Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on April 17, 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.
E
E
E
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: We have a basic four-step routine that we recommend for everybody for your morning and evening routine. That routine is cleansing and toning and then using a serum and a moisturizer or a facial oil.
But before we jump in, maybe you each could share a little bit with me about what you're looking to learn about the products, what you're currently using, tell me a little bit about your skin, if you've ever tried our products, all of that.
Customer: First of all, I never have tried any of your products and the way that I got to you was through Mark Hyman who had a little, you know, blurb about you folks and the fact that it was, you know, really what he found a good source.
So I've always been looking for things that are good for my skin. And so I used to go to a woman who made her own products for a bunch of years, but then I saw that it was not doing what my face needed at the time. And so that was probably about 10 years ago. Okay. Until then, I mean, she was my source. And so I went through the same thing with cleansing and the toning and the oils and, you know, did that routine for many years. And then when I stopped with her that routine stopped because I was not using her products. And so I have a friend who uses the Boots product, and that's made in England, and so she’s very, you know, English, and really feels, you know, that this is a longstanding company, and good, and so I started doing that. And so I use that at this point and it’s what I do also because I didn't have a product for the soaping, for the washing actually, and so I have a, not a very nice incident happen with the pandemic in that I had taken the injection and I also took one for the, what's the other one that I took at the same time. And I think it was for what was the other one? Well, nonetheless, they were just like a week apart. And my whole body reacted. And I just turned red. And so I went to the clinic. The Cleveland Clinic here and also my skin dermatologist and I was told, first of all, to stop all of the vitamins and all that stuff that I've been taking, aside from the medications that I have to take. And so then to get the moisturizer cream and that too is on my lips, and I can't think of it right away. But hold on, okay, Emily, just a minute. Okay. So, they proposed dermatologists that I wash, can you see it?
Emily Haupt – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: You don't have your camera on, I don't think. I don't see your face, I just see your name. Oh, there you are, oh, I lost you again. There you are, now I see you. There we are, okay.
Customer: And so, this is what they prescribe for the cleaning, alright? Yes. And then, for moisturizing it was Cerave. So I've been doing that. But I do then use the number seven, the Boots product. And it is, once again, it's fragrance free, because I don't believe in that. Then that's morning, and then evening, it's this one, and again, it's the same. It's from Boots. Okay. And it's number six. And they also have a serum that I have not been really good at putting on, but I have started with the serum to understand that really was an important thing to use. And my previous person did not have a serum. So I didn't, you know, wasn't brought up with the importance of using that. All right. And then I also, after I put the serum on, I use some olive oil. Okay. So I use the olive oil to just you know, after the serum, I'll put the oil on, put a little bit of water to water it down so it's not thick.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, and so when you switched over to the Cerave and those other products, then your skin calmed down and kind of went back to normal?
Customer: Oh yeah, it went back to normal. It took a little bit of time. But it was all through my body. It was horrible.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, gosh. Okay. Well, so, I'm trying to think where we want to go from here.
Also, hello, Holly, are you back? I don't know if she's back yet. She said she had to jump off or something. Yeah, I don't see her on the screen.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay. I'm trying to think how we want to do this since it’s just the two of you. Do you want me to go through the full line of products? Are you looking to maybe switch or you're just looking for certain products to add to your routine that you already have?
Customer: Well, I'd like to know how would you replace this, but instead of using this line, if I started your line.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, perfect. Yeah. So like I said, our basic routine is cleansing, toning, serum, and oil. So you would start with your cleanser. And we have a few different cleansers in the line. I would probably recommend to start that you would maybe want to try the Aloe Herb Cleanser and the Aloe Herb Cleanser, this is our best-selling cleanser in our Signature Collection.
So we have a couple of different collections within our line. We have our Signature Collection, which is all the products that have this tan labeling. And then we have our Wild Alchemy Collection, and all of those products have this black and gold labeling. And what's the difference? So the Signature Collection, a lot of those products are some of our best-selling products, products that have been around since we got started.
And then the products in our Wild Alchemy Collection, that's our luxury line. So what makes it our luxury line is just that those products contain higher levels of activated ingredients. And they also contain more exotic ingredients. A lot of times the crafting process as well, like the way those products are made is a little bit more laborious.
So those are the two collections. But so the Aloe Herb Cleanser is in our Signature Collection. As I said, it's our best-selling cleanser. It's good for all skin types. It's a creamy, nourishing, pH-balanced cleanser. So all of our cleansers are pH-balanced. Your skin's pH is about a 4.5 to a 5.5, and all of our cleansers are a 5.5 to a 5.6 on the pH scale. That's going to ensure that you're not stripping your skin, you're not drying out your skin, you're not disrupting your acid mantle. Also, we don't use any harsh sulfates or harsh surfactants in our cleansers. A lot of times with traditional cleansers that tend to be more foamy they'll be more alkaline and they have things like lauryl sulfates.
We use a sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate. That's the surfactant that we use. So it's a safe, low-foaming surfactant. But like I said, this is a creamy cleanser. It's got some coconut oil in it, which kind of gives it that creamy texture. It's got, of course, aloe in it, which is rich in vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients and enzymes. Aloe also has some naturally occurring saponins. This one has some calendula in it, which is really soothing and calming to the skin. It's got a little bit of lemon essential oil, so it gives it a nice scent. Lemon is also purifying and brightening to the skin.
