Menstral Mask Madness, When Skincare Trends Go a Little Too Far - Episode 416

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

Hi, I'm Perry, and you're listening to The Beauty Brains. Hello, welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 416, and it's the first one of the new year. I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:31)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:32)

Welcome to the new year.

Valerie George (0:34)

Happy new year. New year, new us.

Perry Romanowski (0:37)

You know what we do on this new year? It's the first show of every new year. We typically look back on the year before and how our predictions went, and we make predictions for the coming year. But we're also going to be answering some of your questions, and those include, when do you need heat protectors in your products? What do we think of the color locker products from Fanola? And should people be worried about chemicals in their laundry detergents? But first, Valerie, how's this new year treating you?

Valerie George (1:06)

You know, so far, it's not been great. So, I have this mystery virus that I caught. I've been very sick, actually, since the middle of December.

Perry Romanowski (1:17)

Yeah, actually, that's why we didn't get an end-of-the-year show, mainly because you were ill.

Valerie George (1:23)

Very ill. And then I developed an infection on top of it. Not good.

Perry Romanowski (1:27)

Oh, no.

Valerie George (1:27)

I'm fine. Thanks for asking. And I'm on the med, point being, I can actually talk. I mean, sometimes I still cough, but they gave me a lot of medicine, and I'm doing good. I'll follow up with my regular doctor. Hopefully, that's the only sickness I get this winter.

Perry Romanowski (1:44)

Yeah, you get it out of the way, and then you're golden, right? Because isn't it kind of warm there in Texas right now?

Valerie George (1:50)

Oh, my gosh, it was like 80 degrees on Christmas Day. Now, the weird thing is, it really is a mystery bug. It's not a strain that they have the ability to test for. I think they tested me for like 30 different viruses, and none of them came up. So who knows what, but it's definitely the season.

Perry Romanowski (2:08)

Well, that's good. You know, I just read a, I just finished reading a book called 2389, because, you know, I wanted to get a jump on my book reading, and I've already read the three books this year.

Valerie George (2:20)

Wow, and it's only a couple days into the new year.

Perry Romanowski (2:24)

I know, they're kind of short, but I felt bad last year. I fell a little short of my goal, but who am I doing this for? I did read a lot. I read over 40 books last year, but.

Valerie George (2:34)

Now, do baby's books count? Because if we're counting baby books, I've already also read three books, but they're baby sees.

Perry Romanowski (2:41)

Oh, well, I think you can count whatever book you want to count as long as you feel good about yourself. Well, I read this, your virus reminded me, I just finished this book called 2389, which is about a, it's sort of like Jurassic Park meets Aliens, but everyone's like zombies in space. It's actually pretty good. But the zombies were created by a virus that was created by someone on Earth.

Valerie George (3:11)

Oh my goodness. I like history books. I'm not into the sci-fi genres. I'm into history. I did fall off the reading list a little bit last year as well, but I'm going to be back on it. I have a whole stack of stuff I have to read. And if you guys follow me on Instagram at cosmetic underscore chemists, that's my personal Instagram account, towards the end of the year or maybe even mid-year, I actually give away the books that I read because I believe I could take them to a donation place. But if there's a book where you're like, man, that book looks really good and I mail it to you, chances are you're going to read it.

Perry Romanowski (3:44)

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great idea because I just keep stacking up the books I read and I have big shelves which are filled with books that I've read once. Really, how often do you read a book a second time?

Valerie George (3:56)

Not many. That's why the ones I'm going to keep like, I'd love to read that again one day, I put those aside. But if I know I'm not going to read it again, I just take a picture, I put it on Instagram, I say what I liked about the book, and then the first person to send me their mailing address gets the book.