Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on February 7, 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: We will start off by talking about a basic four-step routine. So this routine is something that we recommend morning and evening for everybody.
I do always like to say that I think it's best to really customize your routine to fit your skin and also your lifestyle. So if you're somebody who's brand new to skin care and maybe you're not doing anything at all right now, or maybe you're just washing your face with bar soap you're probably not going to jump into a skin care routine that has six steps and takes you 30 minutes to complete and be really consistent with it. So in that case, maybe you just want to start out with only a cleanser and a facial oil and then you could build your routine from there.
But the basic four step routine that we recommend is cleansing, toning, and then using a facial serum and a facial oil or moisturizer. So, we'll start out with cleansing, because whether your routine has ten steps in it or two steps, you're gonna start with cleansing regardless. Cleansing just helps to remove makeup and impurities.
A thorough cleanse can also help to prep your skin so that it can better absorb all of your treatment products. We have four different cleansers in our line. They are the Aloe Herb Cleanser, the Citrus Mint Cleanser, the Phytonutrient Cleanser, and the Restorative Cleansing Oil. And these cleansers are held within two different collections in our line.
So we have our Signature Collection, and those products, if you look at our website, all the signature collection products have this tan labeling. There are a lot of our best selling products. Products that have been around since the beginning. And then we have our Wild Alchemy Collection.
On our site, all of the Wild Alchemy products have the black and gold labeling. And the difference between the two collections is just that the Wild Alchemy Collection is our luxury line. The products in the collection contain higher levels of activated ingredients. They contain more exotic ingredients and oftentimes the crafting process, the way that these products are made, is just a little bit more laborious than the Signature Collection products.
But we'll start with the Aloe Herb Cleanser. So that one is in our Signature Collection. This is our best selling cleanser. This one is great for all skin types, so I like to tell people that if they are confused or overwhelmed or not sure where to start, this cleanser can be a good place to start because you really can't go wrong with it.
This one is a creamy nourishing cleanser. It's got aloe vera, of course, which is rich in vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients and enzymes that support skin health. This one has calendula, so it's really soothing and calming to the skin. It's a good choice for more sensitive skin. This one has lemon essential oil, which is purifying and brightening.
It gives it a really nice citrusy scent. Grace always says that she wishes she had it in a candle. And then what else? It's got coconut oil. So that's great for fighting dehydration and environmental stressors. Then also in our Signature Collection we’ve got the Citrus Mint Cleanser. This one is a purifying gel cleanser. It's good for normal, combination, and oily skin types. And it contains more purifying herbs in the herb infusion. It again has aloe vera, it's got a witch hazel distillate that helps to tone and balance the skin. It has neem, which is really rich in vitamin E and is very detoxifying. So again, more for oilier skin types or if you just prefer a gel cleanser. Some people have a preference if they like a cream versus a gel for their cleanser.
Then in the Wild Alchemy Collection, we have the Phytonutrient Cleanser and the Restorative Cleansing Oil. These are my two favorites. So both of these can be used for all skin types. We'll start with the Restorative Cleansing Oil.
This one is, as the name suggests, a cleansing oil , which can be a little bit different if you're not used to that. And it can be used on its own as your cleanser, or if you want, it can be used as the first step in a double cleanse routine. So in that case, you would use this first, you would rinse it, and then you would apply whatever cleanser you like as your second cleanser. And this just really ensures a very thorough, deep cleanse. This one, like I said, it's good for all skin types. So for dry and mature skin it feels very moisturizing, very nourishing whereas for more oily skin types it sounds kind of counterintuitive, but like actually attracts like, so it's going to help to soften congestion in the skin and break down excess oil and that sort of thing. This one is a jojoba oil base. So jojoba oil very closely resembles the texture of your skin's natural sebum. This one has also got castor oil in it.
It has manuka oil, which is very deep cleansing and calming to the skin. What else? Tea tree oil. So very purifying. And like I said, this one you can use on its own or as a first cleanse. You want to apply it to dry skin. So you use dry hands and apply it to a dry face.
Really massage it in. Focus on any areas of congestion. A lot of times that's around the nose or down around the chin and mouth area. And then you can just rinse clean. Some people prefer to remove this one with a warm washcloth. So you can do that as well.
Okay. The next one is the Phytonutrient Cleanser. This is the other one in our Wild Alchemy Collection. This one, again, it's good for all skin types. I would say it's our most rich cleanser. It's got some coconut oil in it which contributes to its creamy texture but then it's also got mango seed butter in it. So it gives it that really rich kind of fatty, buttery texture. This one also has apple extract in it. Apple is rich in vitamin C and malic acid. So this is a good choice if lightening the look of dark spots is a concern for you. This one also has acai. So giving it some antioxidant qualities.
Am I forgetting anything? It also contains our Signature Serum Blend. This one, like with any of our cleansers, I really like to encourage people to take their time as they cleanse. Really massage it into the skin. Let it be on the skin for a moment. But especially with this one, I like to make sure that you're doing that just so that those activated ingredients like that apple extract that's going to help to brighten is kind of being on the skin for a moment.
So you're not just putting it on and then quickly rinsing it down the drain, you know? So those are the cleansers. Oh, I did forget to mention all of our cleansers are pH balanced. I like to mention this. I think it's important because your skin's pH is about a 4. 5 to a 5. 5. And all of our cleansers, their pH is between 5.5 and 5. 6, which you can find on the label. So a pH balanced cleanser is just going to ensure that your skin is not being stripped of its natural oils, that your protective acid mantle is not being disrupted. A lot of conventional cleansers that have high foaming properties are going to be more alkaline.
