There comes a time when you’re living in New York that you swear you’re going to move. Maybe you waited a little too long on a muggy subway after someone yelled at you on the street. Or maybe, after lugging your groceries to the top of your fifth floor walk-up, you realized you forgot to buy the one ingredient you actually needed to buy. You can usually shake the feeling, but if you’re Rebekah Peppler, you pack your bags and begin to split your time between New York and Paris—until eventually choosing the expat life. “I had this sort of big, inescapable feeling that a change was coming into my life and it wouldn’t happen if I stayed where I was,” the writer remembers. “I was working as a freelance food stylist at the time but I really wanted to be writing more. I was single. I was mobile. It felt like a good time to make a big leap of faith.” In the years since, Peppler’s made Paris her home—all while writing three cookbooks. Her latest, Le Sud: Recipes from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, focuses on the south of France, a natural extension of her many trips to the region. Inside, you’ll find everything from a strawberry gâteau to the pasta she craves “every time I’m near the sea.” One of our favorites though is a five-ingredient recipe for The Marseillan. It’s a pastis-based drink that’s both easy and refreshing, the way summer should be. As Peppler says… “[The liqueur] pastis has a long history in the south of France. Its name comes from the Provençal pastisson, or ‘mixture’—and not to go too too deeply into the backstory of the drink, but very quickly... When absinthe production was banned in 1915, cafés started offering other anise-based liqueurs as a replacement. In 1932, Paul Ricard started marketing his Marseille-produced version as pastis. Today, walk by any café or bar in Marseille at pretty much any time of day in the summertime, and someone is drinking pastis. It’s very much woven into life and pastis lends itself to long, slow, hot afternoons. Personally, every time I go to Marseille, I don’t feel that I’ve truly arrived until I’m sitting under a spot of shade, sipping from a tall, cloudy, lightly perspiring glass. The way you’ll often see pastis served in Marseille and across France is a pour of the liqueur in a tall glass and set on the table alongside a pitcher (often, and preferably, ceramic) full of chilled water. Drinkers can then add as much or as little water as they prefer; 1:5 pastis to water is fairly standard. Sometimes a bucket of ice is served on the side as well and there are very strong opinions on whether ice should be added or not.

Adjusting to this temporary normal —that is, staying inside—can be challenging at times but we have the perfect at-home skin care tips to share. Here, we highlight some skin care-related activities you can do at home to keep you occupied and relaxed during this time of social distancing, in addition to some tips on how to take care of your skin when you do need to step outside (and wear a face mask).Looking for some self care activities to keep you occupied? Not to worry! We’ve compiled a list of things that you can do to not only help yourself, but also your skin! Read on to learn what you can do during this time at home to help you reach your skin goals and attain the results you’ve always wanted!Discover or Learn More About Your Skin Type.If you haven’t really taken the time to identify your skin type and skin concerns, and are guilty of applying any skin care product that appears to be “good,” this is a great time and opportunity to do research on your skin and find the products that specifically work for you. This skin type guide is a great starting point to get to know the types of ingredients that work for you to achieve your skin goals. Completely new to the skin care game? We’ve got you covered with another complete guide on how to create a simple, multi-step skin care routine based on your skin type and concerns. RELATED: How To Keep Your Beauty & Skin Care Regimen SanitarySchedule a Skin Concierge Session.Whether you’re a newbie to the world of skin care or need to reorient your skin care journey, consider scheduling a one-on-one Skin Concierge Session with a Soko Expert. These free, 20 minute text messaging sessions are centered around your skin type and concerns and are based on a short survey regarding your skin type and lifestyle habits. Each session also includes personalized product recommendations.Hydrate Your Skin Regularly.Staying inside a heated room all day may deprive the skin of its moisture, which means it’s even more important to not just hydrate your face, but also to hydrate the rest of your body. Designate 5 to 10 minutes daily to apply lotion or body oil, or incorporate it into your daily AM or PM routine. Don’t forget that adding a balm or mask to your lips can do wonders for soothing and hydrating dry lips! The Klavuu Nourishing Care Lip Sleeping Pack is an excellent option to exfoliate and re-introduce moisture. Though this lip mask’s name suggests it should only be used at night, it can also be used as a lip balm throughout the day to ensure your lips are hydrated. To add some moisture to your face, the Erborian Milk & Peel Mask works well to replenish the face’s moisture levels and to transform the skin from a dull to luminous finish. This wash-off mask can also serve as an exfoliator that can be applied once or twice a week to increase dead skin cell turnover.Try Out a Sheet Mask or Eye Mask.While getting lost in a good book or binge watching a show you’ve been wanting to catch up on, use that time to help your skin out by applying a sheet mask or eye mask! Masks such as the Leaders AC Clear Treatment Mask help to alleviate redness and irritation while restoring moisture to the skin and smoothing out the skin’s texture. This mask is suitable for all skin types, but especially for acne-prone and sensitive skin types that struggle with acne regularly. Key ingredients such as snail mucin and tea tree leaf oil work in tandem to heal acne scars and reduce the appearance of redness. Meanwhile, Acropass’ Line Care Patches can help address wrinkle concerns around the eyes. Hyaluronic acid, glycerin, adenosine, and peptides help to plump these target areas by reducing the appearance of wrinkles within two hours. If your under-the-eye concerns are related to puffiness and redness, then the Acwell Licorice pH Balancing Intensive Eye Cream may be for you. This eye cream uses licorice water, licorice extract, and caffeine to combat dark circles, hyperpigmentation, and puffiness, respectively.If you need to step outside (and wear a face mask)…For some of us, it’s difficult to stay inside all day – you may need to go for a quick grocery run, or you may even be an essential worker. We’ve recently been receiving questions from our readers about how to take care of your skin before and after wearing a face mask outside. Below, experts weigh in on how to keep your face clean and how to prevent and treat breakouts when using a face mask.

