Canyon Ranch Resort and Spa is launching their brand new line of skin care today, at select Saks Fifth Avenue locations (including NYC).The collection, Canyon Ranch Your Transformation, contains three proprietary blends of ingredients to help transform your skin:
ProNAD™ – Transforming from Inside to Outside
Twenty-five years of research have gone into the development of ProNAD™, a 12-hour continuous-release form of Niacin (Bioactive Vitamin B3) that enables the power of Vitamin B3/Niacin to be delivered deep into the layers of the skin, rebuilding and reconditioning it from the inside out. ProNAD™ works in the following ways:
Helps stimulate DNA repair by encouraging the skin’s natural repair process
Stimulates the release of a hormone called Leptin – known to activate the skin’s natural wound-healing response, resulting in a strengthened epidermal skin layer and overall increased integrity of the skin
Strengthens the skin’s barrier, which over time becomes thinner and weaker, thereby enhancing the skin’s ability to protect itself from environmental assault
Ceraplex™ – Transforming from the Outside to Inside
A proprietary blend of skin-identical ceramides and potent antioxidants that helps boost the skin’s moisture retention and surface smoothness
Antiox-3™ – Providing Protection Throughout all Layers of the Skin
Exclusive blend of Goji Berry, Bearberry and Blueberry antioxidants
Helps protect against collagen destruction while promoting elastin production
Evens skin tone and helps deter hyperpigmentation
Effectively reduces free radical damage
The price point of the line ranges from $40-$250, so if luxe skin care is your thing (like it is mine!), don’t miss this one.You can peruse the whole line of Canyon Ranch skin care and prices after the jump.
You focus so much time trying to slow the inevitable signs of aging on your face.Yet, you forget to address the exposed skin of your neck and décolleté. And, if you haven’t heard, the best way to tell a woman’s true age is by taking a peek at her neck.It’s time to address that “tell-all” with these neck and chest targeting products.
Wei East China Herbal Youth Recaptured Serum
Concentrated Chinese herbal extracts nourish the neck, sealing in moisture in this oil-free, acid-free skin rejuvenating serum.
Jurlique Herbal Recovery Neck Serum
Organic and biodynamically farmed flowers, plants, and herbs are delicately combined in the formulation of this lightweight, intense, hydrating gel to help minimize the visible signs of aging on the neck and décolletage.
Biotone Facial Therapy Massage Creme with Bio-Firming Complex
is boosted with natural botanicals of white peach, pineapple enzyme, quince, and mango to balance out your skin. Start on your face and shimmy it down to your décolleté for a consistently smooth, toned, and firm face and neck.
Perfect Cleavage from This Works
Made with larch extract and pomegranate oil, and infused with rose, tonka bean, and frankincense essential oils, Perfect Cleavage helps nourish, tighten and add a touch of shimmer to the neck and chest, without the use of mineral oils, synthetic fragrance or color,GMO ingredients, sulphates, or parabens.
Apivita Aromatherapy Skin Supplement Neck Cream
This unique formula deeply nourishes the skin, energizing and strengthening it deep below the surface area with antioxidant-rich grapeseed, olive oil, and green tea.
It’s not yet May and I’ve already found my favorite all-natural beauty product of 2008. Held in a simple one-ounce pump bottle emblazoned with a tiny Chinese character, it dominates my bathroom cabinet with its moisturizing prowess and transforms my dehydrated postnatal skin into a thing of supple beauty with a few powerful drops.
And just as a novel has to be unusually spectacular to hold my attention these days, my number-one moisturizer must surprise and delight me while containing nothing but the finest of organic ingredients.
Created by Beth Hooper and Laura Kauffmann — acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists — She Essential Beauty’s facial serum is the next generation of skin care. The women behind She (pronounced “shay”) have created a line of moisturizing and cleansing products that are based on the philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which means that my prized facial serum is not only made from the best organic and all-natural ingredients, but also includes mother-of-pearl, which the Chinese have used for centuries to enhance the skin’s beauty.