A lot of them use harsh surfactants like lauryl sulfates to give them that sudsy foaming property. We use a safe, low foaming option for our surfactant. It's a sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate which really is just saponified oils, plant starches, and sugars.
Does anybody have any questions about any of the cleansers or cleansing in general? Which one to choose? Anything?
Customer: So if you were gonna do a double cleanse, as your normal routine, are there two that would be the best combo in the line?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Well, you would always start with the Restorative Cleansing Oil. You always would start with that. If you're going to do the double cleanse and then you could choose whichever cleanser you prefer for your second cleanse.
I mean, the Phytonutrient is always my choice. I love that combo! That's just my personal preference, but you really could choose any of them.
Customer: Okay. So I have oily skin with blackheads. I don’t know about the Phytonutrient Cleanser. It's too kind of greasy for me, too rich. So what would you recommend? Should I switch to the Restorative Cleansing? What is it oil? Or is it cream?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: The Restorative Cleansing Oil is an oil and it does, I don't really like to use the word residue, but it does leave like a bit of an oil on the skin so for you, I probably wouldn't use that if you were going to use that as your only cleanser. You could use it as the first step if you were gonna do a double cleanse. Or if using it on its own, maybe remove it with a warm cloth.
I just feel like from what you're telling me, if you were gonna use it on your own, you probably wouldn't like the feel of it. You could do the Citrus Mint Cleanser. That one is the gel cleanser that's made for more oily skin types. So you could try that one. Another option would be, if you like a creamier cleanser, you could always incorporate, we haven't got to exfoliants yet, that's down the line, but the Ayurvedic Facial Scrub is a really gentle, dry, powdered exfoliant, and you can mix it in with whatever cleanser you like. Sometimes for people that like to use a cream cleanser but want that deep clean feeling adding this can be a good option. It adds that bit of scrubby, gritty texture.
So that just could be another option, but the Citrus Mint Cleanser, if you like the feel of a gel cleanser, is probably a good choice if you're more oily. Hopefully that's helpful. I just wanted to offer that extra option, but hopefully that wasn't confusing.
Customer: Thank you. I have both. I have the Ayurvedic too.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, you do? You definitely could use the cleansing oil. I like that one. And like I said, I'm more oily and prone to congestion. I just think if you use that one, you probably would want to do a second cleanse.
I just assume that you would probably like the feel of that better. Have you ever tried mixing The Ayurvedic and the Phytonutrient?
Customer: Yes.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay. Perfect. I don't know. I feel like it makes it feel a little bit more like deep clean when you add that kind of scrubby element to it.
Customer: It's true. Thank you.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Of course. Any other questions?
Great question. All right. So the next step in your routine is toning. And we have three different toning mists. We have the Neroli Toning Mist, the Rosemary Toning Mist, and the Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle. Traditionally, toning was meant to kind of rebalance your skin's pH after cleansing.
But there's not really a need for that with our products because, like I said, all of our cleansers are pH balanced. But toning is going to just help to complete the cleansing process. It's going to offer a dose of hydration, a dose of skin supporting nutrients. Depending on which toning mist you choose, it can help to minimize the appearance of enlarged pores.
So the first one that we'll talk about is the Neroli Toning Mist. That one is in our Signature Collection. That would be our best selling toning mist. It's very popular. That one is great for all skin types, but especially normal to dry skin. It's a very simple formula. It's an aloe vera juice, and then it's got some aspen bark extract, which is a natural source of salicins, and it also helps to preserve the product.
And then it's got neroli essential oil, of course. So, neroli is derived from fresh orange blossoms, so it gives it a really nice, kind of citrusy, uplifting scent. I think that that's part of why this one is so popular, because people love the way it smells. Then we have our Rosemary Toning Mist, which is my personal favorite, but I feel like I'm kind of an outcast, ha.
But again, I tend to be more oily and congestion prone, so this is my go to. So the Rosemary, again, simple formula, aloe vera juice base. This one has white willow bark, which is another natural source of salicins. Rosemary, of course, which is stimulating, cleansing, and clarifying. So this one is going to be good for more normal, combination, or oily skin types.
Then lastly we have our Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle. That one is in our Wild Alchemy Collection. That one, again, is good for all skin types. It's especially good for those prone to sensitivity or redness. It contains a blend of four different types of chamomile in it. So it's very soothing. It's also got some rose in it.
That one. So the others, like I said, are Aloe vera juice base. This one is a hydrosol base. So the hydrosol is like this watery runoff that you get when you create an essential oil through a steam distillation. It gives it just like this really soft texture and I would say makes it like maybe a little bit more moisturizing than the others.
That one also has of course Immortelle in it which is a potent antioxidant and it's got frankincense which is known to tone tighten and rejuvenate the skin. So a little bit more of that anti-aging property with that one too. The scent profile, like the neroli of course, like I said you've got the sweet orange blossom kind of citrusy scent, the rosemary obviously smells like rosemary and the botanical is more of like an herbal scent. For me, I didn't love it at first, but I kind of have grown to like it.
And as far as using your toning mist, after you cleanse, you're just gonna pat your skin dry, mist your toning mist over your face and neck. I believe all of our toning mists say to let them dry and then apply your serum and facial oil. I actually don't love that recommendation. I usually will mist my toning mist and apply my serum and oil while my skin is still slightly damp from my toning mist.
This is just going to help with absorption. The toning mist is kind of the vehicle for your serum and oil to be absorbed. And then they're also great to be used just like throughout the day. The rosemary has a little bit of a mattifying effect, if you tend to be more oily. Or if you just want a little extra hydration or pick me up, you can always mist your toning mist even over makeup.
