Nor Sun Pu-Erh Tea doesn’t pretend to be anything else than what it is: a simple, rich pu-erh tea. I often drink this in the morning or during calm evening, when I want something even and simple. The earthy tea leaves are kept tightly beneath the tin’s double sealed top, ensuring fresh leaves for each cup you make (which will be quite a lot, considering this tin holds about 5.25 oz – over 50 cups or so). With a rating of 86 on Steepster, this tea is definitely worth a shot if you want a caffeinated tea with a simple texture.
“I fight so I can survive. I have no desire to bow down to unjust power.”
– Yona of the Dawn Chapter 82
Summary and Thoughts
Princess Yona lives an ideal life as the only princess of her kingdom. Doted on by her father, the king, and protected by her faithful guard Hak, she cherishes the time spent with the man she loves, Soo-won. But everything changes on her 16th birthday when she witnesses her father’s murder!
Yona reels from the shock of witnessing a loved one’s murder and having to fight for her life. With Hak’s help, she flees the palace and struggles to survive while evading her enemy’s forces. But where will this displaced princess go when all the paths before her are uncertain?
Inuyasha walked so that Yona of the Dawn could run!!! On a more serious note though, Yona of the Dawn is one of the best (if not, the best) historical shoujo manga I’ve ever read. I’m up to date on the latest chapter: 185 at the end of Vol. 32, and I’m stunned by how Kusanagi is able to believably sustain the tension and urgency of the plot over such a long period of time. The pacing is excellent, the drama non-contrived and exhilarating. Most importantly, the characters are expertly written, with Yona’s characterization especially well-done. Lastly, I rarely enjoy romance in any story (not that I don’t like romance, but I’m rarely convinced of the characters’ chemistry), but Yona of the Dawn has one of the most compelling, grounded romance stories intertwined in its larger narrative. The only drawbacks I can think of would be the occasional filler chapter, a somewhat slow beginning, and some classic shoujo romantic misunderstanding situations (which I’m personally tired of, but can understand why it’s added). Though this manga’s premise isn’t exactly ground-breaking, it’s masterful execution makes it a must-read for anyone who enjoys historical shoujo.
The Ole Henriksen Balancing Force™ Oil Control Toner has been lauded by many as the holy grail toner for oily skin. As someone eager to control the sebum in my own oily skin, I didn’t hesitate to try the product. I wish I had carefully considered the ingredient list a bit more before dabbing this product on though, as it was nearly unbearably irritating. I gave the product a few days before returning it, and I’ve never looked back. Regardless of whether or not you have sensitive or oily skin, I can’t warn you enough to stay away from this product. Ironically, for the Ole Henriksen Balancing Force™ Oil Control Toner, the cons far outweigh the pros.
Linolenic Acid (ph balancing and exfoliant, but too much in combo with the ones above)
Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil (fungal acne trigger)
Benzoic Acid(ph balancer, skin irritant)
The Takeaway
There are quite a few reason why this toner is so irritating. First, it combines a variety of skin exfoliants into one product, a recipe in and of itself for disaster. These acids aren’t bad on their own, in fact, they’re each quite good, but the combination of all of them is certainly too much, even if your skin isn’t sensitive enough to feel it at first. In addition, it contains essential oils such as Eucalyptus and Peppermint, some of the most irritating essential oils for the skin. Add in witch hazel (which is not only too stripping for sensitive skin, but in general, should definitely not be the top choice for astringents for anyone these days), limonene, and fungal acne triggers . . . well at this point there isn’t even a point in discussing the pros. Final verdict? Never again.
I read nearly 200 books this past year and to celebrate, I’d like to highlight 25 of my favorite reads (in no particular order)! From fantasy to historical to literary, these books carry a diversity of engaging plots and complex characters. I chose each piece based not only on their execution, but also their personal effect on me, so this entirely my own opinion as well!
Short Description: After a terrible accident occurs, killing multiple innocent children, a Korean immigrant family is put on trial, revealing a twisting mystery full of secrets and pain.
Critic Quote: “The plotting is deliberate and detailed and marvelously done. Its intricacy only amplifies the tragedy, showing the many ways death and misery might have been avoided, when other futures were still possible” – Steph, Cha, The LA Times
Why You Should read this: One of the best mysteries I’ve ever read, this story not only provides a riveting court case, but also a stunning examination of race, motherhood, disability, and immigration in the U.S..
