Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on September 18th, 2024.
Annmarie Skin Care Skin Consultations are FREE, virtual group sessions, hosted live by our in-house skin experts, to provide personalized recommendations and directly answer any skin care related questions. Learn more about our skin consultations.
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Welcome in everyone. Let's go ahead and hop in. We might have a couple others who hop on and we'll just catch them up as we need to, but welcome everyone thank you for joining us here on this Wednesday.
This is of course a group consultation here with Annmarie Skin Care. We're going to spend the next hour and a half really talking about products with the intention for you to be able to leave this call, feeling like you have enough info to build a routine. So we'll speak to specific people, whoever would like to volunteer, we'll get there, but I really want to support everyone in feeling like they are able to build their routine. So that's going to kind of be the structure of the call. I’m Kate. I am a licensed esthetician and have been for 11 years now. It’s been quite a while. I am a practicing esthetician, so I've worked hands-on with customers and clients, done a lot of facial treatments, and definitely recommended a lot of products to people. I've worked with Annmarie Skin Care for almost six years, so a good chunk of time as well. So all of that is to say, I feel really comfortable talking about the nuances of skin and helping to build a routine. And especially speaking to our products, because I've been privileged enough to be around for so many formulations and launches of different products. And so I'll use that information here.
I have on the call here with me, Grace, and Grace, of course, is waving. Grace is largely going to be monitoring the chat. A lot of times when I get into talking, sometimes I'm not on the chat, and so she's going to be taking care of you there. If you have questions that you don't feel comfy sharing, you can go into the chat.
Yeah, she's really just our support person for that side of things, but Grace, tell us a little bit about you.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Thanks, Kate. Hi, everyone. I'm Grace. I'm the marketing assistant here at Annmarie and I've loved every second of it. I just love our team. We're just so fun. Other than that, I'm in the Seattle area. It's been very gloomy the past few days, so I apologize that it's kind of dark around me. I have two dogs, one of whom is right next to me, and she is a bulldog, so if I'm speaking at all and you hear snoring in the background, it's her, she's just sleeping. She's been extra needy today, which I don't mind, but she's just, like, on top of me at all times, so I apologize if you see her kind of pop into the camera at all. She's just extra needy today, which, it's okay. I get it. And other than that, if you need me, I'll be in the chat. But yeah, that's me.
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Thanks, Grace.
So, before we start talking about specific routines, I do want to just briefly kind of give you a high level look at us as a brand. We are Annmarie Skin Care and we've been around for about 15 years.
We have a high priority that we place on ingredients, ingredient selection, and ingredient sourcing. We're looking for organic ingredients, certified organic. We're looking for wildcrafted ingredients. So these are ingredients that might be growing in a specific field for wildcrafting. They have like a predetermined plot and then they plant Lavender is usually the example I go with because we have a lot of wildcrafted lavender. We plant the lavender and then we don't touch it. It grows untouched. No human interaction until it's time to harvest that particular plant. So organic, wildcrafted, or then the third is going to be neither organic or wildcrafted, but what those are is typically smaller farms that we've still very thoroughly vetted when we're bringing them on as a supplier.
We place a really high priority on making sure that our ingredients are top tier, top quality. And this has to do with how these ingredients and these products are interacting with the body. You want products that are legitimately safe for the body. Many of our products are what's called Made Safe certified.
And Grace, if you want to link us the MADE SAFE link you can look into that a little bit further, but essentially what MADE SAFE is, it's a third party that tests our products, tests our ingredients, and just verifies that we're void of thousands of toxins. They've got a growing list of toxins that they look for.
We also place a high priority on sustainability, so almost all of our products are going to be in this dark miron glass. The glass is a recyclable glass, but also because we use this dark bottle, we don't have to use synthetic preservatives or synthetic emulsifiers in the product which, of course, upholds our brand values of being as clean as possible.
So some products are in other packaging. We've got some aluminum. This is a BPA-free lined aluminum tubing. And then we've also got just like a little cardboard packaging for the lip balms. It's a nice sturdy cardboard, so it's not like a paper straw, but people will ask me this with the lip balm. It's like, is it just going to turn to mush? And it does not. So with that, with all that, that information, I'd like to invite, if anyone in particular would like to be kind of on the spot, and we can kind of talk about your skin, talk about your needs, and help to build a routine for you. Would anyone like to step in, and it's okay if you don't either, I can just look at the surveys.
Okay, so I'm gonna take a peek at our surveys here, I don't have to name names, but let's see if anyone is here who had filled that out. Okay, I do see a couple people so a lot of the concerns on the survey, which might align with the group here had to do with signs of aging. So some deeper creasing, some loss of elasticity, looks like at least one person is also experiencing larger pores.