The rosemary you can even use in your hair. If you spritz it at the roots, you can use it in your hair if your hair is kind of greasy. What else? I guess that's kind of it for toning mist. I actually always like to mist my toning mist after I apply my facial oil as well. Which of course you don't have to do. But it just helps to kind of dilute the oil a little bit further. So it gives it a really nice finish. Applying your serum and oil to slightly damp skin is a good tip if you're somebody who maybe is new to using facial oil as a moisturizer and you feel like, Oh, it feels kind of heavy or greasy or it's just sitting on my skin or something like that.
I would definitely recommend trying applying it when your skin's still a little bit damp. So those are toners. Toners are sort of straightforward, but any questions about toners?
Customer: I've been using the botanical one. So which one would be the best one for me? I mean, I was thinking of getting the neroli, but now you're saying rosemary is better. But I like the botanical one because it also has frankincense and all this stuff there. So which one would be the best one for me?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I mean, if you're using the botanical and you like it, then you could continue with it. Like I said, the rosemary is the most suited for oily skin. It just has more of those purifying ingredients. You also could alternate, you know, like maybe you want to use the Rosemary Toning Mist in the morning and then you want to use the Botanical Hydration Mist in the evening or something like that.
Any other toner questions? Alright.
Okay, so next is serums and elixirs. Serums in general are excellent hydrators. So there is the difference between dehydrated skin, which is water dry skin, and dry skin, which is oil dry skin. And using the combination of a serum and a facial oil together is going to help you achieve optimum moisture levels in your skin so that you're treating both the dehydration and the dryness.
Serums also are more aqueous than facial oil. They're made up of smaller molecules. So they're able to penetrate more deeply. They usually contain higher levels of activated ingredients. So they allow you to really customize your skin care routine to target and treat whatever your specific skin concerns might be, and we have several different serums. We will start with the serums in our Signature Collection.
So we have the Anti-Aging Serum, the Citrus Stem Cell Serum, and the Probiotic Serum With Tremella.
The Anti-Aging serum is our most popular serum. It is one of our best selling products always. This one is great for all skin types. I like to say this one is good as just a dose of overall daily skin nutrition. It's very antioxidant rich, it's got life everlasting flowers, it's got buddleia extract. It's very soothing. It's got rose in it. So it can be good for soothing skin. What else? And then this one is very hydrating.
It contains hyaluronic acid. We use a non GMO vegetable sourced hyaluronic acid. And hyaluronic acid is a humectant. It binds water to the skin. Hyaluronic in particular holds 1, 000 times its weight in water. So it's considered a super hydrator. And really deeply hydrating the skin like that is going to help to plump the skin which will help to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Then we have our Citrus Stem Cell Serum. This one, again, good for all skin types but it's especially good for more resilient, thicker textured skin or skin that has had a lot of exposure to the elements. This one is good for brightening, like for targeted brightening if you have age spots or dark spots or anything like that that you're working on lightening the look of.
It can help to lighten and brighten the appearance of those spots. It contains a combination of amlaberry, which is very vitamin C rich, and then it's got licorice root and uva ursi. And that combo is the lightening, brightening combo in the Citrus Stem Cell Serum. It's also got citrus derived stem cells.
So we use plant stem cells in a lot of our products. These stem cells help to provide proteins and peptides and amino acids that are going to help to really strengthen the skin. And then we've got our Probiotic Serum with Tremella. That's the last one in our Signature Collection. That one, again, good for all skin types, but especially for sensitive skin types or skin that is out of balance.
This one has tremella mushroom extract which acts similar to a hyaluronic acid, so very deeply hydrating. This one has astaxanthin, which is a powerful antioxidant. It's got olive leaf extract and then it contains a probiotic ferment. So this is going to help to eliminate impurities on the surface of the skin and it can help to balance the skin's pH as well.
So again, good for skin that is either reactive, sensitive, or kind of just out of balance. So those are the three serums in our Signature Collection. Those three I would say are a little bit more targeted and then the others that I'll mention, these next two, are a little bit more all encompassing, I would say.
So we've got the Wild Fruit Serum. This one is in our Wild Alchemy Collection. This is my personal favorite. The Wild Fruit Serum, I like to refer to it as our do it all serum because it's hydrating, it's brightening, it's anti aging. This one has apple extract. So it's got the same apple extract that is in the Phytonutrient Cleanser.
So again, malic acid and vitamin C help to brighten the skin's appearance. This one has Madonna lily plant cells. And it's got a really potent dose of those cells. Again, which helped to strengthen the skin. Then we've got knotweed extract, which is rich in resveratrol, and kakadu plum extract. So this is another potent source of vitamin C to help brighten.
It also contains phenolic acid. Phenolic acid behaves on the skin similar to an alpha hydroxy acid. And alpha hydroxy acids help to kind of dissolve the glue that holds the top layer of skin cells. So they help with resurfacing the skin, they help with improving texture and tone. So that kind of is one ingredient that sets this serum apart, for me anyways.
And then we have our Activated CBD Serum. That one right here is kind of an offshoot of our Wild Alchemy Collection. If you take a look at our site, it's got its own little CBD boutique. Just because of the legality around selling a CBD product. But anyways, when we created this product, we chose to partner with Ojai Energetics.
They are a leader and a pioneer in the CBD space. This one is good for all skin types. It is very hydrating. It contains both hyaluronic acid and tremella mushroom extract. It contains of course CBD, which it's a little bit hard to say exactly what CBD does for the skin because it kind of works with your skin's natural endocannabinoid system, to kind of go where it's needed to go and do what it's needed to do.
But it is very nourishing and very calming. So this is a very good choice if you are sensitive, if you tend to have some redness, that sort of thing. The CBD that we use in this one, we included both a water-soluble and a fat-soluble CBD, which is something that makes it kind of unique because now there are a lot of CBD products out on the market.