Charlotte Cho credits cleansing balms for clearing up her skin and getting her hooked on double cleansing and K-beauty many years ago. After obsessively trying every formula she could get her hands on, she decided to create her own: The Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm, now a 2019 Allure Best of Beauty Award Winner. Below, she shares the behind-the-scenes scoop on the making of the innovative product.The Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm has always been a winning formula in our book, and plenty of other important people in the beauty community think so too. Since hitting shelves nearly one year ago, the product has racked up awards from a number of publications including Allure. The cleansing balm is the recipient of many awards, including Very Good Light’s Lightning Beauty Award for Best Oil Cleanser and the 2019 Allure Best of Beauty Award. The publication has previously called the balm “a little end-of-day indulgence” and on while discussing this year’s awards on the Today show this week, Allure editor in chief Michelle Lee called the product one of her personal favorites. “I use it every night. It takes off even the most stubborn eye makeup,” she said.

This cactus thrives in dry conditions, which actually makes it the perfect ingredient to soothe and nourish your skin. We’re spotlighting all the skin care benefits of the opuntia ficus indica—AKA prickly pear or barbary fig. Prickly pear is a plump, pear-shaped fruit that grows on a paddle cactus in desert climates. Usually deep purple in color (though sometimes red), the prickly pear fruit itself is covered in lots of thorns, but the fleshy inside is rich in fiber, antioxidants, and carotenoids. It’s even turned into edible jams and tastes like a mashup between strawberry and raspberry.

