Archives for April 2016

Tea Tuesday: Vahdam Premium Green Tea Chai

April 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I am thrilled to say that I have finally found a Chai green tea that is the proper balance of tastes. I have spent years trying to find a tea that has the wonderful spice of Chai, and the health properties of green tea.

The closest I came before was a White Chai Tea, but I could never find a green that I liked until I tried Vadham Premium Green Tea Chai. I like fresh loose leaf green tea, and any chai varieties I tried always ended up a weird blend of a vegetal taste with a vague cinnamon top note. Not a great combination.

Vadham’s Green Chai gets it right, though. The green tea is sweet, not vegetal at all. The Chai spices (cinnamon, cardamom, clove, Black Pepper) blend beautifully to create a delicately spicy brew. I really enjoy that it can be re-brewed a couple of times before it loses potency, so my brewing travel tumbler can just be refilled with hot water through the morning before I have to change out leaves,

What is also wonderful about this tea is that it is truly a full-leaf green tea. Standard green tea bags only contain remaindered dust of green tea, not the true leaf. By brewing the full leaf, you will get so many more of the health benefits of green tea: anti-oxidants, EGCG, etc. This particular tea has even more anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties since it is a chai tea, and the spices in chai teas are anti-inflammatory in nature. So in addition to tasting amazing, it is really good for you as well!

While green tea is much lower in caffeine than coffee or black tea, it still does contain some caffeine if you are sensitive. But that is true of all green tea (there are some decaf versions out there, but those are more processed than the original leaf, so it is a balance.)

The packaging is also wonderful. To maintain freshness, each batch is packaged quickly. There is an expiration date to assure that you are using fresh tea, and the package seals tightly. There are step by step instructions on how to brew the tea, so if you are new to green tea, you will find it easy to brew!

As a side note on the instructions, it is recommended to brew the tea at a temperature of 194-212 degrees. Usually green tea gets brewed at lower than the boiling point. I tried both boiling and at about 192 degrees, and found the lower temperature produced a better taste.

I am truly thrilled to have found an excellent Green Chai after all these years!

Vahdam Premium Green Tea Chai

Divas Never Age Hyaluronic Acid Serum

April 19, 2016 · Leave a Comment

INGREDIENTS
This serum has Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin C, Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) and Antioxidants including Green Tea and Pomegranate.

Vitamin C is needed to make Collagen. The deeper your skin has more collagen, the better. Topically applied Vitamin C helps get the Vitamin C right where it is needed to make collagen

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) is recently becoming popular in skin care as an ingredient that promotes the type of collagen production related to elasticity and addresses redness and inflammation/puffiness. It also helps sack adult acne.

Hyaluronic Acid plumps skin by itsâ€™ amazing moisture retention ability. It also helps draw treating agents such as Vitamin C and B3 deeper into the skin to promote collagen and elasticity.

There are several moisturizing ingredients to soothe and protect the skin including Aloe Vera, Green Tea, Argan Oil, Moringa Oleifera and Pomegranate.

APPLICATION

A pleasant but very light scent of violets that is not detectable on the dry down. I generally avoid any scented face products but this is really not offensive and the aroma is gone once it is dry. The serum did not sting or tingle, did not irritate my eyes and my skin tolerated the Vitamin C. It did not leave my skin greasy or tacky feeling and my moisturizer and eye cream both went on smoothly over the product. I am wearing it now and I donâ€™t feel it on my skin.

I tend to apply products with Hyaluronic and Vitamin C not just directly on wrinkles, dark spots and sagging, but on the areas ABOVE the wrinkles to help build collagen where the skin needs support. I especially like to focus on the forehead area near the temples and above the eyebrow to lift the eye area.

The DNA â€œGO makeup FREE WITH CONFIDENCEâ€ tagline
Well, I donâ€™t go makeup free as suggested since using this product, but I do wear less foundation and concealer and I donâ€™t require as many tricks to conceal unevenness in skin tone, dark spots, and wrinkles. My skin does look firmer and I have less dark brown spots on my face. I am much happier with my skin on the whole.

CONCLUSION: Excellent product for firming skin and leaving it smoother and tauter. Will address the appearance of wrinkles. Some of the moisturizing agents can cause breakouts for some people, such as Argan Oil. Recommended product, it is always wonderful to find a quality Hyaluronic with supporting ingredients like Vitamin C and B3.

Find it at Amazon.com.

Divas Never Age Hyaluronic Acid Serum

I received this item in exchange for my unbiased review. If you have any questions about my experience with the product, leave me a comment below and Iâ€™ll get back to you!

Valentia Skin Detoxifying Mask

April 17, 2016 · Leave a Comment

This product is intended for the face but I found it particularly useful for the skin on my shoulders and upper arms. Do you know those hard white bumps that sometimes occur on the back of the upper arms, they are sometimes called chicken skin (real name Keratosis Pilaris), and they don’t respond to acne medicines or dermabrasion? This worked pretty well for improving the appearance of those bumps.