But this means that it's going to have kind of an instant effect with that water soluble CBD, and then also more of a cumulative effect with the fat soluble CBD as well. And then in this one, we've also got astaxanthin, black cumin seed oil, mangosteen oil, all kinds of good stuff. And I'll let Grace touch on this one really quick because I know she loves it so much.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: I do love this serum. I actually ran out of it a couple weeks ago and it was devastating. I could instantly tell that my skin didn't have it and it was just, I had to order it immediately. Don't worry, everything's fine. I have it now and I've been using it and I love it. But I have extremely sensitive skin, I have extremely dry skin, there's just a lot going on.
And the biggest thing I love about the serum is one, how hydrating it is, and two, how Emily kind of touched on a little bit, the instant like relief of the appearance of redness on your skin is just amazing. And it leaves such a beautiful glow too. So I honestly, and this was so dramatic of me to say, but I honestly can't really live without it.
It's just so helpful. It's been such a game changer for my skin. So I could, I could literally talk about this serum for hours and it's just amazing anyway, but yeah.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Thanks Grace. Cool. Then, let's see, we've got our Activated Night Serum. So this is the most recent serum launch, the most recent addition to our serum collection.
And this one it's an evening treatment, as the name suggests. It's meant to be used at night because it does contain our bioactive A complex. So this is our retinol alternative. It is derived from algae. It's completely safe. So we wanted to create a product that was an alternative to retinol because retinol is sort of like the gold standard in anti-aging. But it can have some negative effects. It can have negative effects on your health. It's not great for reproductive health. It can have negative effects on your skin if you're using it over an extended period of time. It can thin the skin which really, as we age, is not what we want. We want to create really strong, healthy, resilient skin.
Really supporting our skin's natural barrier. What else? About traditional retinol. A lot of times for people it can create some sensitivity and irritation in the skin. So we wanted to come up with this alternative that would deliver a similar result, similar benefits without any of those kinds of not so lovely things that go along with it.
So that's why we have used this bioactive A complex and included it in this serum. So it is going to help revitalize and resurface the skin. But it's pretty gentle, it's not going to create that irritation and inflammation that usually you get with a traditional retinol. Although we do still recommend, like I said, using it in the evening, and we recommend using an SPF during the day if you're using this serum.
Then we've paired it with Tremella mushroom extract again, it's got astaxanthin again, that really powerful antioxidant. Then it's got some nice soothing ingredients as well, like lavender and blue chamomile. So it gives it a very nice balance of the active, bioactive A with the soothing ingredients.
So that is the Activated Night Serum. Then lastly, I will mention our Concentrated Boosting Elixirs. They come in a set of 3. They are the hydrate elixir, the brighten elixir, and the revitalize elixir. They all come with this little dropper top. They're sort of like liquid, aqueous, and you just drop them into your serum. So, these elixirs, you never want to apply them directly to your skin. As the name suggests, they are very concentrated. You always want to mix them. We suggest mixing them with your serum. If for any reason you are not using a serum, you could mix it with your facial oil. Mixing with facial oil could also be an option if you tend to be more sensitive. Because like I said, the serum is a smaller molecule, so it's going to penetrate more deeply.
So if you're more sensitive, you could try mixing these with a facial oil as well. The way that you use it, you want to pump your serum into the palm of your hand, drop one to three drops of your elixir, then mix it, and then apply it. You can kind of mix and match however you want.
Like maybe in the morning you want to use one drop of brighten and two drops of hydrate, or you want to use I don't know, just three drops of brighten. So you can kind of mix and match however you want. We do recommend the Revitalize, that one you want to use in the evening because it, again, contains that bioactive A complex, that retinol alternative.
And you don't want to use the Revitalize at the same time that you use the Brighten. Like, you would want to use the Brighten in the morning and the Revitalize in the evening. You wouldn't want to mix these two together. But the Hydrate is a hyaluronic acid with peptides, vegan collagen pre peptides.
So again, very deeply hydrating, plumping the skin, strengthening the skin. The Brighten is a pure vitamin C with sea buckthorn. So the vitamin C that we chose for this elixir is a tetrahexyl decyl ascorbate. There are a lot of different vitamin C's on the market. A lot of them, like a big problem with vitamin C in general, is that they tend to be very unstable.
So a lot of times you get a vitamin C product and you open it and it goes rancid really quickly, so then it's not effective. So this form of vitamin C, the THDA, is a very stable form. It's a very stable form of vitamin C. It also is a very non irritating form of vitamin C. It's got a pH of 7. And it's clean as well.
It's Made Safe approved. And then, the Revitalize, this one, like I already said, it's got the bioactive A complex, which we already talked about, paired with astaxanthin. So those are the elixirs and the serums. So questions about serums or elixirs?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one question in the chat that kind of is just about a routine in general that I wanted to bring up because I know you have an alternative routine that's a little more short and sweet since you have two littles.
Someone in the chat asked, for someone who does not have any big skin issues and a crazy busy life, can you suggest a two step routine instead of four steps?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Absolutely. So if you're only doing two steps, you're going to want to get a cleanser and a facial oil. Because you have to have at least a cleanser and moisturizer So unless you're somebody who's extremely oily.
If you were very, very oily, you could possibly use a serum and not use an oil. But most of the time you're going to need to use a facial moisturizer. So you want that cleanser and oil and yes, I don't always do a full routine because I have two little kids. And especially at nighttime, I'm so tired by the time it's eight o'clock, I'm like, I'm going to bed.
