What To Actually Blame For Meh Makeup, Skincare That Sparks Joy Matters , And What Marketing Gets Wrong About Dark Spots | Edition #12

This month, we’re asking you to stop blaming the wrong things. If your foundation keeps looking patchy or cakey, your makeup brushes and technique deserve a closer look before you rebuy.

If your skin looked better before you optimised every step, your comforting favourites were probably doing more than you gave them credit for – skincare that sparks joy keeps you consistent, and consistency is what gets results.

And if your dark spot serum isn’t doing much, it might be built for a different type of mark than the one you have. Edition 12 of our beauty newsletter covers all three – plus new launches on our radar, a peek at dewwie, and this month’s giveaway winner.

🖌️ Before You Blame Your Foundation For Patchy, Cakey Makeup…

It might be time to look at the tools you’re using. Yes, we’ve already covered why brush and tool hygiene is essential for skin health in a previous edition (especially when battling breakouts), but today we’re focusing on why the quality of your tools and technique is important too.

💸 Good Quality =/= Expensive

Worse-for-wear brushes can drag product around instead of blending, leaving behind streaks that can make your makeup look patchy.

Some brushes, especially if the bristles are too rough or the technique is too heavy-handed, can almost ‘exfoliate’ the face, lifting up dead skin cells and introducing a grainy finish.

Read: How To Clean Makeup Brushes Properly At Home: A Step-By-Step Guide

The same goes for a sponge past its prime that drinks up way too much product. If it’s disintegrating, you can guarantee it’s contributing to that not-quite-right look.

☝️Technique Matters More Than You’d Think

A few small tweaks can help you get more out of the brushes you already have, and we’ve found it’s one of those “just try it once!” beauty tips people stay loyal to.

Watch a makeup artist work and you’ll notice a few things:

• They hold the brush further away from the bristles, which helps create a lighter hand and use less pressure.
• Tapping, blending, pressing, and lifting are all gentle motions used. It’s rare you’ll see dragging.
• Lots of MUA’s use their hands to warm up product. Sometimes our fingers are the best blending tools.
• Building products up gradually, and working in light layers is a go-to method for ensuring pigment isn’t over-applied.
• Priming their brush, instead of applying liquid product directly to the skin means dispensing liquids and creams on the back of the hand and working it into the bristles. This prevents streaks and ensures gradual, even release.

🤔 Signs It Might Be Time To Upgrade Your Brushes:

• Your brush bristles just aren’t what they used to be – Keep an eye out for splaying (misshapen or missing spots), shedding, or brittle bristles that cling to the skin.
• Worse-for-wear blenders and sponges – If your sponge has visible nicks, tears, or a texture change, take note of how it’s performing.
• Streaky makeup application – If even the highest-end foundations are going on streaky (especially if they used to apply beautifully), that’s a good sign your brushes are to blame.
• You’re “working too hard” to blend a product – A good brush or sponge helps do the work for you.
• Finally, it’s just taking forever – If you’re using an “old-school” foundation paddle brush, you might welcome the next era of kabuki or wider-head brush styles, that work quickly and seamlessly.

Cute Brush Launches On Our Radar From Australian Brands:

Saint Jack Cosmetics ‘IN THE BUFF’ Angled Brush Set, $60.00

A neatly packaged trio that covers the essentials, with soft synthetic bristles that are both vegan and cruelty-free.

Glam Theory x Claire Bridgett Girl on the Go Travel Set, $98.00

A seven-piece set built to live in your bag (or suitcase) for no-fuss makeup on the go. It’s an edit of Glam Theory’s best-selling brushes curated with creator Claire Bridgett and a few bespoke creations by the ex-MECCA MUA.

✨ Skincare Should Do More For You Than Just Results

If you find yourself forever “improving” your skincare routine – chasing the most efficacious formulas, the best results, the best products – to the point where you’ve abandoned some of your nostalgic or comforting holy grails… only to find yourself thinking “my skin looked better before I started all this new skincare”, we are here to completely validate you.

Your old favourites probably worked better because you were consistent with them.

Read: How Long Does Skincare Take to Work? A Realistic Timeline for *That* Viral Ingredient

You don’t need our permission, but here it is anyway: you’re allowed to value joy, and not forever optimise your routine.

We asked seven beauty lovers which products spark joy in their routines, and their answers map beautifully onto the way a product can earn love beyond the ingredients list and ultimately our loyalty and repurchase:

🕯️ Scent (And The Memories Attached)

Some products are a one-way ticket back to another version of yourself or a trip abroad. For Jess, L’Occitane’s Almond Shower Oil is her first overseas splurge hotel in a bottle, and every use is a small trip back.