So that one would probably be a good place to start if you were wanting to switch over and looking for a cleanser.
Customer: Yes. This facial cleanser with CeraVe. It has absolutely nothing in terms of these botanicals and this stuff. Okay, it's all basically, I don't know if you can see.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, I mean so usually I tell people with products like that one simple thing you can look for is if the first ingredient is water. Usually, ingredients are listed by their concentration. So you don’t want water to be your first ingredient because it's not doing much for you. The other thing with water is that when you have water in a product you have to include more preservatives because bacteria can grow easily. So our cleansers don't have water in them. But, I mean, I feel like in your case, because you were having this, like, major issue, and you were trying to get it under control, you know, that was probably a good way to go. But since your skin is back to normal, if you want to get into something more natural then this cleanser could be a good one to try. And then down the road, I don't know, say you wanted to play around with some of our other cleansers you could. For example, the Phytonutrient Cleanser, this one's in the Wild Alchemy Collection. It's a creamy cleanser, also kind of similar to the Aloe Herb, but a little bit thicker. Like a very rich kind of fatty texture, because it has a mango seed butter in it. This one's very nice, it's got apple extract in it, which is rich in vitamin C and malic acid. So that adds a little bit of a brightening component to this one. It's got our signature serum blend as well. It's got some acai oil in it. So that's a nice one as well.
And then we do have the Restorative Cleansing Oil. That one's a little bit different.
Customer: Which one was that?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, sorry. This one is the Phytonutrient. Sorry, Holly. I didn't know you were back.
Customer: Hey. I'll turn my video on in just a second.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, that's fine. We only have just the two of you on the call today, so I was kind of trying to personalize things a little bit more. Let me finish up with the cleansers and then I'll stop and kind of maybe chat with you for a second about what you’re looking for.
So the Restorative Cleansing Oil is the other one that I was going to mention. That one is also in the Wild Alchemy Collection and that one is a cleansing oil. So you use it a little bit differently, you know, these you would dampen your face, massage your cleanser in, and then rinse it off. Pat dry. The cleansing oil you apply to dry skin with dry hands. So you pump it in the palm, massage it in, and then you can just rinse clean. That could be it. You can use it on its own. Or you could use that as a first step in a double cleanse if you wanted to. And in that case, you would massage it, rinse it, and then follow up with whatever second cleanser that you like.
That one is good for all skin types. So, because it's an oil for dry and mature skin, it feels very nourishing. It leaves, like, a little bit of an oil on the skin. And then even for oilier skin or congested skin or anything like that, it can be a good choice as well because like attracts like, so the oil is going to kind of help to break down and soften excess oil and congestion.
But I'll stop there. So Holly, did you want to share a little bit about your skin, about your routine currently, about what you're looking to get out of the call and that sort of thing so we can just kind of personalize the call a little bit more?
Customer: Yeah, so hold on, let me get my…I used to use Clinique for a really long time and that just totally dried out my skin. And like I used it in high school and college and some time in college, I was like, oh, this is not right for my skin. So I've been kind of on the hunt. I'm not really into MLMs, but I had a friend who got me, it's through Kayani, I don't even know if they're still around, but they had a skin line that I really liked I just didn't want to pay for an MLM, so I bought it once and I was like, I'm done with that, I'm not going to support that. But I really liked it, I have some redness on my face that I've always dealt with all my life. I just kind of, I tan more there for some reason. And I always wear sunscreen every day. I wear 44 SPF broad spectrum from Elta MD. I am in the sun a lot every day. I'm a gardener and I have a homestead so I'm outside often and I try to wear a hat but it just, it is what it is. So anyway, I'm trying not to tan but it just happens. So anyway but yeah, I have the skin line that I have is micro delivery exfoliating facial wash and then they have a, I do that three or four times a week depending on how much humidity my face is feeling if I need to really and then there's, what is this called? It's I think called purity made simple with meadowfoam seed oil. I don't know. They're big bottles and I've just kind of gone from one thing to the next trying to find something as awesome as that one that I liked. So I'm almost out of my current collection. So I'm looking for my next new thing to try. But I do have some questions about the return policy. I have tried some skin lines and I use it for, you know, a certain amount of time because I know your skin has to adjust. There's a period and I just do not like it. And I sent stuff back before and it didn't look like there was a great return policy with you guys. So I did want to ask about that. If I get using it and like, oh my gosh, this is terrible.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Well we hope you don’t feel like that! But I feel like we do actually have a pretty lenient return policy. So the standard policy is you can return or exchange within 30 days, even if you've opened it, used it, whatever.
Customer: I didn't see that on the website, I guess it looked like I could only return it if it was unopened.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: No, you can still return. You can return, exchange, whatever, within the 30 days. And then if it's past the 30 days and you're wanting to return or exchange, you could still reach out and I feel like a lot of times we'll still honor it.
Customer: Okay.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I mean, not if it's like something a year later, but you know what I mean.
Customer: Right, right, right.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah. Okay. And so, your main concerns are redness and sensitivity. Are you more on the normal to dry side?