So I'm going to help to build a routine that's going to support those needs. Of course, if you have questions that can come up, you can put it in the chat, or raise a hand. But let's get into it. So our four-step routine, our very basic four-step routine is going to include your cleanser. It's going to include your toning mist. It also will include your serum and your oil. All four steps. Very rarely do I suggest fewer, but of course, you could go way broader. We've got masks and boosters and eye creams and all of those products.
So let's start at the top. Now, one of the things you might notice as I'm talking about some products is the difference in packaging here.
I've got some that have this kind of tan label and some that have this black label. And these are different collections. This tan label, we call this the Signature Collection. This black label, we call this the Wild Alchemy Collection. Now the biggest differences here, the tan label, these tend to be products that are kind of broadly applicable. These products might work for oily skin, normal skin, combo, and aging skin, many of the products are good for aging skin just depending on the product.
Now, the Wild Alchemy Collection, on the other hand, these are pretty focused for addressing signs of aging. And that's true as we go along here, as we're talking about the products, you'll notice that the Wild Alchemy tends to be a pretty pointed line as far as addressing various signs of aging.
So, keeping that in mind, let's get into some cleansers here. One of these two are usually what I'm suggesting when I'm working with anyone who has drier skin, or if aging, so creasing wrinkling, maybe texture, all of that, if that's a big concern.
The Aloe Herb Cleanser, this one here, this is a lovely, very light textured cleanser. The way this feels on the skin is very soft. Very balanced. None of the cleansers that we offer will have any harsh surfactants in them. So you aren't going to experience any sudsing with these, which is absolutely by design. This has to do with the fact that we're wanting to maintain the complete barrier of the skin.
We don't want to disrupt that with these kind of harsh surfactants. And so both of these that I'm speaking to they're going to feel very soft and smooth. They are still cleansing the skin though. So both of them contain some variation of an aloe component. Aloe contains some naturally occurring saponins, which act as mild cleansing agents on the skin. And so you're getting this cleansing experience and soap-like experience with the aloe just a much cleaner variation of it. So, the Aloe Herb Cleanser feels very soft. This is a really great one if you are particularly dry. I do prefer this one for super dry skin types.
Also for major concerns with aging. So fine lines, creasing, etc the Phytonutrients a little bit more supportive for deeper creasing or drooping. But, the Aloe Herb here is a really good one for dryness and any signs of aging that are kind of in that realm of dehydration or dry skin. This one also has several ingredients steeped into the blend that are going to be supportive for soothing the skin.
So when or if you have skin that gets really irritated or red or is just sensitive prone in general this is a really great one to have in your routine. Generally speaking for sensitive skin, this is the one I prefer over the Phytonutrient. And I'll speak to the phytonutrient here in a moment. The Aloe Herb Cleanser is just a little bit more supportive for that really tender, sensitive skin type.
Now this one, the Phytonutrient Cleanser, this one is ideal for anyone who's really wanting to address signs of aging. This has a very beautiful floral blend. It's actually our signature serum blend that we include in this one that we use to specifically work on fine lines, to specifically work on brightening and evening out the tone and the texture of the skin. This also has some malic acid. We've got a little bit of apple extract in here, so this is helping to brighten the look of certain areas of the face. I don't think I had noticed on the surveys that anyone was specifically concerned with discoloration. Peeking at it again here. It doesn't quite look like it. So that's not as relevant with this crew here, but it is helpful for brightening the look of the skin.
One of the key ingredients in this one is a mango seed butter. That mango seed butter is very rich. It's got almost this like full kind of fatty feel to it, almost like jiggles. This is a really supportive one for skin that's dry as well. Now, I still prefer the Aloe Herb Cleanser if you are someone who is dry and sensitive. I think this one is a little bit more supportive for soothing the skin.
Whereas the Phytonutrient here, that one's really designed to be pretty targeted and specifically addressing the various signs of aging. So there can be a little bit of an activation. It's a pretty activated cleanser, activated feel with this particular one.
So with general signs of aging, either one of these I think is ideal. I think yeah, one of those would probably be good for at least what I had seen in the survey so far. So any questions about the cleansing before I move into the next potential product?
Okay. I want to talk, I'm going to insert a product here. This product is the Radiant C Mask and Polish. And I want to speak to it here because we are doing a drawing for this at the end of the call. And so I want to make sure you know how to use it. It's also, when you're using it in your routine, this is where it's going to fall. It's going to happen right after your cleanser or in conjunction with your cleanser.
But I'll get into that here. So this product is called the Radiant C Mask & Polish. And so I'm going to take this dry powder, show you what this looks like here, this beautiful ruby blend that you mix with either other products, with water, with other ingredients to make either a mask or a scrub for the face.
Now you can use this with just water, you can put a little bit into the palm of your hand, drop a little bit of water, and then buff the face. And you've got this beautiful polish. The ingredient composition of this one is incredibly vitamin C-rich. We've got hibiscus, acerola cherry, there's some amla berry in here. It's just this really beautiful blend that helps to brighten and even the look of the skin.
