Brand Focus: Sempirra

Whoa, has it really been two months since my last blog post? Summer/work/life/the usual has been crazy! I'm happy to be back and have several posts coming at you over the course of the next couple of weeks. Promise.
A long while back, on Instagram, I started following Sempiira. They posted a picture of their Patchouli Lime Deodorant. Right away I commented on how delicious it sounded. Being such a huge fan of patchouli (total hippie), and loving the refreshing scent of lime, how could one resist? One could not. They reached out and offered to send me a deodorant, but surprised me with a cleansing oil and serum as well. P.S. Does anyone else find the labels exotic, Moroccan almost? I love it.

Sempiira: A large fire deliberately set for a constructive purpose

We are longtime best friends dedicated to creating luxurious organic health and beauty products using only the highest quality ingredients. All of our products are free of pesticides and preservatives and we use only pure essential oils for scent. Everything is handmade in our studio in Williston, Vermont. We value and support local, fair trade, and sustainable practices.

Read more by about Sempiira here.

*Patchouli Lime Natural Deodorant ($16.50 usd/75ml): Coconut oil’s natural anti-bacterial properties prevent odour while arrowroot and baking soda absorb odour and wetness. Pure essential oils keep you smelling great all day.

This deodorant smells like a friggen hippie dream! The patchouli and lime combo is so delicious, you have to smell it. Sadly, it didn't work out for me. With ingredients like shea butter, coconut oil, arrowroot powder, baking soda, and the essential oils, I thought for sure it would keep me dry, stink free, and smelling..well, delicious. It made my underarms feel wet and sticky upon application, and I was stinky within an hour of application. After trying it for a week, I gave up.

*Cleansing Oil ($28.50 usd/100 ml): Our balancing facial treatment gently dissolves makeup and impurities without disrupting your skin's natural moisture balance. Castor oil cleanses and fights inflammation while safflower and jojoba nourish skin without clogging pores. The natural anti-bacterial properties of frankincense and lavender prevent blemishes as rosewood soothes redness and irritation for radiant, healthy skin.

Cleansing oils are amazing. They break down makeup and sunscreen beautifully, leaving your skin clean and refreshed. This cleansing oil is housed in a clear glass bottle, with a pump and plastic pump stopper (to prevent bag pumping while travelling). It's definitely thicker than most, probably because of the high castor oil content, and the frankincense essential oil dominates the lavender and rosewood. Because of the high castor oil content, which is known for its deep cleansing and detoxifying ability, this cleansing oil dries out my already dry skin. I tried it on and off for about a month before calling it quits. Would recommend to those with acne prone, oily, or normal skin.

*Matte Hydrating Serum ($26.50 usd/25ml): This silky green serum high in chlorophyll and omega fatty acids provides daily moisture without an oily feel. Great for all skin types. Our non-comedogenic serum helps to eliminate blackheads and reduce pore size with its high linoleic acid content. Hemp and rosewood are anti-inflammatory, reducing redness and evening skin tone. Argan oil’s high tocopherol and fatty acid content nourish and protect for soft, glowing skin.
I didn't have the opportunity to try this serum (housed in the same clear glass bottle with a pump) as my skin hates argan oil, but my mom absolutely loves it! She says that it leaves her skin hydrated, but not greasy, and it sinks in like a dream. She also mentioned that a little goes a long way and would totally repurchase (which is a big deal since she's an even bigger skin care junkie than me).
All in all, this brand didn't work out for my skin/pits but the beautiful minimal ingredients are sure to be a hit for many. Get it here: Sempirra

*Products provided for review consideration. All opinions are entirely my own

Patchouli Lime Natural Deodorant Ingredients: Organic Shea Butter, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Arrowroot Powder, Baking Soda, Beeswax, Organic Essential Oils

Cleansing Oil Ingredients: Organic Castor Oil, Organic Safflower Oil, Organic Jojoba, Organic Frankincense Essential Oil, Organic Lavender Essential Oil, Sustainably Wild-Harvested Rosewood Essential Oil

Matte Hydrating Serum Ingredients: Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Safflower Oil, Organic Argan Oil, Sustainably Wild-Crafted Rosewood Essential Oil, Non-GMO Vitamin E Oil

La Bella Figura Modern Radiance Concentrate - Is It Worth The Hype?

