Review: Guerlain Orchidée Impériale Eye & Lip Treatment

Let me preempt this review by letting you know that I did NOT win the lottery. No, I did not purchase this $198 eye cream. I was lucky enough to receive 2 generous mini tube samples of the eye cream from a lovely employee at one of my favorite Shoppes Drug Marts. By all calculations, the samples were worth an astounding $50+ (holy cow!).

According to the good folks over at Guerlain, the Orchid has amazing regenerative and long-lasting capabilities, so they decided to spend a good decade researching this phenomenon. They narrowed 30,000 species of Orchids down to THREE rare species of Orchid that most exemplified this longevity best. 

Guerlain has dedicated an astounding amount of time and money into this venture, even building a dedicated "farm" in China where they grow these very rare Orchids. Additionally, they have a re-habitation program where they re-introduce some of these rare Orchids back into the wild where they are a rare and endangered species. 

So what does this all mean for your skin? Because of the Orchid's long life span, this cream is meant to bring youth back to your skin. While I don't understand the science of it all (the use of Orchid extract is pretty much exclusive to Guerlain), I do know this: this eye cream is amazing!!!

I have been using this cream for about 3 weeks now, every morning and night. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly light it was. It is thick in appearance and texture, but your skin will drink it up entirely in MINUTES! I reapplied a thin second coat almost every time, as I am a fan of thick and almost-greasy eye creams! :) 

My eye area looks taut and bright. My fine lines are non-existent! And best of all, my concealer does not crease, pile, rub off, or move in any way-shape-or-form! I didn't even have to use my beloved Smashbox Targeted Fine Line & Pore primer!


What am I going to do?!? How will I afford to buy this amazing eye cream?!? LOL! I shall find a way...this stuff is amazing! In the meantime I will see if I can find another sample of it to tide me over until I save up enough pennies to afford this baby. ;)

REVIEW: Neostrata Intense Eye Contour All-In-One Serum

I am in love!!!

I used to be scared of Retinol, and products containing Retinol, because nobody ever told me you have to start slowly with it. The first few times I used retinol-based products, I went full-steam ahead and applied it twice a day for 2 or 3 days until my face and eyes were so dry I thought I was going to die. Okay, not die. But you know what I mean....don't you?

The extremely sensitive may never be able to use Retinol, but truthfully, very few of us fall into that category. The extremely sensitive, if feeling adventurous, should probably use a FACIAL retinol product first to determine tolerance before moving onto an EYE AREA retinol product.

To me, that's just common sense... but in case you've misplaced yours, I thought I'd just let ya know. No offense. We're still buds, right?

Seeing that I now knew to start slowly, when I first got my little bottle of NeoStrata Intense Eye Contour All-in-One Serum, I started using it every other night for about 2 weeks. Then for the next week or 10 days I used it day and night, but still only every other day. Now I'm up to twice a day, every day. I still experience a little bit of dryness, but that's probably because I just started using it twice a day every day. At night, I apply straight Shea Butter overtop of the serum, and during the day I apply my Juice Beauty organic eye cream overtop, and sometimes Clinique's All About Eyes because it's so hydrating.

I've heard some people talk about how it's fine by itself, but I definitely recommend using a rich eye cream overtop. After all, having lots of moisture in your skin is the best way to slow down the aging process (oily skinned people age far slower than dry skinned folks).

I have to say, my eye area looks amazing! The dark circles seem to have faded a little bit and the tiny fine lines have disappeared ENTIRELY. No eye cream has ever been able to do this. I've had rich eye creams soften the lines...but no cream has ever ENTIRELY ELIMINATED MY LITTLE WRINKLES.

For someone who has more advanced aging around the eye area, NeoStrata's Intense Eye Contour All-in-One Serum will definitely help, but I don't know if it will remove ALL your lines. Either way, it is DEFINITELY worth a try because of the wonderful active ingredients in it.

The active ingredients in this light serum are 0.05% Retinol and 3% Matrixyl, a powerful pentapeptide that encourages collagen production. It also has an ingredient called "Eye Regener" at 2%, which reduces puffiness and increases firmness and tone. NeoStrata has also added a 7.5% blend of MDI complex, SabiWhite, and Cytobiol Lumin-Eye which all help to reduce dark circles.

I know I absolutely adore this product and have permanently added it to my twice-daily routine. Once this bottle runs out, I will DEFINITELY pick up a second!

A half-ounce air-tight pump is $45 and well worth it!

REVIEW: La Roche Posay Toleriane Creams

La Roche Posay is the #1 recommended brand by Dermatologists in Canada. And with good reason! They have a complete line of skincare that addresses every skin concern need for men, women, teenagers and children of all ages. They are famous for their body creams for extremely irritated and sensitive skins. Their products are soothing and loads of parents buy them for their small ones.

Today I'm talking about their TOLERIANE line of moisturizers. Their TOLERIANE line is meant for sensitive skins that are more on the oily side. There is a TOLERIANE FLUIDE, which is the lightest of all their moisturizers. Then there is the TOLERIANE, which is a bit richer. Then there's the TOLERIANE RICHE, which, as the name implies, is...well...rich! Despite the "RICHE" name, the lotion is still OIL-FREE! Actually all three are oil-free!

Feeling the three different textures is something you must do to really appreciate this line of moisturizers. The FLUIDE comes out like a cream, but as soon as you touch it, it feels like water on your skin! The regular TOLERIANE comes out like a light cream, and the RICHE comes out like a thick anti-aging cream. Such a range of textures!