Aside from that, you can also use it as a mask. So you can mix it with a little bit of water, probably a little bit more than you might use for a scrub, and then apply it all over and then let it sit on the face.
There's a little bit of a french red clay in here, this beautiful rosy colored clay, and so there's this kind of tightening effect that happens. And then you've got all these brightening properties from these florals and herbs that are working on the skin. Now those are the most basic ways to use it, but you can also mix this into something else.
So, I particularly like mixing it into the Phytonutrient Cleanser, doing a couple pumps on the ends of my fingers, shaking just a little bit in, and then coming in and buffing my face. I find that it's just enough of an extra scrub to feel like I'm getting an exfoliation, but it's not a full scrub, and so I can use it a couple more days in a row than I might otherwise.
You can also mix this with an existing mask, the one I really like. This is the Illuminating Pearl Mask. It looks so gross on camera, but I promise it's really pearly and lovely in person. This is a really nice combination, mixing the two of these and applying this as a mask. You get a lot of brightening from the Illuminating Pearl. There's uva ursi, there's licorice root, Aamla berry in that one too honey, coconut, pearl powder. And then mixing it with this one, you've got this very tone evening, Vitamin C. And so this is a great combo, whether you did this as a scrub before or whether you mix it into the mask and wore it as a mask, just a really feel good product.
So, with this one a couple things that often come up, people will ask how long this lasts, how long does this bottle last, and I don't know how to answer that because it's going to very much depend on how you use it. If you use it just as a mask exclusively, you're probably going to get a little more time out of it.
If you use it as part of your cleanser and you're using this more or less daily or every other day, then you're gonna go through it quite a bit quicker, so it is gonna come down to the frequency with which you're using it. Let's see, what else about that one? Yeah, I tend to think of it, it is a cool product, and it's a cool product on its own, but it's also this really cool, like, apothecary addition.
And so if you are someone who gets into kind of crafting your own well, anything, but crafting your own products this feels really good to have on hand because you can customize things a little bit further. So that's the Radiant C Mask & Polish.
Now let's get into toning mists and then we'll see if we have some questions.
I think for the surveys I had seen, there's one, maybe two options as far as toning mists that will be most supportive. So this first one, you’ll notice that the Neroli here is a smaller bottle. The Neroli Toning Mist is part of the Signature Collection. The Wild Alchemy also tends to have larger bottle sizes, and so that might be something you see as we're going along here.
But the Neroli Toning Mist is a really nice toner, a nice toning mist for skin that is normal, normal to dry, aging, and it's fine for sensitive, sensitive skin can use it. I think the other one we will touch on is way more supportive for sensitive skin but the blend of this one's quite light. It starts with an aloe vera juice. And then we have neroli essential oil included in the greater blend. So when you apply this, it's not adding a ton of extra moisture. It's effective and it's working on the skin, but it's not overly moisturizing the skin. So if dryness is your bigger concern, then the next one I'll get into is a little bit of a better fit for you.
So again, this is the Neroli toning mist. Awesome for normal, combo, dry and aging skin. Fine for sensitive, the next one's better for sensitive.
Now this next one, again, larger bottle size, is the Botanical Hydration Mist. And the Botanical Hydration Mist is a pretty unique kind of composition. We start with two hydrosols.
Hydrosols are completely different in texture than aloe vera juice. Aloe vera juice starts the neroli, hydrosols start the Botanical Hydration Mist. And this particular one, we use a rose and an immortelle hydrosol. Now, both of those hydrosols are specifically supporting reversing signs of aging. Staving off future aging.
They're working to strengthen the resiliency in the skin. Especially for any like frequent facial expression area, the forehead's a big one, sides of the mouth are another one, in between the brows, those areas. This is a really nice one. Aside from that this has a lot of ingredients to soothe irritated skin. We've got several types of chamomile.
We've got some frankincense. It's just really helpful for irritation in the skin. And so I, I don't think I had seen that anybody had super sensitive skin, but if that's a concern of yours, this is a really good one. Otherwise, if you're just pretty dry, this is what I would recommend for you. How you use it.
Let's talk about how you're using your toning mist. What you're going to do, they have a little mister top, right? You spray your face. You're pressing it down and then you let it stay on the face. You're not putting this onto a cotton round. You're not wiping it off. It stays on the face. Now, you can decide whether you let it dry completely or whether you are leaving skin a little bit damp as you apply your serum and your oil.
All of those are great options. I personally leave my skin damp. I like the way it feels when everything is absorbing a little bit differently, but you absolutely can let it dry. Both of those are good. So before we get into our serum step, I want to pause again and see if anyone has had any questions so far.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one in the chat about cleansers.
