This is my August edition of my current favorites, where I share a handful of products that I’ve been hooked on for the month. I try and keep mostly to products that I haven’t shared in my IG stories already so this doesn’t become redundant!

YINA Anti-Pollution Mask

I purchased this mask a while back and have been grabbing for this black-as-the-night purifying mask frequently this past month because of how grimy and gross the heat has made me feel. This Traditional Chinese Medicine-inspired mask is different from other detox masks in quite a few ways:

• Intense aromatherapeutic woodsy scent from Black Spruce, Hinoki Wood and more
• Extremely black (gotta be careful not to accidentally transfer it even though it wipes off easily)
• Very thin consistency and kind of watery
• NOT a clay-focused mask

Made in a base organic white tea extract, YINA Anti Pollution Mask removes grime, bacteria and pollution with antioxidant-rich East Asian plants of skullcap root, white peony tea, pear powder, coconut carbon, moringa and licorice.

It has a very interesting and unique blend of ingredients and you actually won’t find clays as the star ingredient here.

Ingredients: (White Tea)* Extract, Aqua, Vegetable Glycerin*, (Skullcap Root), (Mushroom) Extract*, Chrysanthemum morifolium Flower Extract, (Licorice Root) Extract*, (Moringa Seed) Oil*, (Castor Seed) Oil*, Sorbitan Oleate^, Coco Glucoside^, Cordyceps militaris Mycelium Extract, Rice Powder, (Pearl) Powder, Sodium Levulinate^, Sodium Anisate^, (Rose Clay), Cetyl Palmitate (Vegetable-Derived), Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Cetearyl Glucoside, Carbon (Activated Charcoal), (Hinoki), Pomegranate Enzyme, Gluconolactone, Sodium Benzoate, Calcium Gluconate, (Pine Leaf) Oil, (Fir Leaf) Oil, Picea mariana (Black Spruce) Oil*, Xanthan Gum, Limonene**, Geraniol**, Linalool**.

Riddle Oils Muse Perfume

Riddle Oils is a clean perfume brand that I had never heard of before, but they offered to send me a sample set to try out. I’m in love with their scent Muse! It’s a bit of an addictive scent for me.

I’m trying to work on honing my nose when it comes to perfumes, and what I like to do with new perfumes is guess at the notes and see how many I get right. Immediately you can tell this is a sweet floral feminine fragrance. The florals are white and clean, and there’s something yummy definitely going on with a big sultry factor, but I can also detect a hint of underlying woodsiness that balances the sweetness and brings it down. The notes I got right were Amber, something woodsy, and white florals. I couldn’t figure out what made it yummy, and it was coconut. So, I need to work on my nose skills but we’re getting there!

Scent Notes – Coconut | Peony | Magnolia | Bergamot | Sandalwood | Amber

Olio E Osso Balm No. 11

I’m more than 60% done with the Olio e Osso Balm No. 11 which is so rare for a makeup product for me. I love the look of this berry shade on my skin – it’s not too deep, not too faint and has the right amount of pigment for me that I can layer. I think it goes great with my olive skin tone, but would probably work well for all skin tones.

EVOLVh Better Roots Scalp & Hair Oil

Its been forever since I used an interesting hair oil! They all kind of start to look the same and generally use the same oils that are commonly known to be great for hair health. The Better Roots hair oil had a lot of research go into its making and it offers something different from the rest. This hair oil was designed to:

• Stimulate follicles for the appearance of thicker, fuller hair.
• Strengthen anchorage to reduce excess shedding.
• Remove senescent “zombie” cells to reduce inflammation
• Nourish, soothe and protect

It has a very concentrated formula with no filler ingredients of:

• Follicin
• Basil Root Extract
• Hemisqualane
• Bataua Fruit Oil
• Prickly Pear Extract
• Ceramide NG
• Alpine Rose Extract

And it smells like vanilla!

Odacite Le Blue Balm

I use face balms year round and I’ve been going for Le Blue Balm over the others because of how lightweight it is. The other two I’m using this summer are Anfisa LILOU balm and Leahlani Bless Balm. But the product that gives you most money for value out of all 3 is the Odacite Le Blue Balm. Leahlani’s Bless balm is beautiful but it actually ends up being pretty pricey since you get 1 oz of product. Odacite Le Blue Balm is the standard 1.7oz. Also the blue shade is just so calming and reminds me of the ocean.

Trilogy Cream Cleanser

This isn’t a cream cleanser in the traditional sense – it’s more of a creamy balm cleanser and leans unctuous. This melts everything right off and feels very moisturizing while at it. Just a subtle natural Rosehip scent is detectable.

RUKSKE Candle in Goldie

This isn’t the cleanest candle out of the candles I’ve tried, but my gawd it has the most luxurious scent and the richest black wax I’ve seen. Not a cheap candle at all, but I love luxuriating with this one when I want to feel bad and bougie.