Essential Oils have gotten a bit of a bad rap. Most people don't fully understand what they even ARE. To be exceedingly brief, essential oils are the the distillation of compounds derived from organic materials - be they flowers, needles, twigs, roots, skin, sap, berries, seeds, or entire plants. The method of extraction concentrates both aromatic and therapeutic components, leaving a beneficent, brilliant liquid essence. The profound and often mysterious sensory thunderb

Vitamin C Vitamin C is the free radical eradicator par excellence, providing super-charged antioxidant activity while evening skin tone, texture and pigmentation. It is also potent exfoliant with a low molecular weight that allows it to reach the dermis, enabling collagen production and supporting the structural integrity of the extracellular skin matrix. The sole means of increasing skin’s vitamin C content is to apply it topically, and since those levels drop over 400%

Retinoids are a class of Vitamin A derivatives that are antioxidant, cell regenerating, and cell communicating and whose anti-aging effects are well documented. Retinoids reduce fine lines, increase epidermal thickness and stratum corneum compaction, reduce melanin content (which causes hyperpigmentation) and synthesize collagen. They become active on skin through a two-part enzymatic oxidation process. First retinol is converted within skin to retinaldehyde, then to tran

Now after reading this, don’t just rush out, buy all these actives and smear your face with them. You will be sorry. There’s a reason they are called actives. Here’s a primer about each one. Let’s first learn WHY, WHEN, and WHERE to use them so you know best HOW to use them. Alpha Hydroxys Alpha hydroxys are a chemical exfoliants with well-documented anti-aging properties, boosting collagen and elastin synthesis and increasing cell turnover. By far the most common AHAs