Alas, there is nothing more rewarding after a hard week’s work than indulging in things we love: from skin-nourishing bath and body products that proverbially wash away our sins to new innovations in skincare that make us feel bright and frisky, and refreshed.
As you may expect, this edition of the Beauty Closet is filled with the latest we’ve tried and loved. Read on for a closer look into the latest you ought to try as well… and maybe recommend to your friends.
Korres’ Santorini Grape Line
We think we’ve found our ultimate Korres skincare match in the Santorini Grape line. We’ve been using this for a month before we tried something else, and now we’re back to it! We love how the collection offers a very simple (yet very indulgent!) routine with just three products, each with different key ingredients. When used in a routine, the result is brighter, suppler, glowing skin. This has addressed texture and discoloration problems for us; so much that we couldn’t stop raving about it. It features several of our favorite actives in three key products: Santorini Grape Velvet Skin Drink with resveratrol, Poreless Skin Cream with salicylic acid, and the Volcanic Skin Reset Mask with AHAs and BHA.
Korres is a pharmacy-grade skincare brand founded in Greece by pharmacist Giorgos Korres and chemical engineer Lena Korres in 1996 from the oldest apothecary in Athens. Well-regarded for being a brand built on a team of scientists, botanists, and pharmacists and known for its clean, plant-powered formulations and sustainable practices, it’s “built a library of over 3,000 herbal remedies and established Korres formulas from a deep knowledge of homeopathy and biological research,” according to the founders. This led Korres to become a global brand. And it has been available in the Philippines since 2021. We get our stash from the Power Plant Mall boutique, but it’s also available at Beauty Bar.
Korres Santorini Grape Velvet Skin Drink
P1,550, Beauty Bar
Korres Santorini Grape Poreless Skin Cream
P1,200, Beauty Bar
Korres Santorini Grape Volcanic Sand Skin Reset Mask
P1,200, Beauty Bar
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum
Sweet dreams are made of this! We’ve long met the lauded Advanced Night Repair Serum of Estee Lauder, a staple through the years and its several reformulations. This is the most advanced ANR yet and we hope you’ve also experienced it—powered by its exclusive night peptide (patented till 2033!) and pioneering in night skincare science.
“8 hours of sleep in a drop” is the promise of this elixir featuring 7 night renewal actions for fresher, smoother, younger, and healthier skin. You truly wake up radiant. It works hard when you sleep, repairing and optimizing renewal. During the day, it still works with its 8-hour antioxidant protection.
We enjoyed World Sleep Day with our beauty friends!
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex – Face Serum
P3,350, Lazada
Happy Skin Bakuchiol + Retinol Milky Serum
Bakuchiol took the skincare world by storm in the past couple of years, with many niche and mainstream brands offering the star ingredient in cream and serum formulations. It was an ingredient lauded (and marketed) as a natural-origin retinol alternative that delivers similar benefits while being gentler. It’s also a more expensive ingredient than retinol.
Finally, we have a Filipino mainstream brand offering a bakuchiol line, making it more accessible to all at an ideal price point. We were happy to have discovered this in an intimate brunch with our friends.
Meet Happy Skin’s Bakuchiol + Retinol, a hardworking duo formulated to firm, smoothen, and brighten the skin with additional key ingredients like niacinamide, peptides, and eight types of hyaluronic acid. Bakuchiol has soothing properties and it also stabilizes retinol, making it a great entry product for those just starting with retinol as well.
The Happy Skin Milky Serum has 10,000 ppm (parts per million) bakuchiol or 1 percent the optimal amount for it to make a difference. Lightweight and non-sticky, it’s perfect even under makeup. The Restore Cream is meant to be applied after the serum, which provides additional hydration and plumping.
Happy Skin Bakuchiol + Retinol Milky Serum
P1,299, Lazada
Happy Skin Bakuchiol + Retinol Restore Cream
P1,299, Lazada
Issy Cosmetics Creme Cheek Bronzer
Issy has long turned out to be one of the most reliable Filipino beauty brands when it comes to makeup. We’ve had countless staples from the brand, but today we’re living for its cream cheek bronzer (see how it applies in the video) and Blackout Hydragloss, which gives a similar color payoff as the popular Black Honey, but in the plumping, moisturizing Hydragloss formulation that even works better for us. We’ve been getting questions as to what we could recommend now from Issy Cosmetics and here they are–don’t think twice.
Issy Creme Cheek Bronzer
P349, Lazada