All my life I’ve been told to let go as gracefully as possible. What’s worse, after all, than a hungry woman, greedy for all that isn’t meant to be hers? Still, I resist. In the end we relinquish everything: I think I’ll hold on, while I can.
Short Description: The story of a brilliant mathematician working to solve the impossible Reimann Hypothesis while confronting racial and gendered barriers and the painful reverberations of her past.
Critic Quote: “Chung persuasively interweaves myths and legends with the real-world stories of lesser-known women mathematicians and of WWII on both the European and Asian fronts. The legacy that Katherine inherits may defy the kinds of elegant proofs to which mathematicians aspire, but Chung’s novel boldly illustrates that truth and beauty can reside even amid the messiest solutions.”
Invisible Women is the story of what happens when we forget to account for half of humanity. It is an exposé of how the gender data gap harms women when life proceeds, more or less as normal. In urban planning, politics, the workplace. It is also about what happens to women living in a world built on male data when things go wrong. When they get sick. When they lose their home in a flood. When they have to flee that home because of war.
Short Description: Perez’s deeply analytical book inspects data gaps in various economic, political, technological, and domestic spheres which persist when men are seen as the norm, and the existence of women is ignored.
Critic Quote: “The neat thing about data is that it avoids thorny questions of intention. Criado Perez doesn’t set out to prove a vast conspiracy; she simply wields data like a laser, slicing cleanly through the fog of unconscious and unthinking preferences.” – Elaine Glaser, The Guardian
Why You Should read this: One of the most direct factual analyses of global sexism: groundbreaking and infuriating in all the best ways.
Who are you the morning after the most beautiful man you have ever kissed tries to kill you? And the morning after that? How about the following week?
Short Description: A memoir of Poet Saeed Jones’ life, growing up as a gay black man in the south.
Critic Quote: “Extremely personal, emotionally gritty, and unabashedly honest, How We Fight for Our Lives is an outstanding memoir that somehow manages a perfect balance between love and violence, hope and hostility, transformation and resentment.” – Gabino Iglesias, NPR
Why You Should read this: Saeed Jones’ beautiful control of language, introspection, and emotion is breathtaking.
Alongside the fear of Islamic terrorism is a growing fear of Islam as a cultural hazard that is gradually undermining Western societies from within – and Muslim women, the transmitters of Muslim practices, are held to play a key role in this infiltration.
Short Description: An analysis of how muslim women have been perceived and discriminated against in light of 9/11, political turmoil, and western imperialism.
Critic Quote: “Whether or not Muslim women wish to be ‘saved’, there is no doubt they could be better understood by the West. Shakira Hussein’s book is a useful and eloquent contribution to that understanding.” – The Newtown Review
Why You Should read this: Artfully and concisely written, if you want to learn more about this subject, this is most comprehensive overview I’ve found.
Hope was based on the unknown, and I liked knowing things. Like that I was going to fail. Failure had better odds.
Short Description: A gritty novel about a teenage Korean immigrant girl living on the streets of New York.
Critic Quote: “This is a powerful book, not for the faint of heart. It is also a rewarding book, one that allows the reader to companion Joon in her life. It keeps our eyes open to another world, one that we may not have lived ourselves but one that is lived every day by so many of the children in the world. By the time I had finished this book, Joon had grabbed my heart and taken a piece of it with her.” – Mostly Fiction Book Reviews
Why You Should read this: Expertly written, this slim novel delivers a hard-hitting story full of emotion without any lingering sentimentality.
When Enebeli Okwara sent his girl out in the world, he did not know what the world did to daughters. He did not know how quickly it would wick the dew off her, how she would be returned to him hollowed out, relieved of her better parts.
Short Description: A collection of short stories dives deep into various family ties within the African Diaspora.
Critic Quote: “Here is a debut writer showing serious range – drawing on realism, magical realism, the fantastic and speculative, myth and fable.” – KJ Orr, The Guardian
Why You Should read this: A sharp and beautiful collection where each story is written with impact and eloquence.
Some ideas are so beautiful that even evil people believe in them.
Short Description: When the last sultanate is threatened by the oncoming crusade in 1491, fierce concubine Fatima and her best friend, the magic mapmaker Hassan, flee for refuge — to the Bird King.
Critic Quote: “The Bird King is ostensibly the story of a journey, of the limits to escape — but it is also a journey into story, and faith, and refuge, the family we choose and the friends we find. It’s deeply beautiful and wondrously sad, and I can’t tell if it ended too quickly or if I just needed it not to — if I just wanted to dwell in a home built out of story for a little longer yet.” – Amal El-Mohtar, NPR
Why You Should read this: Exquisitely written, this is a unique and magical novel which illuminates the damages of bigotry and the power of those who survive it.
