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Meet The Natural Beauty World’s Creme de la Mer

Posted by Melisse Gelula from Well+GoodNYC on February 7, 2013  

Hold the phone. This piece from Well+Good had our jaws on the floor. We LOVE the Marie Veronique Organics line but had yet to hear of this new luxury brand Pacific that they’ve launched. In a way, we like to see a naturals line pulling out the big guns and competing with a perennial fave like La Mer. But that price tag is just wild! Did you ever use Creme de la Mer? Would you consider using this? (Our truth: We don’t have the disposable income for this, but if anyone wants to send us a sample… ahem…)

From the Well+Good piece:

Natural beauty innovators, Marie Veronique Organics, recently launched a luxe line called Pacific. The star product is the Topical Marine Treatment—and it costs $375.

That makes it one of the priciest natural anti-aging products to hit the market. And by using marine-derived ingredients—and promising huge results—it’s instigated a beauty counter surf-and-turf war with Crème de la Mer, which costs $275.

What do the two anti-aging products have in common? La Mer’s NASA-scientist-discovered “miracle broth” contains biofermented algae, and it inspired legions of women to slather mineral-rich seaweed on their skin. Like many traditional beauty products, however, La Mer contains petroleum-based moisturizers and other synthetics (mineral oil glycerin and isohexadecane), which give it a creamy, appealing texture (and possibly cause an allergic reaction or pore congestion).

Pacific Topical Marine Treatment contains a newly discovered marine-based extract. The propriety ingredient was brought to market by Beverly Hills dermatologist Eric Lewis, MD, in conjunction with a commercial marine biology institute. And Dr. Lewis and Marie Veronique combined forces. The pungent serum is much less cosmetically elegant than La Mer (it’s a bit grainy and smells like eye-watering seaweed on the beach). But there are no synthetic ingredients used—just peptides, ceramides, and other ingredients that do something for the skin.

To what does it do, and why does it cost $375? “The Topical Marine Treatment produces more collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid,” explains Marie Veronique Organics’s CEO Hillary Peterson. These are the building blocks of great skin, responsible for its youthful plumpness, and snap-back quality and resilience, and moisture-retaining ability. “Thanks to sun damage and aging, the ability of our skin to produce these itself diminishes a percentage or two each year,” says Peterson.

You can keep reading the rest here.

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Product Reviews: Marie Veronique Organics

Posted by Siobhan on January 3, 2013  

Every once and a while, I fall in love with a new line. This happens infrequently, because I’m very particular about what I’ll put on my face. But of the four things I have tried, I absolutely adore all of them. One in particular.

The line is Called Marie Veronique Organics, and I’ll admit that the little French school girl in me fell for the name.*

Once I tried the products, though, I fell for what was inside, too. They have a new line out called Pacific that I am getting ready to try. Stay tuned for that. But for now, here’s what I’m loving:

Anti-Aging Mist This one’s wild. It has turmeric on the ingredient list, and you can smell it when you spray it on your face and chest. I could see this not being everyone’s favorite scent, but I find it delightful. Surprising, unisex, invigorating. I love how it feels on my skin—not drying, like some mists, and not overly floral. I love a floral mist myself, but I know plenty of women (and no doubt countless men) who do not. Plus, it contains potent antiagers like elderberry and licorice root.

Cleanser I love this stuff. I’m still devoted to my Kahina cleanser in alternation with my Tata Harper, but lo! There’s a third favorite in town. This cleanser is incredibly gentle but effective. When I cheat and go Dior on my lashes, it doesn’t do the trick, but neither would, say, Neutrogena, if that was my bag (it’s not). So I forgive it, and any natural cleanser, for not being able to get conventional mascara off my eyes, but I give it a whole lot more: Sunscreen, makeup and crap from this dirty city I live in: Gone. Natural oils: Intact. Skin? Balanced! I love it. There’s a little geranium and vetiver in there, too, which smells divine.

Anti-Aging Oil There is so much going on in this face oil that it’s tough to know where to start, so I’m going to be brief for once: The first time I used this, I woke up glowing. During a northeast (admittedly mild) winter in a building as old as mine, where it’s hard to control the heat, dry skin is a problem. This puppy seems to have done the trick.

Everyday Sheer Coverage SPF 20 I am obsessed (obsessed!) with this product. Funny story: I thought it was just a sunscreen, and I’m already obsessed with another sunscreen, so it took me a while before I tried it. Then I mentioned the line in my morning routine, and one of you mentioned the tinted SPF. “Tinted?!” I thought. I have to get my hands on some of that. Then I realized I already had it in my bathroom. (Champagne problems, I know.) So the following morning, I put a quarter size dollop in my palms and spread it over my face on top of my go-to sunscreen. I’m a safety girl,** and there’s no such thing as too much SPF for me. I looked in the mirror and…whoa. The coverage is so sheer that I couldn’t spot so much as a streak of makeup, and yet my whole face looked somehow better. And more even. And more hydrated. I’ve not gone a day without it since, nor do I plan to. Huge fan.

Have you tried this delightful line? Any questions about the products I mentioned?