Welcome to Our Favorite Products, a monthly feature in which ITG's editors discuss our favorite products. They're the best things we've tried all month long, reviewed, photographed, and anthropomorphized before we have the opportunity to get sick of them and move on to something new. This month, we’ve settled any outstanding scores with summer: it brought the heat, the humidity, the blazing sun, and we figured out ways to avoid those discomforts with beauty products. Of course, some things aren’t completely unavoidable: you’re always going to sweat. But since you can’t stop sweat, may as well have a lightweight, oil-absorbing powder that won’t dull your shine. If humidity wants to add five pounds to your porous hair, a strong-hold hair cream can help pump it back up. And if UV rays insist on causing damage, a glowy SPF stands strong at the ready. You might say we’re transitioning into fall three months older and a whole world wiser—it might be back to school season, but these products have already passed finals with flying colors.A Hand Soap That's An Experience[](https://shop-links.co/1750587050238819638)At the beginning of the pandemic, the joke was that an alarming number of people were suddenly getting into handwashing. I’m way too anal to relate to that, but handwashing did become more fraught for me. Instead of washing to be clean, I was washing with extraordinary purpose; to kill those bad boy germs that scientist of our time Blue Ivy articulated, “might get you sick.”](https://www.instagram.com/mstinalawson/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=a7ae07f9-95ca-437d-b0ab-109064e7089d) In the past 1.5 years I went through too many soaps to count to upgrade the whole experience. Byredo’s Rose is the one I keep returning to—sorry, I can’t help it. It’s a soap, yes, but it’s also a pure-rose perfume that stays with you long after your hands have dried. It’s also maybe aromatherapy? One whiff and a wave of calm washes over me. It’s 1000-percent a crazy indulgence, but dammit in these crazy handwashing times I think I’ll allow it.—Ashley Weatherford, Senior EditorA Gravity-Defying Hair Cream[](https://shop-links.co/1750586289099434082)Last time I was getting my hair colored, I heard my stylist instruct his assistant to really take his time towel drying my “sneaky amount of hair.” Which is a good description! It’s very fine, very straight, but deceptively thick—because of this, my hair tends to lay pretty heavy at the roots. For years I have been curling it for almost every event, feeling like my straight, flat hair couldn’t look “done up.” And the first time I rubbed a quarter-sized dollop of this Oribe blowout cream through damp strands, I had full intentions of heating up my iron later. But as I was blow-drying with a round brush, I noticed my hair looked lifted at the roots, and that the ends were finally swooping in and out obediently. That’s how I discovered a better name for this product might have been “Hairspray Crème.” I ended up ditching my curling iron that night and rocking straight, long hair for the first time in a very long time—but since, I’ve also experimented with rough drying it quickly and adding movement with my Hot Tools tapered wand. Both ways result in natural body, volume, and soft, bouncy hair. And unless I’m attending a major event, I skip hairspray!—Chenaya Devine-Milbourne, Sr. Director of Product Marketing & DevelopmentA Body Sunscreen That’s Glowy, Never Chalky[](https://shop-links.co/1750586377613982824)I have fair, reactive skin, so SPF is a must for me. And not just facial SPF—I need a thick coat on my whole body. I’ve been trying to spend more time outside thanks to the pandemic. But I’ve never been able to get over my childhood aversion to body sunscreens, particularly the mineral zinc kind, which always seem to get all over my clothes and leave me feeling like a white, sticky mess. Though, I wasn’t really thinking about that when I first bought Supergoop’s Glow Oil—a mini qualified my Heyday order for free shipping, and that was good enough for me. I’ve rebought the full-sized bottle several times since! The spray tip makes application super easy and mess-free, the oil itself is lightweight and dries down quickly, and the SPF 50 protection is nothing to sneeze at. I’m much more likely to reapply when I have this in my beach bag, which has led to a dramatic reduction in sunburns. Definitely an August lifesaver!—Kathryn Lawrence, Senior Software EngineerA Pressed Powder That Won’t Dim Your Light[](https://shop-links.co/1750586481821191461) This is the best powder for people who hate powder. Pressed powders tend to get a bad rep among makeup users for being too drying and cakey. Especially if you’re going for a no-makeup dewy finish, the last thing you want is a powder to kill all the glow you just worked so hard to apply! I’ve used a lot of pressed powders on my acne-prone combo skin in my day, and though I never want to be fully matte, I am looking for longwear and a little blur. This stuff sets my makeup, adds a light wash of color, and smooths everything out—my friend told me I literally looked Facetuned. The ultra buttery smooth powder sops up excess oil but still allows my glow to continue to shine through. Then it stays fresh for around eight hours (or, about the length of the workday). When my natural oils do start to pop through, touching up is a breeze—I always carry the minimalist, frosted compact in my bag when I’m out and about. I really think everyone would love it.—Michael Rango, Support Desk TechnicianA Drugstore Cleanser That Outperforms Its Price Class[](https://shop-links.co/1750586532532193448)A friend introduced me to the Pink Jelly Glow Cleanser from Bliss. It’s effective, gentle… I have combination skin that can be really sensitive to exfoliators, so I was shocked that my perfect solution was at the drugstore for around $10. I've since turned all my friends onto it, too—even men who would normally balk at pink packaging. And this stuff is bright pink, a shade I can only describe as unicorn goop. I use it as a second cleansing step, squirting a dollop into my hand in the shower after I’ve already gone in with Glossier’s Milky Jelly or another soft cleanser. As I’m scrubbing, I can feel the plant-based fibers picking up all the bumps and grime on my skin without being abrasive at all. And every time I use it, I come out of the shower feeling cleaner than ever. I have yet to find any other products that are comparable. I can't live without this stuff—I’ve actually started keeping two handy, one in the shower and a backup under the sink, so I don’t have to.—Robby Grodin, Senior Engineering ManagerAn Objectively Great Serum From A Semi-Biased Source[](https://www.dieuxskin.com/products/deliverance)Some parents hang their kids’ artwork, but mine is stored under my childhood bed. If there’s a lesson I’ve projected onto this probably innocuous fact, it’s that sometimes the things made by people you love are just not very good. I worry about bias clouding my judgment and end up being more critical of things my friends make—so when I started using my friend Charlotte’s lightweight, scentless gel-serum, I followed its twice-daily instructions skeptically. Thankfully (for my skin and the sake of our friendship) this stuff is the real deal: After one week of use alongside a super simple routine I noticed my skin looked less red and had an unmistakable glow. Two weeks in, I saw red and brown spots fading faster than usual and no new breakouts. It didn’t turn on me by the end of the month, and in fact, I even left the concealer and color corrector at home when I headed upstate for my roommate’s birthday weekend. Photos were taken. My skin looks great in all of them. I love Charlotte, and I love Deliverance, and I’m genuinely confident those statements have nothing to do with each other. It just came back in stock—get it while you can.—Ali Oshinsky, Associate Editor Photo via ITG

