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The Body Shop Nutriganics Drops of Youth

Feb 18, 2012 | Post by: Thom Watson No Comments

Over the last year The Body Shop seems to have come on leaps and bounds and whoever is now in charge of their marketing and R&D has finally dragged this ageing hippy screaming into the 21st century whilst still upholding those amazing core values that we all know and love. It definitely has evolved for the good since I was one of their skin coaches.

The new invention is part of of Nutriganics, a range of anti-ageing skin care for late twenties to late thirties. The ingredients are predominantly natural, around 98%, as well as being eco-certified meaning they contain organically sourced ingredients as well as being sustainable produced.

This serum has been designed to firm and smooth the skin, keeping it healthy and fresh. There’s too many natural actives to name all of them but the main active is criste-marine plant stem cells, which has the ability to repair damaged tissue as well as comfort skin concerns, it helps to regulate skin cell turnover as well as assist in the desquamation of skin cells (medical term for exfoliate, but its more than that, this ingredient doesn’t remove them, it loosens the bonds holding dead skin cells to the surface skin).

I always felt The Body Shop’s skincare felt a little sticky on the face and had a habit of being incredibly rich, but not with this bad boy. It’s got the texture of Aloe Vera gel, and massages well into the skin, leave it for a few seconds for it to disappear before layering your moisturiser and other products over the top.

This product will actively help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles but more importantly recondition the skin, leaving it looking more radiant and feeling much smoother.

The Body Shop Nutriganics Drops of Youth £15/30ml at The Body Shop Online

Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil

Feb 11, 2012 | Post by: Thom Watson No Comments

Not really a new product, but it’s just been repackaged and rebranded and a fine addition to any men’s skin care regeim. ClarinsLotus Face Treatment oil is designed to balance the oil on the skin and improve the radiance of your complextion. It contains Lotus extract as the title gives away which has fantastic cleansing and purifying properties, and Lotus oil is still sometimes used to treat fungal infections! Rosemary and geranium are used to balance the skins oil in the long term.

It’s only good for night use as it is an oil and does leave a small amount of residue. It can be used on its own and massaged in, which is my preferred method, or it can just be mixed into your night cream when in your hand. I’d recommend about 3/4 drops at a time and a bottle should last you an eternity. Make sure you keep it out of direct sunlight as it contains essential oils that can spoil.

Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil £29/30ml at Clarins Online

REN Bio Retinoid Anti-Ageing Concentrate

Jan 28, 2012 | Post by: Thom Watson No Comments

This is the brand new anti-ageing serum from REN Bio Retinoid Anti-Ageing Concentrate

This serum is designed to smooth wrinkles as well as brighten the skin and does exactly this but without artificial retinols as REN derives their high tech formulas from nature. Often when you think of plant extracts, it can conjure up ideas of quite low grade skincare products that do pretty much bugger all, but this really isn’t the case with REN.

Even though I very recently celebrated my 21st Birthday, I’ve not started with lines and wrinkles just yet, but I do feel that my skin can be very dehydrated and uneven in skin tone from time to time. After using this serum for 2 nights, that’s right, two nights! I’ve seen dramatic effects. My skin feels softer and looks visibly smoother. It has actually reduced a couple of little spots I had going on, presumably due to the Vitamin A and Pro Vitamin A.

So the ingredients, Vitamin A is used commonly in treating wrinkles as well as acne and psoriasis, it unclogs pores and promotes the production of elastin and collagen, whilst increasing skin cell turnover. It’s quite magical. Pro Vitamin A also features in this product; this is a set of base ingredients that gets the skin to create it’s own Vitamin A, ooooh! Vitamin E protects against environmental damage (smoke, fumes, general air crap). Finally the product is artificial fragrance free which makes me smile, but it does have a stunning natural fragrance, which to me smells like berries (possibly blackcurrants) and tea!

I have to say that this product is beautiful. Just put 5 drops into the palm of your hand, warm, and then pat into the skin, it takes only a few seconds to soak in. I found it relaxing to use a little more and massage in, but this takes a little longer and isn’t really necessary, but I enjoy it.

REN Bio Retinoid Anti-Ageing Concentrate £42/30ml at REN Online

Lab Series MAX LS Overnight Renewal Serum

Jan 26, 2012 | Post by: Thom Watson No Comments

Well, well, well. This is something different and a welcome addition to the Men’s skin care market.

Tired, dehydrated skin and uneven skin tone, the Lab Series MAX LS Overnight Renewal Serum is something that can really start to kick in as the ageing process starts to take hold, and even though no extreme results can be achieved without the use of a surgeons knife, there is something you can do to make skin look refreshed and balanced, and this is it.

An oil-free serum with a light fragrance that hydrates on contact and by the next morning, skin is left brighter. One of the magic ingredients is our old friend salicylic acid a powerful and useful chemical exfoliant, as well as cell-boosting technology that increases skin cell turnover revealing brighter and in time, smoother skin.

The hydration is pretty immediate, but don’t expect to see the full effectiveness before 28 days use (one full skin cell cycle).

Lab Series MAX LS Overnight Renewal Serum £41/30ml at Lab Series Online

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector

Jan 12, 2012 | Post by: Thom Watson 3 Comments

Well, it’s been over a year since it’s launch and my word, Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector has been a massive success! Now one of Clinique’s best selling products, and one of the only ones in the top ten to have been released less than 18 months ago, even beating their amazing Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector.

So, this serum promises 54% reduction in lines and wrinkles over a 12 week usage, with application twice daily. After 4 weeks use, skin looks brighter and more radiant, after 8 weeks, obvious differences should start to be seen around the eye and mouth areas and by week 12, this is when you should see those promised results. The Repairwear serum is oil free, ageless, genderless and for all skin types, meaning every bugger under the sun can use it! If you’re not at the wrinkly stage yet, then it will work as a fantastic preventative measure, as ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ (Ellen Marmur, MD).

OK, OK, so that’s enough of the spiel, and as we all know, many products promise the earth and frankly deliver cock all. Working very closely to with this product and having clients that swear by it, I have really seen the effects. This product takes old bags and gits and turns them into beauty kings and queens! Obviously effects vary from user to user, and someone with deep wrinkles isn’t going to achieve the same effect of someone who only has light wrinkles, as it’s that 54% reduction whatever the severity.

UV Damage, well this is sun damage, 80% of our life’s sun exposure is incidental, going to the bins n’ that. Now, this is where I get all stern. Bare with me a second as I clamber up on my high horse… There we go…. If you use this serum, see the effects, but use no daily sun protection, use sun beds like there’s no tomorrow, smoke a small plantations worth of tobacco each day, then you are going to see a reduction in lasting effects. Make sure, as you should well be doing anyway, always wear at least an SPF 15, and for any women reading, foundation does not count. The amount of women who come to me and say their foundation is gone by the end of the day, but when asked if they wear sun protection, they say it’s in their foundation, it makes me think they’re a little backwards! But I digress. For my men, make sure you’re always using a moisturiser with an SPF, or a separate dedicated SPF suitable for daily use, as holiday suncream is a little much for every day.

If you have or are worried about lines and wrinkles, not that they’re something to feel bad about I must add, but this then is the product for you. It’s one of the only products on the market with clinical claims, which means unlike some companies who sit behind a desk and make up random crap (the professional in me must refrain from slagging off other brands, but you know exactly what I mean!), this product has undergone tests in a laboratory by people in white coats with doctorates and then tested on 600, 12 times to gain actual evidence of its effectiveness. So, Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector…Boom!

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector £38/30ml Clinique Online