The most amazing thing is that they're all oil-free! Glycerin is the active moisturizer in these 3 moisturizers. These creams are wonderful for increasing the water levels in your skin. Someone with acne is most likely using products like Benzoyl Peroxide or Salicylic Acid which are meant to sop up the oil from your skin, with an unfortunate side-effect being that they also DEHYDRATE the skin.

Dehydrating the skin causes your brain to send more oil (it can't send more water)... so you create this vicious cycle of using harsh products to eliminate the oil, which causes your body to only make more oil! This moisturizer helps to break that cycle because it not only increases your skin's water levels, but because Glycerin is a HUMECTANT, so it continues to pull water out of the air all day long and into your skin.

Everyone, not just those with acne-prone skins can benefit from increasing the water levels in their skin!

The BEST BEST BEST part is the sheer lack of ingredients. The FLUIDE only has 14 ingredients, and the regular TOLERIANE cream only has TEN INGREDIENTS!

For someone with very sensitive skin, someone who's allergic, someone with redness and rosacea, this is a dream-come-true. It is almost impossible to have an allergic reaction to a product that has SO FEW INGREDIENTS! There are no fragrance, no colour, no parabens, no fillers. Every single ingredient in these creams plays an important role in it's moisturizing abilities.

The next time you're in a drug store, pick up any moisturizer from a brand who's commercials you see on TV. Just look at the sheer size of the ingredient list. It's not unusual to see that there are 40-50 ingredients. If you consider yourself sensitive, you might as well save yourself the trouble and go straight for the La Roche Posay TOLERIANE creams.

Even the "cheapy" drugstore brand creams are now selling for $25 and up. La Roche Posay's TOLERIANE CREAMS are $31 for 40mL(1.4oz) and are definitely worth it!

I don't know where you can get La Roche Posay in the United States, but in Canada it's available at every Shoppers Drug Mart. And you should definitely check it out soon!

Goddess Jewelry

REVIEW: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus

Not too long ago Clinique launched their latest product in the fight against aging: Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector. It promises, within 12-weeks, to provide an anti-aging and sun-damage-correcting effect 63% equivalent to a laser procedure.

This may seem hard to believe, and with good reason. Laser works by damaging your skin at a very deep level, which causes your skin to go into over-drive to repair this damage. The resulting repair results in skin that looks better than when you actually started. However, to get the most results, you need a series of laser treatments. 1) It ain't cheap. 2) It hurts! 3) It works*. Is it possible that a SERUM can provide 63% of these results at a fraction of the price, with none of the down-time, and with NONE OF THE PAIN?!?

(**ALWAYS ONLY go to a reputable anti-aging spa, that is presided over by a Doctor, and staffed by Nurses and Esthetic nurses using the LATEST in laser equipment. Failure to do so may cause in hyperpigmentation, burns, and scarring. NEVER try to save money where laser is concerned**)

Okay, back to Clinique:

There's a cocktail of good-for-you ingredients such as Vitamin C (powerful all-around-anti-ager), Ergothioneine (mushroom extract - antioxidant), Pomegranate extracts (antioxidant), retinol (vitamin a), sea whip extract (anti-inflammatory), Pinenadiol (encourages micro circulation), hyaluronic acid (intense moisturizer), and a host of peptides (encourage collagen production). It also includes 3 special enzymes that work to correct UV damage, absorb light to minimize damage from happening right now, and to correct DNA damage.

The thing that caught my attention on the ingredients list? The DIMETHICONE at the VERY TOP.

As I've said before and will continue to say, time and time again... I hate Dimethicone. It is an optical blurrer, it creates an optical illusion that your wrinkles have disappeared, and you should stay away from a product when it's one of the top few ingredients.

In this case, I digress. This product is LOADED with good-for-your-skin ingredients, and while the dimethicone provides an instant "wow, I look good" benefit, there are definitely long-term benefits to using this serum.

I've been using it under my moisturizer for about 3 weeks now, just 3 or 4 drops each use, and I gotta say, my skin is looking mighty good. My naso-labial fold is looking a bit softer, which is a big deal for me (it's my first real sign of aging - albeit it means I'm a happy person who loves to smile...)

Oh, and before I forget - YOU CAN USE THIS SERUM AROUND YOUR EYES TOO! This is the original reason I picked this product up; it's loaded with peptides and anti-oxidants, can be used on face, throat, and eyes and can be used day and night!

At $53.50 CDN and $44.50USD, it's a great buy!

BOGO at MadeYouLook Natural Skincare on ETSY

Biotherm Aquasource Skin Perfection

Now I don't know if it's because I'm just coming off a 7-day all-natural skincare regiment...but this stuff felt like silicone on my skin. They claim it's a "granita-like texture"...I thought it felt like primer!

The texture upon applying it on a freshly washed face felt "ricey". You know that feeling you get when you put too much primer on? That dimethiconey feel? The synthetic silicone texture. Yah...that's the one.

It's fragranced. I'm not one for fragrance, but I gotta say this is a lovely light scent and I wouldn't mind it, except...

The good folks at Biotherm say it's for all skin types, and I'm slightly on the dehydrated side and I needed to put a second coat of this on because my skin felt too taut after the first application. The second application was not enough, so I put a rich night cream on over top. This is DEFINITELY NOT for all skin types - definitely the more "normal to combination-oily" crowd. My BF loves this cream and he's on the oilier side. Definitely not rich enough for me.

Apparently Aquasource Skin Perfection is supposed to drop the temperature of your skin by 2 degrees upon application. I felt no such cooling sensation.

It's $48 CDN, so while it's not expensive, it's certainly not cheap. I would save the extra $4 and stick with one of the two original Aquasource moisturizers.

Have any of you tried it yet? What did you think?