Since 2006, Hooper and Kauffmann have been lovingly handcrafting their TCM-influenced collection of products, including sugar scrubs, washing grains, bath salts, lip balm and the delectable facial serum (not a lotion, not an oil, but an immensely effective moisturizer for face, throat, even under eyes). Their products use Chinese herbs like the bo he found in the Lemongrass-Mint Sugar Scrub, and dang gui, which is tucked into the herbal lip balm. (The former herb helps to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain, while the latter aids in regenerating new skin cells.)
For the uninitiated, Hooper and Kauffmann have distilled TCM into a palatable definition: “The modern practice of ancient healing techniques from China, whose tradition began over 3,000 years ago, TCM owes its foundation to four modalities which comprise a holistic medical system: acupuncture, dietary therapy, qi gong and Chinese herbal medicine.” In developing their line of sumptuous skin care products the ladies turned to “Mei Rong,” the cosmetology section of TCM dedicated to maintaining the skin’s youth and well-being. Hooper recently took some time to tell me all about it.
What inspired you to start a skin care line based on TCM?
Both my partner and I are Chinese medicine practitioners (certified herbalists and licensed acupuncturists). Our skin was changing as we got older, and when we looked at our options for skin care there were not enough organic alternatives. We were looking for products that contained no parabens or synthetics. It then occurred to us that we could do so much if we used Chinese herbs in products. Occasionally a company would throw ginger in something, but no one was using Chinese herbs in a broad scale in skin care products. At first we wanted our products for ourselves, and then we wanted to share them with others.
Most Chinese herbs are used for dermatological issues — they are medicinally focused — but we knew that wouldn’t have an appeal for the public. We wanted to create something that wasn’t just functional but also very luxurious for people to use. “She” in Chinese means luxury.
How do you follow the philosophy of Chinese medicine in your products?
As we age we lose our yin (the moist substance, also known as the female part of our body) and our skin starts to dry out. We looked for essential oils that will nourish the yin. Our products are designed for women who are getting a little older and starting to see fine lines and wrinkles. [We include] herbs that have anti-inflammatory properties, pore-tightening qualities, herbs that move chi (energy) and that are calming and balancing. It’s about finding the best herbs and applying them appropriately. We aim to calm the spirit, working on you on a more mental level — it’s beauty from the inside out.
What’s your favorite product?
The facial serum — it contains mother-of-pearl, carrot seed oil, and is anti-inflammatory, an antioxidant and wrinkle reducer. You put it on and your skin glows. It’s our number-one seller. [Note to reader: I was a fan of the facial serum before Beth told me it was her favorite product. Now I’m even more convinced.] And the washing grains — they are a gentle exfoliant and such a good antioxidant, with green tea extract and oatmeal and honey. The skin is delicate, particularly the area around the eye. You can use an oatmeal honey-based scrub and it will get dead skin cells off without making it red or irritated.
We have selected a few beauty products that have real chocolate, cocoa powder or cocoa butter in their composition and we tested them to see if they have a purely olfactory role or if they actually moisturize and soothe the skin.
Working our way from top to toes, let’s stop first and evaluate the lip products available on the market. Joey New York offers dual ended Professional Collagen Building Lip Perks, coffee scented pencils that will awaken the senses while giving you a lip boost. Of course, our pick from the collection is the Brazilian Coffee with A Hint of Cocoa, which is a dark caramel lipstick with a hint of pink. Caffeine caffeine caffeine, without ingesting one gulp. They also offer DeLIPcious balms among which they had to include a cocoa diva inspiredly named Chocolate Dipped Strawberries. The name alone will bring temptation a step closer to home.
A special product that I particularly enjoyed due to the fact that it actually has an effect on my permanently cracked, rather large lips is Ganache for Lips, a stick balm made with real Scharffen Berger chocolate, beeswax, and various natural extracts, essential oils and vitamin E. Created by Patricia West who was trying to cope with her chemotherapy-induced fatigue through aromatherapy, the miraculous lip balm comes in 9 flavors now: Chocolate Peppermint, Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Hazelnut, Mocha Latte, Chocolate Orange, Lemon Mousse, Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Marzipan and Vanilla Mousse. I generally don’t use lip products because they make my lips even drier, but this balm has maintained them moist, non-greasy and most of all, tasty. No one touches my Ganache Raspberry!
