Oooh, the sun! Sunshine is just starting to come out for Spring and with it, so many cherry blossoms and magnolia blooms. From natural beauty…to the world of beauty products, and there are also lots of lovely new things out right now in skincare and beauty. In this latest column of ON MY DESK, I bring you an update on a few skincare new releases for October 2015, including Dermalogica Overnight Retinol Repair, Olive 100% Natural Skincare Oil, fLash Serum, Invisibobble hair ties, Kevin Murphy Killer Curls, Linden Leaves Moisture Replenishing Masque; Manuka Doctor’s Anti-Cellulite Bronzing Gel, Purifying Facial Peel and ApiNourish Polishing Facial Exfoliator; Trilogy Cleansing Balm, and Oasis Beauty BB Cream.
Dermalogica Overnight Retinol Repair
This is such a cool idea – and put the contrl back in the hands of the user in terms of regulating the proportion of actives you apply in your skincare. As many users find Retinol (Vitamin A) – the incredible anti-ageing ingredient in many moisturisers – to be quite irritating, Dermalogica have hit upon the idea of selling each Retinol Repair Cream with a corresponding Buffer Cream. The Buffer Cream is a non-active cream that you mix with the Retinol Cream in varying amounts as your skin becomes accustomed to the Retinol. It is much higher concentration that most over-the-counter products which are 0.1% Retinol, at 0.5%! Another important thing to note – you should use a physical SPF to protect from the sun and also avoid active products while your skin is getting used to it (known as the conditioning phase, or first two weeks, while you build up your retinoid receptors.) You begin with a mix of one part Overnight Retinol Repair to three parts Buffer Cream, and gradually inverse the ratios as skin acclimatises to it. starting with a mix of one part Overnight Retinol Repair to three parts Buffer Cream, and start to lesson the amount of Vitamin A as skin becomes used to it. Available from 14th September 2015 for $174 from Dermalogica counters and www.dermalogica.co.nz
Olive 100% Natural Skincare Oil
Olive skincare from Simunovich Olive Estates in Auckland grow their own product and press it onsite, for a zero miles production. I actually visited their olive factory to see it first-hand which was fascinating! I was given the chance to walk amongst the olive trees and handpick olives and go in the factory and see the machinery at work – and the best bit – the tasting. Even the water comes from a spring on the property; talk about local ingredients. This latest product is a pure botanical oil using olive leaf and a blend of healing and rejuvenating plants extracts including rosemary, St Johns’ wort, grapeseed oil, rosehip oil, and Vitamin E. It is a natural mineral oil-free alternative for those who wish to avoid petro-chemicals. It is $29.95 at www.simuolive.co.nz
fLash Serum
I headed into an A-MA-ZING home the other day, to the beauty media event for fLash Serum and Sugar Baby (held upstairs; following from the event for La Prairie foundation and caviar cream light downstairs). I got to hear from BDM Grange’s beautiful Tineke – who also fronted the fLash serum on TV shopping network – about the phenomenal success thay have had distributing fLash in New Zealand. In only two years, it has gone from no market awareness to being the second biggest self-selected pharmacy beauty product after Bio Oil. That’s a H U G E achievement in anyone’s books. They though, “How can we get EVEN MORE people to try this?” They lowered the price. So bat those lashes and get on down to your local pharmacy where you can now pick up a flash eyelash serum for $10 less, at $59 instead of (the already cheap) $69.
Invisibobble
The kinks are really great if you’re an English rock band but girl, you really got me going with this no-more-kinks hair tie. Invisibobble is a little circle of that gives a traceless hair-tie with no kinks after wearing a ponytail and avoids the headaches you get when tension is put on your hair. It distributes the pressure so your hair is held strongly not too tight or too loose and no tell-tale marks are left when you pull it out. I am wearing the black one now and it goes around my ponytail two times and stays put well. Invisibobble looks like a telephone cord, and comes in a box of 3 in a variety of colours. RRP $15 box of 3 available now at salons nationwide.
