March 13, 2010
Posted by jimmy
I had my hair colored last week, which obviously adds a little damage to my locks. Having spent four days afterward in the hot Mexican sun didn’t help much either. I felt that my hair (already on the dry side), needed some hair medicine, so I made a quick trip to Sephora to discover Phyto Phytokarite Ultra Nourishing Mask.
I was going in blindly, suppressing everything I know about hair products and letting the Sephora employee pick out a great hair mask for me. She narrowed it down to two (I was pretty certain Phyto was going to be a contender). While I was looking over the ingredients of both masks she selected, a customer who happened to be in the hair aisle told me that Phyto Ultra Nourishing Mask was the better choice. Two personalized recommendations… not a bad start, though it amplified my expectations. Read more...
March 6, 2010
Posted by jimmy
A few months ago, I was happy that Kyoku announced North America distribution as I believe it’s quite a special line. I was pretty excited about the special ingredients they use (like volcanic ash, bamboo, rice bran) that have a “Japanese” theme running through them and I tried out the new Lava Masque to see how effective it was on my skin. Kyoku means “epiphany” and it proved through with the moisturizing lotion SPF 15 I tried.
The beauty of Kyoku Lava Masque is that it uses volcanic mud, volcanic black sand and 73 sea minerals from the coastline of Japan (I hope you’re seeing why I was excited about this brand coming to America!). The brand was created especially for men through the experience of its creator, who went to Japan to “fix” his skin problems. Kyoku doesn’t target just the epidermis but has the dermis mostly in mind, considering men have 20% thicker skin than women. The interesting thing about the lava masque is that it doesn’t solve problems by adding (like its micro-particle technology) to the skin but doing the opposite by extracting, although penetration is fully recognized. Read more...
February 28, 2010
Posted by Mark
There are a great many excellent skin care lines available and if you do any reading at all, you’ve become familiar with many of the US lines. However, there are small niche American companies and European lines that are also a fortuitous discovery. Although I have heard of the Dermophisiologique brand, my knowledge of this 30 year old Italian company pretty much ended there.
Happily, I can now say that I have made acquaintance with them, using their Polivalente Crema Tonificante ($71.29) for just over a month. To begin, their unique container is ingenious. With a twist of the cylinder’s top, the center rises up and is the airless pump dispenser. When done, another twist and it lowers back down flush, eliminating the need for caps that fall off when traveling or get lost at home. If only all skin care containers were so thoughtfully made. Read more...
February 27, 2010
Posted by jimmy
Knowing my obsession for organic beauty products, a friend recently introduced me to Melvita, a certified-organic line based out of France. Melvita is fronted by Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard and a few months ago we took a look at the some more products in the range. Melvita meets all the criteria for Ecocert, an organic certification organization based in France (I do want to make it clear that the French organic standards are very different from the US which is very different from Australia, etc etc).
I had a chance to try out the Melvita Moisturizing Gel, one of their top sellers that helps anti-aging problems and moisturizes dehydrated skin. 98% of the ingredients are of natural origin, and 30% from organic farming. So it’s not completely organic, which sort of bummed me out but Melvita Hydrastim Moisturizing Gel is actually not that bad, and the “non-organic” ingredients are not that breakbackingly terrible for you (at least the Moisturizing Gel is free of parabens). And what makes up for the ingredients on our “meh” list is some pretty powerful stuff. Read more...
February 24, 2010
Posted by Mark
Yum is a vegan certified, cruelty free, natural skin care line that comes to us by way of Canada. Among their array of skin care products is a 23 Karat Intensive Eye Treatment that I have been testing for the past few weeks. Although there are many serums and lotions for the face that provide good to superior results, the eye area always proves more difficult. My eye concerns are to firm up the under-eye area and address the dreaded beginning of crow’s feet.
Yum’s Eye Treatment includes several nourishing oils including avocado and organic marshmallow extract (to purportedly increase circulation and reduce dark eye circles), so I was eager to begin my regimen of gently patting it in as directed. This comes in a tube and although it is a thick cream, I found it to absorb quickly. Read more...