Customer: I turned 40 this year, so I know like hormonally my skin is drying out. So I actually, let me see if I can find it. I ran out of my other skin line. This was what I was using. Okay. And it's pretty heavy, it's like a complex recovery moisturizer and I didn't have to use it every day. I had another one. But I ran out of that one. This, which I know is terrible, but I had these two huge bottles, this is the exfoliator, and this is what's left of the other one, and I was like, I gotta finish this up before I, like, switch over, you know?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's so funny, I feel like that's just like my husband. He uses that green Vaseline lotion, and he will not use anything else.
Customer: Oh, yeah. My daughter, I have four girls, and three of them are teenagers. One of them's almost a teenager. And I think they read on Pinterest or saw on Pinterest that you should take Vaseline and put it over a pimple and then put a band-aid on it. And what do you think happened to her skin? She broke out. No, I'm like, I don't think that's going to be a good idea. No, this is not a good idea. It was a bad idea. Anyway yeah, it was okay. Or tape. She'll use tape. She's like, yeah, I read it. If I put tape over it. Yeah, that's probably not a great idea. Quit trapping all the bacteria under your skin, girlfriend.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh my god, get yourself like a little tea tree oil and a q-tip! Yeah, okay. Do you have any other questions?
Customer: I’m gonna leave my bathroom.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: OK, that's good. I just wanted, because it's only the two of you, I was thinking I might not go through every product in the line like I typically do. So I just wanted to make sure I kind of knew what to focus on based on your guys’ skin concerns and that sort of thing.
Customer: Yeah, so I'm, I'm definitely looking for an exfoliator, a daily cleanser. I love, I love the serums. I don't know if you can see, but I washed my face so you could see the redness that I have through here. That Kayani routine took all of this redness away. I had one solid texture to my face and I loved it. I'm on the hunt. I'm on the hunt for something like that.
Okay, now what comes after the cleanser?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So after you cleanse then you would tone. We have three different toning mists in our line. They are the Neroli Toning Mist, the Rosemary Toning Mist, I don't know where mine is, and the Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle.
So toning is going to really just help to complete the cleansing process, offer a dose of skin-supporting nutrients, and hydration to the skin. It kind of helps to rebalance the pH after cleansing. Like I said, all of our cleansers are pH balanced but the pH of water is like a 7, so you still kind of want to rebalance the skin after cleansing.
The Neroli Toning Mist, this one is in our Signature Collection. This one is our best-selling toning mist and would probably be a good option for either of you. It is a very simple formula. It's an aloe vera juice base. It's got some aspen bark extract, which is a natural source of salicins. It also helps to preserve the product. And then neroli, of course. So neroli is derived from fresh orange blossoms. So it gives this one a really nice scent. I feel like that's part of why it's so popular. And this one's good for normal skin, dry skin. The other one, it doesn't sound like either of you would probably need, the Rosemary. So the other one that we'll talk about is the Botanical Hydration Mist with Immortelle. This one is in our Wild Alchemy Collection. I don't know if you were on when I was talking about that.
Customer: Alright, Emily, what's, what's the quality of the rosemary? Maybe you talked about that already. I missed it.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: No, I wasn't going to go over the rosemary really just because I don't think it's what you guys need.
The rosemary's mostly for more oily skin types. So I guess it could actually be great for your girls, so we should cover it. I actually use the rosemary and love it. I'm kind of obsessed with it, but I am very congestion-prone. So the Rosemary Toning Mist, again, it's an aloe vera juice base, but then it's just a more purifying blend of herbs for normal to oily skin. It's got aspen, no. white willow bark extract in it which is, again, a natural source of salicins, so a lot of times white willow bark is used as an alternative to salicylic acid. So I love the rosemary one. I'll even use the rosemary as a spot treatment sometimes. I will open it, put a Q-tip in it and then use that to apply it. Or I will just hold it right up to the spot and spray it right on there. So your girls could try that.
And then I was going to say, I don't know if you were on when I was talking about the collections, but the difference between our Signature Collection, which is all the products with the tan labels, and the Wild aAlchemy Collection, which is the products with the black labels. The Wild Alchemy Collection is our luxury line. What makes it our luxury line is that the products in this collection have higher levels of activated ingredients. They have more exotic ingredients. And then the way that they're made is just a little bit more laborious sometimes. Those are our two main collections, the Signature and the Wild Alchemy.
Just because you mentioned your teens, I'll also mention the Essentials Collection. That collection is just two products. It's the Renew Facial Cream Cleanser and the Radiate Facial Oil. And those two products are offered at a lower price point than any of our other products. And the reason for that is just that they're really simple formulas. They don't contain our herb infusions. So they can be a good choice for somebody like a teen who's maybe just kind of wanting to get started with a little routine. And actually that radiate oil, I love that one. It's one of my favorites.
But then back to toning. The last one we'll talk about is the Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle. Because this one could also be a good choice for either of you. It is very calming for sensitive skin. It has a blend of four different types of chamomile in it. It also has rose in it, which is very soothing and nurturing. It has immortelle or life-everlasting flowers. So those are a potent antioxidant. And then it's got frankincense as well. So frankincense is known to tone, tighten, and rejuvenate the skin. So like an anti-aging property to it. The scent profiles are very different though. The neroli, like I said, is sort of sweeter. The rosemary smells like rosemary. And then this one is definitely more of an herbal scent.