La Bella Figura really needs no introduction. The beauties behind the brand, Victoria and Karen, have made quite the name for themselves. This luxurious, high end brand is known worldwide for it's quality, performance, and beautiful packaging. If you've been out of touch with the world and aren't too familiar with them, here's their story.

This is our love story. One of two friends who had the most fun while sharing secrets of our travels, adventures and the most luxurious beauty products from far away places we would discover. It awakened in us, a new-found desire to create our own rich creams, gorgeously scented oils, hand blended perfumes and an exquisite skin enhancing makeup line to share with the world. After all, beauty this pure was not made to be kept to ourselves. La Bella Figura became a beauty brand in 2011 and we've been passionately creating some of the most advanced and effectual products on the natural market ever since. 

From the very beginning we have been driven by our passion for sourcing wild, organic and pure ingredients to introduce into our natural beauty line. La Bella Figura itself signifies living a life in authenticity and beauty. We made a commitment to our brand to be just that; authentic in our research, development and with every single product we create. We take enormous pride in only using some of the best ingredients around. We have kept true to our word so that every hand-poured bottle or jars of nourishing balms and masks contain the active properties most beneficial to our skin and our vision. 

Our love for quality has us roaming farms, fields and apothecaries in search of healing and beneficial ingredients to incorporate into our virgin formulas. We speak with healers, scientists, producers and alchemists from every corner of the globe and we listen and learn from these forward thinking experts. We hear their struggles in sustainability, farming and their wisdom of using organic, biodynamic or heirloom seeds. We are students of nature and science and we happily soak all this information in to become better formulators and create the best products we can. We are creatively inspired by the amazing people we meet and connect with them on a high level of trust and appreciation for the purest quality of unrefined ingredients. We rely on our small producers for the perfection they supply to us so we can in turn develop the most effectual products for those seeking a world of difference in their beauty regimen.

Our development process from start to finish is authentic and every batch of every product from makeup to perfume is created in-house from our hands to ensure excellence in production as well as ingredient integrity. As La Bella Figura grows we continue to hire the most talented and dedicated team members to learn the art of our craft so that we may continue to produce in-house and guarantee product quality that you demand and expect from us.

You can read more about LBF by clicking here.

                          

I first met Victoria at a Clementine Fields event, last year. I had the opportunity to chat a bit with her, hear the story of La Bella Figura, and get filled in on all the exciting new products that her and Karen were working on. It was also the day that I got to try the Modern Radiance Concentrate on my hand. My hand felt instantly softer and looked brighter. I lusted over it from that day forward. My boyfriend, being the amazing guy that he is, surprised me one day with it! Excited and nervous (because my skin is sensitive), I tried it that night.

Description: Modern Radiance Concentrate is a multi-tasking and complete concentrated Vitamin C gel cream formulated with advanced technology from actives derived from cellular extraction of the world’s highest source of Vitamin C found only in Australia's wild harvested kakadu plums. Unlike most Vitamin C on the market today also known as ascorbic acid, the Vitamin C in kakadu plum is a whole and natural source containing flavonoids and phytochemicals such as ellagic and gallic acids making its holistic and efficacious value quite exceptional and non-comparable to any other form of Vitamin C found in other skincare products. Studies show the concentration of Vitamin C in kakadu plum to be as high as 3200-5000mg/100g (compared with 50mg/100g for oranges).

Modern Radiance Concentrate increases luminosity and refines skin texture for a more even skin tone and a visible reduction in discoloration in 4-6 weeks. Powerful antioxidants help to strengthen the lipid layer and stimulate new collagen growth while also protecting and repairing skin from oxidative damage. Live enzymes from coconut water, antioxidants and vitamins support skin’s natural defense system with ferulic acid delivering these active ingredients deeper into the skin for serious dermis repair. Our collective bioactive ingredients works to restore volume and increase skin elasticity while also toning and strengthening thinning skin. An overall radiant and glowing appearance is instantly visible with daily use of this concentrated blend of reparative botanical actives.