She said people will find the loveliest part of you and try to make it ugly. “And they will do anything,” she always said, “to own that piece of you.”
Short Description: A collection of short stories about indigenous Latinas in Colorado.
Critic Quote: “In this perfectly-wrought debut collection by Kali Fajardo-Anstine, the center of the world is brown and it is female. Set within the contemporary Southwestern landscape, Sabrina & Corina insists from page one on radical complexity, showing us the girls who survive and those who don’t—all of them struggling to feel free and to be seen. Elegant, restrained, and insightful, this book heralds the emergence of a commanding new voice in American letters.” – National Book Foundation
Why You Should read this: Each story is vivid with emotion and the lyrical writing augments the incredible characterization and relationships therein.
Amar, I know this will mean nothing to you now. But I do believe that even your father’s God, even He, would forgive you. To know you is to want to let you in.
Short Description: When an Indian-American Muslim family regroups for a daughters wedding, pains from past resurface as they try to reconnect.
Critic Quote: “Mirza’s strongest point as an author is her ability to reveal the heart, the pain, and the suffering in the simple day-to-day experiences of family life.” – Parnaz Foroutan, LA Review of Books
Why You Should read this: A deeply emotionally intelligent observation of strained family dynamics, full of desperation, frustration, and hope.
I realized we were lurching toward a new world—one where women would disappear with foreigners, where Americans would never leave us alone, where they didn’t simply provide us with money but with their ways of living as well.
Short Description: An impossible love during a time of war and corruption, If You Leave Me follows three characters as they try to survive, and the woman at the center who seeks her own freedom.
Critic Quote: “As it travels between the decades during and after the Korean War to reveal the traumatic decisions that war forces each person to make, the riches of If You Leave Me will leave you contemplating the passage of time and its impact on the ties that we keep.” – Gabriella Clifford, ELLE
Why You Should read this: Incredible prose, engaging characters, and a heartbreaking story that also expertly displays people’s lives throughout this tumultuous time in South Korea.
While her gift for secret put distance between us, it also taught me the value of intelligence: I learned that a secret is power, that power in application is force, that force is strength, and strength advantage.
Short Description: The year is 1986, and Marie, a young black woman in the FBI, is assigned to undermine Burkina Faso leader Thomas Sankara. However, as she learns more about him, the FBI, and her own sister, her loyalties are put at risk.
Critic Quote: “For the novel’s engaging intelligence and serious reckoning with the world’s postwar order, Wilkinson deserves the comparisons to John le Carré she’s already receiving. But in bringing a virtually unheard-from fictional viewpoint to espionage literature, she has reinvigorated the genre.” – Nicholas Mancusi, TIME
Why You Should read this: Various intricate ideas well-developed and executed. Additionally, a complex and admirable lead and an exciting plot!
What if, instead of carrying a child, I am supposed to carry grief?
Short Description: In Limon’s newest collection, she presents pain and love in its rawest, strongest manifestations.
Critic Quote: “I was ambushed by her power to move – several poems brought a lump to my throat. Yet her popularity is about more than accessibility. She never hides behind words but reveals herself through them – even when the risk is overexposure.” – Kate Kellaway, The Guardian
Why You Should read this: One of Limon’s best collections of poetry, The Carrying is full of emotionally powerful pieces.
It would disappear forever from her memory of Lydia, the way memories of a lost loved one always smooth and simplify themselves, shedding complexities like scales.
Short Description: A slow unravelling of the suicide of a young girl, and various threads within her family that have culminated into her final moments.
Critic Quote: “What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind — a burden you do not always survive.” – Alexandra Chee, The New York Times
Why You Should read this: It’s a brilliantly woven novel that ties multiple diverse perspectives together to tell a complex American story.
What I didn’t say was: I know you too well. You live your life idealistically. You think it’s possible to opt out of the system. You think this is freedom but I still see the bare, painstakingly cheap way you live, the scrimping and saving, and that is not freedom either . . . I used to admire this about you, how fervently you clung to your beliefs—I called it integrity—but five years of watching you live this way has changed me. In this world, money is freedom. Opting out is not a real choice.
Short Description: A satire set in post-apocalyptic New York, officer worker Candance Chen witnesses the spread of Shen Fever, which turns its victims into zombies of their own habits.