Okay. I have aging skin and can be super sensitive to chemicals, but you're chemical-free. But the Aloe Herb doesn't work for me. My skin is oily and I'm often in dirty environments such as barns, gardens, and with my dog. So the Aloe Herb Cleanser kind of just feels like I'm smearing the dirt around.
So I wanted to see if you had any tips and tricks or any recommendations.
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's a really good question. Thank you for bringing that question out. Cause that offers a broader scope of products that we might speak to. A different cleanser might be a better fit for oily skin or skin that's very regularly exposed to just environmental buildup.
This one is the Citrus Mint Cleanser. It comes in two sizes here. It's a gel-based cleanser. So it's got a little bit more bubbliness to it there, there still isn't any harsh surfactant in it, but with that gel consistency to it, it is a little bit of a deeper cleanse. It's really designed for skin types that are oily.
It's designed for skin types that are maybe combination. Anybody who's kind of working on controlling the oil on their face, this is a really, perfect one. This does also have some rosemary and some peppermint in it as well. And both of those can help cut through excess oil or really just any excess buildup.
So if it's a lot of dirt or if it's a lot of like sawdust or something like that those essential oils in this, this gel blend really just kind of cut right through that so that you're cleansing the skin a little bit more deeply. Another thing that could be helpful especially for days where you're feeling particularly grimy is some form of a facial scrub.
We talked about this one, which could be good for you, the Radiant C. Another option is this one the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant. It's a pretty textured exfoliant. There's a lot of kind of grittiness to it. We utilize a crushed bamboo stem powder as the scrub and it's a rounded what, like, vinyl product. So it's not scratching the face, but it's very deeply exfoliating. And so for days that are just like extra dirty feeling, this one leaves skin feeling super clean. This also works really nicely on the body. So I think that Grace had said you work in, in some kind of outdoor or maybe animal-related environment. If the body's also got a lot going on with it, this is, this is helpful for that area too. Just like a good buff for the body. And a little bit goes a long way. How often you would use this one? It's a little bit of a deeper texture than the Radiant C and so with oily skin you could probably get away with two to three times a week.
For anyone else who's listening who might have more normal or normal to dry skin, you can still use this one, but I would probably stick to one to two times a week for skin that's on the drier side. So one of those two, I think would be good. And then as far as the toning mist, one that we didn't even get into is the Rosemary Toning Mist and it is a really nice one for controlling oil in general.
You don't have to be an oily skin type, just if you get shiny, this is a good one to use for that. It’s great later in the day as a midday pick-me-up. I'll often use this as like just kind of shine control. So that one if your skin is quite oily, this is probably what I would suggest for you there.
Beautiful. Any other questions, Grace? Okay, cool. Let's get into serums.
Okay, so there are quite a few serums. We have six in total. I'm not going to speak to every single one of them. I'm going to speak to maybe three. And then if there are questions about specific ones, you can absolutely let me know.
But it sounded like the first one. The concerns of the collective were related to aging, so I'm going to focus on that here. The first one I want to talk about is the Anti-Aging Serum, this one. The Anti-Aging Serum is a very, very popular product. We do offer it in two sizes because of that. The Anti-Aging Serum, one of the key components is hyaluronic acid.
And this hyaluronic acid is a humectant, so it pulls moisture to it, and then it gently plumps up and expands. There's this really light, lovely plumping that happens very quickly with the hyaluronic acid that we use specifically in the Anti-Aging Serum. We also feature in this one this really lovely floral blend.
We've got Rose and Edelweiss and Life Everlasting and all of these florals are included in this blend to support the strength of the skin. And so we're maintaining the resiliency, we're creating a little bit more like bounce back with the skin over time with this Anti-Aging Serum. So this is one that I'll often recommend if someone is dry, if someone's, you know, experiencing signs of aging, especially early signs of aging, like fine lines or some creasing, or just if aging is a concern in general. This might be one that we would reach for.
So the next one is this one. This is the Wild Fruit Serum. So this specific one, of course, is part of the Wild Alchemy Collection. You can see with that, with that black label here. The Wild Fruit Serum, it does have hyaluronic acid. Like the Anti-Aging Serum, but then it's got quite a bit more.
We've got in this one a fair amount of stem cells. We use Madonna Lily plant stem cells in ours. And the stem cells are super supportive for maintaining and almost retraining the lift and tautness of the face. Great for the jawline, great for just like drooping on the bottom of the cheeks there. This is a really, really helpful one to have in your routine. This does also have some pretty potent brighteners. We've got Uva Ursi, we've got Licorice Root, Uva Ursi specifically is this very targeted brightener. It works with specific spots on the face. And one of the other ingredients that is attributed to the name of this is called kakadu plum. And that kakadu plum is super vitamin C rich. And so you've got this beautiful, like, glowy feel using this one. This is what I'll typically suggest if addressing signs of aging is a priority. If that's a large concern, because this addresses signs of aging from so many different angles, and it's got the stem cells in here, it's a pretty potent and pretty activated blend.