“I'm from Chicago, born and raised. No suburbs—none of that. Real Chicago. My family is from Panama, and they came here in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s. My grandfather was in a Doo Wop group in Panama, so he has the gift of music. I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but didn't really take it seriously until high school. I went to Chicago High School for the Arts, and my focus was vocals. I studied classical music the entire time I was there—opera, classical music. It really opened my mind to different kinds of music and how the voice works. When I was a sophomore, I started to record myself and put music out. I didn’t really care about my makeup, or the feelings it evoked, until now. I didn't know what I wanted—I just knew I needed my shit done. As a woman growing into myself, I was just figuring out what looked good on me, and what made me feel beautiful on a daily basis. I started working with my makeup artist, Mollie Gloss and she helped me navigate that. We got together before Crush, my latest album, and she said, ‘What do you want to feel like? What do you want your makeup to do?’ I wanted to exude ‘70s black diva—sparkle, color, glam. That was probably the first time I actually stapled a makeup look to a project.

“‘Somebody Like You’ by Keith Urban was the first country song that I can remember hearing and thinking, ‘This is such a special sound. I really love this.’ I was young, maybe seven or eight—old enough to look him up on YouTube and see how hot he was. [Laughs] But I had no idea that I was listening to country music. I mean, at that point, I had been listening to Shania Twain, but I thought Shania Twain was Janet Jackson. It was just music that I loved. This summer, I’ll have been in Nashville for three years, and I feel like I’m watching the fruits of my labor roll in because I’ve been working really hard out here. Honestly, to this day, I don’t know how Beyoncé found me, let alone decided to have me on Cowboy Carter. All I can say is I’ve been putting the work in. She’s sprinkling a little bit of her light on me, and it’s definitely helped open me up to a bigger audience. BEAUTYI always describe my mom as Ralph Lauren Polo. She’s more of a tomboy and played basketball growing up, so she is not a big makeup or hair girl. My grandma though? She’s always been the person who I’ve looked to as far as fashion and beauty goes. She loves getting her hair done. She has all of the makeup. She bought me my first pair of little plastic Cinderella heels from Claire’s. She was like, ‘These are heels. This is what you’ll wear to church.’ She took me to get my ears pierced when I was 16, too. But before that, my first memory of being like, ‘Wait, makeup is dope’ was when I snuck into her closet to play with her makeup—and got caught. I’m adopted and my grandma is white, so let’s just say her shades were not it for me. [Laughs]

Blackheads can be stubborn skin guests, often overstaying their welcome on our noses and chins. Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Wash is praised for showing these intruders the door. Our blog will guide you through a selection of top face washes tailored to send blackheads packing for good. Dive in to find your skin's new best friend!

If you want clear, healthy skin, cleansing is arguably the most important step. Keep reading to find out what to look for in a water-based cleanser and our top K-beauty recommendations.A cleanser is the backbone of any skin care routine and is the first step in keeping skin clear and healthy. That’s why it’s so important to use the right formula for your skin type and concerns. We’ve already shared our favorite oil cleansers for each skin type (the first step in the double cleanse method), so today we’re helping with which water-based cleanser (the second step in the double cleanse method) you should use based on your skin type.Oily Skin: Mediheal Intensive Pore Clean Cleansing Foam Since oily skin types can accumulate even more oil throughout the day, it’s important to find a cleanser that can control excess oil and sebum and unclog any dirt or debris from pores. We recommend the Mediheal Intensive Pore Clean Cleansing Foam, which uses charcoal to detoxify and deep clean any oil and acne-causing bacteria. It also contains zinc to soothe the skin and mushroom extract, an antioxidant that nourishes the skin barrier to prevent skin from getting dehydrated and over-producing oil. Those with oily skin will also love that it leaves skin with a matte finish. Combination Skin: Neogen Green Tea Real Fresh Foam CleanserThis best-selling foam cleanser works for all skin types, but it can be especially beneficial for those with combination skin. The star ingredient is fermented green tea extract, which is rich in antioxidants, hydrating, and soothes inflammation caused by breakouts. Unlike many foam cleansers out there, the formula is gentle and doesn’t strip skin, making it perfect for everyday use. Normal Skin: Klairs Rich Moist Foaming CleanserIf you have normal skin, your main goal should be to find a cleanser that keeps your balanced skin from getting off kilter. For this, we love the Rich Moist Foaming Cleanser, a creamy foam cleanser from Klairs. It contains tea tree leaf oil to clear away impurities while hydrating, and a blend of amino acids and hyaluronic acid that moisturizes and promotes skin renewal for a rejuvenated complexion. RELATED: Why Your Cleanser Isn’t Working