Critic Quote: “Severance does not suggest a way out of this fate; for Ling Ma, the zombie narrative is not the scaffolding for allegory, about the hive mind or anything else, but the means for setting a pervasive mood—anxious and bleak.” – Jiayang Fan, The NewYorker
Why You Should read this: Sharp, revealing, and tense, Severance succeeds in delivering a nuanced story on what survival means when juxtaposed against a monotonous life.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that ugly is as ugly does. Both are lies. Ugly is everything done to you in the name of beauty. Knowing the difference is part of getting free.
Short Description: Cottom discusses beauty, African Diasporic identities, capitalism, and more in this collection of essays.
Critic Quote: “A finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Thick confirms McMillan Cottom as one of our most fearless public intellectuals and one of the most vital.” – Emily Firetog, LitHub
Why You Should read this: Cottom is a supremely talented thinker and writer, and her essays are exciting, well-researched, and deeply educational.
Only this body and that darkness, the whispers of the never-ending noche: You belong to no one. No one belongs to you.
Short Description: Reina Castillo attempts to gain control of her identity, purpose, and desire, after her family falls apart following the death of her imprisoned brother.
Critic Quote: “Reina’s voice is wrapped in cynicism yet threaded through with hope. Listening to her is a lot like listening to a dear friend pour out her heart.”
I’M AFRAID OF MEN not because of any singular encounter with a man. I’m afraid of men because of the cumulative damage caused by the everyday experiences I’ve recounted here, and by those untold, and by those I continue to face.
Short Description: In this brief memoir, Shraya inspects how American masculinity grows, contorts, and threatens those it interacts with.
Critic Quote: “Shraya crafts each of her memories in prose made poetic with touches of metaphor. She writes with honesty and vulnerability, all the while asking challenging and personal questions that inspire deeper reflection. This crucial addition to shelves offers the vital and often ignored perspective of a trans woman of color.” – Kirkus Reviews
Why You Should read this: Shraya’s writing is deeply introspective, illuminative, and memorable; a feat for such a short book.
Research shows that the way other people view and respond to women with chronic illness has an important effect on their construction of self-identity.
Short Description: Hirsch takes an intersectional lens to how women cope with chronic illnesses, a hidden disability that conflicts with patriarchal demands of femininity.
Critic Quote: “Lent Hirsch weaves her own harrowing experiences together with stories from other women, perspectives from sociologists on structural inequality, and insights from neuroscientists on misogyny in health research. She shows how health issues and disabilities amplify what women in general already confront: warped beauty standards, workplace sexism, worries about romantic partners, and mistrust of their own bodies. By shining a light on this hidden demographic, Lent Hirsch explores the challenges that all women face.” – Beacon Press
Why You Should read this: A rare text that is as accessible as it is educational. A wonderful blend of personal stories and facts on women’s disability and healthcare treatment in the U.S..
I buried the girl I had been because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. She is still small and scared and ashamed, and perhaps I am writing my way back to her, trying to tell her everything she needs to hear.
Short Description: Esteemed writer Roxane Gay explores her relationship with food, weight, and the trauma belying them both, in this moving memoir.
Critic Quote: “Gay wrestles her story from the world’s judgment and misrecognition and sets off on a recursive, spiraling journey to rewrite herself.” – Carina Chocano, The New York Times
Why You Should read this: This book destroyed me in its emotional rawness, its deft control over each chapter, and how it navigates trauma in the personal and political lens.
Everybody says women are like water. I think it’s because water is the source of life, and it adapts itself to its environment. Like women, water also gives of itself wherever it goes to nurture life…
Short Description: Radio Host Xinran recounts the various women she’s interviewed while running her advice show in China.
Critic Quote: “This intimate record reads like an act of defiance, and the unvarnished prose allows each story to stand as testimony.” – The NewYorker
Why You Should read this: Heartbreaking, devastating, but sharply written, Xinran gives voice to a diversity of women, shedding light on stories otherwise untold.
Many Black women thinkers labor under the exigencies of historical triage. Their names exist almost like family photos relegated to a wall we rarely touch.
Short Description: Cooper lays out the research and history of various black women theorists, activists, and scholars.
Critic Quote: “It takes its material seriously and expects you will, too, and though you don’t have to be particularly well-read on this history going in, expect to be rereading certain sentences, flipping to the end notes for further reading, and double-checking the definition of terms like cathect.” – Genevieve Valentine, NPR
Why You Should read this: Full of rich information on the critical work of black women throughout American history, teachings that are often overlooked.