And so I really, I prefer this one to pretty quickly address uneven tone, uneven texture, creasing, drooping, all of that.
Now the final one here is this one, this is the Activated Night Serum. Now this particular one has a very specific ingredient that we call bioactive A. And this bioactive A is essentially a retinol alternative.
It's a variation of an ingredient that is still exfoliating the skin. It's providing this very taut, very lifted look to the face. But this blend is very rich and very smooth. The ingredients that we've included in the greater blend are designed to immediately nourish the skin. So you don't get that very, like, parched, red, flaky feel that you can get with a traditional retinol or a retinol product.
A lot of time, retinol breaks people out or retinol just really irritates the skin. This one is quite a bit more gentle. It's still pretty effective. I was going to say intense, but that's not quite the right word. Still very effective. This is one that my skin type, I'm kind of normal to dry. It's a little bit too much for me to use it every single night.
So I will often take a couple nights off of this one. But the Activated Night Serum is a pretty important one, a pretty helpful one for very quickly smoothing the skin. I've been using this one very consistently sort of, since we launched it, I took some weeks off over the summer. One of the things with this one is it does increase photosensitivity. And so if you are going to be out in the sun, the next day, we want you to either take a night off or be extra mindful to use your Sun Love when you're going outside. This is a clean, zinc oxide sunscreen here. So making sure to protect the skin and protect the skin appropriately is very important with this one, with the bioactive A in here.
But I've been using this one for a couple of months and I feel like the tiny lines I've been working on feel more smoothed out and plumped up. More than lines or creasing on the cheek, I was working with some post-acne hyperpigmentation and I feel like that's really helped to lift that. So I think that this is a valuable one to have in your routine.
Now, as the name suggests, it is for evening use only but you can take a couple nights off. So having an alternate serum, something like the Anti-Aging or the Wild Fruit Serum, something like that to use in the morning or to use on the nights off are pretty good options here.
So I think I'll be complete with the serums unless there are other questions I could get into.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one in the chat, which is such a good question. I got samples of the Probiotic Serum, the Citrus Stem Cell Serum, and the Anti-Aging Serum, and I have no idea how or when to use them. So, serum trio, which we love these questions.
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes, good question, good question. So, you received the Anti-Aging, the Citrus Stem Cell, and the Probiotic Serum. Obviously, yours are going to be trial size. These are the full-size options. Now, all of these are serums. And so in your routine, as you're using them, you're looking to select one that's going to be used as your serum step.
You don't need to layer them. You don't need to mix them. Typically what I suggest with the serum trio is that you pick one to start with and use it to completion before you start with the next one. Unless for some reason you find that you just like absolutely hate it and then, of course, don't finish it.
But if you're just exploring what they feel like, pick one, use it all the way through, and then go on to the next one. Because what that does is that provides this opportunity for you to really feel how it works with your skin, what it feels like, the effects that you're seeing in a shorter time frame.
The sample sizes tend to last, oh gosh, those ones, I would say a week-ish, maybe two. And so you get an isolated feel of it. Now, the big difference is between these three serums, we already talked about the Anti-Aging, that one's got a lot of hyaluronic acid, so a lot of plumping happens with this one.
The Citrus Stem Cell, that one is really working to brighten the look of the complexion. We have uva ursi, we have licorice root, we have amla berry. We also have these very potent citrus peel derived stem cells as part of this one. So there's a little bit of a lift that's happening too. But all of these are working to brighten the tone and the texture of the face.
Of the three, it's got the least amount of hyaluronic acid of any sort of hydrator. So if you are somebody who's really dry, you might notice that this one feels a little bit drier. But if your skin's normal or normal combo, this one is probably going to feel just fine.
The last one, the Probiotic Serum, this one is designed for skin that's imbalanced. So really any skin type that's working on kind of supporting the microbiome of the face. We've got in here an olive leaf ferment, we have a probiotic complex, and all of those are working to provide this really supportive nourishment to feed the good bacteria of the face and keep everything in this perfect balance.
So this is a really great one if you're somebody who experiences really any kind of skin issue repeatedly. Anything where the skin's kind of sensitive or thin. We also use in here the tremella mushroom. And the tremella mushroom functions similarly to hyaluronic acid.
It's just a different variation of a humectant. So you're getting a lot of hydration very quickly with that ingredient just to work to plump up the face and soothe the skin. So that's the difference between all three of them. And again, I would recommend that you pick one, go ahead and use it all the way up to get a feel for it and then come in with the next one you're wanting to use.
Perfect. Okay, any other questions?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes. So there are two, bouncing off the original question, how often do you use the serum?