I kind of didn't like it at first, but other people love it. So I don't know. Scent is really tricky because it's just such a personal thing. Okay, so those are the toning mists. And so after you cleanse, you just pat your skin dry, and then you mist your toning mist over your face and neck. You can also mist your toning mist throughout the day if you want some extra hydration or just a little refresh.
I'm toning mist obsessed, so I mist lots of toning mist. Any questions about cleansers or toners? No.
Customer: So what's the next thing that you put on?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay. So then you would use your serum. And we have several different serums. Let's see. So I like to apply my serum…all of our toners, on the packaging, say to mist your toning mist, let it dry, and then put on your serum. I don't really love that recommendation. I feel like you should mist your toning mist, and then while your skin is still damp, you apply your serum. Because it's going to help it to absorb better. Also, I like to talk a little bit, usually, about the difference between serums and oils and hydration and moisture.
So, there's the difference between dehydrated skin, which is water dry skin, and dry skin, which is oil dry skin. And we recommend using a combination of hydrating and moisturizing products so that you're treating both. And so then you're creating optimum moisture levels in the skin. So your toning mist and your serum, those are your hydrators. And then your facial oil is your moisturizer. And so that's why we recommend using the combination.
Customer: But wait a minute. Hold on. Are you still talking about the serum?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes, so I was just saying that your serum and your toning mist, those are your hydrators. For dehydrated skin or water-dry skin. And most people have both; they have some dehydration and some dryness.
Also, your serums are made of a smaller molecule than a facial oil, so they're able to penetrate more deeply. They usually have higher levels of activated ingredients. So they let you really kind of customize your routine to focus on whatever your specific concern is. And we have in the Signature Collection three different serums.
The Anti-Aging Serum. This one is our most popular serum. So this one, it's good for all skin types. I always like to refer to this one as just a daily dose of overall skin nutrition. It's very rich in antioxidants—life everlasting flowers and buddleja extract.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh yeah, you've got it.
Customer: You sent it to me. It came from Annmarie.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, perfect. It’s the serum trio with the Anti-Aging, Citrus Stem Cell, and Probiotic.
Customer: Now how much of this are you supposed to put on?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I would say like two, well those ones aren't pumps. If you get a full size, it has a pump and I would say like two pumps. So I don't know, maybe that's like the size of a penny. I feel like it's maybe a little smaller than a penny. So yes, you would apply your serum when your skin is still slightly damp from your toning mist. The Anti-Aging Serum, like I said, is good for all skin types. It's very antioxidant-rich with life everlasting and the buddleja. And then this one's very deeply hydrating as well. So it's got hyaluronic acid in it. We use a non-GMO, vegetable sourced hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic is a humectant that binds water to the skin and it holds 1,000 times its weight in water, so it's considered a super hydrator. And that's going to really just help to kind of plump your skin, deeply hydrating your skin is going to have a plumping effect on the skin, whereas if your skin is dehydrated, it's going to emphasize the appearance of fine lines. So that is the Anti-Aging Serum. Similar to the Aloe Herb Cleanser, I tell people if you're overwhelmed, if you're not really sure where to start, this can be a good place to start because it's good for all skin types. You can't really go wrong with that one.
The Citrus Stem Cell Serum that one is good for, again, all skin types, but especially thicker textured skin, skin that's had a lot of exposure to the elements, the sun, that sort of thing. The Citrus Stem Cell has, of course, citrus-derived stem cells. We use plant stem cells in a lot of our products and these stem cells are going to provide proteins, peptides, and amino acids that are going to help to strengthen the skin. The Citrus Stem Cell Serum also contains a brightening trio. It's amlaberry, licorice root, and uva ursi. So amlaberry is very rich in vitamin C, and then licorice root and uva ursi are lightening and brightening. So say you have, like a dark spot and you're wanting to lighten the appearance of it, the licorice root and the uva ursi can be helpful for that.
Licorice root is used a lot of times in natural products as an alternative to hydroquinone. And then lastly in the Signature Collection we have the Probiotic Serum With Tremella. This one's good for sensitive skin or skin that’s out of balance. This one has, of course, tremella mushroom extract in it which acts similar to hyaluronic acid. It's got moisture-binding beta glucans. And then this one also has astaxanthin, which is a powerful antioxidant. It's got some olive leaf extract, and then it also has a probiotic ferment. So that probiotic ferment can help to eliminate impurities on the surface of the skin, and it can help to balance the skin's pH. So that's the probiotic.
Customer: Did you say stem cell? Did I hear that?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes, that's in the Citrus Stem Cell Serum. We use plant derived stem cells. A lot of products use stem cells, but they can be derived from all sorts of different things. So we use plant-derived stem cells in a lot of our products, that's just one that contains them. And like I said, they have proteins and peptides and amino acids and things that really help to strengthen the skin. Okay, so those are the three serums in the Signature Collection. Any questions about those serums? Those three? Then in the Wild Alchemy Collection, we have a few different ones.
