Skin Care : Beauty and Fashion Tech

Remergent Skin Care

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the wonderful book The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin Care Myths and Miracles For Radiant Skin at Any Age by Daniel Yarosh PH.D (read review). Yarosh also has a skin care line through his company AGI Dermatics. If you are a retinol fan, or have been considering trying retinol products, this is great line to look at. If you are not familiar with retinol, it is one of the most effective, if not the absolute best, anti-aging, anti-wrinkle treatment actives available.

I tried four products from the line, and today will focus on the Complete Cleanser and two retinol products, the Progressive Retinol Complex and Advanced Retinol Therapy. Watch in a few weeks for a look at the Clarifying Concentrate, aimed at treating melasma and similar types of hyperpigmentation.

The Complete Cleanser provides pH-correction to condition and prepare the skin for optimum delivery of treatment actives. This is a generally non-drying lotion type of cleanser that does a sufficient job of cleaning and removing makeup. Mostly, it is aimed at helping the treatment actives absorb the best.

The two retinol products are what really shine. The Remergent Progressive Retinol complex contains .4% retinol and serves as a good beginner product in order to acclimate the skin to retinol. It is also formulated to minimize irritation from the active ingredient. If you have not used retinol before or are sensitive to it—something that is common and is entirely normal—this is a great place to start. From there, the next step is a move up to Advanced Retinol Therapy, which has 1% retinol, the highest concentration available over the counter. Finding a product with a full 1% over the counter can be a bit difficult, and many products never tell you the concentration, so it is nice to know that you are getting the full amount with one.

I found that the Advanced Retinol Therapy was a bit more gentle than some other retinol products I have used, although I still did get a bit of redness from it, likely from a bit of overuse. Remember that a little goes a long way with this stuff! The container actually puts out pre-measured doses for your entire face and one is enough! I had no issues with breakouts using it (retinol can also help treat acne in some people, but it doesn’t seem to work well on acne for me). I also saw nicely bright and good looking skin after 4 weeks of use. I have particularly been using retinol in conjunction with various skin lighteners to treat melasma and pigmented areas.

Overall, the Remergent line is a nice option for anyone wanting to try retinol or who wants to know that they are getting the full over the counter amount. It is available online from various sources and through some dermatologists. See remergentskin.com for locations.

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Popularity: 19% [?]

Peter Thomas Roth Un-Wrinkle Pressed Powder

Peter Thomas Roth is generally known for their excellent skin care products instead of cosmetics. But now they have a nice combo cosmetic/skin care powder, Peter Thomas Roth Un-Wrinkle Pressed Powder. It also had an appearance in the Get Smart movie, starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.

From the company:

The new powder is lightweight, translucent and instantly improves the overall look of the skin while delivering anti-aging peptides and neuropeptides, which helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and deep wrinkles. The powder blends seamlessly for a flawless, luminous finish, helping skin retain moisture while working to set makeup. The key anti-aging ingredient behind the product is SYN-AKE – a synthetic neuropeptide that mimics the wrinkle relaxing properties of snake venom from the Brazilian Viper.

I gave it a try and found it to be pretty nice. The powder is finely milled and goes on smooth. The black compact is also attractive, with a flip up compartment for the pad and an interior mirror. So as a powder alone, it is rather nice–that it also has anti-aging properties is a bonus! Overall, it is nice stuff!

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Bioelements Vitalization Body Creme

Bioelements makes many wonderful items, including one of the richest body creams that I have seen in some time. Bioelements Vitalization Rich Intensity Body Creme is lovely stuff. It is a creamy, thick lotion with a luxurious feel and high moisture factor. It also has a wonderful light aroma—the product of ten botanical oils (apricot kernel, olive, rice bran, grape, black currant, sunflower seed, bergamot, cardamom and clove). Red tea is also included as an anti-oxidant.

I find it great for dry skin, after shaving or waxing, or just for a silky soft feel! The tub is big too, with a full 8 ounces.Shop for Bioelements skin care products

Popularity: 5% [?]

The New Science of Perfect Skin by Daniel Yarosh, PH.D.

Daniel Yarosh, Ph.D. is a thirty-year veteran of the beauty business who comes from the development end of the industry. Among his accomplishments are the invention of new ingredients for brands such as Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Shiseido. Now he has an excellent book out, The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin Care Myths and Miracles For Radiant Skin at Any Age, along with an accompanying skin care line, Remergent, from his laboratory, AGI Dermatics.

I will cover the Remergent line in a few weeks. For now, I want to focus on what I think is one of the best beauty books to come along in a great while—at least as far as skin care and anti-aging is concerned. The book provides a thorough and accurate overview of everything a person needs to know about skin, from protecting it, to treating its problems.