So I'm guilty of not always doing a full routine. A lot of times I'll do like a combo though. I'll use the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant in the shower and just use that as my cleanser because it does contain the surfactant that we use. I also, like what I mentioned early in the call, with the Ayurvedic Facial Scrub. I'll mix that into my cleanser because I feel like it's kind of multitasking. Anywhere I can multitask I do. But yes, those are the two you would want to get if you're only going to choose two. Cool.
Anything else about serums or elixirs?
Customer: I had a question. The, well, two questions. How long do you want to wait, like you put a serum on and then do you wait for a certain period before you put your moisturizer over that?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: There's not like a set period of time or anything. I mean, I usually give it like a minute or so to just kind of sink in before I apply my facial oil. Sometimes if I'm really in a hurry, I'll mix my serum and my oil. Sometimes I won't even use a serum. But there's no set amount of time, but if you're going to apply it, I would let it kind of just soak in for a minute and then apply your facial oil.
Sometimes I also will apply my serum and then I'll mist my toning mist before putting on my facial oil and that's just another option you could try, but it's really just personal preference.
Customer: Okay. And then my other question, your retinol alternative, are things like that safe during pregnancy? Or is it similar to a retinol where you want to hold off?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: No, it still is pregnancy safe. So our COO was pregnant when she was developing that product, I believe. So she was looking for something that was pregnancy safe. Grace, if you could link it in the chat it's on the support page, I think there is, or if not, I can find it. There is an article about pregnancy and using our products, but most of it is about different essential oils and things like that, that are in some of the products that you want to watch out for.
I mean, I think they're all in such small amounts it would be fine, but we do have a FAQ or an article or something on that. I think it's in the support, Grace, if you just search for pregnancy.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Oh, I found it on our website. It's just being a little weird with that page. But yes, we do have a page for it and I will link you to it.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, awesome. Thank you. Cool.
Customer: Sorry, I just missed it. So when should you apply the elixirs? You said never by themselves.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Right. You never want to apply them directly to the skin. You always want to mix with your serum or if you're not using a serum, you can mix it with your facial oil. And so after you cleanse and tone, you would pump your serum and then you would drop one to three drops of your elixir, mix it, and apply it to the skin.
Customer: Okay. Thank you very much. And, but you still should use it also daily, not like some certain things where you said, okay, twice a week or.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, you can use the elixirs daily. And like I said, you can kind of like play around with them and just see what your skin likes. Like you know, I said you could use like three drops of hydrate in the morning, or you could mix the hydrate and the brighten. But the Revitalize always in the evening, and the Revitalize and the Brighten not together at the same time.
Customer: Okay, thank you.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, of course. Okay, any other serum or elixir questions?
We also, I'll mention, have the hydrate elixir that we do sell separately in this larger size. It's the exact same thing as this hydrate elixir in the set. We just came out with it in the bigger size because we found that people were going through the hydrate elixir more quickly than the other two.
But just so you know, they're the same if you're looking on the website.
Customer: I'm just curious, do we need the elixirs or is it just an additional to the skin care?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, they're not necessary they just are kind of an add on. So they're a way to further customize your routine, and they're a way to boost the level of activated ingredients that are in your routine.
But they're definitely not necessary. Oh, they're fun. Okay any other serum or elixir questions?
Alright, so what's next? Facial oils. So, after you apply your serum, then you're going to apply your oil. Again, we have several different facial oils. We'll start with our Anti-Aging Facial Oil. This one is in our Signature Collection. It is our best selling facial oil, so it’s very popular. This one is best for dry, mature skin.
It's a very nourishing, restorative moisturizing facial oil. The reason that we use facial oils instead of creams or lotions is that facial oils are more easily absorbed by the skin. Oil is your skin's natural form of moisture. They also don't require any fillers or waxes to be used.
So they're more pure. So that's why we have chosen oils as our moisturizer. But back to Anti-Aging Facial Oil. This one is very antioxidant rich. It contains a bunch of different seed oils. So it's got carrot seed oil, broccoli seed oil, chia seed oil. Chia, for example, is rich in vitamin B3 and zinc.
This one also has some goji to provide some antioxidants and vitamin C. It's got plantago, which is a really purifying and soothing herb. So again, a very popular choice for dry and mature skin. Then we have our herbal facial oils. We have three different herbal facial oils. They are the Herbal Facial Oil for Normal and Combination Skin, the Herbal Facial Oil for Oily Skin, and the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin.
All three of these are a grapeseed oil base. Grapeseed oil is a very light textured skin balancing oil. It's rich in omega 6 and vitamin E. Then the Herbal Facial Oil for Normal Combination Skin also contains tamanu, so it helps to calm and soothe as well as purify the skin. And echinacea, an immune booster.
This one's got some chamomile to soothe. Again, goji berries provide vitamin C and antioxidants. The Herbal Facial Oil for Oily Skin is going to be a more purifying facial oil. It's got white willow bark which I mentioned earlier is a natural source of salicins. So a lot of times in natural products, it's used as an alternative to salicylic acid.
This one's also got neem, which again is detoxifying, black cumin seed oil, which can help minimize congestion and clogged pores. And then the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin, that one has no added essential oils, so it makes it a good choice for sensitive skin. And then it's got a bunch of different omega rich oils as well to really deeply hydrate and soothe the skin.
Sorry, deeply moisturize, not hydrate. So those are the facial oils in the Signature Collection.
Customer: What is the difference between hydrate and moisturize?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So there's dehydrated skin, which is water dry skin. When you want to hydrate skin, you're looking for ingredients like hyaluronic acid. You're using serums and toning mists. And then if your skin is dry, it means it's oil dry. And so then you're wanting to use facial oils or moisturizers.
Customer: How do you see the difference if your skin is oil dry or water dry?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Most people, it's a little bit of both, which is why we suggest using the combination of the serum and the oil.