The Wild Fruit Serum, that one is, I like to say it's like our do-it- all serum because it's hydrating, it's brightening, it's anti-aging. That one, it's got a copper-infused water, it has the plant-derived stem cells, it has Madonna lily stem cells. So that one actually has 1.5 million of the plant cells in each little bottle of it. So it's a really dense infusion of those plant cells. That one also has knotweed extract, which is rich in resveratrol. It's got apple extract, so the same apple extract that I talked about that's in the Phytonutrient Cleanser, apple extract is going to be rich in vitamin C and malic acid, so to help with brightening. And then that one also has kakadu plum extract. This is another really potent source of vitamin C. It also contains phenolic acid. Phenolic acid behaves on the skin similarly to an alpha hydroxy acid. An alpha hydroxy acid is going to kind of dissolve the “glue” that holds the top layer of skin cells, so it helps to improve texture and tone. That's something for me that kind of sets the Wild Fruit Serum apart. I really like that one.
We also have the Activated CBD Serum. I will touch on that one because this one is really good for calming. It's good for alleviating temporary redness in the skin. One of the girls on our team has very sensitive skin and this is her favorite one. But she does use the probiotic as well. I know she alternates between the two. But this one of course contains CBD. When we created this one, we partnered with Ojai Energetics to source our CBD. They're a leader and a pioneer in the CBD space. CBD is a little bit tricky to say exactly what it does because it kind of works with your body's natural endocannabanoid system to go where it's needed to go and do what it's needed to do. But like I said, this one is very soothing. It's very hydrating. It's got both the tremella mushroom extract and the hyaluronic acid. So it has a little bit thicker, creamier texture than some of the others. You saw how the Anti-Aging Serum was more aqueous and runny. So this one along with the CBD, it's got astaxanthin, it's got mangosteen oil, black cumin seed oil in this one, copaiba…So this one is a really nice one, again, for having a calming effect on the skin. And then, so many serums! The Activated Night Serum. This one is in the Wild Alchemy Collection. This is our most recent serum launch. This one contains our bioactive A-Complex. So our bioactive A- Complex is our alternative to retinol. So retinol is sort of, you know, like the gold standard in anti-aging. But it tends to not be a great choice for your health or your skin. It can be harmful to reproductive health, and if you're using it over an extended period of time it can start to thin your skin. Which you really don't want to thin your skin, you want to create healthy, resilient skin as we age.
So that's why we created this product with the bioactive A-Complex, because it gives a similar effect to retinol. It has that, like, resurfacing, rejuvenating effect on the skin but without the not-so-lovely side effects.
Customer: Sorry, what was that one called? This is the Activated Night Serum.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: A lot of times traditional retinol can be really irritating to the skin. For this one, we paired the bioactive A with a lot of really soothing, calming ingredients. It's got lavender in it, it's got blue chamomile in it, so it's kind of a nice pair. This one though, you do want to use, as it suggests at night, only use it at night and always with an SPF during the day because it does make you a little bit more sensitive to the sun.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So those are all the serums. Questions about serums.
Customer: I can't find that serum on the website.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Oh, really? It should be under, I think it's still under new products.
Customer: Oh, okay.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: And I think also under the Wild Alchemy Collection. It's also like towards the end of the serum collection, which drives me crazy. I hate the way our products are organized on our site. It makes me nuts.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: The only other thing in the serum category is our Concentrated Boosting Elixirs. I don't know if you guys want me to go over these…they come in a set of three. They’re definitely not a necessary product. Often, people are like “do I need the elixirs?” You don't really need the elixirs. They’re just sort of a fun product. If you're wanting to boost the levels of activated ingredients in your products. The way that you use these, like I said, they come in this set of three and they come with a little dropper top. They're a very liquidy consistency. And so you just add one to three drops of the elixir to your serum. You never apply these directly to your skin. You always mix them with your serum. Or if for some reason you weren't going to use a serum, you could mix them with your facial oil. They come with the Hydrate Elixir, which is a hyaluronic acid with peptides. As we talked about already, hyaluronic is going to deeply hydrate and then the peptides are going to be strengthening. This one has Brighten. So this is vitamin C. It's a pure vitamin C with seabuckthorn to brighten the look of skin.
The vitamin C that we use is a tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. So it's a really stable form of vitamin C. A lot of vitamin C products on the market, the vitamin C is not stable. So then you open the product and it goes rancid really quickly and then it's not effective. So this is a very stable form of vitamin C that we chose to use for this. It's also a very non-irritating form of vitamin C. It has a pH of 7.
And then the last one in the set is the Revitalize Elixir. This is the bioactive A- Complex with astaxanthin. So this is the exact same active ingredient that is in the Activated Night Serum that we just talked about. They're the same ingredient.
But like I said, if you were going to use these elixirs, you would just mix them in with your serum. And they were made to offer a clean alternative to some of these really popular activated ingredients on the market. And they allow you, like I said, to just really boost the level of activated ingredients in your routine. Because the more activated ingredients, like the hyaluronic and the vitamin C and the bioactive A, the more of those that you're incorporating, the more results you're going to see. So those are all the serums and the elixirs. Any questions? Am I losing you guys?
Okay, good. So after your serum, then you would apply your facial oil. So all of our facial moisturizers are oils. The reason that we've chosen oils is that they're just more pure. They don't require any fillers or waxes to be used. Like I was talking about earlier, a lot of times if a product has water in it, like most creams and lotions do, then they have to use more preservatives and that sort of thing to prevent the bacteria growth.