🫧 Texture You Look Forward To

A bouncy, “somehow elastic” cream cleanser like Muse by Gaia’s Jelly Cloud Milky Cleanser ($37), or Thirsty Turtl’s fluffy, mousse-like Pacific Dusk Overnight Barrier Cream ($65) with its soft blue tint make Liv and Minnie look forward to using them daily.

Don’t dismiss fun textures as just entertaining, they’re often contributing to the moisture-sealing work too, or a product’s ability to spread on the skin without dragging.

📦 Packaging And Design Details

Details matter. A weighty frosted-glass bottle, or a pump instead of a flip-top or tub can make a product worth repurchasing.

For Aruba, a mist that spritzes super-fine and evenly, like Anua’s PDRN Hydrating Capsule Mist ($42) was her pick and what won her over. These details shape how a product feels to use every single day.

🌙 Ritual, Values, And Satisfying Multi-Taskers

“Taking off the day” with a silky cleansing oil or aligning with your deeply held values, like supporting a small women-owned or First Nations co-founded brand can elevate an experience.

For Seyi, a multi-tasker like Go-To’s Very Luxe Repair Mask ($50) that replaces three steps and “feels like a warm hug” gave her some time back while elevating her routine.

Read all seven picks (including a 3-ingredient tallow whip and a cult mung bean cleansing oil) here: 7 Beauty Lovers Share The Beauty Products That Spark Joy in Their Routines.

If a product brings you a small moment of joy at 10pm when you’re exhausted, and means you wash your face instead of avoiding it, we’re all for it. Efficacy and enjoyment were never competing. There’s enough skincare available for you to have it all.

🎯 Let’s Chat Dark Spots – Because They’re Not All The Same

A single “dark spot corrector” is often sold to many types of dark marks.

Figuring out what type of dark spot you have is especially important because the different types don’t always respond to the same ingredients.

For example, sunspots often respond well to vitamin C, but acne-prone skin experiencing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation may find vitamin C irritating. That irritation can trigger more breakouts, which can then lead to more dark marks.

When we understand the type of pigmentation and what’s causing it, we can choose a more appropriate way to treat it.

The Most Common Types (That Aren’t Medical)

• Sun spots (solar lentigines) – flat brown spots from cumulative UV exposure, usually on the face, chest, and hands.
• PIH (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) – the brown or tan marks left behind after a breakout or irritation.
• PIE (post-inflammatory erythema) – the pink or red marks left after breakouts.

Read: How To Brighten Your Skin In 3 Months: A Cosmetic Doctor’s Guide

There Are Types Of Spots To Chat To A Doctor About 🧑‍⚕️

While we’re on the topic of spots and dark marks, there are types that can have hormonal and health-related causes. Some are worth chatting to a doctor about due to severity. If you’re ever unsure, show your GP. We also recommend checking out the Cancer Council’s guide about skin cancers, because you might be surprised what to look for.

🛡️ What Helps All Types Of Cosmetic Dark Marks

No matter which spot you’re dealing with, these steps are never wasted effort:

• Barrier support – a happy, supported barrier means less inflammation when breakouts happen, and less inflammation means less PIH and PIE forming in the first place.
• SPF50+, every day – Yes, even when the UV is low in winter. UV darkens every single type. Skipping it while using brightening actives is especially damaging, as many products that brighten also photosensitise your skin (making it extra sensitive to the sun).
• Actually reapplying – One morning application doesn’t cover a full day. Reapplication is where most of us undo our own progress. Follow package directions and reapply regularly.
• Always approach sun safety holistically – Making sure to seek shade, avoid peak UV (usually midday), use sunglasses that are polarised (protect from UV), wear a broad-brim hat, and wear long-sleeve clothing where possible.
• Iron oxides – tinted SPFs with iron oxides protect against visible light, where non-tinted SPF doesn’t. You can find iron oxides in most pigmented complexion products. Visible light can worsen hyperpigmentation by contributing to further darkening.

Recommended watching and reading:

• Dr. Prasanthi speaks about iron oxides for hyperpigmentation.
• Dr. Sam Bunting speaks about visible light and blue light for hyperpigmentation.

The takeaway: before you buy another “dark spot” product, work out which spot you have.

And as always, introduce actives slowly, patch test, and wear your SPF every single day (please).

