A look into my everyday beauty habits and routines, inspired by the series "The Top Shelf" at Into The Gloss.

When it comes to skincare, I appreciate its importance without being fully committed to the ritual of facials, exfoliates, and treatments, although I'll wager that it's only a matter of time. I use a combination of old faithfuls and new products that I am testing. First, I remove my make-up with Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil - one pump is sufficient for getting rid of everything, including waterproof mascara - before cleansing with an oil-targetting cleaner, followed by the application of layers of various toners, serums and creams. Shu Uemura Depsea Hydrability Intense Moisturising Concentrate is a stalwart that I wear on its own in summer and beneath a moisturiser or oil in winter. Another product I have repurchased many times is Clinique All About Eyes Rich; after too many bad experiences with eye creams on my sensitive skin, I tend to stick to what is known and safe. Huiles & Baumes Face Smoothing Serum is a rich facial oil I have been testing for the last month or so - I love the fresh herbal scent and the way it shrinks my pores.

My lips chap easily, especially in cold, windy weather, so I never leave the house without lip balm, preferable ones that are non-sticky, flavourless, and colourless. I keep Blistex Lip Conditioner with SPF 20 around the house, on my bedside table and at my desk, and a tube of Clinique Superbalm Lip Treatment in every purse. Both are great, intensely nourishing and not so expensive that you can't afford numerous back-ups. Lip balm is something that needs to be applied frequently and liberally, so you never want to be caught without one handy.

If my skin is clear, I am happy to get away with just wearing tinted moisturiser and some concealer. When I do wear foundation, I apply it directly with my fingers - it's quicker and saves me the bother of washing a foundation brush after every use - before dusting a bit of loose powder over it to keep it in place.

Brow pencil is a minimum requirement when mine are so naturally sparse and patchy - I use Shu Uemura in the shade 06 Acorn. On a normal day, all I wear on my lids are matte or satin browns and taupes, for a look that is polished, but not painstakingly drawn in. Even my eyeliner and mascara are brown. I am already on my third tube of Shiseido Perfect Mascara in BR602, and I've lost count of how many of the Guerlain Eye Pencil in Kohl Me Brown 03 I have bought. I smudge the pencil into my upper lashline, to give my eyes some subtle definition. Gel and liquid liner has its occasional uses, but not whilst I am on the clock.

My go-to lip colour - lipstick, never lipgloss - is always changing. If you keep your eye makeup clean and effortless, it is a simple matter to change your look in the middle of a day by switching lip colours. I have a red imitation-leather lipstick case that I bought in the markets in Shanghai for around 150 RMB (or $21 AUD). It has an inbuilt mirror and holds three lipsticks, usually a sheer natural colour, a deeper berry or rose, and a red. Continental Couture has one that looks very similar but made from shark skin for £119.

Cutting my hair short was a decision I made the year I left high school, and it's been that length ever since. Short hair is freeing and conveniently low maintenance. But also, looking back at old photographs of myself, I feel like that person with long hair is a stranger, someone still wore school uniforms and had not yet been introduced to undergraduate anthropology. In a not unsubstantial way, we are not the same, just as I will not be the same person ten years hence. Identity is an ever-evolving thing, and often the outward change - manhood initiation rituals, the widow's weeds - marks also a significant internal overhaul. (The reverse is also true, and it is not in my interest here to quibble about direction of causality between the mental and the physical, for both are intrinsic and interdependent.) It takes me less than 5 seconds to style my hair: a few strokes with a synthetic and boar bristle brush is all it needs. If it is in a truly disastrous state of disarray, a tiny daub of Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream, combed through with my fingers, is usually enough to tame it.

I do not have a signature fragrance, but I always come back to a select few, like Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental. In my work bag, I keep a Travalo filled with Chanel No. 19, for those times when I forget to apply before leaving the house. Perfume is the last step of my routine of getting ready. Without it, I always feel a little unfinished.

*Australian regulations don't allow SPF factor numerals greater than 30 to be claimed on sunscreen labels, for several reasons, so SPF 30+ is the highest level of sun protection that you will see on any product in Australia.

Top photo credit: Orion Mitchell, 2010

Labels: beauty notes, blistex, chanel, clinique, frederic fekkai, guerlain, huiles and baumes, la roche-posay, mecca cosmetica, nars, serge lutens, shu uemura

8/21/2011 [11]

I have a couple of common skin complaints - slightly oily skin, dark undereyes - but the main thrust of my skincare routine is preventing and soothing skin irritation. I have extremely sensitive skin that will not tolerate a good number of fairly common skincare and cosmetics ingredients. Here's a list of my current skin sensitivities:

• silica
• kaolin
• benzoyl peroxide
• sulfa products
• carmine (in certain eyeshadows)
• witch hazel
• fragrance

Additionally, my skin doesn't tolerate abrasives, heat, and extreme cold and, when I'm really stressed, gets irritated by exercise. Any of the above irritants can cause my skin to break out into a bright red, painful rash. Despite this, I generally enjoy good skin due to spending a lot of time and money to figure out what works and what doesn't. The following products work to help me maintain good skin and prevent painful irritation.

TREATMENT
The sensitivities I've listed are all classic symptoms of rosacea. Though I haven't been diagnosed with it, I've been told my skin is in a state of pre-rosacea (similar to being pre-diabetic - onset of disease can occur in the absence of preventative health measures). As such, I use Finacea to prevent the full onset of rosacea. Finacea works as an anti-inflammatory agent to keep skin calm and is only available by prescription.

Never one to leave an inch of skin unprotected, my lip balm of choice is Banana Boat Sport Performance Sunscreen Lip Balm SPF 50. The texture of this lip balm is fairly standard - moderately emollient and sheer with a little bit of weight. I'm a fan of this particular lip balm because it blocks both UVA and UVB rays, a feat not often accomplished in a drugstore lip balm. I also appreciate how sheer it is, having found other comparable lip balms quite heavy and occlusive.

FUNDAMENTALS
Though it's the fundamentals that can make or break a good skincare routine, I am much more relaxed about them than I am other, more specific products. I've found that there are a variety of very good, basic skincare products that don't break the bank and generally work just as well as any of the others in the bunch.

Labels: banana boat, beauty notes, boots, la roche-posay, mac, neutrogena, skin

10/21/2009 [1]

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