The Superlative Selection
KMR Beaute Superlative Selection 2019.
Tried, Tested, Loved. Beyond Super, SUPERLATIVE!
Each year I present a collection of amazing products that I have lived with throughout the year. With cosmetic products I need to see a visible difference. Services need to deliver the WOW! experience. I hope to help people of all ages to #LookThinkAndFeelBetter.
 |
Since writing my first review of Edible Beauty's products in April 2015, I have read countless testimonials and watched videos from this Australian brand as she grew organically from our shore, internationally and so much more. |
Their products are wild at heart (Wildcrafted) and visually appealing. Yet this miron glass has a depth that creates value that goes beyond the undeniable aesthetic appeal.
Recently I recorded a six part preview as I revisited the incredible edible product range. Somethings seemed the same, with growth comes change, I was excited. But why didn't I go straight into reviewing my use of the products? A product for one day is ok, one week is great, more than 28 days (the full skin renewal cycle, longer as we age) is my way.
Citrus Rhapsody Toner Mist & Ageless Serum Application
No1-Belle Frais Cleansing Milk,
I started to use this cleanser in the middle of Winter when my skin is guaranteed to have an eczema dilemma flare up every other week, due to the cold winds and #FirstWorldDailys (stress) building up to a firey flare up on my face, of all places! Prevention is always better, but life and flare ups happen. During the annual Winter months I traditionally rotate between a milk or oil cleanser when my face ignites, and a gel cleanser to suit my normal to oily skin the rest of the time.
That was until I started to use Belle Frais. It is a cream consistency, applied onto dry skin and gently massaged in before you add water before rinsing it off. I have the sensation of a cool, soothing cream that cleans more than a cleansing cream, but less than a foaming cleanser alone. Natural melon and lime extracts scent me to an uplifting place whilst the additional organic ingredients purify whilst hydrating the way. This was unexpected and it is exactly the one cleanser that I need.
No2-Citrus Rhapsody Toner Mist
Third to the top of the ingredient list is Desert Lime which, as seen in my video above, is a welcomed burst of zesty goodness which tones the skin and tighten the pores when you are feeling the heat or midday when you need a hydrating mist moment to yourself, to refresh and reset. |
| My Skin Is At Ease After My Eczema Flare Up, November 22nd KMR Beaute Instagram |
No3-Exotic Goddess Ageless Serum
Yes I am a guy and I use it. I don't wear the bottle as a necklace, therefore the word 'Goddess' doesn't bother me. What really appeals to me is "beauty booster acts to promote the appearance of plumper skin". You had me at "plumper". I fell in love with you for your Hyaluronic Acid blended with Kakadu Plum extract, White Tea and so much more. This is a lot, yet the texture melts into the skin without a trace after the cooling sensation that both men and women need on this hydration nation of ours.
PURE ￮ BOTANICAL ￮ LUXURY
In 1992 when I first started selling fragrances in London, fragrances lasted well on my skin with a noticeable sillage. Currently an eau de toilette lasts on my skin for 1 hour maximum, an eau de parfum 2-3 hours at best. This is a sign of the modern times where international fragrance houses have had to compose more than the fragrance note compositions but rather the synthetic replica of that fragrance molecule itself as the natural ingredients in some cases have become scarce and not sustainable as our population increases.
Then there are fragrances from the grey market flooding into discount pharmacies which are the genuine fragrance but they are sold outside of the brand owner's approved distribution channels. We don't know what shipping container it came from or the temperatures that the fragrances have been exposed to. I ended up applying essential oils with a carrier oil that had some remedial benefits via the olfactory senses, yet even less when it came to a sense of scent. Some essential oil blends are labelled as 'perfume oil' but they last 15 minutes on the skin at best.
✵My blog titled-'Eau De Magnifique'-Makes scents of it all✵
October 19th, that all changed when MELIS Natural Perfume literally walked into my life. Yes it lasts on my skin. Yes they are natural oils, but they are not essential oils alone, but rather resins and absolutes that you can see traces of within the roller ball bottle which is weighted perfectly as one would expect precious oils to be encased within.
SENSUALI's Indian jasmine duo and orange blossom softened with Spanish amber and balanced with Bulgarian clary sage with a touch of Asiatic labdanum struck a sensual chord with me.
I am girt by jasmine at work and at home, this is comforting to me, but a fragrance with jasmine alone wouldn't appeal to me as it would be rather sweet and even perhaps heady. SENSUALI is indicative of a true artisan at work as the blend challenged what I thought was possible with the purest of intentions.