Read: Mamata Thapa On Documenting Her Adult Acne Online And Founding The Patchly

💬 Something We’ve Been Building: dewwie Is Launching Soon

dewwie, embracing the next step in beauty personalisation and beauty tech, is currently in invite-only beta.

The skincare platform, built by our founder Minnie alongside some of the best skin experts in Australia, is almost ready to share publicly.

White Rabbit Social was born from a place of making beauty information accessible without anything overcomplicated. We see dewwie as the natural next step in democratising good skincare information that doesn’t involve expensive DIY or endless Reddit rabbit holes (though we love a rabbit hole).

dewwie asks before it recommends, explains its reasoning, remembers your skin history so you’re never starting from scratch, and knows when something is beyond skincare and flags what is worth seeing a professional about.

Plus, We’re Building The Features We All Wish Existed:

• An evidence-based routine audit – Tell dewwie what’s already on your shelf, and it identifies what’s working for your skin concerns, what isn’t (including conflicting ingredients), and what might be worth changing even slightly (like cleansing for longer, or using that exfoliant less).
• Opt-in reminders – Reminders help you stay on track with your retinol or active routine, because spacing out uses over a 7-day week is way more complicated than it should be.
• Sales you care about – Get notified when products that you use are on sale from retailers you actually shop at, or know when your wish list items are on sale so you can finally press order on your cart.
• dewwie’s chat feature is built on an evidence-based database developed with skin experts. It answers your day-to-day questions with your personalised skin profile in mind, in seconds rather than after hours of scrolling socials.
• Close to our hearts – 5% of every commission goes to organisations supporting women in crisis.

🎁 Join the waitlist, win a routine on us

Sign up for early access to dewwie and you’ll go in the draw to win a full skincare routine on us at public launch.

Sign up to the waitlist

📝 Help shape dewwie

We’re running a short survey on how you actually navigate skincare advice – every response directly shapes what we build. 200+ of you have already weighed in (thank you!), and we’re reading every single one.

Here’s some of what we’ve learned about your skin already:

New In Beauty That’s Caught Our Eye 👀

The launches we’re watching (and in some cases, already testing):

Winter Approved Skincare

• BORING WITHOUT YOU Rem Repair™ Aquaporin Lamellar Barrier Cream Moisturiser – A lipid-rich barrier cream for tight, dehydrated-feeling skin, designed to support the skin’s water distribution and reduce moisture loss without feeling greasy.
• Naked Sundays CabanaMilk™ Mineral Priming Barrier Fluid SPF50 – A lightweight zinc-based SPF50 that combines broad-spectrum protection with a silky priming finish.
• MECCA MAX DOUBLE DOWN Bi-Phase Makeup Remover – A shake-to-activate eye and lip makeup remover made to dissolve stubborn waterproof makeup.
• Facile Beyond There Ultra-Hydrating Cream – A cloud-like, non-comedogenic moisturiser with ceramides, essential fatty acids, and hyaluronic acid that supports a stressed skin barrier.

• Skin Control Everyday Instant Hydration Eye Masks – Aussie skincare brand Skin Control launched SOS de-puff under-eye patches that hero caffeine, niacinamide, and cucumber.
• LANEIGE Balance Mode Shine Control Weightless Moisturiser – A lightweight, rice-water-based moisturiser developed for oily skin without adding shine.
• Dermalogica FutureCode Booster – A damage-correcting “longevity” serum designed to support the skin’s natural repair processes and target visible changes. Big claims – and if you feel as though “skin longevity” is suddenly everywhere, you’re not alone.

Read: Ingredient And Retail Packaging Trends to Look Out For By: chemist and product developer Wanda Prekel

Makeup Going Viral (And Seems Great)

• Marc Jacobs makeup is back and scratching the itch for makeup maximalism. Praise shared first impressions here.
• Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Tubing Mascara – Maybelline’s first-ever official tubing mascara is getting us curious. Tubing mascaras are famous for never flaking and their easy removal.
• Yes, Rhode Has New! Bronzers are here (and all over your feed, we’re sure). Their highlighting glazing milk also looks dreamy. Check out our popular shade dupe list of Rhode’s pocket blushes here.

Elevated Body Care

The Breakout Hack Spotty-Body Care Range

Body care for back, chest, and bum breakouts is here, with formulas designed to manage congestion without stripping already-stressed skin.