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Ideally, we're using this morning and evening. So this is going to be the third step in your routine, both morning and evening. It is completely different than a moisturizer.
A serum is working to provide this light layer of hydration to the lower layers of the face, like deep under the skin. It also is typically the step that is our treatment step, treatment used in the sense of like thinking specifically to what our concerns are and working to select our serum from there.
But we are using this after we've done our toning mist in the morning, after we've done our toning mist in the evening. Both morning and evening. Very rarely would I suggest going without it. Or all the time. We're using it all the time.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Perfect. Okay, there is another one. So, how are serums and facial oils different than a normal moisturizer?
And then in parentheses, consider me a newbie to these natural healthcare products. Why two things instead of one? Can you mix them in your hand and apply it once? I just want a fast and simple routine.
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I feel that. So there are a couple layers to the question here. I want to start with the difference between the serum and the oil.
So your serum, and this is true for our serums, true for serums kind of as a concept. They tend to be thinner in consistency with the intention for them to absorb more deeply into the skin. Again, to provide this light layer of hydration to the lower layers of skin, but also to be kind of this this step that's addressing changing the skin.
This is where we're working to lift the look of skin or deeper creasing or hydrate skin that's dehydrated or lighten the look of pigmentation. All of these things kind of start lower in the skin and then we experience them as they make their way to the surface.
This oil is going to be working completely differently. The consistency is oil based, probably obvious, but just for clarity, it's an oil base, and this is working to supplement the natural oil production to support the upper layer of the skin. So this upper layer is essentially what we call the acid mantle, and it's this protective barrier of the skin. Skin of the face, the skin of the body.
And as we age, the natural oil production can start to slow down a little bit, which is when we start to feel a little bit drier, we might feel a little bit creepier. It can exacerbate into deeper lines, deeper creasing, things like that. But all of that is to say that the oil, the feel of the oil, the weight of the oil is designed to bring skin back into this very kind of balanced, healthy place.
And our oils and this is not necessarily true for all the oils that are out there, but we look for very clean organic ingredients, organic, wild crafted, or like I said, the third is like the tiny farms that don't want to pay to be organic. It's this very, intentionally curated blend that is quite biorecognizable.
So because your skin naturally produces oil, when you use an oil that's close to nature, that's that simple and clean, there's this almost like ease in the recognizability where the skin just naturally kind of figures out what to do with it. It knows what to do with oil as a moisturizer, because growing up before we even used skin care products, that's all we had, your body naturally producing oil kept you perfectly balanced.
And so we're supplementing that with the oil and making sure to choose the right one is also important. And we'll speak to those soon. And so hopefully there's some more information there, but I absolutely understand the desire for a little bit of a simpler routine and you can mix them in the palm of your hand.
So it changes the feel of it slightly. I would still mist your skin. I would definitely leave skin damp, do two to three pumps of a serum. One pump, maybe a pump and a half. You really don't need very much of the oil, mix it and apply it. What happens when you apply that together, it is faster. It's a little bit less moisturizing. And so you might find, especially if you're on the really dry side that you need an additional, like half pump of oil to just kind of press into the cheeks or something like that. That tends to be enough to feel adequately balanced without needing a whole face. And it just kind of speeds the process along. So that is a perfectly viable step to mix together.
Yeah, I definitely encourage everyone to try it out and to see how it feels. I have seasons where I do like it and I have seasons where I don't like mixing it. It just feels different. So I recommend trying it on.
Oh, perfect. Okay, any other questions, Grace, in the chat? Cool. Thank you for your questions, everyone. I love it when it's interactive like this. Let's get into facial oils.
So we spoke to serums. We started to talk about oils as a concept. Now the group I've got here, I've got some concerns with aging. I've got concerns of oily skin. Let's talk about these two.
This is the first one. So this is the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. This is an incredibly loved product. This is one of our bestsellers, if not the bestseller, time and time again, which is actually why we do have this in two sizes the 30 milliliter and the 15. The Anti-Aging Facial Oil is the richest of our facial oils.
It has this really full feel to it. We use an organic golden jojoba, which is a really cool skin ingredient because organic jojoba, this particular one, really mimics very closely the skin's natural oil and its weight. And it's molecule size. It's a close parallel. And so for people who are really dry, their skin's just not quite producing enough oil. This one is a great one to integrate because it helps to bring that kind of back up to a balanced feel. The way we craft our oils is we start with this anchor oil, in this case a jojoba oil, and then we steep it at a low heat with whatever herbs or plants or seeds we're wanting to incorporate. So, with this one, we have steeped into it broccoli seed and chia seed, goji berry, plantain.
All of these are used in this product to help to support the strength of the skin and restore this very smooth, full feel to the face. One of the things that's really cool that I observe with the facial oils as a form of moisture, and I observe it with my younger customers, I also observe it with my older customers, that using oil as a moisturizer, your skin takes on this very healthy, like, youthful glow with the oil moisturizing the face.