A very close second is the perfume MOTUS No.4 which is warm, charming and charismatic with a touch of spice. All that I hope to be. Their sample pack is a great way to try something different each day or blend them your own way.
￮JOURNEY TRUTHFULLY￮
I have waited for over 20 years of my professional cosmetics work life for this and it is way beyond what I thought was possible.
"Intense Serum" sounds rather like that of the Cosmeceuticals grade that refers to the potency of the product. "Serum Concentrate"-what one thing is it concentrating on? Perhaps facetious, but please bear with me for a moment.
In this day and age we are experiencing aggressors from multiple angles. Physical and environmental. We need something less than a skincare product that requires a script from a dermatologist, yet it needs to deliver more than what we have tried before in the retail environment. We are travelling overseas more often, so it needs to be safe to travel with us as well. I know that I am asking for a lot, but it needs to be affordable with fast and visible results.
In this day and age we are experiencing aggressors from multiple angles. Physical and environmental. We need something less than a skincare product that requires a script from a dermatologist, yet it needs to deliver more than what we have tried before in the retail environment. We are travelling overseas more often, so it needs to be safe to travel with us as well. I know that I am asking for a lot, but it needs to be affordable with fast and visible results.
Like a computer, sometimes we need to reboot (or Reset one might say) in order to start working well again. Perhaps if we move to Antarctica, we might be able to disengage from our fast world life. Perhaps the high powered antioxidants with the multi molecular weight of five types of Hyaluronic Acid in this gel emulsion which instantly and progressively plumps life back into our complexion, might help you as it did for me throughout this silly season extraordinaire. "How about a litre of this for everyday?" I'm asking for a friend, shall I say.
"HELPS SKIN MAXIMISE ITS NATURAL RHYTHM OF NIGHTTIME REPAIR AND DAYTIME PROTECTION"-ADVANCED NIGHT REPAIR COLLECTION
Serum filled glass ampoules may compare, but to travel with me, no way. This serum travels well. It won't make you up, but it might just be that pick me up that we need when we are in the middle of the holiday season and work went to-family time-to appointments-to travel-to having delays before you get-to where you need to be.
July 3rd-As I Prepare For Estee Lauder Training.
Honestly anyone can read a box or a press release and hold on to hope for quite a few years as cosmetic products come, excite us partially and then they just go. Better yet, you can listen to someone who was invited to Estée Lauder's head office to experience the divine whilst listening to the lady who formulated this very serum.
Then you can buy it and see for yourself why nothing else can truly compare. Not to mention the fact that their founder was the first to introduce a face serum to the retail market back in her day. Respect. But first you might just want to watch this video below as I apply the serum for the first time. Yes, it gave me a "Wow!" moment. No it hasn't repeated those exact results each time thereafter. But after a long week at work or during times of overwhelming stress, this serum is still doing enough to keep me looking alert and ready for my best day yet.
This great lady helped our team at Estee Lauder training to win a prize in our quiz challenge. She found out that I was the @BondiSands guy, her daughter loves Bondi Sands, of course a photo was in order.
Advanced Night Repair Intense Reset Concentrate
But there's more, there's the graduation, the first date, the dinner party tonight that you thought was next week, your relatives wedding coming up soon. Life is good, you don't need to be down to have a pick me up, accentuate the positive times, learn from the rest.
June 2019-Jurlique redefined the art of the face mist when they reformulated and remastered their number one selling face mist worldwide whilst raising the bar when it
comes to efficacy with a rose of their own, The Jurlique Rose.
Before their new
Rosewater Balancing Mist with hydrating Jurlique Rose was launched, clinical trials were conducted to back their claims of “Proven instant hydration” after
10 minutes and “Refreshed and softened skin” after 2 hours of application. Now that's impressive. Jurlique were breaking new ground whilst respecting the very ground where they sow the seeds to grow the powerful botanicals that continue to repair and care for our skin.
The Jurlique Rose
It’s easy to say that perhaps rose waters are all one and the same, as they date back longer than the 34 years that Jurlique have been in business. But with other brands, where was the rose oil sourced from? What is their extraction process? Do they harness the power of the full plant? Is the rose oil at the bottom of
the ingredients list, or simply an addition to fragrance the water rather than
helping to improve your skins barrier function whilst having a positive effect
on your olfactory system. Not forgetting Althaea officinalis Root Extract better known as Marshmallow Root Extract which is a mucilaginous polysaccharide that acts as a humectant to increase the moisture retention. Anything less really is just rose fragranced water.
Olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that
turns smells into nerve signals.
"essential oils work on the olfactory system (eg.up your nose, nerve endings, up to the brain) as well as being absorbed by the body when rubbed in with a carrier oil. Synthetic department store fragrances activate a memory or the perceived feeling that the brand associates itself with.
Essential oils have an action (we actually feel better), synthetic fragrances are a reaction
(how we think we feel) of sorts."-Fragrant Intercourse, KMR Beaute Blog.
I find the new Rosewater Balancing Mist slightly a more
robust scent. Almost a touch of citrus notes at first, then a
deeper rose sensation that envelops you in a moment of calm that softens your
scene when sprayed as much as it does to soften and refresh your skin. As a
makeup artist, I like to spray my makeup brushes lightly with this face mist
once they dry as it has a luxurious scent that softens the mood. The mist works
wonders as a makeup setting spray as well. The 50ml bottle travels with me
everywhere and the spray opens easily so that I can refill it with the 100ml
bottle which works out to be better value, win/win all around.
August 2019-The Rare Rose collection came out and this is special indeed. Clinically proven to give your skin 24 hour
hydration, the Jurlique Rose was working overtime. The silky super powered Rare Rose Serum came to me at a time when I needed it the most, winter time, facial eczema time for me. It
is nowhere near what their Calendula Redness Rescue Serum is to your skin when it
is in a full flare up, but rather it extinguished the first signs of my skin reacting and kept it from flaring up whilst I was using this serum. The texture feels more like a gel than a fluid serum. Water runs whereas
this silky gel plumps with natural ingredients that act in a similar way as
hyaluronic acid does to attract water to keep your skin hydrated.
In the cooler months I prefer a cream texture to act as a
buffer for my skin against the wind and the Rare Rose Cream, rose to the
challenge of acting as a buffer between me and my environmental aggressors.
With my normal to oily skin, there was no
heavy feeling whilst using the cream and it worked really well to soothe after shaving my face. Summertime I prefer to use their Gel Cream or the
Lotion. No eczema dilemma for me in the warmer months, a six month reprieve. Can guys use it if it is pink? Indeed, it absorbs really well and your
skin will reap the benefits, especially if you live in this hydration nation of
ours, Australia.
October 2019-Herbal Recovery Eye Gel came just in time for
Summer with the silly season of work, Christmas parties, family and everything
else in-between. As a teen I only ever used an eye gel as a cream was too rich
for me. Back then, the cucumber eye gels were all the rage, but they did nothing more than wet the skin around your eyes. That 'wet look' had a tacky feel that often dried sticking your top eyelid to the skin underneath your brow. That didn’t gel with me at all! I need an eye gel to absorb and to give me more than merely a cooling sensation, Herbal Recovery Signature Eye Gel delivers.
I have looked into Citrus unshiu Peel Extract as a safe
ingredient for brightening the eye area in the past and I was happy to see that
it is high up on the list of ingredients in this eye gel. Hereditary dark
circles around the eye area are a lot harder to treat, but those attributed to
blue light exposure and that of the modern life stand a good chance of greatly diminishing their dark circles with this eye gel that is packed with botanicals to smoothen and re-energise. You can feel tired, but now you don’t have to look it so much, naturally.
JURLIQUE
THE POWER OF NATURE ￮ THE ULTIMATE IN SKINCARE
Three years ago I started working full time in a pharmacy that is more than a pharmacy alone with it's built in cosmetic counters and dedicated Naturopaths and Nutritionists where we can offer a truly holistic approach to health care as well as a deeper understanding of beauty than that of department stores. I am referring to where I was in terms of my own solutions to customer queries of the past to where I stand now as a Skin & Beauty Manager.
First and foremost I am not a qualified health professional and this review is based on my own findings with the support of trained health professionals and suppliers. Please consult with your health care professional first.
Collagen macromolecules are just that, macro as apposed to micro meaning smaller. In regards to skincare containing collagen, it is too large for your skin to absorb, so rather look for products that encourage your skin to produce it's own collagen and elastin.
