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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

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

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your skin does look fabulous pretty lady!

Anonymous said...

Jen, I discovered your blog a cpl of mths back, and I was using Dr. Hauschka at the time. So reading your routine and comments helped reaffirm to me that it is a good line that I was using and my skin would improve over time. After reading this entry about the enzyme exfoliant,I decided to give it a shot and bought the Neck and Decollete serum as well to see if it would help with hyperpigmentation from acne. I absolutely love both products, and it's only been a week, but I am already noticing some changes. Thanks for posting your reviews on Dr.H & Duchess Marden! Hopefully with time my hyperpigmentation will fade and I can be blemish-free again. Best of luck to you!