Short Description: When Princess Yona’s father is killed by the man she loves, she must escape with her trusted bodyguard and reforge herself into the leader her country needs.
Critic Quote: “This is an adventure with purpose.” – WayTooFantasy
Why You Should read this: A familiar concept executed excellently; read for the character development, world building, and grounded romance.
Bravery, she thinks, belongs to girls. But freedom belongs to boys.
Short Description: A collection of connected short stories following five young girls growing up in Heaven, Bangalore.
Critic Quote: “Subramanian’s evocative novel weaves together a diverse, dynamic group of girls to create a vibrant tapestry of a community on the brink.” – Publisher’s Weekly
Why You Should read this: A strong collection of stories starring inspiring, wonderfully characterized girls. Noticeably written with great love.
Feminism allows for more possibilities as a person; it lets women see that we can make a different kind of choice.
Short Description: An analysis of the “Leftover Women” in China, and how the term belies a massive downturn in political, economic, and domestic gender equality.
Critic Quote: “[Fincher] successfully paints a broad and persuasive picture of how women’s rights in post-socialist China are gradually being eroded and how women’s position in society is moving backwards towards vestiges of patriarchy.” – Sadaf Iqbal, Sage Journals
Why You Should read this: Though many know the term “Leftover Women,” this book adds necessary depth to the label and why it’s significant to global feminism.
An antioxidant cleanser that doesn’t mess up your skin barrier, lifting everything your skin doesn’t want while leaving what it needs—healthy pH, hydration, antioxidants and no irritation. Matcha and hemp seeds are here to boost the skin’s intake of antioxidants and essential fatty acids. Your skin and this cleanser might be a matcha made in heaven!
I was really excited to try Krave Beauty’s Matcha Hemp Cleanser; so many skincare you tubers I follow genuinely advocate this product (its creator, Liah Yoo being an incredible skincare guru herself), and it avoids so many terrible ingredients that other cleansers often fall victim to. The product has no scent, and is a somewhat sticky green gel. It applies to wet skin with a subtle grip, coming to a gentle lather after a few caresses. Non-irritating and hydrating, the cleanser has been part of my routine for about two months now and with it, my skin always looks bright and plump after washing!
I really enjoy using Krave Beauty’s Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser: applying it is easy, the price point ($16) is reasonable, and it hasn’t caused me any breakouts. Though some of the ingredients may trigger fungal acne, because it’s a cleanser and will be washed off, I’m much more lenient with the cons and would still recommend this product. Even so, I may keep hunting for another cleanser that doesn’t depend on fungal acne triggering oils for its benefits. I would encourage other users to learn about what irritates their skin before diving into this product.
“She thought she would miss it. The power, the possibilities. The bending of time. But here, in this chaos of sisters and mothers and brothers, of families lost and found. Here, in this glorious present, she doesn’t miss a thing.”
Heaven is a thirty-year-old slum hidden between brand-new, high-rise apartment buildings and technology incubators in contemporary Bangalore. In this tight-knit community, five girls on the cusp of womanhood-a politically driven graffiti artist; a transgender Christian convert; a blind girl who loves to dance; and the queer daughter of a hijabi union leader-forge an unbreakable bond.
When the local government threatens to demolish their tin shacks in order to build a shopping mall, the girls and their mothers refuse to be erased. Together they wage war on the bulldozers sent to bury their homes, and, ultimately, on the city that wishes that families like them would remain hidden forever.
Elegant, poetic, and vibrant, A People’s History of Heaven takes a clear-eyed look at adversity and geography and dazzles in its depiction of love and female friendship.
I breezed through this heart-warming, eloquent glimpse of five girls growing up in a small village in Bangalore. Vivid, emotional prose made this book stand out, something I especially appreciated as I usually don’t enjoy short story collections.
Subramanian describes the Bangalore village with love and honesty, the bravery of each of the girls distinct in their own narratives. Though some stories were more memorable than others, the overall execution of pacing, diction, character development, and cohesiveness was so well done, I can’t help but see this book as one of my favorites. I look forward to seeing what Subramanian writes next!
Brew La La’s fine assortment of flavored green teas are made lovingly from start to finish, from the cultivation of the leaves by our USDA certified organic farming partners to the biodegradable non-bleached tea bags that you’ll steep in your favorite mug. You can be sure you’re not only getting a delicious naturally-flavored green tea, but that you’re getting all of the anti-oxidant health benefits that fine green teas are known for – without artificial ingredients or toxic chemicals. Our ginger peach green tea delivers premium quality in every way, in every cup.
