Review : Decleor Aromessence Mandarine Smoothing Night Balm

As promised many moons ago, here are the ingredients in Decleor's Aromessence Mandarine Smoothing Night Balm (£33.50/15ml). (No fancy botanical names in Latin. Sorry) 

Ingredients

Sunflower Seed Oil - contains Vitamin E. Helps repair the skin and reduce inflammation 

Cera Alba (Beeswax) - thickening agent. Emollient properties

Wheat Germ Oil - emollient

Evening Primrose Oil - anti-inflammatory properties

Coconut Oil - high in fatty acids and acts as an emollient

Chenopodium Quinoa Seed Extract - high in amino acids which helps repair skin

Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) - hydrating

Theobroma Grandiflorum Fruit Extract (Cupuacu Butter) - Contains oleic acid (a fatty acid) which is moisturising and plant polyphenols which act as anti-oxidants. [Says Lush]

Carnauba Wax - thickening agent

Limonene - fragrant. Found in citrus oils

Orange Peel Oil - detoxifies and helps improve skin tone

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil - used to stabilise products

Rice Bran Wax - occlusive moisturiser (I think?). Forms a barrier over the skin - like mineral oil hm...

Mandarin Orange Peel Oil - Decleor have apparently proven that the anti-oxidant powers of mandarin essential oil helps maintain skins’ youthfulness (in vitro tests)

Grapefruit Extract - anti-oxidant. Can be irritating in large amounts

Linalool - fragrance ingredient

Bergamot Fruit Oil - citrus oil (photo-toxic)

Michelia Alba Leaf Oil - fragrance ingredient

Tocopherol - Vitamin E 

Gardenia Tahitensis Flower - smells nice, not sure what it does in skincare

Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil - astringent properties

Soybean Oil - helps improve skin tone and is a source of anti-oxidants

Citral - fragrance ingredient

Bitter Orange Flower Oil - may help control oil production

Geraniol, Farnesol, Citronellol - fragrance ingredients

The night balm and the Aromessence Mandarine serum have a number of common ingredients (in orange), like sunflower seed oil and evening primrose oil which are both top five and of course the star ingredient, mandarin essential oil.

It's times like this that I think keeping this log is useful (to me, if not to anyone else lol) because I also noticed that a few of the ingredients are in the cleanser and serum from REN - products which mon visage did not like. Limonene, linalool and tocopherol are at the bottom of the lists so are hardly worth a bother. The balm and Omega 3 serum both contain wheat germ oil and the balm and the clay cleanser both contain sunflower seed oil in the top five ingredients, so I thought one of those could be the cause. I checked my Iris night balm from Decleor and found it has sunflower seed oil and wheat germ oil - yet didn’t give me any problems. In other words: I still have no idea whats wrong with my skin.

Anyhoo as usual I’m going totally off-topic and rambling on about ingredients when a one line review would suffice: I do not like. I tried the new Aroma Lisse products at the beginning of April but stopped after a few days because my skin broke out. At the end of April I thought I’d give this balm another go and in a matter of days, little spotties reappeared…

For that reason I wouldn’t recommend this product. If anything, I’d recommend the Iris night balm (£34.50/15ml) instead. The main ingredients in it are jojoba oil, hazel seed oil, beeswax, sunflower seed oil, shea butter and wheat germ oil so there is some similarity in the formula. (If you wanted the benefits of evening primrose etc. you could buy it as a separate product.) Both ranges are designed to regenerate and hydrate the skin, fight free radical damage and reduce the appearance of wrinkles - but have different target markets. (I wonder if 25-30 year olds were put off using a product recommended for "mature" skin (Jesus Wept I'm not that old/have I aged terribly etc.) and hence the new Mandarine range was born.) I’ve had a better experience with the Iris balm and it’s also free of the potentially irritating citrus extracts.

All Decleor balms are quite waxy, which I don’t mind and find to be quite nice for a little facial massage. My Mom, on the other hand, finds them weird and gross, having used only creams for the last 30 years. It’s definitely worth getting a sample if you’re interested in the Mandarine balm to try out the texture (and in case you have a reaction). The products are pricey but at least Decleor are generous with their samples!

Finally, old customers will be pleased to hear that the packaging of the night balms been re-vamped. The lid on my Iris balm didn’t close properly and was always wonky :/ Very annoying, given how much this little thing cost so in the end I transferred it into another pot. Thankfully, the new jars don’t have this problem :)

Review : Decleor New Aroma Lisse Range

Today's most will probably be the first and last of its kind: a review of something that's NEW! Holy Crust on a Cracker. Decleor released their new Aroma Lisse range on 1st April, aimed at preventing and correcting the first signs of ageing. The line-up is:
~ Aromessence Mandarine Smoothing Serum (£49.50/15ml)
~ Energising Smoothing Cream (SPF 15) (£52/50ml)
~ Aromessence Mandarine Smoothing Night Balm (£33.50/15ml)
~ 2-in-1 Dark Circle & Eye Wrinkle Eraser (£32.00/15ml)

Since I do not have the benefit of sponsors to send me free stuff before launch, I visited a department store to nab some samples to try out ;) I wanted to snap pictures of the packaging and look up the ingredients (since Decleor do not publish ingredients lists online *growl* Even the "key ingredients" tab is blank!!) but ... well. I forgot. At least the sample of the Aromessence serum has the ingredients printed on the back. As for the rest... I'm trusting Decleor and hoping for the best haha.

