. The entire energy of the brand feels distilled into this one product in a way that the rest of the line doesn’t always fully achieve for me. There’s also probably a layer of personal connection here, maybe because of our shared South American roots and the overall botanical language of the brand, but whatever the reason, I really connect with this one. It’s just a quality body oil.
And finally, Heretic Dirty Mango, which I purchased during one of their sales because I was specifically looking for fragrance that felt present without announcing itself from across the room, so why not a body mist? Heretic is one of those clean fragrance lines that has been very hit or miss for me over the years. If you haven’t tried them, they’re probably still best known in pop culture for the Gwyneth Paltrow This Smells Like My Vagina candle collaboration, which tells you something about the brand’s general personality.
But fragrance-wise, I’ve found some things compelling and others that just didn’t land. There’s a wide gulf between natural-ish scents that evaporate too quickly, and the more cloying ones that won’t go. You really do have to try each scent individually.
Dirty Mango, thankfully, landed.
I’m extremely specific about fragrance, not so faint that it disappears but traditional ones get obnoxious and over stay their welcome quickly. This somehow lands in a nice spot: it delivers a photorealistic mango with some…. clean soapiness dry down notes that doesn’t feel overpowering. It scratches that tropical itch without making me feel like I’m trapped at The Body Shop.
Tell me what you’re using because I remain deeply influenceable.