*We’re Quebecois, remember? We had to go to French/French-immersion school growing up.
** My undying love to anyone who gets the movie reference here without googling.

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Alissa’s Morning Hair and Skin Routine … Exposed!

Posted by Sylvie on May 18, 2012  

Good morning, everyone! Today, we have Alissa…from Australia! Not only is she automatically cool because she is an Aussie, but she is the type of girl with the attitude that positive thinking can help achieve positively lovely skin. How cool is that? She doesn’t forgo products, but I’m guessing she enhances their powers by smiling! Read on, you’ll see!
Name: Alissa
Age: 23
Current weather: Typical Sydney Autumn…freezing cold grey-sky days alternated with sunny, warm beachy ones! Can’t make up its mind…but on the sunny days, Sydney’s the most seductive, beautiful city in the world.
Hair: Chestnut brown, boob length (we’ve coined that as a technical term now, right? :) ), wavy with the odd actual ringlet, plagued by dry split ends, fine but a lot of it.
Skin: Combination in the extreme. My skin is probably my biggest trial and my biggest insecurity. My cheeks and forehead are clear and soft, my nose is oily, and my chin, lipline and jawline are dry and prone to huge, painful pimples and whiteheads. I’ve got some scarring there too, which isn’t helped by my extremely fair complexion. Oh, did I mention I have very sensitive skin, too?
Favourite icon or star from the past: Gina Lollobrigida…what a gorgeous badass! Image via
In the shower…
I tend to shower at night, just before bed. I start off by dry brushing - something I picked up from reading this blog, and I’ve noticed it’s made a huge difference to how soft my skin is. I then apply my cleanser – either honey, coconut oil, or Stark Grapefruit Cleanse + Hydrate Balm, which is lovely and healing. I only wash my hair once a week, so if it’s a washing day I shampoo with Miessence Desert Flower Shampoo (Miessence is a fantastic Australian clean brand that makes everything from toothpaste to make-up…you guys should feature them, they have some great, dependable products!) which is super mild, and every few washes I alternate with a baking soda rinse (thanks, Alexandra! I couldn’t believe how well it works). I’m experimenting with all-clean conditioners at the moment – John Masters Honey and Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor makes my hair very full and soft, but also frizzes out my waves and curls, and every other one I’ve tried has either provided too much moisture or not nearly enough. The best conditioner I have ever used is an almost-clean one – Kinky Curly Knot Today (not available in Australia…damn you, isolated Southern Hemisphere! Thank you, eBay!). It has the dreaded phenoxy and also something listed mysteriously as ‘natural fragrance’ but the rest of the ingredients are clean and organic and SWOON it works wonders detangling my knot-prone hair. I leave it on for a few minutes under a shower cap while I wipe the cleanser of my face, shave my legs and pits with Dr Bronners Lavender Shave Gel, then I rinse well with warm and then ice cold water (reduces frizz and makes my hair super shiny!) I don’t use soap or bodywash or anything because I just don’t need it.
Outside the shower…
I moisturise my damp body with either coconut oil, Soapwalla’s Luxurious Moisturising Body Oil (the smell is so amazing I want to drink the damn thing), or whatever 100% Pure body cream I have available. I apply coconut oil to my armpits as a deodorant – I used to use Soapwalla which was seriously miraculous…until I developed angry red pits, noooo. I find that coconut oil works great though, even lasting overnight into the next day. I comb a little more Kinky Curly through my damp hair (it does double duty as a leave-in). Then I moisturise my face with either rosehip oil, jojoba oil, or Stark’s Cypress Purity + Defence Oil, which makes my skin so matte and soft – but it’s so expensive for my uni budget, so I treat it like liquid gold and ration it out. If I have a huge blemish or three that I’ve naughtily popped, I’ll apply a small amount of anti-bacterial gel or powder, just to keep it clean and dry it out. No blemish gel or tea tree oil or benzoyl peroxide has ever helped my acne, so I don’t bother anymore, and now my skin is so much less red, flaking and inflamed. My acne is mostly hormonal, anyway, so I try to work on eating clean and organic, and balancing my stress levels. And laughing a lot. I find my acne always clears up after I’ve had a good laugh.

Finishing touches…
In the mornings, I gently wash my face with honey and moisturise as above. I barely wear any make-up but living in Australia, SPF is a must. I recently started using Marie Veronique Moisturising Face Screen SPF30 thanks to a tip-off by a commenter on this site, and it is by far the best sunscreen I have ever used. It is lightly tinted and provides lovely, even, natural coverage and the zinc even heals my blemishes, I swear. I usually apply some RMS Living Luminizer to my lids and cheeks, a swipe of 100% Pure mascara, and some Soapwalla lip balm (coconut and lime is my fave). If I’m going out at night I’ll add some Jane Iredale eyeliner and some Ilia Lip Conditioner. If my hair is getting a bit oily at the roots I apply a generous helping of Lulu’s Organics hair powder and voilà! I’m fit to be seen in public ;).

Voilà, indeed! Thank you, Alissa! Any other Aussies out there who have some brands to recommend to readers in that hemisphere?

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