Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on November 6th, 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.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: From there we can jump into products and routines.
Like I was saying, since it is a smaller group, if it sounds good to you guys we can just touch on each of your concerns and go from there. Does anybody feel like they would be willing or want to share a little bit about your skin, about your skin concerns, why you joined the call, etc?
Customer: So I'm 59 years old and gluten- and grain-free. I know that some of y'all's products are gluten and grain-free. But I've only tried, you know, just a few that y'all had little samples of. I don't wear a lot of makeup, I'm just not a makeup person. I don't like it, but almost everything that I try, I get cystic acne or just some redness and break out and I don't know what to do. I've tried just about everything.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, that's so frustrating. I’m sorry.
Customer: And just so y'all know, I found y'all through Dr. Osborne.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, awesome. What kit do you have? Is it the one with the Aloe Herb Cleanser in it?
Customer: Let me see. It has the Aloe Herb Cleanser, the Anti-Aging Serum, and Anti-Aging Facial Oil. And so I can use the Aloe Herb Cleanser about three to four times a week and that's it. If I try to do it every single day I break out. The Anti-Aging Serum, I can do it by itself and I seem to be okay. Or I can do the facial oil by itself, but I cannot blend them.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Huh. Okay. So the Aloe Herb Cleanser, I'm surprised that it would cause an issue. That is one that we do often recommend for more sensitive skin types. You could possibly give the Restorative Cleansing Oil or the Renew Cream Cleanser a try. Another thing that you could try if you wanted to is incorporating honey cleansing. I am a big fan of honey cleansing. I have done this occasionally in the past when struggling with congestion and I know that Grace has done it as well, and she has extremely sensitive skin. You could alternate using the Aloe Herb Cleanser and using the honey. You can use raw honey or Manuka honey. I personally use Manuka honey, UMF 15.
Have you tried it before?
Customer: Not for cleansing. I'm actually a nutritional health coach at Natural Grocers in Tyler, Texas. So I'm very familiar with the benefits of Manuka. So yeah, I may actually try it for that.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Great. And, you know, it sounds like it would be really sticky and messy, but it's really not. You just want to dampen your face first and then apply the honey, massage it in, and then rinse it clean. You can also use it like a treatment mask and leave it on for like 10 or 15 minutes and then rinse it. So that could be an option for the cleanser, but I will also talk about the Renew Cream Cleanser and the Restorative Cleansing Oil that I mentioned as well.
And then we can talk about some other options too, for your serum and your oil because it sounds like you may be okay with using the Anti-Aging Serum, but there's a couple of others that might be even better suited for your skin. And same with the oil. I know the Anti-Aging Facial Oil has a bit higher concentration of essential oils than some of our other facial oils. So that one might be a little bit more irritating to you. So we could talk about some options for that as well.
Okay, great. Thanks so much. Did anybody else want to share? Also, if you don't want to share, you don't have to. You can always just listen. But did anybody else want to share a little bit about your skin, why you joined, what you're looking to learn, anything like that?
Customer: I will. I’m Jennifer. I apologize I got on a few minutes late. I randomly heard about the product line and I did the online quiz. So I've got a cleanser of yours. I've got two serums and one oil and I've used them for maybe about a week or two. So far I like what I have. Except for the Rejuvenating Facial Oil. I like how my skin feels like maybe the next day, but I feel like it's a little heavy. I have changed the way I've applied it. So that makes it feel a little bit better, but it still feels heavy to me. My face, it's really dry. Menopause makes everything dry and I live at a very high altitude. So I don't know if anti-aging is a better product line or what I have. And then the one concern that I'm not sure if what I have is addressing is the little, I don't know what to call it, the little bit of flappy skin that's really starting to become very pronounced. So that is sort of where I’m at with the product line and using it and what I have experienced with it.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Ok, great. What other products do you have of ours that you're using?
Customer: I left them upstairs. I'm going to look at my email. So I have the Phytonutrient Cleanser, the Wild Fruit Serum, which I use during the day. And then I have the Activated Night Serum, which I use at night. And then the Rejuvenating Facial Oil.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Perfect. Those are fabulous products. Some of my favorites.
Okay, great. Yeah, we can chat about some options, but honestly, the Wild Fruit Serum and the Activated Night Serum of those products that you mentioned are really excellent ones for addressing signs of aging.
And so you know, I always kind of tell people, especially with like the sagging skin and the drooping skin, you know, we want to be realistic about our expectations of what kind of results we're going to see just with product use versus, you know, fillers and things like that. Not that we're recommending that, of course. But those products that you're using are excellent choices. The Wild Fruit Serum and the Activated Night Serum are probably what I would most recommend. The Activated Night Serum, we can talk about that one some more, but that contains our retinol alternative. And so that is gonna be excellent for addressing signs of aging. So, honestly, you're kind of already on track.
The only other thing I would say, you could maybe incorporate the elixirs if you wanted to. So we can talk about the elixirs. And then are you just, I'm assuming like when you're using all your serums and everything, you're just kind of pulling down onto the neck as you're applying since that's an area of concern for you.
Customer: Yeah. Do I pull up or down? I try to make it go up. Anti-gravity, you know?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: You can do either. I feel like I do both.
