Sometimes a Product Doesn't Work for You; That Doesn't Mean It Isn't Amazing.

Also, a short-ish note about writing this newsletter + a thank you

Hello, Gorgeous!

First off, a giant thank you to those who choose to support my publication through paid subscriptions.

This writer’s life

A professional writer’s life isn’t easy (despite many people with a keyboard and a ChatGPT subscription thinking it’s a snap).

For someone who makes their living creating pleasing wordplay, deadlines and edits and constant editor turnover can be exhausting. And then there’s the life of a freelance writer which involves pitching, refining, researching, and matching the voice of the outlet. With content writing there’s the need to create a strategy and tone to highlight a brand or company through their hallmarks and products. And let’s not forget about copywriting and ad copy, I love it. It just means that I’m wearing lots of hats and juggling many gigs simultaneously.

Your support means the world to me

Hello Gorgeous! is a true labor of love. And while I offer incentives to paid subscribers (Hit me up for personalized beauty or skincare advice), I try not to be too elitist about it. I love my subscribers and feel like we’re a fun crew sharing our passion for beauty and interesting lifestyle products or innovation. But you should know that when you support this newsletter, you help support my writing. Since devoting time to this fun hangout and coffee break space we all share, means I’m not working on paid client assignments.

It helps.

It means a lot.

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But back to the beauty

Macrene High Performance Eye Cream

Let me start off by saying that I had extremely high hopes for this one.

The brand story is fantastic. Founded in 2009 by Macrene Alexiades, MD, PhD, FAAD, MACRENE actives is a prestige skincare brand created after 25 years of research and work conducted by Dr. Alexiades.

The brand press materials explain that premise of the brand is to target aging skin with incredible actives to ultimately “render aesthetic procedures obsolete.”

You know what else I love about the Macrene line? Products are created using clean ingredients and formulated by the company’s in-house chemists. There are also endless rounds of third-party testing to ensure the results are as promise. All fantastic so far, right?

Even more impressive is the fact that this eye cream is derived from 38 plant actives, hyaluronic acids and peptides. It’s vegan! It’s fragrance free! It promises to illuminate and help reduce the appearance of fine lines and circles. Only it did absolutely nothing for me. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe this is a fantastic product.

It’s tough being a beauty editor and writer and sifting through hundreds of products to find the best ones to share. In this case, I’m highly recommending a product I think you’ll love, even if I saw absolutely no results on my own face.

Macrene Actives High Performance Eye Cream isn’t cheap at $135 a pop. But it might be the perfect eye cream for you.

So, how do I make that decision? I weigh the balance between ingredients, costs, overall efficacy and brand hallmarks. I also know that my hyper-sensitive skin might react different to products than yours does. I like this eye cream, even if my face doesn’t love it.

I’d love to hear about your eye cream since I’m endlessly searching for the perfect one! Let’s discuss in the comment section.

Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