Oils are just more easily absorbed by the skin as well. And we have several different facial oils. So in the Signature Collection, we have our herbal facial oils. We have the Herbal Facial Oil For Oily Skin, the Herbal Facial Oil For Sensitive Skin, and the Herbal Facial Oil For Normal and Combination Skin. I tend to not go into these too deeply because they're sort of self-explanatory because they're named for the skin type that they are designed for.
All three are a grapeseed oil base, which is a light-textured, skin-balancing oil. It's rich in vitamin E and omega 6. And then they just contain an herb blend suited to whichever skin type. So, the Herbal Facial Oil for Oily Skin is going to contain a purifying herb blend. It's got the white willow bark, the neem, the cumin seed oil.
Then the Herbal Facial Oil for Normal and Combination skin is the skin balancing oil. That one's got some chamomile, so it's soothing. Some goji gives it an antioxidant property, some echinacea in there, and then the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin contains no added essential oils, making it ideal for sensitive skin types. It’s got a combination of a bunch of different omega-rich oils like sacha inchi and camellia see oil.
And then lastly, in the Signature Collection, we have the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. This one, again, is very popular. It is a jojoba oil base. So the other ones, like I mentioned, are that grapeseed oil base. This one is jojoba. Jojoba very closely resembles the texture of your skin's natural sebum. So it makes it a good choice for dry and mature skin types. I actually like jojoba for anyone. I'm just jojoba obsessed. But this one is a very nourishing facial oil. It's got a bunch of different seed oils in it. So it's got carrot seed oil, broccoli seed oil, chia seed oil. Chia, for example, is rich in vitamin B3 and zinc. So that is the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. Those are all the ones in the Signature Collection.
And then in the Wild Alchemy Collection, we have the Rejuvenating Facial Oil. This one is our most potent facial oil. It's our most active facial oil. So our other facial oils contain probably 15 to 20 different herbs in the herb blend. This one contains just one herb. It's the butterfly pea flower, which is very rich in antioxidants. And then the other facial oils also contain probably 20 to 30 different seed oils and CO2 extracts whereas the Rejuvenating Facial Oil has fewer, again, it's like 15, in this one.
So the reason that we chose to do that is just because by including fewer, we were able to include them at higher percentages so it makes it more potent, more active. So it sounds like you both are a little more on the sensitive side. For some people that are very sensitive, it can be a little too much. I've never had an issue with it. But if you were wanting to use it and you felt like it was too much for your skin, you can always mix it with the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin or the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. But it's got the butterfly pea flowers. It's got brightening baobab oil in it. It's got antioxidant-rich marula oil. It has mongongo oil in it, which is very softening. It just feels very soft on the skin. So that is the Rejuvenating Facial Oil.
Customer: But oil is important to come after the serum?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes. So you would always apply your oil after a serum. I do like to tell people, usually I talk about this at the beginning of the call, but we recommend that basic four-step routine, cleanse, tone, serum, and oil. If you were only going to do the most basic routine, maybe you wanted to start super simple or you're like, “I'm not going to do all those steps”. You would want to at least have a cleanser and facial oil. Those would be the two products that you would want to start with. Just because that's your cleanser and then your moisturizer. And then you could always add other products from there. But if you're using all of them, then yes, the oil would always go last over top of the serum.
Customer: And again, how much of that? Just a dab?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I feel like I'm kind of an over-user of oil because I like to really massage it in and I like the feel of oil. But again, you probably only need two pumps, maybe three pumps of the oil. You can just pump it into the palm of your hand, dab it on, and then massage it in however you want to. Like I said, I just kind of go crazy with it and put it everywhere!
Customer: Now when you massage, you really, how do you do that? How do you massage your face?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I feel like there's no specific way. I just kind of do what feels good. I mean, I guess I'll try and kind of go up across my brow or across my forehead, I tend to just pull my oil down over my neck area, but there's not really a specific way that you need to massage it in. Just do what feels good.
Customer: I always like to know what people do.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, that's kind of what I do.
What else? Okay, so those, that's your basic four steps. And then, if you wanted to, you could incorporate some additional steps. You could incorporate an eye treatment product, like an eye cream if you wanted to.
We have two eye products. The Anti-Aging Eye Cream. Mine's looking a little sad these days, and the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum. They both are great. I tend to tell people if they're going to just choose one or the other, I like the eye cream. It just feels very nourishing to my eye area. It's got damas rose plant cells. It's got cucumber in it, which of course is cooling and soothing, and rich in silica.
Customer: What is that one called? Which one is that?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: The Anti-Aging Eye Cream.
Then for exfoliants, I do like to tell people, it's important to exfoliate, but it's kind of a fine line because you don't want to over-exfoliate and cause any irritation. But if you're not exfoliating, then you tend to kind of get this layer of build up and then all of your other products aren't able to really penetrate deeply to work effectively.
So we have a few different exfoliants. We have three. The first is the Ayurvedic Facial Scrub. This one is a dry, powdered exfoliant. It is very gentle. Even very sensitive skin types can use it. And you can just shake it into the palm of your hand. You can mix it with a little bit of water to kind of create a paste. And then massage it into your skin and rinse. Or I like to just mix it right in with my cleanser. It mixes really nicely with the Aloe Herb Cleanser or the Phytonutrient. You can just shake it right into the cleanser. Just kind of save yourself a step. And this one, like I said, it's very gentle. You could do it three times a week. Most people can even use it every day if they want to and it's fine. It's that gentle.