Okay. Perfect. Good. Does anybody else want to share?
Customer: Yeah, I'm Shelly. I live in Wisconsin. We are now going into winter and we heat our house with a pellet stove so it gets really dry and I'm a redhead. So I’m dry to begin with. I grew up in California, and never wore sunscreen. So I have a lot of sun damage. If you could feel my forehead, it's like a bumpy road. And so I did, I have used one of your serums. It was, I think, your basic serum a few years ago. I have come back to it and felt it made a difference. But if I got the correct products for my face I feel like I would be better off.
So I did order the sample of, let’s see what's all in there. I think it was the one, the same one that Denise has. Yeah, the Aloe Herb, Anti-Aging Serum, and Anti-Aging Oil.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes. Perfect.
Customer: Yeah, I got that but I just got it two days ago, and I haven't even used it yet.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, yeah so that Clean Beauty Trial kit is a really popular starter kit that a lot of people start out with. And so I would give it a try and see how your skin's feeling as you use the products. And then we can talk about some other product options too, that might be even better than what's in there for addressing the dryness and the sun damage, etc. But that's definitely a good place to start. A lot of people start with that little kit.
Great. Does anybody else want to share or should we start there?
Okay, let's start there. So we'll start with the Clean Beauty Trial Kit. The Aloe Herb Cleanser is the cleanser that comes in that kit. And that one is very, very popular. It's our best-selling cleanser. It's really good for all skin types. A lot of times I tell people if you're not sure where to start that can be a good place to start because you really just can't go wrong with it.
So it's a creamy, nourishing cleanser. It's got some lemon essential oil, which is going to be purifying and brightening. It gives it a really nice scent too. I think that's part of why it's so popular, because people like the way it smells. Grace always says she wishes she had it in a candle.
It's also got calendula, so soothing, calming, good for alleviating any temporary redness in the skin. It's got some coconut oil in it, so that's going to contribute to that nice creamy, rich texture. And then aloe, of course. So aloe is rich in vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients and enzymes and all of these things that are really nourishing the skin. So that one is an excellent one to start with.
I know that Jennifer mentioned the Phytonutrient Cleanser. That one is also excellent. Honestly, I love both and I use and alternate between both. The Phytonutrient is also a cream cleanser. It's a little bit thicker, a little bit richer than the Aloe Herb. The texture is almost a little bit fattier because it has a mango seed butter in it. It's also got an apple extract in it. So the apple extract is rich in vitamin C and malic acid. So great for brightening the look of skin. So Shelly, you could try the Aloe Herb Cleanser in your kit, see how you're feeling about it, and then decide if you want to give the Phytonutrient a try. It would be another great option.
Before I go on, maybe we'll stop and talk about collections really quickly because we have a few different collections within our line.
The two main collections that we have are the Signature Collection, all of the Signature Collection products have tan labeling.
So the Aloe Herb Cleanser, for example, is in the Signature Collection, this collection, a lot of these products are our bestsellers. A lot of them are products that have been around since we first got started.
And then the other main collection that we have is the Wild Alchemy Collection. All of these products have the black and gold labeling.
The Wild Alchemy Collection is our luxury line. What makes it our luxury line is that the products in this collection contain higher levels of activated ingredients. So things like that apple extract that I just mentioned, things like the bioactive A complex, and our pure vitamin C, our THDA.
So higher levels of activated ingredients and then also more exotic ingredients. So these like globally sourced ingredients and then also the crafting process for those products, the way they're made, is a little bit more laborious. So that's kind of why those products have a higher price point.
And then the other collection that I'll mention because I might talk about some of these products for Denise, is the Essentials Collection. The Essentials Collection is just two products. It's the Renew Facial Cream Cleanser and the Radiate Facial Oil. So these two products are offered at a lower price point than any of our other products. The reason for that is because they don't contain our herb infusions. So they're just really simple products. The crafting process is simple, but they're still great products. The Essentials Collection products are not often the products that I'll recommend if you're really concerned with aging and you want to see visible results quickly, but they can be great products if you have very sensitive skin, reactive skin, or even if you are someone just getting started on a routine and want something very simple. So that Renew Cream Cleanser, Denise, that would be one that you could possibly try to see if your skin reacted well to it because like I said, it's that really simple formula. It’s sort of a similar texture, similar feel to the Aloe Herb Cleanser.
And then the other cleanser in the line that I'll mention that you could possibly try is the Restorative Cleansing Oil. So this one is also in the Wild Alchemy Collection. This one is a little bit different than our other cleansers.
So all the other cleansers that we talked about, the Aloe Herb, the Phytonutrient and the Renew. You just use them like a typical cleanser. You wet your face, you massage your cleanser in, you rinse it off and pat skin dry. This one's a little bit different because it is an oil. This is excellent for removing makeup, mascara, sunscreen, anything like that. And it can be used on its own. So you can just have this be your cleanser that you use every day if you want to, or it can be used as the first step in a double cleanse routine. And if you were going to do that, you would just use this first, and then you would follow it with your Aloe Herb or your Phytonutrient or whatever you prefer.
So, as I said, this one you use it a little differently. You apply it to dry skin with dry hands. You massage it in, really thoroughly massaging. And then you can just rinse and that can be it. Or like I mentioned you can follow it with a second cleanser. Some people like to remove this one with a warm towel or warm washcloth.