First off, I love the fact that this has a whole form of Vitamin C and a bunch of other amazing ingredients (see below). I've tried Vit. C (ascorbic acid) serums before and ended up with irritated and broken out skin. This one didn't do that. I adore the frosted glass bottle and pump that dispenses the perfect amount of product each time. The serum itself is a slightly tacky, gel texture that easily glides on the skin, for an even application. I can't quite put my finger on what it smells like but, it isn't strong or offensive and certainly doesn't linger for long. I started off applying it at night, just to see how my skin reacted. Then I applied it morning and night, to see if it made any significant difference. I finally settled on applying it in the morning, because of how it instantly tightens, brightens, and softens my skin providing the perfect base/canvas for makeup. While I do find that this serum provides an instant radiance, I honestly haven't seen any miraculous, long term differences in the texture of my skin or lightening of scars and hyper-pigmentation, which is what I wanted it for. That remains true even after 4 months of use and finishing up the bottle. With a steep price tag of $169 (usd/cdn), I had higher hopes and feel it was over hyped. Still, I loved the (temporary) instant face lift and glow that I got with each morning application, and am happy that my loving boyfriend gave me the opportunity to try it.

Retails for $169 USD/CDN and can be purchased through La Bella Figura and any one of these retailers.  

Have you tried this serum? How did it work for you? Is it one of those serums that requires several bottles to see long term results?

Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Fruit) Juice*, Opuntia Ficus (Barbary Fig) Seed oil*, Theobroma Grandiflorum (Cupuacu) Butter, Terminalia Ferdinandiana (Kakadu Plum) Cell Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract*, Aronia Melanocarpa (Aronia Berry) Extract*, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Seabuckthorn Fruit) Oil CO2*, Ferulic Acid (Acid Derived From Plants), Glycrrhiza Glabra (Licorice Root) Extract*, Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin Seed) Extract, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose Flower) Extract, Olea Europea (Olive) Leaf Extract*, Helichrysum Stoechas Extract*, Malva Sylvestris (Mallow) Extract*, Bambusa Vulgaris (Bamboo) Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado Fruit) Extract*, Coffea Arabica (Green Coffee) Bean Oil, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine Flower) Oil, Leuconostoc Ferment Filtrate (Radish Root) Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Seed Oil CO2*, Daucus Carota Sativa (Cold Pressed Virgin Carrot) Seed Oil*, Zingiber Officinale (Fresh Ginger Root) Oil, Cymbopogan Martinii Motia (Palmarosa) Oil, Salix Alba (White Willow) Bark Extract*, Xanthan Gum (Non-GMO)*, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Derived From Coconut), Vegetable Gylcerin (Non-GMO), Ethyl Alcohol (Derived From Non-GMO Corn)*

Consonant HydrExtreme Review

I really don't think that Canadian brands, for the most part, get talked about enough. As a Canadian blogger, I feel that it is my duty to mention and try as many brands from my part of the world as possible and Consonant is one!

Consonant is a Toronto based company and all of their products are proudly made, with love, in Canada. They believe that "what goes on your body goes in your body" and that it's important to pick products with natural, yet effective, ingredients. That is why they've created a 100% natural product line, with as many organic botanical ingredients, that will give you the results you're looking for. I've already fallen in love with their The Perfect Sunscreen, but how did *HydrExtreme work out for me?