Lush, the famously über-playful and creative company has a chocolate lip balm as well. Nested in a round box, the Lush Whipstick contains Dutch chocolate, oil and wheatgerm oils, carnauba and beeswax and it’s flavored with orange and tangerine. Girly and gourmet at the same time, it makes for an excellent purse buddy.
After the lips comes the body. And for the body, we have scrubs first and foremost, as I have learned that exfoliation precedes any cleansing in the spa world. Bella Lucce’s lovely Peruvian Chocolate Scrub that smells of genuine milk chocolate is made of pressed cocoa butter and coconut oil with gentle pure cane sugar which sloughs the dead cells. Made with French cocoa absolute and organic, Dagoba fair trade Peruvian cocoa, it is a generous and entirely natural treat for your body. You will notice the results are amazing and that natural is the way to go.
Origins recently added a Cocoa Therapy™ line to their already famous products. Their body-buffing scrub is made with cocoa extract, walnut shells and apricot seeds cushioned in cocoa butter, scaring the dead cells away with just one look. Your skin could not feel any smoother and brighter and you couldn’t feel fresher after your encounter with cocoa.
The Merry Chocoholic is a newly arrived company on the chocolate-dependent scene and they offer lots of cocoa-based cosmetic products from all over the country that you can put on your bathroom shelves without feeling guilty. They only sell a Chocolate Silk Brown Sugar Scrub under the company’s name and I have to say it smells delicious. I almost sunk my teeth in it when I opened it the first time, the second time and the third time. The brown sugar combined with shea butter, sunflower oil and cocoa butter is gentle yet effective in its removal of sagging cells. We salute the merry chocoholics.
Now, the following scrub is Asiana’s Mocha Peppermint made with Dutch chocolate and grinded coffee and it’s one of the best scrubs I have yet to see. Inspired loosely by the peppermint patty, this energizing scrub cleans the skin, invigorates it with the caffeine contained by both the cocoa and the coffee and gives you a kick of energy you never thought possible through the sheer sense of smell. The anti-oxidant grinded coffee exfoliates and stimulates the micro-cellular circulation, while the oils of jojoba, sweet almond and grape seed provide healing benefits. But what makes it so distinctive is the uplifting smell of the peppermint with a discreet hint of cinnamon that seems to propel its effects to the next level. The concoction is almost 100% pure, with just a few touches of chemical enhancer and, as the label reads “it was tested only on friends and family.”
After a good scrub, you definitely need a good wash to remove all the cocoa from the already love-intoxicated skin cells. For those who prefer to use the soap bars and like to soak in the tub, the choices are varied. Bella Lucce offers a Peruvian Chocolate Moisturizing Syrup enriched with a dash of honey. You just need to pour some in your bathtub and you’ll soon swim in a sea of dreams. Origins also offers an energy-boosting body bar that will leave your skin, oh-so-soft. Crabtree & Evelyn, the well-known beauty company that has been using natural ingredients since its very inception, has a very softening and aromatic soap bar from cocoa butter, nutmeg and cardamom in its collection. The spices do not overpower you with their aromas, however they leave a soft trail of the exotic on your skin.
Asiana knows what good life is all about as it made a bath milk with real Ghirardelli dark chocolate, dark cocoa powder and coconut cream– all those crazy anti-oxidants running towards your skin and yelling “Kill the aging agents”- and bottled it up in a huge container for your shopping convenience. When you pour it into the water, you can see the flakes of chocolate melting away and working surreptitiously towards a clean and healthy skin.
Last but not least Lush, the company not the drunk, gives us the Ma Bar, which is a toffee and chocolate block topped with a sugar cube that will melt into a bubble bath once it’s crumbled in the running water. It is jokingly marketed as a gift for your mother when you have budget constraints. It is fun and it smells like dessert (orange chocolate, toffee, honey, yum), and like the Lush catalog suggest, you may get yourself one while you are at it. Mom will surely love it, but she deserves much more than a nice bath.
