The Diary
Everything I've been thinking about, skin-wise. Product by product, season by season. Entries are written after enough time has passed to say something useful.
June 23, 2026
Moisturisers
Week Three With the La Mer Crème — and Here's What Actually Changed
I went in expecting to be disappointed — not because I thought it wouldn't work, but because of what it costs and my track record with expensive things. I had already spent too many years believing expensive means effective, and the evidence had been mixed at best. Three weeks in, I'm not entirely sure what I think. It's better than I expected. The texture is richer than my usual, which my skin seems to have welcomed. Whether it's uniquely better than the CeraVe I use every other night — that part I'm still working out.
Read this entry →Why I Finally Gave Tretinoin Another Shot — and What I Did Differently This Time
The first time I tried tretinoin, I gave up after a fortnight. The purge was awful, my skin was furious, and no amount of reassurance from Reddit convinced me it was worth it. Two years later, I tried again — same molecule, completely different approach. I went slower, I moisturised more, and I stopped reading other people's progress updates. Here's what changed.
Read full entry →My Current Morning Routine — and the One Swap That Changed Everything
Four steps. I've been doing this exact routine since February and I'm not planning to change it soon. The swap I made in March — dropping the Vitamin C serum — has been the quietest improvement in years. Less irritation, fewer random dry patches, mornings that feel like less effort.
Read full entry →The Only Five SPFs I Would Repurchase — and the Famous One I Won't
I've tried twenty-three sunscreens in the last eighteen months. Only five earned a second tube. The one I won't buy again is consistently recommended everywhere, consistently praised, and consistently left a white cast on my face that no amount of blending fixed. Here's the full list and what each one actually felt like to wear.
Read full entry →Niacinamide: Six Months, One Face, Genuine Surprise
I thought this would be one of those ingredients I'd try for a month, see nothing, and quietly abandon. I was wrong. Not dramatically wrong — there was no transformation. But consistently, quietly wrong over six months: smaller-looking pores, calmer skin on bad weeks, less redness after the gym. I was not expecting to be converted.
Read full entry →The Eye Cream I Actually Finished (A First)
I have never finished a pot of eye cream before. I've abandoned them half-used, given them away, or just stopped noticing them on my shelf. This one ran out in March. I ordered another the same day, which is the most direct endorsement I can give a product that I'm still not entirely sure is doing anything specific beyond being a good, lightweight moisturiser in exactly the right place.
Read full entry →First Impressions: The Ordinary Salicylic Acid Serum
Two weeks in. My skin is adjusting — which means it's been a bit unhappy, which is expected and doesn't worry me. What I've noticed so far: the texture is thinner than I expected, my nose looks noticeably less congested, and I've had one small breakout in a spot that's never usually a problem, which I'm choosing to interpret as purging rather than catastrophising.
Read full entry →My Skin This Spring — Notes from a Difficult Few Months
I've been stressed. My skin has noticed. The breakouts in March were the worst I've had in two years, and no amount of routine tweaking helped while the source of the stress was still there. This is an entry about that — about the limits of skincare, about being patient with yourself, and about the strange comfort of a routine when everything else feels uncertain.
Read full entry →The Moisturiser I've Used Every Day for Fourteen Months
CeraVe Moisturising Cream. That's it. That's the entry. But I'll tell you why, and I'll tell you what happened when I tried to replace it in November with something that cost four times as much, and why I came back to it — because that part is almost the more useful piece of the story.
Read full entry →Why I Stopped Double Cleansing
I double-cleansed every night for almost three years. Every skincare recommendation I trusted endorsed it. I stopped four months ago and my skin is noticeably better — barrier feels calmer, less sensitivity, fewer of those dry flaky patches by my nose. I don't think this means double cleansing is wrong. I think it means it was wrong for me. Here's how I worked that out.
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