A lot of times if your skin is dehydrated, it feels kind of tight and you can kind of, I don't know, press it a little bit? Is that the word I'm looking for? And you can see those little lines. Okay. And then dry skin.
I mean, it just feels dry. Like after you cleanse, maybe you feel like, Oh, I need to hurry up and put on my moisturizer, you know? So then you're going to want to, and like I said, everybody usually has a little bit of both. So everybody's going to need to use facial oil, unless you're extremely, extremely oily, like I mentioned before.
Customer: Thank you.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, of course. And we do have articles on our blog about that difference, too, if you are wanting to dive into it deeper. But hopefully that makes sense. So then, in our Wild Alchemy Collection, we have our Rejuvenating Facial Oil. This is my personal favorite. So, the Rejuvenating Facial Oil is good for all skin types.
This is our most active, most potent facial oil. All of our other facial oils contain an herb infusion, like I mentioned, and that herb infusion usually contains like, maybe 20 different herbs. This facial oil, the only herb that is in it is the butterfly pea flower. So because that's the only herb, it's present in a much higher concentration.
With our other facial oils they contain more seed oils and CO2 extracts. And again, this contains fewer, but they're present in higher concentrations, so it makes it more active and more potent. This one has, along with the butterfly pea flowers brightening baobab oil. It's got antioxidant rich marula oil.
It has mongongo oil, which is very softening. I feel like this one, definitely when you apply it to the skin, your skin just feels really soft. So this is my favorite. Some people find that this one is too much for them if they are a little bit more sensitive. So this one you can mix if you're wanting to use it, but you feel like it's too much.
You can mix it with like the Anti-Aging Facial Oil or the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin pairs nicely with it as well. So just an option if you're wanting to use that. What else? I think that covers all of the facial oils. Any other questions about facial oils or moisturizers?
Customer: I have a question again. So I have dry, like my skin always feels super tight after I wash it. Like it's quite dry, but then also more acne prone. Okay. So I often kind of find myself like, if I take quizzes or whatever, I'm being recommended things for oily skin. Okay. Because I'll describe that more acne prone or combination kind of thing, but then I'm not like my whole body, like hair, everything is naturally more dry.
So what do you kind of recommend? Like when you're looking for stuff, if you have those two sides of the spectrum.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, that definitely can be tricky. I mean, I definitely would not be afraid of the oils. So I too am very congestion prone and I used to be like oil-free, everything, no oil at all, you know? And now I'm like, give me all of the oil!
And a lot of what we say, we recommend a jojoba oil base for more dry skin types. The Rejuvenating Facial Oil is a jojoba base. The Anti Aging Facial Oil is a jojoba base, I sort of disagree, I just love jojoba oil in general. I'm very congestion-prone and I do not have a problem with jojoba.
And I don't think that most people do because like I said before, it really closely resembles the texture of your skin's natural oils. So it's hard to go wrong with it. I feel like that being said, I would also recommend incorporating the Rosemary Toning Mist. I am obsessed with it because I feel like it still offers a dose of hydration, but it's also giving me purifying benefits.
So I love that product and I use it, like I overuse it probably. Another product that I really love is the Purifying Mud Mask. We haven't got to masks yet, but this one I like to mix it with Manuka honey UMF 15, and that is a great combination because you're getting all the purifying benefits of the mud and the clays, but then you're mixing it with that honey, which is a humectant. Manuka also has a lot of other beneficial properties. The black cumin seed oil is a great ingredient to look for as well and that is included even in the Rejuvenating Facial Oil.
And then, like I said, I personally love the Wild Fruit Serum. That one has the copper infused water, which can be good for more congestion prone skin as well. So hopefully that helps. Another thing that I'll mention since we're kind of starting to touch a little bit on masks and I already touched a little bit on exfoliants, we can go into that more, but I always like to mention incorporating some type of exfoliation into your routine.
Exfoliation can be a little bit tricky because you don't want to overdo it because you don't want to cause any irritation in your skin. But a lot of times people will say, Oh, my skin feels super dry, and I'm using all of these really moisturizing products, but it still feels dry. What am I doing wrong?
I always ask if they're exfoliating, because if you're not exfoliating, you can end up with this kind of layer of buildup on your skin. So then, even if you're using all the hydrating and moisturizing products, they're not able to really penetrate deeply to be effective. So I always recommend incorporating some sort of exfoliant.
We already touched on the Ayurvedic Facial Scrub, which is a very gentle, dry, powdered herbal exfoliant. This one is good for all skin types, including very sensitive skin. It can be used on its own just mixed with water to create a paste or like I said I like to mix it in with my cleanser.
It's like a little multitasker, which I love. And this one too, it's got like Moroccan Rhassoul clay, and any kind of clay is going to be really mineral rich and also have purifying, detoxifying properties. So this one, it's gentle enough that if you want to, you can use it every day. It is the only one that I would say you could use every day if you wanted to.
The Kaolin Micro Exfoliant, I left mine in the shower, but that's a great one as well. That one is the green kaolin clay. So again, very mineral rich and very purifying. It's got lavender, which is calming and soothing, and then a crushed bamboo powder. That crushed bamboo powder is what gives it a little bit of scrubby gritty texture.
That one is very popular. Love that one. And that one I would use like maybe two or three times a week for most people. Like I said, it does contain our plant based surfactant. So if I'm using that one in the shower or something, I tend to not use a cleanser first. You can if you want to.
Obviously, it's not going to remove makeup if you have makeup on. Even with our Ayurvedic Scrub, some people that are very, very sensitive use this as their cleanser because it does contain fenugreek, which has some of those naturally occurring saponins that act as mild cleansing agents.