It includes:

• Breakout-Controlling Body Wash – A foaming antibacterial body wash that gently cleanses while it unclogs pores.
• Body Milk – A lightweight, fast-absorbing milk moisturiser that soothes and hydrates breakout-prone skin.
• Body Lotion – A richer option powered by hyaluronic acid and polylysine to deliver non-sticky hydration.

Also New In Body Care:

• SOMA Hand Washes and Body Scrubs – The viral Australian body-wash brand is expanding with luxury-inspired hand washes and creamy grainy scrubs.
• Fenty Skin Hey, Bouquet Butta Drop Hydrating Body Milk – A lightweight, quick-absorbing body milk that leaves skin soft with a satin finish, now available in a bold floral scent blending jasmine, pink peppercorn, and orange zest.

Lots Of New For Your Locks In Hair Care

• Go-To Hair – Go-To’s first scalp and hair care range has now landed, beginning with a hair oil, a deeply conditioning hair mask, and a colour-safe rapid scalp exfoliant.
• Q+A Hair Care – The affordable, ingredient-led skincare brand has brought the same approach to hair care, with targeted ranges for strengthening, clarifying, curl definition, and intensive hydration.

Oh-So-Luxe Hair Brand Mr Smith

• Luxury Oil – Powered by Ceramide NG (yes, the same we use on our skin), sweet almond oil, and vitamin E, the lightweight finishing oil helps replenish the hair’s lipid layer which in turn retains moisture and smoothes frizz, boosting shine.
• Curl Collection – Developed with the full spectrum of curl textures in mind, luxury hair care brand Mr.Smith added a Curl Shampoo, Curl Masque, Curl Enhancer, and Curl Lotion, to sit alongside the brand’s existing cult Curl Crème.

A Well Deserved Sniffing Moment For Fragrance

Recreation Beauty AFTERPARTY Eau de Parfum

The newest scent from Recreation opens with bergamot, mandarin, and pink pepper before melting into cassis, ylang-ylang, praline, warm woods, and velvety vanilla.

Recreation Beauty Body and Hair Mists

The Australian fragrance brand has also released four playful mists in candy-bright packaging, each infused with its “mood-boosting Emotionology™” drops.

• Rogue Vanille – A silky vanilla crème with a warm, slightly rebellious edge.
• Bare Coco – A fresh and creamy blend of coconut and almond.
• Candy Vanille – A sweet, juicy fruity-floral take on vanilla.
• Midnight Mango – Bright mango and creamy coconut with a hint of jasmine.

Fragrances From SOMA

SOMA Fragrances – yes, the affordable-yet-luxe body wash brand stocked at your local woolies – is doubling down on what makes them famous. These are purposely travel size, and retail for $35.00.

We’re still sniffing our way through the range, but aligning with their luxury fragrance scent ethos, and we’re almost positive Amber & Jasmine is Baccarat Rouge 540 inspired.

The full lineup:

• Amber & Jasmine – A warm, woody floral pairing soft amber with luminous jasmine and an expensive-smelling golden finish.
• Bergamot & Yuzu – A bright, aromatic citrus inspired by crisp linen and the freshness of a luxury hotel.
• Tuberose & Iris – A fresh white floral that balances creamy tuberose with the softer, powdery character of iris.
• Santal & Cardamom – A woody aromatic fragrance warmed with spicy cardamom.
• Saffron & Birch – A warm, smoky scent with leathery depth and a slightly darker edge.

Don’t Ever Want To Smell Like Anyone Else? Liv’s Got You. Read: 7 Up-and-Coming Australian Fragrance Brands You Need to Know About by Liv Labi

On A Fragrance Spree at MECCA? Praise Kindly Wrote A Guide. Read: Best Mecca Perfumes: 13 Fragrances to Sniff On Your Next Visit by Praise Fadzai

Full reviews on several of these coming soon – tell us in the comments (or respond to this email) which one you want us to dig into first. We’re all ears.

Can you believe this is edition #12? One full year of our newsletter feels ultra special. We are oh so grateful for you being here.

🐰 WRS Team x

This Month’s Winner of The $100 VAMS Beauty Gift Card:

🎉 Georgie .P. 🎉 Congratulations! Check your inbox.

Some links in this newsletter may be commission links, which means White Rabbit Social may earn a small percentage of any sales at no extra cost to you, should you choose to shop through them.

Questions, feedback, or something you want us to cover? Reply to this email – we read everything.

This article originally appeared in the White Rabbit Social Beauty Newsletter, our monthly roundup of beauty news, skincare discoveries, product recommendations, and community favourites. If you’d like future editions delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe for free or explore previous newsletter editions in our archive.