And so there's this natural radiance, even with the first initial applications, if there hasn't even been any change in wrinkle depth or tautness, there's just this additional radiance and youthfulness that you get with using a facial oil. So the Anti-Aging is one good option.
For my person who had mentioned they have oily skin, this particular one is the Herbal Facial Oil for Oily Skin. It's a much lighter oil. This one starts with a hazelnut oil. So it can feel counterintuitive to use oil for oily skin, but oil is what actually can work with oil. And so the ingredients that have been steeped into this hazelnut oil, we have some neem, we have some white willow bark, we've got this beautiful bitter orange leaf extract.
All of these are working to kind of balance the oil production and also keep pores cleared out to help to maintain the cleanliness of pores. And so for anyone who experiences large pores specifically you can find treatment to use like a spot treatment in that area or if your skin is oily this would be the moisturizer I would recommend for you.
Now, if you're transitioning, so at least one person had mentioned that they wanted to know how is this different than a lotion and they might be transitioning from more traditional skin care products. There can be a little bit of an adjustment period with oil specifically.
It's usually not longer than two weeks and it can look very different from person to person. Oftentimes moisturizers, so cream moisturizers or even lotions are required to use some form of a synthetic emulsifier to maintain the consistency of the product. Otherwise, it would separate. And so the skin emulsifier, the synthetic emulsifier can feel it's this kind of a well, it's synthetic support for the skin.
And so removing that there's this a little bit of a like, whoa, what are we doing? Kind of with the skin and where skin can either feel really dry, it might be a little flaky on the nose. It can also go the other direction and you get a little bit of an over-oily feeling, or you start to get little white breakouts around the nose or the mouth where the skin's really thin. That can definitely happen.
Now, like I said, two weeks is usually the max that I would give that. And that's just kind of giving the skin time to come into adjusting to that very simple, clean oil. Another thing to know is with any of the products, but oils especially, if you apply them and you experience discomfort then please stop. None of our products are going to cause like swelling or breakouts or anything like that. So if you're experiencing that, it's possible that there's some sort of a reaction. And so just reach out to us and we would love to work with you from there. So what questions can I answer about the facial oil?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one in the chat that I was just about to answer, but it may make more sense to say verbally. I usually add the oil after the serum. I thought I read to let the serum dry and then apply the oil. What are your thoughts?
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: You can do either. I think that the recommendations on all of the products, the directions say to let everything dry, and that's a perfectly fine way to do it. So if you've been doing that and that is working for your skin, you don't need to change it. I find that leaving the skin a little bit damp from the toning mist and then applying the serum and the oil while my skin is still damp helps everything absorb into the skin in this more even way where I feel like I don't look greasy, I don't feel dry, I just feel kind of perfectly balanced and it could come down to skin type.
I haven't really pulled on the thread of like why one skin type might like it more than the other, but I encourage the exploration of leaving skin damp with the serum and then applying the oil or mixing them or leaving skin damp with the toning mist and going from there and letting that be how you apply the products.
Any one of those ways is perfect and good. It kind of comes down to what feels best for your skin. So yes.
Anything else in the chat, Grace?
I want to talk about the eye cream and then we can see where we're at. Pretty quiet group and a pretty small group so we might not take the full hour and a half here. This product, the Anti-Aging Eye Cream, is one of my absolute favorites. I'm a huge fan of this one and have been even before I worked for the company.
I specifically love this one for puffiness under the eye. I tend to be very consistent with it, but I've found that if I go camping or if I've had a weekend where I'm taking a couple nights off or, you know, I’m busy and I miss it, I notice the difference and it's just a little bit of the puffiness starting to show through.
I really attribute a lot of the tautness of my eye area directly to this eye cream. I know that we've got stem cells in this product. This is helping to maintain the lift and the strength of the eye area. I also know that we've got ubiquinone in our Coq 10, which is also a strengthener, a moisturizer, and a strengthener for that eye area. And then another really key ingredient is cucumber distillate. And the cucumber distillate is super helpful for puffiness under the eyes, which is one of the things that I've used it for a lot. And so although we're building a basic routine, I know that oftentimes people have concerns with the eye area.
And I honestly think the sooner you start to integrate a regular eye product like this, the better off you'll be down the road. And so this is one that I absolutely recommend and absolutely recommend that you keep stocked on hand here.
Okay. So we have quite a bit of time. I want to open it up and see if we do have any other questions. I'll go ahead and open up the chat to Grace.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one that just came in that I again was typing and I was typing it for so long that I was like, I can tell this is going to be confusing, ha.
The question is, is a toning mist necessary?