Then we have our Kaolin Micro Exfoliant. Mine is in the shower, but that one is like in the tube, and it's a cream exfoliating scrub. So it's a creamy texture, it's a green kaolin clay, so any clay is going to be very mineral rich and purifying. It's got lavender essential oil in there, so soothing, and calming and that's the scent profile as well. It contains crushed bamboo powder, which is what gives it its scrubby, gritty texture. That one, like I said, is a little bit richer. Most people can use it two or three times a week. That one also can be mixed. It mixes, again, nicely with the Aloe Herb Cleanser if you want to use it and you want it to just be a little bit more gentle.
I know that Grace, our marketing assistant, really loves mixing those two.
And then lastly, we have our Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant. That one is a little bit different. The other two are physical exfoliants. So they have that scrubby, gritty texture to physically polish the skin. The Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant is a chemical exfoliant. So chemical in the way that it works on your skin, not that it contains a bunch of chemicals.
That one contains a honey-derived lactic acid. That is the exfoliating component. Lactic acid is a very mild alpha hydroxy acid, which we already talked about. So it's just a smooth gel texture. You apply it to clean skin. You leave it on for just two minutes to start and then rinse it thoroughly. You always want to use the one in the evening with an SPF during the day.
What else with that one? You can work your way up to leaving it on for 10 minutes if your skin feels good with it. We just recommend starting with the lesser time because it can feel a little bit tingly, a little bit active on the skin. And that one you would only want to use once a week. Most people, you wouldn't want to do it more than that.
So those are the exfoliants. Questions about exfoliants or exfoliation?
Customer: Well, what are you doing? When you're exfoliating, what's happening?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Well, like I said, you just are removing that layer of like buildup and debris that can kind of accumulate on the skin. So then when you are removing that layer, then your other products are able to penetrate more deeply to work better. You're also improving your skin's texture. Exfoliation can help with improving skin tone as well. If you are working to lighten the appearance of dark spots.
But those are exfoliants. Okay, then lastly is masks.
So if you want to, you could incorporate a mask. We have a few different ones.
The Coconut Honey Mask, that one is a very simple formula. It's good for very dry and mature skin types. It's good for sensitive skin types as well. It's a rich, balmy texture. A lot of people like that one in the dry winter months.
Then the Illuminating Pearl Mask. This is everybody's favorite! It's a hydrating, brightening treatment mask. This one you really can't overdo it with. You could use it every day if you wanted to. It's got honey in it. So honey is a humectant to draw moisture to the skin. It's also got licorice root and uva ursi, which are the same two brightening ingredients that we talked about with the Citrus Stem Cell Serum. It has a crushed pearl powder in it, which is a really unique ingredient. It gives it kind of this luminosity that it imparts onto the skin, which is really nice. It has a jelly-like texture. It's sort of a cream gel. Which feels really nice and like cooling on the skin. So I like to use that one in the morning when my skin is sort of tired and puffy.
And then the Purifying Mud Mask. You can use it for your girls if you want to. This one is a dry powder as well. I actually love this mask, but like I said, I tend to be more congestion-prone. And that one you can mix with water of course to create your mask or I like to mix it with honey, specifically Manuka honey. If you go to the health food store, you can get Manuka honey UMF 15. That is another great thing to use for a spot treatment as opposed to Vaseline with a bandaid. You could just dot it on the blemish. It has a lot of properties that are beneficial to the skin. You could mix it with the mud mask and use it as a spot treatment. I also love mixing this one with honey because as I mentioned before, honey is a humectant that draws moisture to the skin. So it allows any skin type to use this mask, not just those with oily skin.
Then we've got the Charcoal Cacao Mask as well. This one is great for drawing out deep impurities. It's got an Activated Coconut Charcoal in it and then it's very antioxidant-rich as well with the cacao and the turmeric. That one you would only want to use once a week. That one could also be used as a spot treatment. So many spot treatment options!
And I think those are all the masks. I think that's it. So questions about anything? Any of the products or skin concerns or anything?
Customer: Well, first of all, you did a fantastic job at that.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Thank you.
Customer: Nice to know that you use all these things and that they work.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, I do. I tend to, I have two little kids, so I'm like the esthetician with the simplest skin care routine in the world because I'm just so tired and busy all the time. So my routine can be very simple sometimes.
Customer: Well, all right. So now, what do we do from here? Do we go to your website and look up all these things and…
Customer: Yeah. That's where I'm at and I am so overwhelmed. I'm not going to lie.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay. Good to know. It can be overwhelming. There's so many products. So like I said, if you're feeling overwhelmed, then maybe you want to start with the most simple routine, just a cleanser and facial oil and build your routine from there.
Customer: I mean, I for sure want a cleanser and an exfoliator and a serum and a moisturizer. I'm just overwhelmed with the options. I'm not sure if my skin type fits into the restore or into the soothe collection.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Ok, so I would say for your cleanser you could do either the Aloe Herb Cleanser or the Phytonutrient Cleanser, I think either would be perfect for you. They're both going to be soothing. The difference, like I said, the Phytonutrient Cleanser has more activated ingredients with the apple extract in it that helps with brightening, and the signature serum blend.
