Spring weather calls for a celebration. Tonight I’m giving myself a mini organic facial with new skincare products.

‪The Organic Pharmacy‬ Carrot Butter Cleanser (a cleansing balm) – I can’t wait to put this on my skin. Besides carrot, it has sunflower, jojoba, sesame seed, coconut, and olive oils. Plus shea butter, beeswax, cocoa butter, and several botanical extracts.

The freak snowstorm from Friday dried out my skin again. It needs re-nourishing with these omega-rich ingredients.

3/23/15 – My Thoughts After Use

  • This balm melted into an oil quickly and easily. In the jar, the balm is a hard solid. (Exactly like Darphin’s balm.) But as soon as you rub it into skin, it starts to melt. It spreads well. You can massage it over your face for a while without the oil drying out (what I call “losing the slide”).
  • However, I was dismayed to find that this balm does NOT emulsify with water. In other words, it did not turn milky when I splashed water over my skin. This balm suggests a muslin cloth for removal, but I skipped this step as I am not a fan of muslin cloths. Plus, for testing purposes, I always do a cleanse without the assistance of a cloth or sponge for removal.
  • I ended up rinsing and rubbing for a couple minutes to get the oil off. My hands became all waxy as soon as they became wet (where the oil had been), and this waxy residue resisted being rinsed off. Eventually the rinsing reduced the residue enough for me to feel satisfied that most of it was gone. But there was still some left on skin. If I had used a muslin cloth or sponge, moving it over skin would have picked up the oil and taken it off much more easily.
  • I decided to add a second cleanse (making it a double cleanse) with a Salicylic acid cleanser (Dermalogica’s Clearing Skin Wash). That took off all the residue.
  • My skin felt clean afterward, neither oily nor stripped. Just right. And it looked more clear.
  • This is the kind of balm where you need to use a muslin cloth or facial sponge for removal, or do a double cleanse with a water-based cleanser in the second step.
  • This balm is ideal for dry and normal skin types (my skin is Normal-Dry). It is not suitable for oily or acneic skin. The lack of emulsification would be a tactile turnoff for an oily skin type, and it would be problematic on active breakouts (which should be disturbed as little as possible, i.e. no excessive rubbing or tugging). Plus muslin cloths are not ideal for break-out prone skin unless a completely clean one (freshly laundered and dried) is used everyday. Bacteria can linger on a cloth that is hand washed and hung to dry.
  • If you have oily or acneic skin, you should generally use a cleansing oil, not a balm, unless the balm is super easy to spread and emulsifies easily (e.g. Banila Co. Clean It Zero). I still have to recommend my Holy Grail cleansing oil – Dermalogica Precleanse – as the best cleansing oil for all skin types.
  • I like this balm better than Eve Lom, Colleen Rothschild, Darphin, and several others I have sampled. It’s on the expensive side ($74 for 2 oz), so not an economical daily option. I would recommend this as a nice-to-have addition to a cleansing oil rotation. For me, this balm was intended for dry skin days, not as an everyday cleanser (Precleanse is my go-to daily cleansing oil).

‪‎Eminence Organics‬ Bright Skin Masque – All I can say is I want anything green on my face right now 🙂

3/23/15 – My Thoughts After Use

  • I love this mask! The results were excellent. My skin looked brighter and more even-toned. The unexpected surprise? It also looked MUCH smoother. The mask did a great job revitalizing my tired skin. I seldom say this because it rarely happens, but my skin truly looked younger.
  • This mask was on my face 10 min (recommended time is 5-10 min). I was surprised with this much visible improvement after only 10 min.
  • The texture is super light. It looks creamy, and you expect it to go on somewhat thickly, but it weighs less than you expect, it’s easy to scoop out, and it applies as a thin layer.
  • The only thing I didn’t like were the occasional green flakes in the mask. I ended up with a few on my face. It’s not bothersome, but it doesn’t look nice, and I don’t want the flakes going down my sink drain either.
  • My experience with this mask was so positive, I will be exploring other masks in the Eminence line.

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