Collagen in tablet form needs to be enteric coated so that the hydrochloric acid in your stomach doesn't break it down first leaving you with minimum amounts of absorption. With that said, it has left more questions than I have received answers for over the years. To be honest, I stuck with the traditional tablets that where a comprehensive blend of supplements. Talk, sleep and research beauty; I have even tried to drink my way to beauty with collagen infused pre-made drinks. Again I was not convinced at the level of absorption. That lasted two drinks.
Bioavailable powders grew in momentum with varying sources of collagen and blends that sparked my attention but still left me apprehensive as some contained super foods which taste great and they are affordable, whilst practitioner only brands focused on the collagen alone. Apprehension kept me at bay whilst I immersed myself in the world of clinical studies via PubMed.
At Work I was introduced to Collagen Activ. Did I have any questions? You bet I did. What impressed me the most is the research that went into this formulation as they are really targeted towards enhancing skin smoothness, softness whilst helping to prevent the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines primarily whilst supporting gastrointestinal health. Not the other way around as my digestion is quite fine, my aesthetics can always do with a boost.
Clinical studies have backed the claims and I must admit that this Christmas, as I worked through to the new year, I felt tired but not that many people seemed to notice. Whilst last December "you look tired" became my middle name. Collagen Activ helped me through, now I can rest and renew.
"Beauty Is My Duty"-The Hair, Skin & Nails Guy
Quality ￮ Innovation ￮ Integrity
From the Nutraceuticals of Bioceuticals, my chapter above, to the higher grade of Cosmeceuticals skincare with Ultraceuticals.
To be honest, my policy all around, I did have another Ultraceuticals product in mind for my selection but as I am still in the process of reviewing it myself, I couldn't honestly say that it has reached its full potential. With that being said, their Ultra Smoothing Pore Refiner is one mighty fine product. No pun intended, yet.
Late 2019, being a stickler for visual punishment, I placed my elongated face into Ultraceuticals Observ machine to once again face the truth. Not only of where my skin is currently situated, in regards to hydration, pigmentation and pore size; but more.
There were positives, my eyebrows were hydrated, as my first Observ detected zero hydration. Guilty, it never crossed my mind, until then. My pigmentation was reduced from the teams previous product recommendations, how could I not when the evidence was staring at me in the face, from my face.
Alas there was a new find, which was no surprise to me, however I appreciated the honesty; and that was the gaping pores covering my nose that resembled the crevices on the moon or that of the clowns face amusement that turned from left to right with mouth wide open at the novelty park. Shut it down, please.
At the Pharmacy where I work, we have an Ultraceuticals counter and the Ultra Smoothing Pore Refiner continually sells out, nearly every single order. This is because it works effectively and within days. This I knew from my customers, now it was my turn.
To be honest, my policy all around, I did have another Ultraceuticals product in mind for my selection but as I am still in the process of reviewing it myself, I couldn't honestly say that it has reached its full potential. With that being said, their Ultra Smoothing Pore Refiner is one mighty fine product. No pun intended, yet.
Late 2019, being a stickler for visual punishment, I placed my elongated face into Ultraceuticals Observ machine to once again face the truth. Not only of where my skin is currently situated, in regards to hydration, pigmentation and pore size; but more.
12 Months Ago
Alas there was a new find, which was no surprise to me, however I appreciated the honesty; and that was the gaping pores covering my nose that resembled the crevices on the moon or that of the clowns face amusement that turned from left to right with mouth wide open at the novelty park. Shut it down, please.
This photo from January 19th 2020 of my mother and I working the pore strip is perhaps not the best of representations of a reduced pore size, but it revealed less in my strip than ever before. The Pore Refiner did work and it continues to refine my skin. Taking action on more than just my pore.
*The Replenishing Mask is not targetting or marketed as a treatment for eczema. I found that it helped my skin greatly and these are my findings alone. Please contact me to elaborate if required.
To quote Ultraceuticals-
"This rich, non-greasy mask is a must–have for distressed and dehydrated skin. It contains a powerful blend of moisturising agents featuring Hyaluronic Acid with skin conditioning ingredients Shea Butter, Panthenol, Ceramide 3 and Vitamin E to help replenish vital hydration levels and support the skin's lipid barrier. Ideal as an aftercare balm to provide instant comfort and soothe dry skin in the days after a facial treatment. Can be worn overnight or during a flight for intense hydration. Paraben free".
Wonderful-You can quote me on that.
The Superlative Selection-The Best Of 2019
King M. Rakic
Skin & Beauty Manager
Cosmetician
Comments
Post a Comment