Description: HydrExtreme is an extreme hydration booster that is clinically proven to deliver potent and persistent moisturization that significantly outperforms Hyaluronic Acid. Formulated with a proprietary blend of exotic Cassia Angustifolia Seed Extract and Glycerine, this product is unparalleled. You will see more smooth, youthful and hydrated skin instantly. Also helps to sooth eczema, post waxing irritation and other skin ailments.
In a panel study, after one week: 100% saw improved hydration & 90% saw a reduction in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Those are some hefty claims, no? I'm sad to report that this did not work for me. It actually broke me out with the first use, so I gave it another go the following day and same thing. Cystic acne exploded all over my face, and I don't normally get cystic acne. I honestly think it was the glycerin because cassia angustifolia is supposedly anti-inflammatory, which should help with acne. I wish I had thought to try it on the small patch of eczema on my hand, but I didn't. Don't get discouraged though because my mom fell in love with this stuff! She doesn't have problematic skin in terms of acne; just sun damaged, dry, and aging skin which I feel is better suited for this product. Let's talk packaging. I loveeee the matte black box with white lettering, it's very high end looking. The bottle pretty much mimics the feel of the box, making it look chic and fancy on the bathroom counter. It has a dropper that allows you to dispense the perfect amount of product. The texture of this serum is almost like an oil, but not, I guess like glycerin (which is one of the two ingredients in it, imagine that). My mom would apply two drops in her hands and massage into her skin, AM and PM after cleansing, for all day and night hydration. She said that she definitely saw an improvement in hydration levels, which gave her skin a plumping effect, and a slight decrease in the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. She loved this so much that she took it on her European vacation, in place of her other serums and treatments. The downside of this product is that it's very expensive. This tiny 10ml bottle is a steep $72 CAN, and there's also a 30ml bottle available for $149 CAN. While my my mom won't be purchasing a new bottle right now, I think she'd love to receive it as a gift (*cough* birthday, christmas, mother's day, etc *cough).

Do you think this product would be worth the splurge?

Pick yours up through Consonant or any of their other retailers here.

*Product provided for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Pure+Simple Algae Serum Review

A couple of months back, my beloved P+S Face Colour in Glow broke. They quickly offered to send me a replacement, along with some additional goodies. I've really enjoyed most of their products and was super excited to get to try out more things.

Description: A light Algae based serum for all skin types.This versatile product can be used as a serum or alone as a moisturizer for oilier skin types.

• Sea Algae helps skin retain water while Oat Beta Glucan soothes
• Green Tea with antioxidants and vitamins make it particularly effective for stress and weather damaged skin

My skin is super dehydrated, all year round. It's so damn annoying because I stay hydrated and eat (fairly) well. Can't I just have perfect skin? Is that too much to ask for!? Woooosaaa, dramatics over. This watery, slightly sticky serum glides on the skin with ease. It has an odd smell, that I can't quite describe, but it doesn't linger at all. I really enjoy applying this over oils and under sunscreen to help with the dehydrated patches on my face because of how it really seals in moisture. It also works as a fab base for my makeup. I can definitely see how it would be an ideal moisturizer for oily skin, it provides a really great amount of hydration without making skin feel or look greasy/oily. It's also fantastic for those with sensitive skin or dry/dehydrated skin, like myself, because of how soothing and hydrating it is. It never tingles or burns my face.  The packaging is great, a little heavy for travel, but it seals to prevent spillage. It's also reusable and the pump keeps it from getting contaminated. The only downside, for some maybe, is that it contains Japanese Honeysuckle. It's a lovely serum and I look forward to seeing how it performs in the cooler months.

Retails for approx. $27.45 CAN for 50 ml or $47.27 for 100ml. Can be purchased through Pure+Simple.

What serum are you currently loving and why?

Ingredients: Water, Sea Algae Extract, Vegetable Glycerin, Aloe Barbensis (Aloe vera) Leaf Juice, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot kernel) Oil, Oat Beta Glucan, Squalane, Sodium Hyaluronate (Hyaluronic acid), Sodium PCA (Amino acid humectant), Wheat Amino Acids, Symphytum Officinale (Comfrey) Extract, Panthenol (Provit. B5), Hydroxyproline (Nonessential Amino Acid), Rose Damascena (Organic Rose) Flower Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Nut Butter, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat germ) Oil, Phospholipids, Retinyl Palmitate (Vit. A), Tocopherol Acetate (Vit. E), Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vit. C), Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Borago Officinalis (Borage) Seed Oil, Superoxide Dismutase (Enzyme), Calophyllum Inophyllum (Organic Foraha) Nut Oil, Rosa Centifolia (Rose) Flower Extract, Urtica Dioica (Organic Nettle) Extract, Lecithin, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Organic Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Helianthus Annus (Organic Sunflower) Seed Extract, Xanthan Gum, Capryloyl Glycine, Undecylenoyl Glycine, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Citric Acid.
*These were sent to me to try with no expectation of writing a review. All opinions are my own.