First Thoughts:
Aromessence Mandarine Smoothing Serum
Absorbs quickly and without any shininess - which was unexpected, because when I applied some against the back of my hand in store there was an obvious sheen. Smells like lemon rind.

Ingredients:
Hazel Seed Oil - moisturising, has astringent properties and helps protect skin against free radical damage
Camellia Kissi Seed Oil - moisturising. Have to mention that this originates from Japan! Banzai!
Sunflower Seed Oil - contains Vitamin E. Helps repair the skin and reduce inflammation
Passiflora Edulis Seed Oil - anti-inflammatory properties
Evening Primrose Oil - anti-inflammatory properties
Mandarin Orange Peel Oil - Mandarin Essential Oil is a key ingredients in the Aroma Lisse range, which Decleor have apparently proven to have "preventive and correcting properties". This oil is made of 80% D-Limonene which "effectively stimulates youth protection within the skin by protecting and detoxifying cells from damage caused by free radicals. In addition it also repairs DNA damaged by UV radiation." Sounds great but general internetting hasn't produced anything to back up this claim! The most I've heard about Limonene is that it's an irritant and photo-toxic. Not sure what to make of this!
Bergamot Fruit Oil - another citrus oil, also known for photo-toxicity
Linalool - fragrance ingredient
Michelia Alba Leaf Oil - can't seem to find much on this, other than it being used primarily in perfumes
Lemon Peel Oil - detoxifies the skin and helps improve skin tone. I'm starting to feel some de ja va...
Tocopherol - AKA Vitamin E
Grapefruit Extract - anti-oxidant. Potentially irritating to skin but I've read that it's OK in small amounts
Soybean Oil - helps improve skin tone and is a source of anti-oxidants.
Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil  - astringent properties. Like other citrus oils it can cause skin irritation.
Citral & Citronellol - fragrance ingredients

Night Balm
I found this to be much less heavy and oily-feeling than other Decleor balms (e.g. Iris and Ylang Ylang) but there is still some shine. You're going to bed so who cares? It leaves your skin soft and smooth like a baby's cheeks. Really. I've never found my own face to be so cute. Also has the less than endearing smell of lemon rind.
Update: full ingredients list and review here

Eye Cream
Even without an ingredients list to look at I'm pretty sure this contains yellow pigments to give it dark circle erasing properties. Try to dispel the image of yellow eye bags that that brings to mind - it won't make you look jaundiced. I was left with a yellowy residue on my ring finger after applying but I couldn't see any difference to the eye area.
Update: complete ingredients list & review here

Energising Smoothing Cream
The cream has a smooth, thick texture (thicker than Hydra Floral) but doesn't feel at all heavy on the skin. My make-up and other products went on fine afterwards, no piling or other annoyances. Unlike the Hydra Floral cream which is packaged in a jar, this product (full-size) comes in a twist pump bottle which has the benefit of being more hygienic and less fiddly without spatulas and all that. It's also better for preserving the ingredients. The downside is that product tends to get stuck in the bottom and wasted, as happened to me with the Aroma Purete Fluide :(
This product also differs from Decleor's other offerings in being the only moisturiser with sun protection (excluding the Sun Expert range, smartypants). I wish it wasn't though. I feel like it reduces the size of useful moisturiser with useless suncream because cosmetics/skincare with added SPF don't provide adequate sun protection. I use a separate suncream so it doesn't make sense to buy a moisturiser with SPF.
My other peeve with products+SPF is that they tend to use chemical suncream - which I avoid. I don't know whether this is chemical or mineral, but I'll update in due course.
Final comment: smells like lemon rind. Just take it as given that EVERYTHING SMELLS LIKE LEMON PEEL.
Update: complete ingredients list & review here

Will I be buying the full sizes?
The day cream is lovely - it's so hydrating and "smoothing" just as it claims. As much as I like it, the SPF has put me off. :( As for the eye cream, I'm not too keen on putting lemon juice around my eyes. It stings a little if you get it in the tear ducts! The Aromessence serum and night balm are my favourites - and these are the products which I think Decleor do best. I'm quite impressed with the amount of anti-oxidants in the serum, but I'm not entirely sold on the mandarin and citrus oils. Which is only like the whole point of Aromessence "Mandarine". I have at least five serums in my collection to use up before I even consider buying another! The night balm is another thing that I "want" but don't "need". (Have multiple night creams and balms) Yah I have way too much stuff in general. Maybe when I've managed to get a list of ingredients and when my other stuff runs out I'll make a little trip to Decleor...

Prices:
First of all, Liberty has 10% off this week *runs to Regent Street like maniac* Right. The Serum works out to be around £326/100ml and the Baume around £223/100ml WHICH IS FLIPPING INSANE. Have you seen what a 15ml bottle looks like? It's about the size of a Haribo sour dummy. Complete joke. Once you've mustered up the courage to buy a serum/balm, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. Decleor = Fantastic.