La Mer The Eye Concentrate

I got two big things for my birthday this year. Number one: a prada wallet. I've have never owned any designer leather goods, and I've always wanted one. Number two: La Mer The Eye Concentrate. I'm in my mid-twenties now (!!!) and I need eye cream, damnitttt. I've been courting the idea of buying La Mer for a quite some time, but I couldn't justify the price. Even for a birthday, I went for the least expensive offering.

So after several months of use, the verdict: this stuff is worth the price tag. I've definitely seen an improvement in the eye area, a reduction of puffiness, decrease in dark circles, and just an overall moisturized feeling. I don't have fine lines (yet), but the whole idea is to be preventative. I feel a though my eye area is safe in the hands of The Eye Concentrate.

Every morning after the aforementioned witch hazel ritual, I use the little silver applicator to apply the concentrate to my eye orbital. I didn't know the proper way to apply eye cream until the La Mer sales associate showed me, but apparently you're supposed to only put the cream on the boney bits, not slathered all over the lid, as I was apt to do before. You learn something new everyday.

Essentials of Skincare: WITCH HAZEL

An under statment: I am bit skincare obsessed. I usually use pretty top of the line stuff on my face, but nothing will ever come between me and my witch hazel. If anything could ever be a holy grail, witch hazel is one for me. And it's so cheap! And easily attainable! At any drugstore! Holy damn! I go through a pint in about six months. Every morning after I clarisonic (don't you like how I made that into a verb there?), I take one of those round cotton pad jobs and invert the bottle several times over it. Then I tone my face and neck. The Duane Reade generic has 86% witch hazel, and the rest is isopropanol. I'm assuming this is the composition of all witch hazels.

Witch Hazel bush in the Spring

Witch hazel is a "decorative" plant that grows wild in the americas. Apparently the native indians used it extensively in their medicinal practices. The stems were distilled and used for all manner of ailments.

Witch Hazel bush in the Winter

Anecdotally, witch hazel evens out skin tone, and brightens the complexion. Since it's an astringent, it's very good for the acne prone. More importantly for the long term, it's an anti-oxidant, which means it prevents the oxidation of molecules. Oxidation is a type of chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a reducing agent to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation and reduction reactions are crucial for life, but too much and in the wrong place can result in damaging oxidative stress. For example, the product of such reactions can be free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that can cause quite a bit of damage to cells, and any and all cellular damage ultimately translates into aging. There are many popular anti-oxidants in skincare, the most common of which are vitamins C and E. So toning with an anti-oxidant like witch hazel likely has a lot of long term benefits.

Witch Hazel is also supposed to be good for cuts and sunburns, how multitasking and useful of it! So go forth, buy witch hazel, because you never know when it might come in super handy!

Chanel Hydromax Active Teinte in Sunlit, and some thoughts on SPF

This past summer I finally invested in the Chanel Hydromax Active Teinte tinted moisturizer in sunlit. And what a worthwhile investment it was. Unlike lot's of other tinted moisturizers, Chanel's is very low coverage. I'm sure that's a deal breaker for most, but since I don't wear foundation and would rather my natural complexion come through, it's perfect. I find that the Hydromax Active Teinte gives me a very slight tanned look, and evens out my skintone even further. It has a very nice finish that sort of glistens in natural sort of way, and is a good base for cream blushes.

I also like it because it has an SPF of 15. Most people these days feel that SPF 15 is not enough, but that's mostly due to SPF being such a heavily used marketing tool. It's more the ingredients that protect, rather than the level of SPF. The active ingredients in Hydromax Active Teinte are octinoxate

which is liquid sunscreen, and an excellent protectant against UVB, and oxybenzone

which is also a liquid suncreen, and a UVA and UVB protectant. To put things in perspective, this is a graph showing the % UV protection as a function of SPF:

There is also evidence to suggest that any sunscreen above SPF 30 is not exactly healthy to be slathering all over the body. Look to the review by U Osterwalder and B Herzog (2009) for a more in depth look (1). And okay, fine, slather your face with SPF 1000, because none of us want to get wrinkles. But on the body, you want to get a few photons through, because after all, it's the stuff of life!

(1) U. Osterwalder B. Herzog. Sun protection factors: world wide confusion British Journal of Dermatology Nov 2009; 161:13-24

*Sorry, I couldn't find a full text article, so this is just a link to the abstract.

Paul & Joe Moisturizing Facial Mask

This past summer I attended a makeover event at the Paul and Joe counter at Bergdorf's (jeez, you must be asking yourself if I go anywhere else). I met an amazing makeup artist who hailed from Canada, and mostly worked in Japan. It's killing me that I can't remember his name, but I guess that's life. Anyway, the make over was the very best I've ever had, and the same goes for my best friend who accompanied me and also received one. I bought most of what was used, including the Paul and Joe Moisturizing Facial Mask. This was used as a base for the makeup. It's so creamy and soothing, I use it now several times a week after I wash my face. The consistency is sort of a cross between a gel and a cream.

It's definitely some of the most moisturizing stuff I've ever slathered, and it easily compares to Chanel Hydromax and Clinique Moisture Surge. I would say it's better than Dior Hydraction. And so affordable too! $38 dollars gets you 2.8 oz. Not bad at all.

This probably isn't news to anyone, but Paul and Joe can be found online at beautyhabit.com.