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): cookie-sized fabric circles 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.

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.

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.