When you go to editor’s round-ups or previews you never know what you are going to find. If you’re lucky, there’s at least one thing that catches your eye and commands your attention. But at a recent BeautyPress editor’s event, the room was literally full of interesting products from unique companies, many of them featuring healthy and natural ingredients. Some of the brands were new to me. That is always, very exciting!
For example, PUR Attitude’s 3-step skincare system featuring a Purifying Rice Face Wash (6.6 fl. oz) ; Hydrodrench Moisturizing Gel-Cream (1.7 fl. oz.) and a Multi-Effects Eye Cream (0.5 fl. oz.) The packaging is as clean (almost architectural) as the simplicity of the system, featuring clear, slim columns of plastic with a silver flip top cap for the cleanser, and clear plastic pump tops covered with clear plastic cubes over their pumps. A red square logo adds color to the pale golden/beige potions, inside. The feature of PUR is what they are calling a S miracle Hyaluronix technology. It works with your skin to lock in moisture and nourish key areas that are responsible for firmness, elasticity, and radiance.
This natural Hyaluronix™ technology, claims to deliver up to one thousand times its weight in water, binding moisture deeply into the skin. There is no way I can test this, but my skin did feel hydrated, after using the products. The inventor, David Pollock, follows a “safe beauty” philosophy that means the products are free of harsh chemicals, parabens, peg’s, glycols, sulfates, petro-chemicals, synthetic fragrances, and artificial dyes.
Like everything else, you have to judge for yourself if this is the best skincare regimen for you, but I love the idea that you don’t have to fuss with a lot of products, and I’m willing to bet guys will find that appealing, too. The Purifying Face Wash Purifying Rice Face Wash is available in 6.6 fl oz. at a retail price of $18. (This is approximately a six-week supply when used twice daily.) The Multi Effects Eye cream ($58.00) helps to deal with tired, puffy eye areas and claims to erase dark circle as much as 35%, while visibly reducing Fine Lines & Wrinkles Up To 63%.
The Hydrodrench Moisturizing Gel-Cream ($68.00) offers hydrating, nourishing, and firming benefits thanks to natural botanicals, advanced peptides, while light-refracting smooths the look of puffiness, wrinkles and helps create a brighter looking eye. Since I haven’t slept well, this was a good test of the product that is good for all skin types (and mine is sensitive). It felt light and cooling (a plus) and didn’t irritate my skin, plus I did feel a firming effect. You can get the Skin Essential set with all three products for $88.00 and see all the ingredients on the web site too: http://www.purattitude.com/
Another interesting line, introduced to me personally by the enthusiastic founder Katharin Von Gavel, is Footlogix Pediceuticals. Her line is, as you might assume from the name, a line of foot care products both for spas, and for at home users. Her products are made from spa-quality, pharmaceutical grade iingredients,and what makes her foot line unique, is her modern approach to foot issues of today. Her product focus on five specific foot and skin issues: peeling skin, callused heels, cracked heels, discolored toenails and rough skin.
The products are fragrance and oil free, so they don’t leave your feet greasy and smelling bad, and her “dermal infusion technology” claims to infuse the treatments deep into layers of the epidermis, where they can really do some good. I’m all for that! Footlogix is sold on HSN and also at www.footlogix.com. My favorite, so far, is the Footlogix™ Rough Skin Formula Foot Mousse HSN Price: $19.95
Shipping & Handling: $3.95. Dispensed from a spray can, this product is an anti-fungal mousse that can help treat most athlete’s foot and ringworm and give effective relief from not-so-fun symptoms like itching, cracking, burning, redness and irritation associated with athlete’s foot.
I also was impressed with the Footlogix™ Callus Softener Exfoliating Formula with Wooden File Item: 193-081 HSN Price: $24.95 Shipping & Handling: $5.20 Like all products treating challenging issues, these are not miracle cures that will work in an instant, but if you can stick with it and use them regularly for several months, you can see real results that can be well worth the wait.
When it comes to orgtanic products with unique ingredients, LaVigne Organics fits the bill, with a cream that contains Tepezcohuite (Tep-ex-co-heety), a tree bark extract indigenous to mexico, that has healing properties bordering on the fantastic. This unique ingredient is: a natural analgesic that is anti-baceterial, a skin cell regenerator, and it relieves pain, heals without scarring, and fights bacteria, viruses and fungi with a non-toxic, antibacterial agent 300% more effective than Streptomycin.
I can’t quantify all of this, but I can say that the feature product, Mayan Magic Balm has a creamy, shea butter base. It supposedly will help with: psoriasis, eczema, severe dry skin, rosacea, athletes foot, superficial cuts, burns (including sunburns), surgical incisions, tattoo aftercare, scars, diaper rash…and the list goes on and on. The balm is also fragrance and parabens free and not tested on animals, and apparently uses other organic extracts (if there is more than what is listed on the bottle as simple shea butter, vegetable emulsifying wax, and organic Tepezcohuite extract I couldn’t find more ingredients, listed).
At the BeautyPress event while talking to founder and President Linda Zaurrini (née LaVigne), she showed me some very impressive before and after photos of a young girl with severe eczema who supposedly used Mayan magic and got amazing results. I wanted to believe, but I was skeptical. I tried it on my skin, and found it to be soothing, but certainly not immediately curative. Still, one product that gave me an immediate benefit was the $7.00 Lip Therapy.