From the get go, Yaraosh tells it like it is, with early chapters on “Cutting Through the Hype,” and a glossary of product ingredients. He then painstakingly breaks down cosmetic products into chapters with explanations of what to avoid and why, and what to focus on for the best results. Each chapter includes specific product recommendations by brand across various levels of cost. Yarosh also provides a wealth of information on skin cancer and sun care, along with antioxidants and wrinkle treatments, including descriptions of various lasers and injections. The book also contains skin care regimes for men and children. Throughout the book, Yarosh does a nice job of recommending products that will do double duty by addressing multiple skin conditions at once—something I am quite a fan of.

Overall, The New Science of Perfect Skin is a book with a great deal of information, written for the everyday consumer. Wonderfully informative, to the point, and easy to read, it is a book that you can pick up, understand, and learn from without any specific scientific background. If you do have some background, you will find it to be a well informed and handy reference tool.

I recommend The New Science of Perfect Skin for any person who is concerned about skin care and who seeks to separate the products that have the most chance of success from those that are unlikely to work. Isn’t that most of us?

Popularity: 15% [?]

Removing Calluses with the Ped Egg

I love my Ped Egg! I seriously think that every callused foot on the planet deserves one!

When I first read about the Ped Egg at Bionic Beauty I wanted to try it. As I mentioned recently, I’m hard on my feet and the callus battle is constant for me. I have had success with various files and tools, but nothing has worked as well for me as the Ped Egg.

The Ped Egg is a little plastic egg with a foot file inside. This is not a callus razor, but is more than a sandpaper or pumice type of file. It generally is similar to a metal foot file, with a cheese grater look to it. Designed to be gentle, you can run it over your smooth skin without a scratch, but on calluses it grates and files them away, and it does so very quickly. The dead skin shavings are collected inside the egg, so there is also less mess. Fine grain file pads are also available for creating a smooth finish.

When I used the Ped Egg, I removed most of a fairly large heel callus in a matter of minutes. I had been doing some preparation using Glycolic Acid from AB Skin Care and some foot cream (read previous article), which also had softened things up a bit. I did find that if I held the egg tilted, too much that the dead skin would fall out, so to keep the skin in the egg where it belongs don’t tilt your egg too much! I finished off my feet with the file pad, added some moisturizing cream, and my feet were ready for a new pair of summer sandals!

The Ped Egg is available at PedEgg.com and other online sources, such as at Drugstore.com.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Kill Calluses and Soften Feet with AB Skin Care Happy Feet

I am a foot killer. I wear shoes that rub, I cram my feet into Irish dance shoes and pound them around for hours on end, and sometimes I cram them into ice skates. The result is dry heels and nasty calluses. But I have found a few fixes. One of those is AB Skin Care Happy Feet.

AB Skin Care is a line created by Dr. Craig Austin, M.D. that focuses mostly on glycolic acid products. They also have some great sunscreens (read review). Because Glycolic Acid is a great exfoliator, it works quite well at assisting in callus removal. At 20% Glycolic, AB Skin Care’s Happy Feet has a nice concentration of it. The packaging is also quite nice, with individual use wipes.

I combined Happy Feet with a bit of Lac-Hydrin Cream (read review), which also contains the exfoliator lactic acid. I rubbed an AB skin care wipe on my calluses and let it dry, then rubbed in the Lac-Hydrin. Another option, albeit more expensive, is to seal in the glycolic with a touch of Creme de la Mer. For a cheaper option, Profoot cream (read review) also works well.

This combo did a good job of softening my calluses. When I combined it with use of a Ped Egg, my calluses basically disappeared. What is a Ped Egg? Well, it is a wonderful little tool for callus removal. Watch for my review of it here tomorrow!

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Update: Read the Ped Egg review.

Popularity: 11% [?]

MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator

MAC Cosmetics has come out with one heck of a good exfoliator. MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator is truly wonderful stuff, and I predict that it will make my best of 2008 list at the end of the year. I find the MAC product description to be quite accurate, so here it is:

A highly effective, dual-purpose, foaming and exfoliating scrub blending natural Volcanic Ash with fine sugar crystals from the islands of Vanuatu. Adds moisture: leaves skin feeling soft and comfortably clean. Mineral-rich. Good for absorbing skin’s natural oils. May be used on any part of face or body. Rinses off with warm water.

The scrub is pretty coarse, which I like, but the foaming action tones it down a bit, It also leaves the skin feeling moisturized–something I find pretty impressive for a scrub. The one odd point though is that it is black in color. So it seems a bit weird scrubbing this jet black goo all over your face. I suggest avoiding use of it while wearing white or with white washcloths. I don’t know if it would stain and I wasn’t keen to test that! Personally, I use it in the shower.

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Popularity: 4% [?]