3 Years of Glowing Skin: Insights from our partners-in-beauty

Time really flies when you’re having #SeriouslyGoodFun—especially when you’re also enjoying #SeriouslyGoodSkin. We are celebrating our 3^rd anniversary, Peaches! 🎉 And for this exciting occasion, we invited our favourite makeup artists Grecia Falzon and Marilyn Cini to chat with us about how healthier skin helped evolve their confidence and artistry, tips on K-beauty skincare and makeup, as well as special looks for our anniversary.

The best makeup base: Healthy skin and confidence

Grecia and Marilyn agree that investing in your skin can help create a good base for makeup and—at times—even lessen the need for it. Both makeup artists have shared that their personal makeup routines and habits have changed after getting into K-beauty skincare.

“As I was going through my camera roll of 2020-2021, I realised how much I changed, how much my makeup changed and most importantly how much my confidence changed.” – Grecia Falzon

 Grecia started as a makeup artist in 2020, and while researching and honing her skills, found herself diving into the rabbit hole of “highly edited, perfect-skin makeup looks” that negatively impacted her confidence—in both her skills and skin. She described how, before getting into Korean skincare, she felt that her skin was “grey due to uneven skin tone” and greasy.

Grecia shared how the constant barrage of picture-perfect posts affected how she did makeup as she went out of her way to make sure they were always flawless in a no-texture, chiselled, and contoured way. While these looks weren’t wrong, they were not the kind of makeup that made her happy. She adds, “I honestly believed that me being me in my own skin, and in my own makeup was not good enough for Instagram, which is quite sad looking back at it now.”

Grecia's Go-to Look in 2020

Marilyn's Fave Makeup in 2020

Marilyn had similar experiences even as an established makeup artist. She was not comfortable in her own skin because of her cystic acne and the marks they left. Marilyn shares, “I never left the house without foundation and eyeliner, even if it was just to go for a quick errand. I used to do it, not just because I love makeup and I love applying makeup, but I was still getting used to my skin.”

Both makeup artists were talented and inspiring women in their own right even then but, in some way, they felt that they could still make things better for their own comfort and self-confidence. Enter: K-beauty skincare, patience, and self-love.

Glowing, Healthy Skin is a Work-in-Progress

“Our skincare is always a journey that we need to understand our skin and treat accordingly.” – Marilyn Cini.

Marilyn had been on the hunt for skincare products to help her be more comfortable in her skin and K-beauty was already in her sights with products like the COSRX Acne Patches. Then 3 years ago, Marilyn found and purchased from the Peaches&Crème website and we reached out in hopes of starting a collaboration—and here we are now. Happy and proud to call her our partner-in-beauty.

By understanding what her skin truly needs and adjusting her K-beauty skincare to those needs, Marilyn now shares “I am more comfortable with my skin; it is much more radiant. Although I still get the hormonal acne, I am now more equipped with skincare products that I do not really need to fully ‘cake up’ and cover my face with full on makeup.”

Marilyn, bare-faced and fresh (2023)

Marilyn's current fave makeup look

As a lover of makeup Marilyn still uses it as she goes on her everyday life. However, she now opts to use BB creams, tinted moisturisers, or concealer as her base before popping on some blush and mascara. For special occasions, she uses lightweight foundation or a full coverage one (using much less product!) and still get the flawless look that she wants. "Makeup is not my full time, and everyday life has become so hectic. As much as I love to sit down and spend some time playing with makeup and creating different makeup looks, I have lately been enjoying a super soft and glowy base, some sparkles on the eyes, liquid eyeshadow, or bronzer to create some depth in the eye crease, a baby wing and mascara. Super quick, easy, and still glam!"

From Marilyn 💌

Marilyn shares with us her personal skincare tips, what she loves most about her skincare routine, and favourite K-beauty products.

Skincare Tips

• Our skin condition changes with weather, environment, and also stress, so I believe it is important to always notice any changes you feel and adapt and change your skin care products as your skin needs.
• Cleaning our face, even when we do not have make up on, is super important as pollution, dust or excess oils will dirty our face, which might lead to clogging of pores and giving the skin a dull look.
• Give time for your skin to absorb each product you apply on it. Ideally leave a couple of minutes between each later. I do understand that we are all so busy, so invest in a little hand fan to use in between layers – I do 😊
• I am also a firm believer of getting facials every 6-8 weeks – this will also help with hydrating your skin, cell turnover, blood circulation and also it maintains overall skin health. 

Favourite Skincare Steps

• Double cleansing! As much as I love makeup, I honestly love cleaning my face and seeing all the makeup melt away with Cicaluronic Cleansing balm.
• Serums – I really enjoy using pressing motions to help serums penetrate the skin more and they leave the skin so luminous, I just love it!
• Not on an everyday basis, but I do love to treat my face with under eye patches and sheet masks – They might seem a bit fancy (which I love), but I like to understand what my skin needs, whether it’s more moisture or maybe something to help calm it down and choose a sheet mask to give myself that added boost!

K-Beauty Skincare Faves and Raves

Marilyn’s top 3 Korean skincare products—and her most recommended!

Mizon Cicaluronic Cleansing Balm I love how this dissolves makeup so effortlessly and leaves the skin super soft and clean. It is the perfect product to start your double cleansing routine!
AXIS-Y Heartleaf My Type Calming Cream Can’t explain how much I love the texture of this cream. Super soft and it is so lightweight that it feels like nothing on the skin, but leaves you with a wonderful glow and hydration. I honestly love the added moisture and that feeling of relief it leaves to my skin
COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence I was always so weary to use snail mucin in my skincare, but honestly would never go back once I have started this. It helps with anti-aging, uneven skin tone and scaring and gives a nice dose of hydration. In addition, it helps target lots of what I feel are my problematic areas, so yes, I would choose this!