Again, not going to remove makeup. Then lastly, we have our Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant, so that one is a little bit different. The Ayurvedic and the Kaolin are both physical exfoliants, so they contain that scrubby, gritty texture that's going to physically polish the skin. The Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant is a chemical exfoliant, chemical in the way that it works on your skin, not that it contains a bunch of chemicals.
The exfoliating property is a honey derived lactic acid so it's just a smooth gel texture. You apply it to clean skin, and you leave it on to start, we suggest only leaving it on for, like, two or three minutes. It can feel tingly and active for most people. But you can work your way up to leaving it on for ten minutes.
And that one you would only use once a week. Maybe twice a week if you have pretty resilient skin, but usually once a week. So those are the exfoliants. And I already mentioned the mud mask, which I love.
Customer: So what is really the difference between the chemical and the mechanical? Towards your skin. Okay. I mean, both exfoliate, but what is harsher or what would you say for what skin type is better to use? So, because when you use these small particles, it makes little, what they say, scratches into your skin.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Not with our products. It doesn't cause micro tears. If, a lot of times people are using crushed nuts. I think walnuts are really popular and that can cause damage to the skin. Ours is not going to cause micro tearing; with the Ayurvedic for example its the fenugreek that gives it its grit.
And then the crushed bamboo powder in the Kaolin is again, pretty gentle and it's not going to cause any of that tearing. Like I said, the physical exfoliants, those two are going to physically polish the skin. The lactic acid in the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant is an alpha hydroxy acid.
It's a very good peel. Yes, it's a very mild alpha hydroxy acid, a mild peel. You're not going to peel like you would with a dermatologist peel, but it is dissolving. Like I said earlier, AHA’s dissolve the kind of “glue” that holds that top layer of skin cells. So it has a resurfacing effect on the skin.
So it's hard to say which is better. I mean, personally, I like to use a combination of both. I tend to use physical exfoliants more often just because it's easier and quicker and I don't know. I just tend to do that more often. Yeah. But they're both great. I would say. Like for somebody whose main concern is signs of aging or pigmentation, the Resurfacing Exfoliant can be a good one to incorporate.
Okay. Especially for lightening the look of dark spots because it has that resurfacing effect in the skin.
Okay, we'll wrap up here shortly. I just wanted to mention that the Illuminating Pearl Mask is my other favorite mask. Everybody should get it because it's the best. It's a hydrating, brightening treatment mask.
It has crushed pearl powder. So it gives it a really nice luminescence. It's great in the morning. It has a really cooling effect on the skin So it's nice when your skin is kind of tired and puffy and it's good for all skin types. Like I said, very hydrating, very brightening. It contains the licorice root and the uva ursi, the same two ingredients that I mentioned that are in the Citrus Stem Cell Serum.
And then lastly, eye products. We have our Anti Aging Eye Cream and the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum. Oh, not lastly because I didn't mention Sun Love. I personally prefer the eye cream if you're going to just choose one or the other. They layer nicely. If the eye area is a major concern for you, it can be nice to use them together.
And in that case, you would use the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum underneath the eye cream. With the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum, you want to make sure that you're only using a very tiny bit. If you overuse it, it just doesn't like lay nicely on the skin and doesn't absorb nicely but that one can also be a good choice if you're super concerned with dark under eye circles as it's got sake peptides that can help to retexturize and brighten the under eye area but in general, like I said, if you're just gonna choose one or the other I tend to go for the eye cream just because it feels more nourishing for my eye area and my eye area always tends to be super dry. And then lastly our Sun Love Everyday Sheer Sunscreen. Like I said, you definitely want to use sunscreen during the day if you are using the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant, Activated Night Serum, or Revitalize Concentrated Boosting Elixir.
Sun Love is an SPF 20 everyday sheer sunscreen. It's reef safe, and features non nano zinc oxide. Usually people ask about reapplying. It's great for everyday use. If you're going to be sweating or swimming or really sitting out in the sun, then of course we do recommend reapplying.
So we have a few minutes left. Does anybody have any other questions about anything?
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one in the chat asking, I was always told to use a ceramide as part of my moisturizer. What is the botanical equivalent of a ceramide?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, good question.
Customer: For example, I don't know how to pronounce this brand, the Cerabe, Cerave? Moisturizer has the ceramide.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: You know, I don't think that any of our products aside from the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum contain ceramides, but can I take your email address and get back to you on that question so that I answer you correctly?
I mean, I know like our Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin has squalane in it, which is an emollient that occurs naturally in your skin, in the lipid layers of your skin. So I would think that probably would act similar to a ceramide, but I don't think that any of our other products contain ceramides. I don't want to tell you incorrectly though. So let me get your email address.
Customer: I have to leave and I was wondering how do I use the Jade? I mean, I ordered it, but I don't know how to use it. If you don't mind, you can put it in my email. I provided my email. I also put something about foundation if you have a recommendation for a foundation.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: As far as foundation, we just have one right now in our Favorite Brands Marketplace. It's the AuNaturale Mineral Powder Foundation. But I know that's something that's kind of in the works as we may be adding to our Favorite Brands some more makeup options.
Customer: Thank you so much.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, of course.