This one really is good for all skin types. For dry and mature skin. It feels very nourishing because it's an oil. This one, even after you rinse it, you still are gonna feel like a bit of the oil on your skin. Some people like that, some people don't like that, but for really dry skin, that can be kind of nice. You'll have less of that if you're using it in a double cleanse routine or removing it with a warm towel. This cleanser is also great for oily skin or congestion-prone skin, which it doesn't sound like we have a lot of that in this group, but like attracts like, so it's going to help to break down excess oil and congestion in the skin. I personally am a huge fan of oil cleansing. This cleanser is a golden jojoba oil base. Jojoba oil very closely mimics the texture of your skin's natural sebum. This one also has some tea tree oil in it, which is purifying. It's got Manuka oil in it. We already talked a little bit about Manuka. I’m obsessed with Manuka. Let's see, I feel like I'm forgetting something in here. Tea tree, manuka, jojoba. I think there's castor oil in this one. But anyways, this could be another option possibly for you, Denise.
Also, just so that you know, we do have a pretty lenient return policy. We really do want you to be happy with your products and love your products and find what works best for you. So we do have a 30-day return and exchange policy. You can always reach out to customer care if you are not happy with one of your products and you need help with that.
So those are the cleansers. Also, all of our cleansers are pH-balanced. It's important to choose a pH-balanced cleanser so that you're not disrupting your skin's natural protective barrier. All of our cleansers are a 5.5 to a 5. 6 on the pH scale, which is actually printed on our cleansers. Your skin's pH is a 4.5 to a 5.5. Also, all of our cleansers don't contain any harsh sulfates or harsh surfactants. A lot of traditional cleansers that have high foaming properties tend to be more alkaline. A lot of times they're using things like lauryl sulfates. We use a sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate. That's our surfactant and it's a safe low-foaming surfactant. It sounds fancy, but really it is just saponified oils, plant starches and sugars. It has an excellent cleansing profile while being completely safe. So those are the cleansers. Do you guys have questions about the cleansers at all?
Okay. Cool. All right. So then the next step in your routine would be your toning mist.
We have three different toners in the line. Your toner is just offering a dose of hydration and a dose of skin-supporting nutrients. Let's see, we'll probably just focus on the Neroli and the Botanical for this group. I don't know that anybody really would need the Rosemary.
So the Neroli Toning Mist, this one is our most popular toning mist, one of our top-selling products. People love this one. Again, I think part of it is because it smells really lovely. It's a very simple formula. It's an aloe vera juice base. It's got the neroli essential oil in there. Neroli is derived from fresh orange blossoms. So that’s why it smells so lovely and then it's got some Aspen Bark Extract, which acts as a natural preservative and is also a natural source of Salicins.
So after you cleanse your skin, you're going to rinse, you're going to pat dry, and then you would just mist your toning mist over your face and neck.
The other one that I'll mention is the Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle. This one is in our Wild Alchemy Collection.
These are both good for pretty much all skin types. The Neroli is good for dry, mature, and maybe a little bit of sensitivity. The Botanical is also good for dry and mature skin. It is also excellent for sensitive skin types as it contains a blend of four types of chamomile and rose as well.
As I mentioned already, Grace has very sensitive skin, and this is one of her Holy Grail products, she says. Along with the chamomile and rose this one has frankincense, which is known to tone, tighten, and rejuvenate. And immortelle of course, which is a potent antioxidant. So more of those anti-aging ingredients.
The scent profile is very different from the neroli. The neroli, like I said, has an almost sweet scent profile and the botanical is definitely more of an herbal scent profile, with the frankincense and immortelle in there. So if you're a scent person that can be good to know. So those are the toning mists.
So you would mist after you cleanse and then the next step in your routine would be your serum.
All of our toning mists say on the packaging to mist, let your skin dry, and then apply your serum. I actually would not recommend that. I would mist and then while your skin is still slightly damp from the toning mist apply your serum. Your skin is like a sponge. It's going to absorb better when it's damp. That way it doesn't ever feel like your serums and oils are just kind of sitting on the skin. That could be something to try if you haven't already.
Jennifer, you had mentioned that the Rejuvenating Facial Oil feels heavy. If you are not already, make sure that you're applying it when your skin is a little bit damp from your toning mist. Sometimes I'll even mist, apply my oil, and then mist again. You could even play around with misting into your hand, adding a pump of rejuvenating oil and mixing then applying. You can just kind of play around and see what feels good to you.
That Rejuvenating Facial Oil, has mongongo oil in it, so it's very nourishing. It's very softening. It feels really rich. And then yes, like you mentioned the scent profile. We can talk about some other oils too, but if you want to try with that one just kind of like diluting it a little bit with that toning mist, that can be helpful.
Okay. So those are the toning mists. Then we can move on to serums. Serums in general are excellent hydrators. There is the difference between dehydrated skin, which is skin that lacks water, and dry skin, which is skin that lacks oil. Most people have a little bit of both. They have a little bit of dehydration and a little bit of dryness. So it's nice to have that combination of hydrating products and moisturizing products in your routine to treat both the dehydration and the dryness.