INGREDIENTS:

Kaolin Clay an astringent effect that removes oils and impurities.
Hibiscus & Cranberry fibers are exfoliants with anti-aging properties, this is what you feel when you massage it off your face when you wash it off.

Spirulina has the antioxidant beta-carotene which helps neutralize free radicals and relieve acne and psoriasis. It is similar to algae and seaweed for skin benefits.

Astaxanthin is an antioxidant that protects cells from damage and improves the appearance of wrinkles by supporting moisture retention.

CoQ10 fights wrinkles

Vitamin C promotes collagen, fades dark spots such as acne scars, brown spots from aging and sun damage.

INDICATIONS FOR USE:
To remove toxins from pollution, cosmetics/makeup, hard water, and environmental gunk that gets into your skin and clogs pores, leaving skin congested looking and potentially causing breakouts and bumps on the skin.

Personally, I like to use this on my shoulder skin and on the back of my upper arms because my hair is long and probably exposes that skin to more oil and products, and I don’t take good care of that skin as I do my facial skin. The pores on my upper back and shoulders seem larger than on my face. Now that summer is coming, I am starting to use some scrubs and masks to improve that skin. This addresses impurities and areas of trapped sebum on my shoulders and upper back. I do notice less of those chicken skin sort of bumps on my upper arms after using this mask.

APPLICATION
The Valentia Mask is a creamy but thick consistency texture mask, more like a thick whipped mud treatment. When I hold it on my fingers upside down, it does not drip off. It spreads on skin evenly without pulling and does not sting or burn. Leave on for no more than 15-20 minutes then remove with a warm washcloth. I let the washcloth sit on my face for a minute or two to soften the mask and steam my pores a bit, then lightly massage my face in a circular motion as per the instructions, then rinse off the mask with warm water.

It feels and smells somewhat astringent-like and I do feel my pores are clean afterward, and my skin is a little tight so I like to moisturize extra well after use. It is not drying to my skin.

PACKAGING:
The packaging of the box and the product itself has a pretty gold trim and looks higher-end. It comes in a plastic jar, not a tube, so your fingers dip into the product. I would prefer this come in a tube to squeeze it out to keep it the most sanitary, so I scoop it out with a disposable spatula or plastic spoon.

Find it at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014PJLKJ6

I received this item in exchange for my unbiased review. If you have any questions about my experience with it, leave it in the comments section below and Iâ€™ll do my best to answer it!

Valentia Eternal Youth Scrub

April 17, 2016 · Leave a Comment

OVERVIEW: A face scrub for sensitive skin. I am generally not a fan of using scrubs on facial skin for people over age 35 because the exfoliating agents are often just too rough on the aged skin and tend to tear more than buff away and smooth. But this is a nice gentle scrub similar to the Clinique 7 Day Scrub but with a bit more exfoliating action from gentle jojoba beads.

INGREDIENTS
Jojoba beads for the exfoliating grains â€“ this is probably my favorite part because it is so much gentler on the skin and can melt while scrubbing into a soothing oil, whereas a hard grain or pieces of walnut shells are often used in other scrubs can micro-tear skin.

Several vitamins that focus on making skin more even. Since it is on the skin for a shorter period of time and it leaves no residue, this is a nice feature but not a big selling point for me.

White and green teas, both of which are both anti-inflammatory and soothing to the skin.
To soothe the skin, ingredients include Aloe Vera, Olive Butter, Avocado Butter and Kukui Butter. Kukui was new to me: doing some research, it is used to intensely hydrate and moisture skin. Olive Oil on the skin has been used for years to soothe and fortify, and Avocado is a nice rich moisturizer that in oil form does not feel too heavy on the skin.

PACKAGING:
Sleek gold and black jar, it does not seem like it is full but it weighs in at the advertised weight specified. Ideally, I wish that it was in a tube for sanitary reasons, as I tend to get water in the jar during use and grab the product with my fingers.

APPLICATION
The scrub has a delicate scent of white and green tea. The texture is a whipped gel consistency, with visible exfoliating grains. There is an aroma that is more astringent than fragrant, it dissipates after use. Washes off cleanly.

RESULTS
Skin felt smooth and soft with no flaky skin residue, some dead skin was exfoliated without leaving flakes or patches and my skin was not raw or irritated after use. I especially liked the scrub on my neck. Also, I focused on the blackheads on my nose and it did visibly improve that problem. It reminds me of the general exfoliating feel to Cliniqueâ€™s 7 Day Scrub but somewhat stronger, although a preferable thing to me about the Valentia Scrub is it does not leave a residue like the Clinique. I have been using Retinol and Vitamin C Serums, this product is gentle enough not to irritate but does help remove the dead skin.

I would not use this daily, twice a week at most.

Valentia Eternal Youth Scrub