I grabbed this at random at TJ Maxx and wow is this tea a winner! The sweet peach flavor is detectable but not overwhelming, and mixes perfectly with the green tea. For $9, this is a great addition to a tea collection (50 biodegradable string satchels, organic, and tastes refreshing cold or warm). Though I’ve been drinking this without sugar, hot and plain (delicious!), I can also imagine this tasting wonderful cold as a bubble tea with some added boba. Some reviews have commented that the tea has more of a subtle flavor (for better or for worse), which is something I’m perfectly satisfied with, thought that might be something to consider if you’re looking for a tea with a stronger kick. Overall, this is a multitalented, healthy afternoon tea; I highly recommend and will definitely be checking out Brew La La’s other flavors!
“When you have a lifetime of emotions that you have been running from, it seems like once they catch up they will gang-beat you and leave you crippled in an alleyway. Curb stomp finale. You learn to have distaste for them, to ignore their presence, and to dislike when other people are emotional. You learn to interpret their vulnerability as weakness and witnessing a sob might very well make your stomach churn. ‘Get it together,’ you’ll mutter under your breath or in the back of your mind as other people weep. Seeing their emotion only reminds you of your own weakness, which in fact is not really a weakness at all but a necessity to live an emotionally healthy life.”
– In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott
Summary and Thoughts
Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption.
With gripping moments of withdrawal, times of spiritual awareness, and historical insights going back to the signing of Treaty 8 by her great-great grandfather, Chief Bigfoot, her journey exposes the legacy of colonialism, while reclaiming her spirit.
Hard-hitting and poetic, In My Own Moccasins is not for the faint of heart. A beautiful book chronicling a Canadian indigenous woman’s story of resilience and activism, rising from a history of child abuse, alcoholism, drugs, and sexual assault. This memoir’s emotionally resonant narrative is only augmented by its lyrical prose and understanding of when to ease and release tension. Despite the intense subject matter, I read this book eagerly within two sittings. Knott’s honesty and introspective observations make her story compelling, memorable, and will assuredly speak to the hearts of many. Her grip on hope, for her herself and for other indigenous women in similar dire circumstances, solidify its urgent necessity on all to-read bookshelves.
Sweet Potato Pie has quickly become one of my favorite tea flavors. Its hint of caramel sweetness makes it perfect for those who prefer their tea unsweetened and black (such as myself) or with cream/milk. The deep nutty flavor goes along perfectly with the fall/winter season as well (pecans, for those with a nut allergy). Drinking this while filling in an adult coloring book, the wind howling outside my window, and a warm slice of pumpkin bread beside me is my idea of a perfect afternoon. Cuddle up and grab a cup!
Ingredients
Black tea, Pecans, Rock sugar, Cinnamon, Butternut squash, Sweet potato, Marshmallows (sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, gelatin, sodium hexametaphosphate,artificial flavour, natural flavour, blue 1), Ginger, Nutmeg, Allspice, Natural flavouring.
“Just as those closest to you would comfort you during your hardest times, let this mask give a boost to your skin! This mask will keep your complexion luminous for days.”
I recently gave Facetory’s Lux subscription a try (the first subscription is $10 for 7 luxury masks, after that $20 a month) and the Dr. Althea Herb therapy Velvet Mask was the first mask I applied. The mask itself smells heavenly and has a rich, creamy, fabric-like feeling. Putting it on was a simple effort, the mask staying snug around my features, and after waiting for its recommended 20-30 minutes, I took it off feeling more refreshed, the serum drying within minutes. Though how effective it was is debatable (as the effect of sheet masks are most evident after consistent use), below, I’ve provided the ingredient pros and cons for a more scientific inspection.
Looking at the ingredients, there are some pretty powerful relaxing elements to the mask (allantoin, squalane, camellia, licorice extract), but conversely a variety of deeply irritating ingredients (i.e. citric acid and grapefruit extract) for those with sensitive skin. Though my skin does tend to be sensitive, I didn’t directly feel anything when applying the mask, but repeated use may reveal otherwise. Additionally, while the smell was delightful, the prioritizing of fragrance over some the more calming ingredients was worrisome. Though I definitely don’t regret using this mask, I won’t be purchasing it in the future.
Skincare for Introverts 