So your hydrators are your serum and your toning mist, and then your moisturizer is your facial oil.
So serums in general, excellent hydrators, they are made up of a smaller molecule than a facial oil so they're able to penetrate more deeply. They usually contain higher levels of activated ingredients. So again, things like the bioactive A complex, and the THDA, our pure vitamin C. So they have higher levels of activated ingredients, and they're that smaller molecule. So getting those activated ingredients deeper into the skin. They also allow you to customize your routine a little bit more, to target and treat whatever your specific concerns are. So that's kind of the purpose of a facial serum. And we have several of them.
So a lot of you guys have the Clean Beauty Trial kit, it sounds like. The Anti-Aging Serum is the one that comes in that kit. This one is very popular. People love this one. It is probably our best-selling product. Again, kind of similar to the Aloe Herb Cleanser. If you're not sure, if you're overwhelmed, or you don't know where to start, sometimes the Anti-Aging Serum can be a good choice. Because again, it's just good for all skin types. That one is very antioxidant-rich, it's got life everlasting flowers, it's got buddleia extract, there's some rose in there, so soothing and nurturing. It's very deeply hydrating, it's got hyaluronic acid in it. We use a non-GMO vegetable source hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic is a humectant that binds water to the skin. Hyaluronic in particular holds 1,000 times its weight in water, so it's considered a super hydrator. Really deeply hydrating the skin is going to help to kind of plump the skin, which will help to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Whereas if your skin is really dehydrated, it's going to emphasize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. And so that can be a good one to start with. Like I said, a lot of you guys got that one in your kit.
Let's see, Denise, we were going to talk about maybe a couple of other options for Denise with the sensitivity.
Another serum option would be the Probiotic Serum With Tremella. This one is in the Signature Collection. This one is good for all skin types, but it's especially good for sensitive skin or skin that's kind of out of balance. It’s got a probiotic ferment in it. So that probiotic ferment can help to balance the skin's pH. It can help to eliminate impurities on the surface of the skin. The tremella mushroom extract acts very similar to the hyaluronic acid, very deeply hydrating the skin. This one has astaxanthin, which is a powerful antioxidant and olive leaf extract. I will say this one, if you're a scent person, some people don't like the way this one smells. Some people say it smells like dirt. I actually like the way it smells. I say it smells earthy. So just a heads up on the scent profile, it smells very different from the Anti-Aging Serum, which is more floral. Like I said, I don't know, this one smells earthy to me. But that could be a good option to try for you to try.
Another option in our Wild Alchemy Collection is our Activated CBD Serum. This one is also excellent for sensitive skin types. It's really good for all skin types but it's great for sensitive skin.
So this is Grace's other Holy Grail product. Did you want to chat about this one a little bit?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Yeah, of course. I actually just started using it again because it is a little heavy during the summertime. But it's almost like I re-fell in love with it because I didn't use it for a long time. Like Emily said multiple times I have sensitive skin, dry skin, there's just a lot going on usually and the beauty of the CBD serum is it helps with redness, but it also just really helps soothe my skin. So when I have anything that's just upset in any way or out of balance it really just helps calm it down, which is lovely while also being super super hydrating because there, correct me if I'm wrong, Emily, but there is Tremella in this one as well. So it's extremely, extremely hydrating for the skin, while also doing all the kind and lovely things that it's doing to soothe your skin. So, I love it. I use it all winter long, all fall. And it's just, honestly, a gem. So, I highly recommend it if you have sensitive skin.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Thanks, Grace. Did you have a question, Denise?
Customer: I did. I'm sorry, I had to unmute. So the tremella, is it wild harvested or is it grown on grain?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh gosh, great question. I actually don't know. Does it say in our ingredient glossary, Grace?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: I don't know if it'll say that exact thing on the website, but we can ask Rachel, our COO. She would 100% know that. So let me ping her really quick and see if she has any insight on that.
Customer: Okay, because when I say I'm sensitive, I mean, even something that has been grown in grain, like there's certain medicinal mushrooms, stuff like that, that's grown on grain and sorghum and stuff, and I can't take it. I cannot use it. Even some of the facial stuff.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: No worries. We definitely don't want you to use it if it's going to, you know, cause you to react in any way. So we totally understand.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: We do have a blog on it as well. So I wonder if it would be in the blog. I'll just put the link to the blog in the chat. It might say more about the sourcing there.
So the CBD serum does have both the tremella mushroom extract and the hyaluronic acid. So it does feel very hydrating. It's actually a little bit thicker and richer texture than some of our other serums. It smells lovely. I never really know how to describe how it smells, but it smells fantastic. So that is another excellent option for more sensitive skin types. Really, it's a great option for all skin types.
It's very antioxidant rich. It's got the astaxanthin in it. This one has superoxide dismutase. There's mangosteen oil in here. There's black cumin seed oil in here. So that really could be a good option for anybody but the probiotic and the CBD in general are the two that I typically recommend for more sensitive skin types.
Okay, I'm trying to think, what else? What other serums do we need to talk about? Oh, let's talk about Wild Fruit.
