Duchess Marden Damascena Creme Cleanser

I briefly touched on the Duchess Marden Damascena Creme Cleanser in an earlier post but I wanted to dedicate an entire post to this delicious product.

I've been using it for several weeks and really, really enjoy it. I use it to remove my makeup in the evening ( after first massaging with jojoba oil to break down all the grime from my day) and in the morning on days when I don't exfoliate.

The creme cleanser has the texture of melted vanilla ice cream: soft and creamy and not too thick or heavy and no matter how tired I am I always find myself deeply inhaling at the first whiff of the elegant rose aroma.

I also love all the many emotional benefits that are to be found by using products containing high-quality damascena rose oil, especially for women:

(from www.organicfacts.net)
Rose Oil boosts self esteem, confidence, hope and mental strength and efficiently fights depression. This can be very helpful to drive away depression from those who are suffering from depression due to any reason. This also relieves anxiety. Being an anti depressant, patients of acute depression or who are undergoing rehabilitation can be given routine and regular doses of this essential oil to bring hope in their lives. This oil is widely used in aromatherapy and invokes positive thoughts, spiritualism and feelings of joy, happiness and hope.

Food for Thought

*From the AOMA newsletter:

Foods for Skin Health:
What you put on your plate can be more important than what you put on your skin:

Carrots and Sweet Potatoes - Healthy skin is directly dependent on the amount of vitamin A in our diet. Vitamin A acts as an antioxidant to neutralize harmful elements in our skin, helping to prevent wrinkles, resist infection and maintain the skin's elasticity. One of the best places to get Vitamin A is vegetables that are deep orange in color.

Blackberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, and Plums - In a study recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, these four fruits weighed in with the highest "total antioxidant capacity" of any food. The antioxidants and other phytochemicals in these fruits can protect the cell from damage and disintegration, thus guarding against premature aging.

Salmon, Walnuts, Canola Oil, and Flax Seed - Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are responsible for skin repair, moisture content, and overall flexibility, but because the body cannot produce its own EFAs, they must be obtained through the diet. Fish, walnuts, and flax seed oil are among the best sources for omega 3 fatty acid.

Olive Oil - Olive oil contains more than essential fatty acids. Eating good-quality olive oil helps keep skin lubricated and keeps it looking and feeling healthier overall.

Whole Wheat Bread, Brown Rice, Turkey, Tuna and Brazil Nuts - Selenium is an antioxidant mineral responsible for tissue elasticity and healthy skin. It may play an important role in preventing skin cancer, as some recent studies are showing that skin damaged by the sun may suffer fewer consequences if selenium levels are high.

Green Tea - Green tea's ability to slow down the development of some signs of aging is attributed to its high levels of polyphenols, which have been well-documented for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Green tea also may help prevent or reduce the risk of skin cancer according to a study published recently in the Archives of Dermatology, which shows that whether taken orally or applied to the skin, green tea can reduce the risk of damage from ultraviolet light and thus reduce the risk of skin cancer.

Water - Hydration plays a key role in keeping skin cells healthy. It is essential to maintaining your skin's elasticity and suppleness. Keeping cells hydrated helps cells move nutrients in and toxins out, which helps keep skin clean and clear.

Source: www.acufinder.com

Fall Lip Pick!

As the weather cools off, inevitably the lip colors deepen. My very favorite for this season is the brand-new Dr. Hauschka #3 Decoratives lip color. It comes in a beautiful and modern square compact and provides a gorgeous sheer blackberry stain on the lips.

From the Dr. Hauschka website:

Lip Colors 01-04

Four new lip colors in shimmering, semi-transparent tones that can be applied by brush or finger. Mineral pigments are fused with healing waxes and oils to soothe and protect lips.

• Creamy consistency for easy application
• Extracts of anthyllis, carrot and rose hip keep lips moist and nourished
• Rose and Jojoba waxes soften and protect
• Colors from nature highlight your natural tones
• Natural mineral pigment tin oxide provides a silvery shimmer

Ingredients:

Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Rosa Canina (Rose Hip) Fruit Extract, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Lanolin, Beeswax/Cera Flava, Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Mica, Silica, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Extract, Anthyllis Vulneraria Extract, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Hydrogenated Jojoba Oil (Jojoba Wax), Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Wax, Fragrance/Parfum (Essential Oil), Linalool, Benzyl Benzoate, Farnesol, Limonene, Geraniol, Benzyl Salicylate, Eugenol, Lecithin, Maltodextrin, Tin Oxide, Carmine/CI 75470, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide/CI 77891

Martha!

Martha Stewart is having a contest at her blog: simply leave a comment with a link to your blog and then link back to her blog on yours and she will choose several winners to feature. There are a lot of applicants, but you should enter too!

Fall is in the Air!

I usually re-evaluate my skincare regimen at the beginning of each season. I am so excited for Fall to finally be arriving but even more excited about a new product I've been using: Duchess Marden Damascena Enzyme Exfoliant. It is a pumpkin-based exfoliant that also contains jojoba wax beads. So it exfoliates both chemically and manually.

I didn't set out to change my entire skincare routine, but that's what happened. I began using the exfoliant a few weeks ago and now use it three times a week. I wasn't expecting it to be anything other than a decent way to slough off a few dead skin cells. Well, what happened to my skin was much more dramatic.

Since I was a teenager I've struggled with congested skin: my cheeks get bumpy and clogged and hard to extract. My skin doesn't do a good job of sloughing it's own dead cells and add to that poor beauty habits (picking at and/or touching my face too much, neglecting to wash it twice a day, not rotating pillow cases often enough, not cleaning my phones enough, etc.) and you have a complexion nightmare.

Anyway, I continued with my lazy skin habits (sometimes I am religious about my skincare and stick to it like glue, but during the dog days of summer I tend to let all things except sunscreen slide) but simply added this exfoliant to the mix. The other day I went to absentmindedly pick at a dry patch of skin and realized...there weren't any to pick. I grabbed a mirror (magnifying no less) and examined my pores: no congestion to be found.

Yesterday I decided to put on makeup (before kids I never went a day without it, now it's maybe once a week or if I have somewhere special to go) and just stood there holding my concealer: I couldn't find anywhere to put it aside from under my eyes.

Today I put on eyeshadow, blush and lipstick and finished with a bit of translucent powder: no foundation. Usually I can't do this, but I took a picture of myself after makeup and realized my skin looked great. Not my makeup, but my SKIN. Clear and even-toned. And--I'm on my period.

I am now alternating between the enzyme exfoliant and the creme' facial cleanser (a really lovely creamy cleanser that is just the right consistency: not too thick) plus using the rose water several times a day. (to freshen up and hydrate, after cleansing, to set my makeup) At night I skip moisturizer but pat a few drops of the anti-wrinkle serum onto my skin before bed. It absorbs immediately and leaves my skin feeling soft and dewy.

But like I said, before I was trying the other products just the exfoliant alone completely transformed my skin. Love, love love it.

Ingredients:

Water, helianthus annus (sunflower) seed oil, lactobacillus/curbubita pepo (pumpkin) fruit ferment, jojoba beads, cetearyl alcohol and cetearyl glucoside, sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate and lauryl glucoside, cetearyl olivate and sorbitan olivate, aloe vera gel, candeia, rosa damascena (rose) oil, pelagrgonium graveolens (geranium) oil, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) extract, xanthan, dehydroacetic acid and benzyl alcohol