 

Grecia also began her foray into K-beauty skincare and we reached out to collaborate with her. In our 3 years as partners-in-beauty, we have always found working with her to be a happy and delightful experience!

Grecia without makeup after using K-beauty skincare for 3 years

“The major internal transformation that I had was accepting my skin, talent, and know my limitations. I stopped using filters, stopped comparing my skin and looks to those of others, so all in all I must admit that having better skin helped me to improve my confidence all over.”  Grecia shares that she is now in an era of less makeup. For everyday looks, she chooses to forgo foundation and barely uses BB creams. Instead, she uses a primer and powder to help manage the oiliness of her skin as well as a liquid blush.

Grecia looking gorgeous in her fave makeup look

Grecia’s Fave Makeup Look "It’s easy, practical, and versatile. It’s my go-to whenever I need a classic look, or when I’m late to an event, or when I have a wedding and after completing all the guest’s looks, I have to do my own. It’s a very simple look, but I feel it brings out my features and makes me feel confident and nice."

From Grecia  💌

Here are some skincare tips along with K-beauty favourites and daily skincare steps that Grecia loves the most.

Skincare Tips

Never skip your skincare or take it for granted. If an elaborate skincare routine is too much for you, opt for the basics and keep it simple—the important thing is that you do something for your skin. Remember our skin is exposed to so many pollutants that even if you do not wear any makeup, it needs to be cleaned and replenished.

Favourite Skincare Steps

 

• Definitely washing my face, I just love how my clean face feels.
• Exfoliating using the exfoliating pads – another step to a super clean face.
• Toner – I just feel like it nourishes the skin so much.
• The night time moisturizer – My favourite step, my face feels amazing after it.

K-Beauty Skincare Faves and Raves

Take a peek at the top 3 Korean skincare products from Grecia’s stash.

AXIS-Y Biome Ultimate Indulging Cream So, so RICH and nourishing. I never skip it as my nightly product.
AXIS-Y Heartleaf My Type Calming Cream A mild (but very good) refreshing moisturizer that I found works very well for my oily skin.
Isntree TW-Real Eye Cream It literally says it in the name - it is THE REAL eye cream.

Celebrating 3 years of friendship and beauty

We have been incredibly blessed to have both Grecia and Marilyn as our partners-in-beauty—inspiring, talented, and passionate individuals that share our love for skincare. For our 3^rd anniversary (3 years strong, Peaches!), they both created makeup looks inspired by Peaches&Crème and reminisced about our collaboration.

Grecia's P&C-inspired look Whenever I receive a package from P&C, the colours always inspire me do a makeup look similar to the one I did. I am not a very colourful person in my life, I wear black almost every day, but I let out my creativity and ‘colour’, and my makeup and your logo just always inspires me to create a bubbly, fun sparkly, and colourful look. Needless to say, Korean skincare is the ambassador of what is known as ‘glass skin’ in makeup, the effect of glowing, smooth, lustrous skin which is what I tried to achieve in this look by using highlighting techniques.

Grecia shines with her Peaches&Creme makeup look!

Grecia also shared her favourite Peaches memory with us to go with the look: "Last year’s Christmas campaign, I really enjoyed doing the look, writing the article and everything. Also, as much as I love skincare, I can’t help by admit how happy and giddy I get when I get to try out your makeup. Firstly, because it never fails to impress. Secondly, I just love makeup and trying out new things is such a thrill for me."

Marilyn rocks with her Peaches&Creme makeup look

Marilyn’s P&C-inspired makeup look When I think about Peaches&Crème, of course I think of Korean Beauty. When I think of Korean Beauty, I think of a makeup look which is glowy and natural. Thus. I created a look with a glowy and natural base. Their colourful logo and fun packaging come to mind as well, so for the eyes I wanted to incorporate the colours in their logo. I used some peach/orange shadows, the teal/green colour on the lower lash line and of course some shimmer to keep it fun just how their package is 😊

When asked about her fave Peaches&Crème memory to go with the look, Marilyn shared "In general, it has been one pleasant journey. My favourites however are when we do a collaboration. I love sharing my love for makeup and skin care with people, so having these collaborations with P&C where I can combine this with amazing K-Beauty products are a favourite."

K-beauty Tips and Tricks Corner

Our favourite makeup artists also shared their own tip and tricks when it comes to doing your makeup using K-beauty products and their own favourites.

From Grecia

K-beauty products have luminosity and sheerness which are, for me, the 2 essentials for everyday makeup looks especially if you are after the no-makeup makeup look. The Peripera Ink the Velvet range are so versatile you have the best of both worlds as you can use them both as a cream blush and a lip tint or a full-blown lip colour! The BBIA Never Die Eyeliner, day to night, 12-16hr wear are not an issue for it, I apply it as early as 6am sometimes and remove it at 11pm … and it doesn’t move!

I believe I gave this advice 3 years ago, and I still live by it every single day with my clients: having a good base (good skin) is the best thing you can have for any makeup application. Investing in your skin will help you have better makeup application daily, and the better the skin the less makeup you need especially for everyday!

Makeup Faves and Raves 💋

From Marilyn

Every person is at a different stage in their makeup journey, and what I love about K-beauty makeup is that they are easy to work with whether you are a beginner or more advanced. With most make up, my main tip is to apply make up in thin layers – it will look more flawless and last you longer. 

Most K-Beauty products when initially applied such as the Javin De Seoul Wink Pact Foundation or the Bbia Last Blush, might not seem pigmented (which in my opinion. is a plus). However, they build beautifully and hence the reason why they are perfect for anyone, as a beginner might leave it at just one layer, and a more advanced makeup fan might add more layers.