BRAD Skincare Sea Minerals Purify Review

I've spoken LA's cultiest line, Brad Skincare before. What struck me about Brad's line is how all the products seem to be focused on modernity but use very natural ingredients. Sea Minerals Purify is one of the two cleansers sold by Brad, the other, Universal Cleansing Gel is a bit drying for my skin despite my skin type being acne prone.

Sea Minerals Purify is meant to heal, repair, and detoxify dry, blemished, damaged, sensitive skin which are kind of the three perfect words to describe my skin this winter. I've noticed that moisturizer tends to just sit on my face but my skin feels so dry, yet I'm super blemish prone and have lots of acne scars, and my skin tends to run sensitive. Could this become my holy grail cleanser?

When I got my hands on this cleanser, I was taken by the black plastic box which is semi-transparent much like the glass bottle the product comes in. It's been a few days since I've been using this (twice a day) - and I have to say, I'm really enjoying this line. The cleanser needs really just 2 pumps for the entire face, it doesn't foam a lot but it's enough, I don't like cleansers that foam too much because I find them drying. The gel is unscented even for my sensitive nose and I found the cleanser to really rinse off everything. It might be a little light if you're wearing a face full of HD makeup, but for normal day to day, this should suffice. I haven't seen any of the purported scar and discoloration repairing that is listed on the product site, but I will update after I finish using up the entire bottle.

Sold at Woodley & Bunny $45

Azature Black Diamonds

I don't wear nail polish but I was at a dinner party this week and the theme for men was "all black everything" and the theme for women was "diamonds are forever". There was a lot of mixing and my tablemate, this British former popstar had this unique, eye-catching nail polish on. I had to know what it was and when she said "Black Diamon by Azature" - I immediately knew this was a Fetch Hunter find.

There is one bottle of this that contains almost 267 carats of black diamonds that will set back buyers by $250,000. Celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne, and Megan Fox have been photographed wearing this on red carpets.

 

For those who have other places to spend $250K, Azature also has a more economic version that only has 1 black diamond retailing for $25 available at Ron Robinson at Fred Segal. Available here (Azature Black Diamond, $25/$250,000)

Maison Martin Margiela for H&M

I usually find H&M's collaborations with fashion houses to be hit or miss. I think it works really well when the fashion house in question is minimal (like Lanvin for H&M) instead of ornate (like Versace for H&M, which aged fast and is virtually unwearable in public the week it came out).

The Margiela for H&M collection is the perfect collaboration: it's edgy, but minimal, has character but is muted, to be more timeless. I took a look at the entire lookbook and I must say, the men's collection looked way more versatile and wearable than the womens which was a bit more "avant garde". This might be a first where I'm not so envious of the womens collection.

In recent years Margiela has been rather underwhelming without its namesake designer at the helm but this collection has it all, from universal minimalism to reknowned structural pieces. I think this is the right step for H&M, who has seen relatively disappointing debuts from collaborations with more colorful characters such as Anna Dello Russo, and whose red-hot Versace collaboration is the definition of tacky, fast-money fashion.