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I would say it's as necessary as any of these other products are. I think it is a pretty key game changer in the whole routine. So the toning mist, and often times people leave this out, and so if you find that you don't need it, that your skin feels ok without it then that's good for you, but watch how it works with the skin and how it changes the skin it is pretty important here. So when we're misting the skin, we're providing this burst of hydration, we’re kind of already activating the lower layers of the skin. We're also providing this burst of nutrition and it can be either supporting normal, combo, oily, or sensitive skin, you know, they're all formulated a little bit differently. So this burst of hydration is a burst of nutrition. Another thing is all of our serums, every single one of them contain some variation of a humectant, whether hyaluronic acid, tremella mushroom, this humectant, what it does is it seeks out moisture in its environment in order to plump up and expand. So to kind of, swell in a way to plump up fine lines. So when you've misted your skin, whether you let it dry completely or whether it's still damp, when you come in and apply your serum, your serum's already boosted a little bit further in terms of plumping the skin up. And so there's this additional like expansion that can happen in those finer line areas.
It also, I think, is a pretty key vehicle if you are someone who's kind of struggling with integrating the oil, if you're finding that the oil feels either weird or shiny, or your skin still feels really dry even though you're using the right products, leaving the skin damp can be helpful. So misting it, leaving it damp and then applying the serum and the oil as skin is still damp is what really acts as this vehicle to kind of pull that all into the skin.
And so I do highly suggest it. If that's something you're experiencing or working with or concerned with experiencing. Because it's a pretty key game changer in that way. So is it necessary? It's kind of as necessary as any of these other products. Might be. I do think it's a pretty key part of a routine, especially a full routine.
So I do definitely suggest it.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Okay. Now we have a few more that trickled into the chat. And they're direct messages to me, just in case, if you didn't see them when they came in.
So there are two different questions. So I'll start with the first one. Any tips about cleansing, washing hot water versus cold water, a facial brush, no facial brush etc?
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah. So these are good questions. Generally speaking with water, you want it to be on the warmer side. Okay, but not scalding hot. Cold water can be used with purpose, but usually when you're integrating cold water, what you're doing is you're closing everything up. So a cold water would, I often would recommend cold water more for like breakout prone or any kind of irritation, something where there might be heat or activation or swelling or something like that.
So a good rule of thumb is a pretty like lukewarm tepid water. Anything that's super hot is going to just cut through the acid mantle more than you want. But you also can have a little bit of like a comfortable temperature. It can be a good, a good heat.
Then as far as tools go, whether you're using like a facial brush, we have a Lotus brush. I think the Lotus brush is out of stock right now. But there are like Clarisonics that exist and gosh, I mean, any tool you can think of, I'm sure it exists. And all of those can be used with our products. Perfectly. They can increase the exfoliation a little bit, and increase the depth of the product a little bit. So I think it would come down to your skin type and then what tool you were looking into. For example, if you're really dry and you're wanting a really intense Clarisonic, that might not be your most suited tool. It might be too much cleansing, over-stripping the oils of the face. But generally speaking, adding a little bit of an extra boost with a brush or something of that sort, it can be a nice touch. It really helps to evenly cleanse the skin.
Another option that is pretty attainable for anyone is integrating a warm, wet washcloth just as your removal process. So you're cleansing your skin and you've splashed water on your face, you've done you know three pumps of your cleanser, massaged it in, and then when you're removing it, get a washcloth, get it a little bit warm, wet, and then just remove the cleanser that way. There's a little bit of a deeper cleanse that happens with that, and most people have a washcloth at home. So that's another great thing to try if you're wanting to kind of boost your experience with the cleanser.
Did that hit all those, Grace?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Yeah, okay. And then there's one more. Is cleansing necessary twice a day or a whole routine twice a day or is once a day enough?
Kate Callaway – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's a good question. So I do think that when you're starting to, when skin's really starting to slow down, to break down I won't assign a number to it, but upper age when aging and dryness is a big concern.
They can over cleanse the skin. In which case I would still suggest a full evening routine and then rinsing your face with water in the morning and still coming in with at least an oil in the morning, if not the toning mist serum and oil. But I do think you hit a certain point where you, just water in the morning is appropriate for where your skin's at, for the acid mantle, for the, the resiliency and body of the skin. I think it's perfectly fine. I don't think that comes for quite some time. So if you're listening and you’re in your thirties, we're probably not there yet, but otherwise, yeah, water is okay in the morning, but I would still do a bare minimum with the oil in the morning. If you're not doing a full routine in the morning.
Great questions. Are there any other questions that I can answer for you guys?
Okay, I don’t see anything coming through on the chat and everybody's pretty quiet, so I'm going to go ahead and close it out. I did want to express thank you to everyone for joining us this afternoon. This midday here and happy shopping with your products. Let us know if you have any questions and yeah, have a great rest of your Wednesday, everyone. Bye.
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