Okay. So Shelly, you were concerned with sun damage. So a few options for your serum…there’s the Citrus Stem Cell Serum, that one is excellent for skin that's had a lot of exposure to the elements, sun damage, etc. that one has citrus-derived stem cells in it. It's also got licorice root and uva ursi, so those are both lightening and brightening ingredients that can be helpful for the look of dark spots and pigmentation. So that can be a great option.
Then in the Wild Alchemy Collection, we have the Wild Fruit Serum. That could be another good option. I personally love the Wild Fruit Serum. It's my favorite serum. I tend to refer to it as our do-it-all all serum. It's helpful for hydrating, brightening the look of dark spots, addressing signs of aging, it kind of does all the things. That one has got the apple extract in it, so the vitamin C and the malic acid. That one has Madonna lily plant cells, it's got a really dense infusion of those plant cells. That one has a copper-infused water in it. It's got knotweed extract, which is a potent source of resveratrol. And then it's also got kakadu plum extract. So kakadu plum extract is very vitamin C rich as well. And it's also a source of phenolic acid. So phenolic acid behaves on the skin similar to an alpha hydroxy acid.
Alpha hydroxy acids have an exfoliating effect on the skin. They kind of dissolve the glue that holds the top layer of skin cells. So they help with resurfacing, with retexturizing, that sort of thing. So the Wild Fruit Serum would be another excellent option, the Citrus Stem or the Wild Fruit. But like I said, I personally love the Wild Fruit.
Another thing that you could think about incorporating into your routine that's great for addressing the look of dark areas would be the Brighten Elixir. So we have our Concentrated Boosting Elixirs. I was going to mention these anyway for Jennifer too. Just because it sounds like Jennifer, you already have an excellent routine, but if you are looking to kind of boost it even more this could be an option.
So our Concentrated Boosting Elixirs come in a set of three, but the Hydrate and the Brighten are also available to be purchased on their own in a larger size. The set of elixirs contains the Hydrate, Brighten, and Revitalize.
So the Concentrated Boosting Elixirs. These are not really a necessary product in your routine. You don't need to have the elixirs. They're just kind of a fun extra product. These are for the person who wants a full routine, who wants the highest level of activated ingredients in their routine, who is really focused on seeing visible results. These boosting elixirs were designed basically just to boost your routine, to boost the level of activated ingredients in your routine and to offer a clean alternative to these popular activated ingredients that you typically find in skin care products.
The Hydrate elixir, this one is a pure hyaluronic acid, which we already talked about how hyaluronic is really deeply hydrating, plumping the skin, paired with vegan collagen pre-peptides that are helping to strengthen the skin.
The Brighten elixir, is a pure vitamin C with seabuckthorn. The vitamin C that we use in this product is tetrahexyldecylascorbate or THDA, which is a mouthful to say, but the reason that we've chosen that particular vitamin C is because it's a really stable form of vitamin C. So a lot of vitamin C products on the market are not stable. So you open the product and it goes rancid really quickly and then it's not effective. THDA is a very stable form of vitamin C. It's also a very non-irritating form of vitamin C. It has a pH of 7 which is the same as water. A lot of times, vitamin C products can be irritating if your skin is sensitive. This one's also oil-soluble, so that's why we've chosen it.
Okay, and then the Revitalize elixir, this is the last one in the set of three. This one is the bioactive A complex with astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is that really powerful antioxidant that we talked about. And the bioactive A complex is our retinol alternative. So you've probably heard of retinol before, it's kind of considered the gold standard in anti-aging ingredients, but it's not great for your health. It can be harmful to reproductive health. Even for skin health, if you're using a traditional retinol or retin A over an extended period of time, it can start to thin the skin. And as we age, we really don't want to thin our skin. We want to have healthy, resilient skin. We want to support our skin's natural barrier. So that's why we came out with this alternative. It's offering similar results, that resurfacing, renewing effect on the skin without the side effects, without the negative effect on your health and your skin. So that's the Revitalize Elixir. That is also the activated ingredient that is in our Activated Night Serum. It has the same activated ingredient, but like Jennifer, if you wanted to, if you wanted to get really crazy, you could add the Revitalize elixir to the Activated Night Serum to boost the amount of bioactive A that you are getting. We do have a couple of girls on the team that do that. So it could be an option for you.
The way that you use these elixirs is by adding them to your serum. They are always to be mixed. They are never to be applied directly to the skin. If for some reason you weren’t using a serum you could mix it with your facial oil. So these come with a little dropper top and you just would pump your serum into the palm of your hand, drop three drops of the elixir into the serum, and then mix it up and apply. Or with the pump tops, like the full-size Hydrate or the full-size Brighten, you would just pump one pump of the elixir into the serum.
So, for example, with the Wild Fruit Serum, you've got the apple extract and you've got the Kakadu plum. So these ingredients are both really rich in vitamin C, these are natural sources of vitamin C, but they don’t contain the THDA which is a pure vitamin C. Hopefully that makes sense. So by adding the elixir to that serum, you are boosting the brightening benefits. But like I said it's just an option. It's not really a necessary product like it is not one of the four products in your core routine. So maybe you want to start out with the Citrus Stem Cell Serum, for example, or the Wild Fruit Serum, and then down the road you feel like you want that boost, then you could incorporate the elixirs.
