Product review- Eye Tuck from Skin Doctors

The first time when I heard about Eye Tuck it was in March, 2012 on a forum for men. Andrew Petrou (Skin Doctors) highly recommended this eye cream there to everyone who has wrinkles or fine lines, so I decided to dig a bit deeper in this product.

It's a very expensive eye cream, so you may think it should work. Well, not quite. As I mentioned in my other post, price generally has nothing to do whatsoever with effectiveness.

But back to the subject. I was so excited about this eye cream, because puffy eyes and dark circles are a common problem among men and women.

As a professional esthetician I always need to be up-to-date about these things and new treatments.

Eye care specialist Andrew Petrou looks like someone who knows a lot about skin care.

This is why I don't understand why he finds this product effective? I started to have a tickling feeling that it's again just about money and there is nothing behind the big words.

Product review- Dove go fresh Revive Body Wash

Dove campaign for real beauty is a very nice mission. In their commercial they always show real women and not models that gives us a positive feeling. 

Besides, Dove wants us to accept ourselves as we are and it's inspiring. They try to build our self-esteem that makes them different from other big companies.

But I don't find their products as good as their mission and unfortunately they are not different than other brands which use harmful synthetic ingredients...

Ingredients:

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES), Sodium Lauryl Isethionate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Lauric Acid, Stearic Acid, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Parfum /Fragrance, Sodium Isethionate, Lauryl Alcohol, Tallow Acid, Sodium Chloride (table salt), Palmitic Acid, Guar Hydroxypropyltimonium Chloride, DMDM Hydantoin, Methylisothiazolinone, Propylene Glycol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), CI 17200 (Red 33), Titanium dioxide (CI 77891)

Product review- Burt's Bees Rejuvenating lip balm with acai berry

I have to tell you guys that I am not a big fan of Burt's Bee, because their certain products are not 100% natural and they use harmful ingredients. That's the reason why I don't really buy their products. One day I will make a product review about their Conditioner, so you will see what I am talking about.

When I used a lip balm back then, my lips always felt dry after, so I had to re-apply over and over again. (Nivea, Lypsyl, Lip medex, Labello, Balea, etc.) I was wondering why. Then I realized: those lip balms contain petrolatum, paraffin and mineral oil which actually create a lip balm addiction without moisturizing. These ingredients dry out your lips, creating more need for their product. The result: dry lips and lip balm addiction.

Menthol, camphor, phenol or alcohols ingredients are used "to make the consumer think something is happening." says Paula Begoun, author of The Beauty Bible (Beginning Press, 2002). These lip balm ingredients aren't helping your lips, they are drying them and worsening the chance of lips cracking, peeling or bleeding.

Eczema- Causes and treatments

As an esthetician I face with this problem a lot. Almost every second person suffers from eczema, including me too. My eczema started when I was a kid. The doctors said to my mom I will outgrow it by early adulthood. Well if my mom had known what I know now, I have not suffered from eczema in my entire childhood. Doctors still do not treat the the actual cause of the eczema, just the symptoms, because they don't focus of the person's lifestyle and diet.

What is eczema?

It's not a disease, but a warning symptom of the skin, which is trying to warn us that something is wrong inside. The eczema is the most common reaction when we suffer severe nutritional deficiency, or when too many toxins accumulated in the body. It could appear if you have psychological problems, because psychological reasons - physical symptoms go hand in hand. Skin problems symbolize the relationship with the outside world.

In general, it starts to "flourish" for extremities, such as cold, heat, chemicals and cosmetics. It's simpler to reconnoiter the reason of the contact eczema, because it appears when the skin contacts to the allergen.

My personal favorite Certified Organic brands Part II.

Here is my second part of my personal favorite certified organic brands in skin care. As I was doing the first part I just realized how many "so-called" organic and natural companies are out there. My list was extremely long in the beginning, but after I read every single ingredient list of every single real and not real organic companies, only this much left. But quantity over quality, right? There are also so many good companies that I can't post, because they don't ship worldwide, or although their ingredients are natural, their process (how they make their products) isn't clear in front of me (eg. they use direct heat and kill the benefits of the natural ingredients). I hope you will like the second part too!

Ava Anderson

About the company: "Ava Sprague Anderson Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Director of Product Development discovered at the age of 14, the issue of chemicals in personal care products and their hazardous health effects. After months of research, Ava realized that she needed to create her own products. Through a family friend, she located a manufacturer with research facilities that could develop and produce products to her standards. It was a great challenge to develop these revolutionary formulas, but with her vision and persistence she succeeded. Ava’s personal care company. was launched in December 2009.

My personal favorite Certified Organic brands Part I.

Today I just wanted to collect my personal favorite certified organic brands in skin care. It's just a collection and a quick review. The reason why I chose the following brands is because of their mentality, their goal and mission, their natural, raw and organic ingredient list, their certifications and last, but not least because they have effective products. I am sure this list will grow by time. I also hope that this little guide will help you to chose that brand(s) that fit(s) you the most, if you just decided to use natural products and/or to get to know some other brands that maybe you've never heard before.

Lily organics

About Lily organics (from the website): "Lily is a USDA certified organic grower and a USDA certified organic manufacturer of natural and USDA certified organic skin care products. Lily was the pioneer in organic skin care in Colorado, since 1986. Lily Organics was the first and original Colorado organic skin care company.

Product review - Clarins eye contour gel

After my previous post, Anti aging creams: are they effective or not it's time to write about an eye contour gel.

What should we know about Clarins?

I found these claims on their official site:

• They were the first french company in 1987 to ban animal testing and has also banned the use of cellular extracts of animal origin since 1991
• Clarins set a global objective to reduce greenhouse gases by 20% by the year 2012.
• The safe use of every Clarins product is at the center of the Laboratory’s concerns.
• Clarins prefers to use raw plant ingredients, natural ingredients from organic farming practices, and plants grown locally or from a Fair Trade program
• Overall weight and volume is reduced, recyclable material is reused, new printing techniques are always being investigated
• Today, if given a choice between a synthetic ingredient and its plant-derived equivalent, we always choose the plant
• etc

It sounds so amazing, doesn't it? A company who puts their consumer's interest into the first place, uses plant-derived equivalent, raw plant ingredient and natural ingredients from organic farming practices is rare treasure lately.