If you are in the shower, you need a good body wash or gel to clear out that chocolate scrub and we have just the things for you. Philip B, a celebrity darling when it comes to beauty products, has a Chocolate Milk Body Wash that will even get your children excited about the prospect of a bath. A blend of toning cocoa butter, rejuvenating oat protein and wheat amino acids and moisturizing aloe, this wash will treat your skin like royalty. Jaqua Beauty has in store (The Bath and Body Works one) for you a Mint Chocolate Hydrating Shower Syrup. It contains Vitamins A, E and B5 that will exfoliate, condition and soften the skin, a nice peppermint extract that will cool you off and a ginseng extract that will regenerate and replenish texture. Again Lush proposes a fun product called Sonic Death Monkey Shower Gel that is infused with herbal tea from the Caribbean, herbal coffee (hm!) from Jamaica, cocoa, lime, orange and vanilla. Thank God, this eclectic mixture doesn’t end up smelling like its name but far more exotic than that. The coffee and citrus flavors will wake you up no matter how early in the morning it is.
Many people have dry skin and not even a seriously moisturizing shower gel or soap can fix that. That is why the lotions and body butters exist in this world. The ones that we tried and that made a lasting impression on our not-so-toned skin deserve kudos as there are not many lotions in the world that would surprise us easily. Jaqua’s Mint Chocolate Sinfully Rich Cocoa Body Butter contains the same ingredients as the shower syrup more or less but it has a considerable quantity of cocoa butter that smoothes out the skin and gives it a rich glow. Crabtree & Evelyn’s Cocoa Butter, Nutmeg & Cardamom Body Butter is just as aromatic and sensual as the body bar, but with a more persistent and deeper scent. You will imagine you are traveling in a caravan on the Spice Route after you immerse yourself in the rich, peachy cream. Joey New York comes to the rescue of the lifeless cells with its very own White Chocolate Body Shimmer, a non-greasy body oil that glides over the skin leaving a glowing finish. White chocolate supplies the active ingredient, the macadamia nut oil represents the healing and reviving agent of the lotion leaving a gentle glowing finish. Bella Lucce’s Bliss Crème is rich in cocoa butter and French cacao absolute and smells like a decadent portion of milk chocolate, hovering sweet and light over your tegument. It nourishes and protects, while it makes you totally unproductive as you sit round entranced, sniffing your delicious smelling epidermis. Origins’ cocoa therapy ™ Deeply nourishing body butter also contains pure cocoa that helps fortify the skin’s youthful appearance, alongside vitamins A, B, C and E and minerals like Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium and Copper. To top it up, it boasts a dose of Theobroma Grandiflorum- also known as Cupuacu, a tree that is related to the cocoa tree – that helps repair the skin’s moisture barrier. I have not heard about this one before, but I’ll take their word for it.
In the end, there comes the marching band of chocolate hued but not really so chocolaty cosmetics that we all love to use. They are called the fake tanners. The make you look like chocolate but have none in them. Despite this, we still like to consider them part of our big chocolate family, especially now that the sun is playing hide and seek behind the clouds.
Bourjois, the famed beauty products French company, is launching two new products in the USA this fall that will be found for sure in Sephora boutiques. Petit Dessert du Teint (literally meaning ‘little dessert for the complexion’) is an illuminating gel that guarantees a natural caramel skin tone. It is very light, it suits all skin tones and its vanilla aroma will bring to mind the dessert it promises. The other brilliant product is Delice de Poudre (‘powdery delight’), a bronzing powder, which comes in the compact shape of chocolate squares in a thin box with a kabuki brush, and it has two different shades for lighter and darker skin types.
Fake Bake is another wildly acclaimed self-tanner that has even been awarded the Best Self-Tanner in the United Kingdom by Women’s Cosmetic Guide. Celebrities use it and mortals are dying for it, although its patent is still pending. The product has a built-in ‘chocolate’ color guide – a dark temporary color that allows you to see exactly where you are applying the product, so there are no dark spots, patches and dubious-looking marks, but a uniform, glorious tan. Just apply it at night before you go to bed and rinse it in the morning with warm water. Ta daa.