Okay, so those are the elixirs. Are those all of the serums that I want to talk about? I think so. I think we're good. Does anybody have questions about serums, about elixirs? Or about anything else. No? Okay.
Customer: I actually have a question.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Great.
Customer: My routine is pretty much just wash my face and then put my facial oil on. I don’t really do anything else. And I feel like I'm missing a lot just by listening to you. Would it be beneficial for me to get the night serum?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, so usually what I tell people is, like we talked about, we have the basic four-step routine that we recommend for pretty much everyone, that you do morning and evening. Cleanse, tone, serum, oil. If you don't want to do four steps, say you only want to do two steps, the two steps that you want to do are cleanse and oil. So once you’ve got your cleanser and moisturizer, then you could choose to add another product. If you are going to just add one additional product, then yes, I would suggest adding a serum next because like we talked about serums contain high levels of activated ingredients, so they will help to deliver results, to address your skin concerns.
You can kind of pick and choose. You don't have to have a routine that's six steps. Honestly, a lot of times I will just cleanse and apply my facial oil and that’s it, because I have two kids and I'm tired and have no time. So yeah, I think you can start with the cleanser and the oil. If you're going to choose to add one more product, I would probably go with the serum just because they do have those higher levels of activated ingredients. And then down the road maybe you want to incorporate a toner as well.
And if you're trying to choose just one serum, do you usually do your routine morning and evening? Or?
Customer: Probably not, I do it in the morning, for sure. I'm not very consistent at night and maybe I should become more consistent at night.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So I would probably choose the Wild Fruit Serum because then you can use it morning and evening, or if you're just going to do your routine in the morning, you can use it in the morning.
The Activated Night Serum is only to be used at night. And you want to make sure that you're using that one with an SPF during the day. So if you're not always doing your routine at night, and if you're not consistent about using an SPF, it might not be the best option for you. Honestly, I love the Activated Night Serum, but sometimes I don't use it that often just because I'm really not good about wearing SPF every day. I guess that’s a bad thing to admit when you’re an esthetician, ha. And with that particular serum, you do want to make sure that you are diligent about using an SPF.
So I would probably start out with the Wild Fruit Serum because it's a little more versatile. You can use it in the morning. You can use it at night. And like I said, I love it. It’s my personal favorite. You’ll still get a great result from it. That would be my recommendation.
Customer: Okay. Thank you.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, of course. Good question. Any other questions? I love questions.
Okay. Well, let's move on to facial oils then, because I did want to talk about oils a little bit, just so we could give another option for Jen and Denise.
Okay. So your facial oil is your moisturizer. All of our facial moisturizers are oils. The reason that we've chosen oils is because oils are more pure. They don't require any fillers or waxes to be used. Oils are easily absorbed by the skin. Your skin's natural form of moisture is oil.
A lot of times if you go to the drugstore or even the department store and you get a fancy cream or lotion one of the first ingredients, which is something really easy to look for because a lot of times people don't know what to look for, one of the first ingredients is often water. So that's not great because you don't want water to be at the top of the ingredient list. Usually, ingredients are listed by level of concentration. A lot of times water is high up on the list and then whatever activated ingredients they're marketing tend to be at the very bottom. So that means there's not much of that ingredient in there. And then the other thing with water is that if there is water in a product, then they have to include more preservatives because bacteria can grow more easily. So you don't have that issue with a pure oil.
And again, we have a lot of different facial oils. A lot of you guys have the starter kit, the Clean Beauty Trial. So the Anti-Aging Facial Oil is the one that comes in there. This is a very popular one. Again, one of our best-selling products. People really like this one. It's a jojoba oil base. So like I said, jojoba really closely mimics the texture of your skin's natural sebum. So it's a good choice for dry and mature skin. I personally love jojoba oil and I think it's great for all skin types. But it's a jojoba oil base and then this one has a bunch of different seed oils in it. So there's carrot seed oil, broccoli seed oil, chia seed oil, etc. Chia, for example, is rich in vitamin B and zinc. This has Plantago in it as well. So just like a really dense herb infusion in this one. So it's a great one for dry and mature skin. It's very nourishing, very restorative.
Then the Rejuvenating Facial Oil that you have, Jennifer, that one, again, is very nourishing, very moisturizing. It's the jojoba oil base again and then it's got mongongo oil in it, which is super moisturizing, very softening. That one also has baobab oil which is helpful for brightening the look of skin, it's got marula oil, which is really antioxidant-rich. I am not sure how to describe the scent profile for this one. It is a stronger scent, like I wouldn’t say it is a very mild scent. For me, I feel like the Anti-Aging Oil and Rejuvenating Oil are stronger scents while the Radiate Oil and Divine Woman Elixir have a lighter scent. I personally tend to prefer the lighter scents, but I do think the Rejuvenating Facial Oil is excellent. I do use it, but it did take me a minute to get used to, and to like the scent.
But the Rejuvenating oil, that one it's good for all skin types except sensitive skin. It is our most potent. It is our most active facial oil. So that one, it includes fewer herbs in the herb infusion. It just has one herb, the butterfly pea flower. Whereas our other oils, like the Anti-Aging Facial Oil, probably has like 20 herbs in the herb infusion. So there's just one herb in the Rejuvenating. And then there's also far fewer of the seed oils and the CO2 extracts in that one. And the reason for that is that we wanted to make it more potent, more active. So by including fewer of those ingredients, we were able to include them at higher concentrations, at higher percentages.