Customer: So to follow up, because I've been to, I guess, my derm and she gave me this cream that I put at night that has a combination of retinol, hyaluronic acid, and niacin. And I was listening to you. I can see that the combination of all the botanicals does support those ingredients, the prescription ingredients but I was not sure with the ceramide part. I'm from California. CeraVe, it's like, it's in almost all of the pharmacy aisles. I work in the medical field, like a lot of the doctors say, it's their favorite, they say CeraVe, Cetaphil, Aquaphor, because it has no fragrance on it, and it's kind of affordable, but of all the products, the CeraVe has the, the ceramide, which is I guess is the lipid so I'm sure either one or two are a combo of your botanicals provides the same function especially maybe on your oil category. So I'm just curious. You don't have to reply to me urgently. Because I'm looking to phase out the prescription one and just use the botanical products.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So yeah absolutely. I mean, like I said, we've chosen the oils as our moisturizer and they are going to help to treat the dryness and provide those lipids that you need to really moisturize the skin.
Something that I like to mention to people, those are all very popular products, the Cetaphil and CeraVe and Aquaphor and all those things. If you take a look at the ingredients, a lot of times the first ingredient on those products is water. Which, is always kind of a red flag to me, and I feel like it's something easy for people that don't know the difference between a lot of ingredients, it's something easy that you can look for if water is the first ingredient, usually the first ingredient is going to be the most concentrated ingredient, so water, you know, isn't going to have much helpful effect for your skin.
And then also if you have water in the product, you also have to have more preservatives because bacteria and things can grow more quickly. So that's just one little note I like to tell people because it's just an easy thing for people to look for. But yes, I can look into more like the ceramides and then get back to you on that because I just don't want to tell you incorrectly.
Customer: Oh, thanks so much. Oh, I want to second what you mentioned about the manuka honey. I work in the wound clinic and we use manuka honey for wounds if we can't heal them. So we use it, but we're very careful where we get it though. New Zealand only.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, I'm sort of Manuka obsessed. I used to have really bad acne and I mean, I still am congestion prone and I feel like Manuka and jojoba are my go to's.
Customer: Yeah, and there are manuka honey they sell out there and, and it's not as good as, you know, it's just like everything else is not really being strongly regulated by the FDA, so.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes. Yeah. I mean, I always try and look for it because I think it only comes from New Zealand, like true manuka. And I was told the UMF 15 like a long time ago, so I've always just kind of held onto that.
Another Manuka lover. I love it.
Customer: Yes, I love it. It helps the wounds on my patients.
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, cool. So cool. Awesome.
Customer: I'm interested in a little more about applying the eye cream. That is my big problem, besides sensitive skin. And you talked about just a small amount. When should it be applied in the routine, at the end of everything?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I mean, I always feel like it's kind of a personal preference. I tend to apply mine at the end like after I apply my facial oil. But some people like to apply it after they apply their serum before they apply their facial oil. I think either is fine. I think that it is just personal preference. And you don't really need a whole lot. And you just want to use your ring finger. I like to tap kind of, you want to just go around the orbital bone. You don't really need to bring it in closer. Sometimes I will put like a little bit just kind of right here on my lid, but technically it's just supposed to be used mostly around the orbital bone.
And like I said, the Anti Aging Eye Cream is very nourishing and moisturizing. It's got damas rose plant cells and cooling cucumber. So if you're just going to choose one of the eye products, this is what I tend to recommend.
Any other questions?
Customer: Yes, I have a completely different question.
Now we were talking about all the external benefits of these products. So what do you think about because it's such a big thing to eat collagen or eat collagen peptides?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Hmm. I might have to get back to you on that as well. I don't take collagen myself. It's so funny. I actually thought about this recently because somebody that I know was telling me that that was like the cure-all for her congestion-prone skin years ago, but I also have read that it's not good for that. So I was hesitant to try.
Grace Murray – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Emily, I talked to our COO about this on a different consult because someone else had a very similar question. One thing she mentioned, well, there's two things she mentioned. One, of course, we don't want to diagnose anything since we're not experts on internal you know.
However, she mentioned that one way she likes to do it is she drinks bone broth every morning, which is a natural supplement for collagen. And she also mentioned that eating a diet high in things like fish that have natural substances of collagen is pretty much equivalent to taking a collagen supplement.
So that is one other way you can do it, and that's just how she does it. So, she offered that as, like, advice.
Customer: I tried it out and I didn't see any difference. So for me that's why I said it's such a hype. I mean, when you see, oh yes, it's, oh, eat this and, and it's such a wonder drug and I tried it. I didn't see anything. So that's why I was asking what your take on it is because for me, I was so disappointed and I said, okay is it me?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's no quick fix. And it’s a combination of everything. It's your products, it's your lifestyle, like, all these things are gonna contribute to just health overall, which is gonna contribute to skin health, you know? I feel like there's no, like, one product or one quick fix. Unfortunately. Yeah. Wouldn't it be nice if there was?
Customer: Oh yeah. Thank you
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Well, I think that about wraps it up. Thank you again everyone so much for spending some time with Grace and I today. We hope that you found this helpful. Please reach out if you have any other questions.
K
Want to join us for our next skin consultation? (It's totally free!)
Our team of experts has been on a mission to inspire beauty, health, and wellbeing, and we believe there's no better way to do this than through directly sharing our knowledge and passion for natural skin care.
Join us for a live session with one of our licensed estheticians where we'll explore the power of organic, bioactive ingredients, how they interact with your unique skin type, and how to incorporate them into your routine for optimal benefits. You'll walk away from this consultation feeling empowered to make informed decisions for your skin's health. Our in-house skin experts are eager to answer your questions, dispel myths, and share tailored advice for each participant.
By signing up for our live consultation, you'll not only gain access to the latest insights in organic skin care, but also receive exclusive skin care deals only available to those who attend! We can't wait for you to join our community as we share our love for organic skin care with you!
HOW TO SIGN UP
1. Simply, click the button below to sign up for the day that works best for you and your skin type.
2. Select your desired date and time, and click “Next”
3. Enter your contact information (your name and email), and click “Schedule Event.”
Leave a Reply