There is one more particular chocolate product that I’d like to tell you about now although it bends the category of cosmetic or culinary. It is probably more fit for our Sex and Chocolate issue that will sometime come soon, but I would rather tell you about it now. Chocolate Dust for Lovers from Green Dragon Herbals doesn’t really need an explanation for what it does. You just sprinkle it on your beloved on and you nibble away. Come to think about it, since it doesn’t have sugar, you can sprinkle it on your palm and nibble away when you really crave chocolate but prefer to think you are on a diet. It’s fun and it comes with a feather to help you in your endeavors.
You can’t get around the fact that too much sun exposure is bad for your skin.From sunburns and rashes to heat stroke, sunspots and cancer, the sun’s powerful rays can wreak havoc on your entire body.Dermatologists refer to it as photo-aging; you and I are more familiar with the effects: freckles, brown spots, crow’s feet, and lines. The reason for accelerated aging is that the UVB waves can cause damage to the DNA and weaken the skin’s ability to defend itself. Your trouble is only doubled by the UVA waves that can further damage the cell membranes.
Ava Shamban, M.D., board certified dermatologist, and owner of the Laser Institute for Dermatology and European Skin Care in Santa Monica, California, helps demystify the slew of sun damage–reversing products by highlighting some of the most essential ingredients: AHAs exfoliate and even out skin tone. Retinol stimulates collagen production. Antioxidants (including topical green tea and vitamin C) prevent free radical damage.
If your skin has endured damage from excessive sun exposure, here are some of our favorite topical treatments that can help relieve, heal, and protect your skin:
When it comes to outward signs of aging, there’s no shortage of theories about the causes. In recent years, several beauty products containing hyaluronic acid (HA) have been introduced into the market, ranging from vitamin supplements to Hyaluronic acid gel injections. However, most people are looking for better ways of keeping a youthful appearance without invasive procedures.
Beauty is not just skin deep; in fact, the health and beauty of your hair, skin and nails is directly affected by the nutrients that you provide your body with internally and externally. One of these exciting nourishing ingredients is called hyaluronic acid. HA is capable of holding 1,000 times its weight in water. Since it is one of the most hydrophilic (water-absorbing) molecules in nature, HA is often described as ‘nature’s moisturizer,’ providing the body with essential moisture and a viable way to erase wrinkles.
Hyaluronic acid is a key component of our collagen structure, including the joints, skin, veins and eyes. Hyaluronic acid’s lubrication abilities have made it one of the best anti-aging beauty secrets available on the market today. HA’s major role in the skin is to help regulate moisture levels by absorbing water and slowly releasing it as the cells in skin become dehydrated. By drawing in and holding onto water in the outer cell layers, HA enables effective skin hydration, delivery of nutrients and removal of toxins. Without an adequate amount of HA, nutrients cannot be moved into skin cells and waste cannot be eliminated from cells. When HA is taken as a supplement, it moisturizes from the from the deepest layers of the skin to the outer layer, helping to maintain smooth, elastic skin.
Science and hyaluronic acid
Hyaluronic acid supports healthy skin, as noted in a study published by the Journal of Cellular Physiology in 1998. The study showed that HA helped reproduce healthy skin cells. But as we age, the HA content of the skin changes due to two separate clinically proven factors: the body decreases the amount of HA it produces and begins to distribute it differently. So instead of the deepest layers sending HA to the surface layers of the skin, it reverses making skin look dehydrated and wrinkly.
Supplementation is one of the key factors in counteracting the body’s inability to produce HA. This new scientific evidence is paving the road for hyaluronic acid and other important nutrients like grape seed extract, Lutein and Lycopene to become the skin care of the future. Studies show benefits from oral supplementation within one to three months. In fact, the ABC program 20/20 aired a special on the small village in Japan known as Yuzuri Hara, where 10 percent of the population is 85 and older. The show attributed the people’s lack of cancer and heart disease, as well as their increased longevity, to a key component of their diet, hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring protein in the body. It has been used orally with no adverse reaction and incredible results. There is considerable evidence that the loss of HA is directly involved in the acceleration of aging. Nutritional supplementation of HA is an excellent way to help support and protect your body from the negative effects of aging. This ‘internal cosmetic’ breakthrough is allowing more and more people to feel younger and healthier as they age.