But I'm trying to think what other option would be a good choice for you, Jennifer. So you could do the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. You could try that one and see if you like the scent profile of it because it is different from the Rejuvenating. It smells similar to the Anti-Aging Serum, with the floral and the vetiver in there. Another one that I really like that Grace likes as well is the Radiate Facial Oil, which is the one that is in the Essentials Collection. So like I said, that one is not going to be your most potent as far as activated ingredients. But it does feel really lovely on the skin. It has a really nice, mild scent.
And another one, I don't want to overwhelm you with options, but one more I’ll mention is the Divine Woman Elixir. So this one is in the Estate Blend Collection. This is a limited edition product, so that's the only thing. If you fall in love with it, which you probably will because it's fantastic, you may not always be able to get it. But I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, Grace, I believe we will probably always have some version of it.
So the thing about this collection, the Estate Blend Collection, what makes it special, is that the herbs that are used in this are grown on Moss Creek Farm, which is Kevin and Annmarie's farmlet. So they are growing the herbs themselves, harvesting the herbs. So that's kind of what makes this collection special. But this oil, it’s the jojoba oil base again. In comparison to the Rejuvenating Facial Oil, I think it's similar as far as moisture level. The herbs are different. So the Rejuvenating Facial Oil, like I said, it’s got those globally sourced, exotic ingredients like the mongongo, the baobab, and the marula.
This is like your more traditional blend. It’s got calendula, and lavender, and St. John's wort. But it smells really lovely. It has a more light, almost, I hate to say citrusy because it's so light, but like light, almost citrusy scent. So you might like the scent profile of this one. I love this one. I love the way it feels. I love the way it smells. I just love everything about it. So that could be an option as well. Hopefully, that's not too many options. Hopefully, that's not confusing.
And then Denise for you for your facial oil, you could try that Radiate Facial Oil that I mentioned. That would probably be a good choice for you. Like I said, Grace and I really like it. I'm not sensitive, but Grace is very sensitive and she uses the Radiate regularly. And then the Herbal Facial Oil For Sensitive Skin would probably be another good option. That one doesn't have any added essential oils. So it's a good option for sensitive skin. It's got a bunch of omega-rich oils in the formula. I'm trying to think. It's got squalane, camellia, and sacha inchi oils. But it doesn't have the added essential oils, so it's suitable for more sensitive skin types. So either that one or the Radiate Oil might be a good option to try since you're having some sensitivity and reaction with the other ones.
And like I said, I am very congestion-prone. I struggled with my skin a lot in the past and the Radiate Oil was the first of our oils that I tried and liked and stuck with when I first started working for the company. So it could be a good one to try.
Cool. Okay, so those are the oils. Any questions about facial oils or anything else?
So that covers kind of the basic routine. We do have, of course, a bunch of other products. We have quite a large selection in our line. So we have masks, we have scrubs, we have exfoliants, we have eye products.
We're getting a little low on time. So does anybody have any product in the line that you want to learn more about, that you want me to talk about? A certain mask or a scrub, or perhaps you want to learn about exfoliation in general? Or maybe eye products?
Customer: I do have a question. What about hair? Do y'all have, I know I had read something that one or so of the hair products was not gluten-free. Do y'all have any that are?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: We do have a few hair products? I’m not positive which are gluten-free off-hand, but Grace can put that info into the chat for you.
We have the Sweet Sunrise Shampoo and Sweet Sunrise Conditioner, and then we have our Smoothing Hair Serum and the Palo Santo Hair and Body Mist.
The shampoo and conditioner are good for all hair types. They’re both nourishing and strengthening. They've got horsetail, aloe, and nettle. They smell really lovely.
Then the Smoothing Hair Serum is also great for all hair types. It is a solid balm, which is unique for a hair serum. But you can just use a little bit and it sort of melts in your hand. My new favorite use for this product is as a brow balm. But you can apply it to damp or dry hair. I tend to just focus it on the ends to give a smooth look. I know that Grace uses this serum as a treatment mask, right Grace?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Yeah. I will put it in, and it actually doesn't require a lot of it, which is nice, but as you can tell I have a lot of hair. I will usually take a good amount of it and warm it up in my hand 'cause it is a solid form as Emily mentioned. And then just like douse my hair in it, essentially. And then I'll put it in a bun and keep it in for as long as I like if I'm cleaning the house or usually I'll do it before I go work out. And then when I'm done working out, I'll shower and wash it off. And my hair is so soft I could not recommend it enough. I love it. It is my favorite thing ever. I have super dry hair and it has been amazing. So it's like my favorite thing to do. It's my favorite tip that I always like to tell people, because it doesn't say to do that on the website, and I'm like, hello, this is an amazing idea. So highly recommended.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, it's a fun product. Very versatile. I actually have not tried that, using it as a mask. I should try it.
So those are the hair products that we have. And like I said, really all three of them are great for all hair types.
Great. Any other questions or any other products that you guys want me to cover?
Customer: I do have a question. Can you hear me now?