Kevin Murphy Killer Curls
This anti-frizz hair product really works – I have it in my frizzy air-dried hair now and it immediately sleeked it down to a nice manageable curl. I applied it to dry hair and it still worked well, but you should apply to damp hair and scrunch it in, then dry it. I love the mint green pump bottle and like all kevin.murphy products, it uses ecologically-sound practices in its manufacture, is paraben-free, sulphate-free, and cruelty-free. Available for $70.
Linden Leaves Moisture Replenishing Masque
Have you been into the Linden Leaves flagship store on Parnell Road, a bit down from Parnell Cathedral? It’s so pretty and smells divine and has the range of Linden Leaves, the Christchurch-based natural skincare brand that was originally made famous with the rose inside the body oil. Now, they are producers of a wide range of skin and beauty products, and have launched this Moisture Replenishing Masque for mature and dry skin types, inside their signature minimalist tube and pretty floral packaging. I like that you can leave it on overnight as it’s not the peel-off-like-PVA-glue kinda mask; it’s a gentle and hydrating masque containing white tea, chamomile, and fennel oil to rejuvenate. Perfect for a little R&R after the kids have gone to bed! Available from www.lindenleaves.com retailing for $34.99.
Manuka Doctor Anti-Cellulite Bronzing Gel
Next up, I have three Manuka Doctor products to show you, all containing bee venom and manuka honey.
Okay firstly this is such a genius combo of benefits. Anti-cellulite? Yes please? Brown thighs? Ah-ha, also check. Manuka Doctor Anti-Cellulite Bronzing Gel ticks all the boxes for a summertime go-to product for those who self-tan at home. $49.95 for a large 200mls at www.manukadr.co.nz
Manuka Doctor Purifying Facial Peel
Second up, this skin-clearing mask is formulated for skin imperfections, with purified bee venom, honey, and botanicals. It is currently on special on their website www.manukadr.co.nz down from $44.95 to $22.95.
Manuka Doctor ApiNourish Polishing Facial Exfoliator
Thirdly, this Manuka Doctor product from their ApiNourish range brings hydration for youthful-looking skin. Combining its signature manuka honey and bee venom with gentle shea butter and sweet almond oil, it nourishes skin whilst gently exfoliating. It is $39.95 for 100mls.
Trilogy Cleansing Balm
I’ve long been a fan of cleansing balms and have gone through tubs of Antipodes butter cleansing balm. Now, Trilogy has come to the balm party (that’s a party I want invites to!) with this Make-Up Be Gone balm formulated around its signature anti-ageing botanical of rosehip, on a base of olive, coconut and sunflower seed oil and beeswax and mango seed butter. It feels divinely rich and nourishing and it feels like it puts BACK rather than strips AWAY from your skin. The balm comes with its own organic cotton cleansing cloth and retails for $38.90 from pharmacies, department stores, and health stores and www.trilogyproducts.com
Oasis Beauty BB Cream
Hurrah – this is now out in a really nice colour which suits me down to the ground. I’m wearing it right now and even though Monroe is called matte it still has a smooth and soft appearance and doesn’t feel drying at all. When it launched a couple of years ago it was quite a ‘pinky’ undertone and I am a yellow undertone so this new one is ideal. Oasis Beauty based in Oxford, New Zealand, were the first in New Zealand to make a BB cream, and one of the first worldwide to make a natural, silicone-free BB cream. Oasis natural BB creams are also free of fragrance, talc, parabens, and are cruelty-free. The shades are Bardot – for light skintones in a mid coverage with dewy finish, Monroe (pictured) in light-medium with full coverage and a matte finish, and Hepburn, for medium skin tones in full coverage with matte finish. It’d be good to see if they bring out a dark skintones one, too. They contain Vitamins B5, C and E, pomegranate, red grape skin extract, hyaluronic acid, jojoba, rosehip, calendula, shea butter, and sweet almond, and are $49.90 at health stores throughout NZ. See their website www.oasisbeauty.co.nz for stockist information.
Megan Robinson
1st October 2015
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