It's finally spring, and I can't tell you how glad I am to have warm weather! With any change of weather, I need to change things up a bit. Especially skin care. The super hydrating products I was using all winter are too heavy for spring, and suddenly I feel the need to extra clean everything up. Luckily I've been using the perfect skin care line for this time of year!
January Labs is based out of Southern California (very close to where I used to live in Orange County). Their philosophy is that less is more, so they make the most of their active ingredients. They pair active ingredients that work well together and put everything in the right environment to make that ingredient as active as possible. For example, Vitamin C has to be in an acidic pH environment. It seems simple, but not every skin care line is formulated that way.
Retexturizing Night Cream
The Night Cream is more of a lotion packed full of active ingredients that love an acidic environment. Because of this, it was difficult for my Rosacea. I did have a bit of tingling after application, but the next day my face was red. Stupid Rosacea! I did retry a few weeks later, applying a very light layer under a basic moisturizer and my skin could handle the lotion roughly every 3 nights or so. I think this was all due to my sensitivity from Rosacea, someone else would be able to tolerate using this product every night.
The lotion sinks in pretty quickly, and while it is hydrating it isn't super hydrating. It doesn't leave behind a residue and is pretty light, you could easily layer something else over it.
A few ingredients in this formulation:
• Lactic Acid: This is a 9% Lactic Acid product, which is quite high. This will help
• Verbena Extract: Applied topically, it can help wound healing.
• Beta Glucan: This is a sugar that can penetrate down into the skin. It helps with wound healing, and helps calm irritation.
• Niacinamide: The same active ingredient as StriVectin (though StriVectin has modified the molecule for their own products), you can learn all about why it is kind of amazing in this post.
• Hyaluronic Acid: Not really an acid, this is a very large molecule that can hold on to a lot of moisture and super hydrate your skin.
• Vitamin C: I have a whole post about how Vitamin C works in skin care, it's great stuff!
• Vitamin E: Great for healing and anti-oxidant activity.
Revitalizing Day Cream
Due to my sensitivity to the Night Cream, the Day Cream became my go-to product. This product is also more of a lotion than a cream, it sinks in quickly and has light hydration. I found that it works great under makeup.
A few ingredients in this formulation:
• Verbena Extract
• Beta Glucan
• Niacinamide
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Vitamin E
• A lot of extracts such as Green Tea which have anti-oxidant activity and help soothe the skin.
Glow and Go Power Peel Exfoliant
This is probably my favorite of the January Labs products. This is a mask, but also kind of a facial peel, but it is very gentle while it reveals glowing skin!
The product looks like honey, and has a similar, but non-sticky, consistency. When you apply it to your face it does smell a bit like a chemical (almost like lactic acid, but that isn't in the product). After about 30 seconds the smell goes away. It dries on your face over about 10-15 minutes. It feels a bit like dried plastic on your face, and the drying process doesn't hurt or feel like anything is happening really. I wash it off in the shower, it does take a little scrubbing with your hands just because you're rehydrating it and washing it off.
Once the mask is off my face looks great! My pores look smaller, things feels smoother and more importantly, not at all red and irritated. I just look glowy!
Restorative Tonic Mist
This is the product I used only a few times, I full admit that I'm not used to misting things onto my face! I just would forget about it, but I did really like it. The mist is light and refreshing, you can apply it before your skin care or just randomly throughout the day.
Overall, I really have liked using January Labs. I'm impressed with how many ingredients they pack into each product (I've only highlighted a fraction of what is in each product, it was quite the list!) and this spring my skin has really loved this line! I'm pretty glowy and my pores look great thanks to the lactic acid every few days in the night cream and the Glow and Go Power Peel.
January Labs
Product Sent for Review
I read alcohol, is it drying at all? or it was offset by the oils in it?
ReplyDeleteI only see Stearyl Alcohol, which is very different than other alcohols. It's got a lot of fat in it and isn't drying. You'll even see it listed in products that claim to be alcohol free.
ReplyDeleteI"m so tired of every new product lately having Vitamin C in it. I have mild rosacea so I baby my skin because I don't need it to get worse and Vitamin C routinely makes my skin look like I have a bad sunburn. My dermatologist told me my skin had a mild chemical burn from one "all natural" product that had Vitamin C in it. I'll be glad when the next "miracle ingredient" comes out and we can all move on from Vitamin C overload!
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like it is everywhere, doesn't it? So is Niacinamide! I do think it is a matter of finding a formulation that is gentle when it comes to Rosacea. I can do Vitamin C in a few products (the Kiehl's Clearly Corrective is the most gentle one I think) and even retinoids (the RoC sensitive is slowly released over 10 hours or so, my skin can take it!)
ReplyDelete