Yeah. Hi. I'm Miriam and I have hooded eyelids and you know, crow's feet on the side of my eyes. I was wondering if you had any suggestions for that.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah so we have two eye products. We have the Anti-Aging Eye Cream and the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum. Both of them are excellent. I usually recommend that if you're going to choose one or the other, I tend to recommend the eye cream. I love the eye cream. For me, I always feel like my eye area is really dry and that one's just more nourishing.
The Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum is more of a true serum. So it's like that thinner consistency, the smaller molecule, good for hydration. It’s an excellent product, but like I said, the Anti-Aging Eye Cream is my personal choice. The eye cream has damas rose plant cells, which are great for decreasing the appearance of crows feet. It's got Cucumber extract in it, a cucumber distillate, so that's nice and cooling, helpful for the look of puffiness.
The Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum has got pineapple ceramides and sake peptides. The sake peptides can be helpful for brightening the look of skin under the eye area and the pineapple ceramides are restorative.
A lot of times I'll tell people if their eye area is their main concern then they can use them together. And if you wanted to do that, you would apply the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum underneath the eye cream. Or you could alternate. You could use the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum in the morning and the Anti-Aging Eye Cream at night. With the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum, I always tell people you want to make sure that you're only using a very tiny bit of that one. It's very concentrated and if you overuse it, it just doesn't apply nicely.
But yeah, those are the two eye products. I mean as far as the hooded lids like you mentioned I don’t know that you would see a whole lot of result with that just from a product, but definitely for like the crow's feet and that sort of thing the eye cream can be helpful.
Customer: Ok. Thank you.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, of course, good questions. Any other questions?
Okay, cool. Well, we've just got 10 minutes left. So if there are no other questions, I'll just pick stuff to talk about. Let's talk about the Radiant C because that's a fun one. So the Radiant C Mask & Polish this one is one of our newer products. This one is an exfoliant and a mask. This is a multitasking product, which I love a multitasking product, and it multitasks in several different ways.
Like I said, it's an exfoliant. So exfoliation I always recommend incorporating into a routine even though it is not included in our basic four-step routine that we recommend. It's important to incorporate some type of exfoliation into your routine. It's kind of a fine line because you want to make sure that you're not over-exfoliating. You don’t want to over-exfoliate and cause any sort of irritation or inflammation in your skin. But if you don't exfoliate at all, you can kind of get this layer of buildup and then your hydrating products, your moisturizing products, they're not able to penetrate deeply to work as they should. So some kind of exfoliation can be really helpful. It's helpful to improve texture, to refine and sort of smooth skin. It helps improve tone if you're working on lessening the look of pigmentation or sun damage.
And this product, to use it, you can use it a few different ways. So it is a dry powder. It's like this really beautiful fuchsia color because it has hibiscus in it and so after you cleanse, you can shake some of the powder into your hand, mix a little bit of water, create kind of a paste, massage it in, and then rinse.
You could do that three times a week-ish, you know, just kind of depending on your skin and how your skin feels when you use it. It is fairly gentle. I'm pretty sure it says on the website that this one is not suitable for sensitive skin, but I know that Grace uses it and has no issue. So you can use it that way. You can also mix it right in with your cleanser, which is how I love to do it.
It mixes beautifully with the Aloe Herb Cleanser or with the Phytonutrient Cleanser. So you can just shake it into your cleanser, mix it, massage it in, and rinse it clean. You can use it more like a mask so you can mix it with water, apply it to the skin, leave it on for like 15 minutes or so and then rinse it. You could mix it with manuka honey and do that as a mask. You could mix it with yogurt. It also mixes really nicely with our Illuminating Pearl Mask. That’s another of my favorite combinations. That is a great treatment for brightening the look of skin.
It’s multitasking in the way you can use it because you can use it as an exfoliant. You can use it as a mask. You can mix it with all these things. It's also multitasking in that it is both a physical exfoliant and a chemical exfoliant. So a physical exfoliant, you're physically polishing the skin. It has a scrubby, gritty texture.
So this one, the physical exfoliant that's in here is a crushed bamboo powder. It's the bamboo stem powder. But it's also got a bit of a chemical exfoliating property as well. So the hibiscus has alpha hydroxy acids in it, which we already talked about those AHAs and how they kind of dissolve that layer of skin cells. Sorry, dissolve the glue that holds that layer of skin cells. So, there's that, and then also all of the enzymes from the fruit acids and the fruit powders in here. So, there’s acerola cherry in here, there's lemon peel powder, there's strawberry, there's kakadu plum. So I love that it has both of those properties, the physical and the chemical in one.
So this is a really fun product. It smells lovely. It looks lovely. It's easy to incorporate. So that's a really fun one that you could check out if you wanted to.
Okay. Well, I think we'll go ahead and stop there because we are at time. If everybody's feeling complete, if nobody has any other questions or any other products that you guys are wanting me to talk about. If you guys do have questions or if you have any trouble placing an order, etc you can always email our customer care team at [email protected]
Thank you so much for hanging out with us and chatting about skin for an hour and a half. I hope that it was helpful and you learned something. And I hope you guys all have an awesome afternoon.
Customer: Thanks, you as well. Bye.
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