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 : REN Omega 3 Optimum Skin Serum Oil

For the past six weeks or so I've been trialling REN's Omega 3 Optimum Skin Serum Oil and ClearCalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser. Today's review is about the Omega 3 serum and tomorrows will be about the clay cleanser.

A few words about the brand:

I rarely mention (or care) about a brand's "ethos" but I'm making an exception for REN because it's pretty much free of BS that you should hear it. REN is about "clean" skincare (no synthetic fragrances, mineral oil, silicones and parabens) but they don't spin the usual "natural skincare is better than yours" line. Their view is that: "It's very difficult to be entirely precise when it comes to words like “natural” and "chemical". Every ingredient in every cosmetic product is a chemical in the sense that it consists of molecules made up of atoms of chemical elements. In addition, many natural (ie not synthetically derived) compounds are poisons (eg arsenic) and so to use the term "natural" is also meaningless without further explanation." WELL SAID REN. I'll  probably end up plagiarising this at some stage. (Ignore the "chemical-free skincare" description on M&S' website)

Also:

-Their products are not tested on animals.

-Full list of ingredients on website!! *Throws confetti*Skips towards the rainbow*

Right then, about the product. I'm pleased to report that this doesn't stink of fish oil. (Though oddly enough, the Omega 3/fish connotation is what piqued my interest) It has a deliciously sweet fruity smell which makes it a joy to apply. The consistency is quite runny, so you have to be careful that it doesn't trickle off your fingers. It comes in a plastic pump bottle and it's easy to control the amount that's dispensed, ensuring no product wastage. I thought it might not absorb well because of the slippery texture, but it absorbs perfectly. I sometimes layer it with other oils and there's no greasiness, thanks to its light consistency.

{ The Ingredients - "Bio Actives" in bold }

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil, Camelina Sativa Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Phaeodactylum Tricornotum Extract, Bisabolol, Parfum (Fragrance), Linalool, Limonene, Tocopherol.

Translation?

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride: an emollient

Wheat Germ Oil: "nourishes and provides essential vitamins to protect the skin from oxidative damage"

Camelina Sativa Oil: AKA "gold of pleasure" oil (*snicker*) is rich in Omega 3. "Promotes cell renewal and optimum moisture levels to restore firmness and elasticity"

Rosa Canina Fruit Oil (Rosehip Oil): "rich in Vitamin A. Stimulates the natural metabolism of skin cells". That doesn't mean an awful thing beginning with C, it means healing and repairing the skin (scarring, sunburn) and reducing fine lines. It also rehydrates the skin.

Phaeodactylum Tricornotum Extract: seaweed

Bisabolol: anti-inflammatory (found in Chamomile)

Linalool, Limonene: fragrance ingredients

Tocopherol: anti-oxidant

"Clean" skincare is all well and good, but does it work?

It shure does. My skin is usually "normal", but come January my make-up didn't sit well and the only explanation I could think of was that my skin was dry. With less than a week of use, my skin was back to normal and I could use face powders without looking all gross and flaky.

It's good to use as a main oil to hydrate the skin but also light enough to use as a "booster" layered with other oils to give your skin a bit more love when it's feeling sad and dry. I prefer to use different oils to beef up my skincare routine, rather than changing moisturisers, because I find oils to be much more effective in treating the skin. (Plus, it means that the old moisturiser won't be left to languish at the back of the skincare drawer.)

It can be expensive to have a bunch of face oils on rotation, but this is very reasonably priced at £23 for a 30ml bottle.* It works out as £76.67/100ml, which sounds quite expensive but a 30ml bottle lasts AGES. £23 is very reasonable, especially compared to other oils aimed for dry skin, e.g.:

-Aromatherapy Associates Intensive Skin Treatment Oil - £44/15ml

-Decleor Neroli Serum, £44/15ml

-Sunday Riley Isis Face Oil, £98/30ml

Trilogy's Rosehip Oil Antioxidant+ Oil (£26.50/30ml) is another great product, but I don't find it to be as hydrating.

Would I recommend it? 

It's a good serum to use, whether you have dry skin or not. (Keeping your skin hydrated is vital for keeping fine lines and wrinkles at bay - so don't wait for the signs of dryness before getting yourself an oil!) However, I'm not sure this worked for me - tomorrow's post will explain.

Celine

*You'll receive 10% off your first order at renskincare.com :)