Customer: Which one, what's that one called again? Phytonutrient?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes.
Customer: Is that under the Wild Alchemy?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes. So I would do either the Aloe Herb or the Phytonutrient. I think you would be fine with either. I think you'd probably be happy with either one.
Customer: Now, aloe is the signature, right? And the other is the wild.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yes, that's correct. And I think the same for you. You could do either of these. I almost would say start with the Aloe Herb, though, just since you were having so much sensitivity in the past. I feel like the Aloe Herb might be a safer place to start. So either of those would be a good place to start with your cleanser. You can just choose whichever sounds lovelier to you. You could even just start with the Aloe Herb since it's the Signature one and then maybe down the road you're like, “oh, maybe I want to try out the Phyto” and then you could switch it up, you know? So you guys could both start with the Aloe Herb and then toning mist you could
Customer: Wait, what about exfoliators?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So exfoliant, I would probably say either the Ayurvedic or the Kaolin. So the Ayurvedic is the one that's the powder, the little dry powdered one. And you could just mix it right in with your Aloe Herb Cleanser when you cleanse. Then you're cleansing and you're exfoliating all at once. And that one's really gentle, so you could use it every day if you wanted, or you could just use it a few times a week.
The other option would be the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant, which is the cream exfoliant. I think they're both great. I like to use the Ayurvedic if I am washing my face at the sink and the Kaolin if I am washing my face in the shower. So it really could just be personal preference. If you get the kaolin and you feel like, it's a little bit much for you, because it seems like you guys are both on the sensitive side, then try mixing a little bit of it with the Aloe Herb Cleanser to dilute it a little bit. And you only need a little bit, you know. So that would be your cleanser and your exfoliant.
Then for your serum, you could go a few different ways. I feel like I would probably say Probiotic Serum. That one's very hydrating, it's very soothing for sensitive skin. I feel like that would probably be a good place to start.
And then for your facial oil, you could go a few different ways. You could do the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. That one's really popular. It's very moisturizing. It's not my go-to. I personally like the Rejuvenating, but since you're more sensitive, the Anti-Aging might be a better option. I personally like to alternate between the Radiate Oil and the Rejuvenating Oil.
Customer: Radiate?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So the Radiate is the one in the Essentials collection that I mentioned. Oh, it's sold out. Shoot. Just kidding. That one's sold out. Okay, not that one. So then probably the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. As I said, that one is very popular. It's the jojoba oil base, so very nourishing.
Customer: Typically, if something's out of stock, how long does it take for that to come back in?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: It really just kind of depends on the product. I can find out, I can message our inventory team and find out how much longer before we get Radiate back. Let me actually just check the inventory updates channel and make sure they didn't say anything about it. Actually, somebody just asked when it's supposed to come back and they have not responded yet. I could email you and let you know.
And then the toner. So for the toning mist, you could do either the Neroli Toning Mist or the Botanical Hydration Mist With Immortelle. Either of you could do either one of these. They're both going to be soothing. Like I said, that botanical one has four different types of chamomile in it. So very soothing to the skin.
Customer: That's a toner, or? You didn't spend much time on that. You don't feel that that's really as important.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: No, I do, actually. I feel like toning is something that people often think “oh, I don't really need a toner”, which is fine. You don't have to have a toner. I personally can't live without a toner. I love it. So I am big on applying my serum and oil while my skin is still slightly damp like we talked about. I actually always mist my toning mist after I apply my facial oil as well, which you don't have to do, but I like to do that. I feel like it just kind of dilutes the oil a little bit further on the skin. It gives it a really nice finish. So I'm a big fan of toning mist. So if it were me, I would include one.
Also, I will quickly touch on our sunscreen. Our Sun Love Everyday Sheer Sunscreen is an SPF 20. It's a non-nano zinc oxide. It's got buriti fruit oil and pumpkin seed oil in it.
Customer: Right, and this thing that I have from Boots, the Protection Perfect, they have part of that within that screen. They use the spectrum of 30. So is this the same thing? Is it within the spectrum of 30 or what is it?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: It's an SPF 20. So it's really great for daily wear if you're just kind of out and about doing whatever. I feel like if you're really sweating a lot or swimming or really sitting out in the sun, then you're going to want to reapply it. But just for normal day to day wear, it's usually enough.
Customer: Now how long does this sort of last? You know, if you buy these things?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So each of the products on our website on the product page say when to reorder. This gives you an idea of approximately how long each product should last you.
Well, if you guys think of other questions that you did not get to ask, you can always email us at [email protected]
Customer: What’s the difference between the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant and the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant, would you say?
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant is a chemical exfoliant. It's that smooth gel texture. You use it kind of more like a mask. And it has that lactic acid in there, which is like dissolving kind of, it has a dissolving effect. Whereas the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant is a physical scrub. It has that gritty texture from the crushed bamboo powder that’s physically polishing the skin.
Emily – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I feel like since you, it seems like, tend to be more sensitive the Resurfacing wouldn’t be my first choice for you. I would start with the Ayurvedic or the Kaolin.
Well, you guys have a wonderful rest of the day! Thank you so much for joining.
Customer: You too. Good to meet you. Okay. Bye bye.
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