While I dislike products, especially lip product, in jars, this one is a silky, creamy, lightly vanilla scented lip balm with the same ingredients and healing properties of Mayan Magic, and the added benefits of Argan Oil. On dry lips, this product really did help soothe and smooth with one application. If you have a serious skin issue, my suggestion is to first check with your doctor whether or not Mayan Magic might be the best choice to treat your skin condition, but at $16.00 for a 1.7 fl. oz.jar (two larger sizes are available as well), it can’t hurt to try it for minor problems and skin irritation. Visit: http://lavigneorganics.com
Natural cosmetics are a big thing. While not everyone really cares if the products are minerals or not, Donna Cristo, Founder of Jing Ai, hopes you do! Jing Ai, which means Pure Love (in Thai). This eco-chic beauty brand was inspired by the pure love received from Donna’s grandmother Rose, who died of breast cancer. The pure, organic cosmetics are named after different types of roses from around the world (again, an homage to grandmother Rose). The eco-friendly, cardboard packaging is reminds me of some of the early packaging from the luxury brand Stila; 100% recyclable and biodegradable rolled edge containers with an ornate soft grey signature design.
I had some trouble opening the cardboard container but I think the top would be easier to open as it is used more. The plain paper cardboard packaging however, is infused with wildlflower seeds. Plant the box in the soil, water daily, try to give it 4 hours of sun a day, and you may find that you have a beautiful garden! Every Jing Ai product is created with certified- organic ingredients including botanical and flower oils, natural mineral pigments, coconut oil and is 100% Gluten free.
Every product has high concentrations of proprietary signature compounds made from certified- organic Champagne Grapes from the Napa Valley and Wild Roses from Brazil; the one for its superb antioxidant/anti-inflammatory/anti-aging properties and the other – the “Elixir of Youth” – for its rich multivitamins, Omega 3s and Omega 6s that heal and regenerate. Jing Ai is also endorsed by Leaping Bunny (cruelty free products).
Are products going to make you pretty? There are a range of nice products for eyes, lips, cheeks and face The bronzer/blush duo ($28.00) I tested called ‘Piccadilly” is one of three color combos. The bronzer is a soft rosed brown (not orange or rust) and the blush is a warm, soft peach with just a kiss of sparkle to make your skin glow. The products are infused with certified organic Wild Rose petals from Brazil that help nourish your skin also with vitamins A & E, and if you care, it is Gluten free . If the other products in this line are as lovely as the bronzer duo, Jing Ai is a true find! Visit: www.JingAiSkin.com
Another note-able footcare company, Gehwol, was at the BeautyPress event, more traditional than Footlogix, and with the pedigree of a long , European tradition from Germany. There is a really wide variety of products. The department store chain Nordstrom, is selling something I think will be great for the holidays, the Gehwol Home Care Mini Pedicure Set (Nordstrom Exclusive) ($45 Value) for $31.00.
It’s a great way to get acquainted with the line. The skin-friendly emollients buff away dry skin and an ointment for severely cracked and rough skin completes the ultimate pedicure treatment. You get a sanitized and waterproof file for calloused skin (made in Switzerland), Gehwol’s Fusskraft® Blue (0.7 oz.) ; Med Salve for Cracked Skin (2.6 oz.); Sample-size Fusskraft® Herbal Bath (0.5 oz.) *this smells amazing! And a Sample-size Med Callus Cream (0.1 oz.).
The salve and some of the other footcare ingredients are best used at night, and I’d suggest wearing socks after you treat those tired feet, because the products are super-emollient. However, one mew product (not in the Nordstrom set) that is particularly lovely, is the Soft Feet Crème made with Milk & Honey. Honey, milk extract and hyaluron make up the GehwoL Fusskraft Soft Feet Cream. The rich cream in a flip top tube contains avocado oil, and other lipids plus hyaluron, in combination with urea, to deeply moisturize even the most cracked, tired, dry feet.
The thing about these products that impressed me so much was the serious skincare they offer, along with beautiful, aromatherapy, herbal scents. While not every product will appeal to every person, there are so many you’re sure to find a few you can’t live without. Stiletto season never ends. Gehwol will be there to help! Gehwol is sold at a variety of stores including Nordstrom, and a number of online outlets. Visit: http://www.gehwol-usa.com/
Two additional product lines that impressed me at the Beautypress Spotlight day event were the luxurious, beautifully packaged Delaney Skincare line. This slightly fruity-scented, anti-aging skincare was born of the fruit of the vine (grapes, that is).
We’ll be reviewing this line shortly, but you can learn more now at: www.delaneywellness.com . I also like the Rice Force skincare line featuring Rice Power Extract formulated through bioscience. Another impressive and upscale line, SK-II also uses the power of sake rice extract to help skin stay softer and more youthful for longer. The craftsmen who make sake seemed to have beautiful hands no matter how old they were, and the reason was that they always had their hands in the malted sake rice. Pretty nifty: http://en.riceforce.com/index.html
There were some other interesting lines including Omniman (not released at the time I wrote this), Herbacin, Fiafini, and Evologie.
