“If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin” is the mantra behind this pure line started by the eponymous Dr. Saul Alkaitis, a research scientist from UCLA. As one of the few ‘doctor’ lines in green beauty, I was naturally very drawn to this concept of food grade beauty products where everything was conceptualized in terms of feeding skin the way one does to nourish the body.
Luckily for those interested, Dr. Alkaitis offers what I consider to be one of the most generous sample solutions available, their comprehensive Travel Kit which includes:
- Facial Cleanser
- Herbal Toner
- Soothing Gel
- Nourishing Treatment Oil
- Day Creme
- Eye Creme
- Night Creme
- Cellular Repair Mask
All pump products are housed in their signature forest green bottles while the cremes and mask are in more temporary housing. The kit also includes a product guide along with a mini-press brochure which basically includes magazines and celebrity clients which is basically a who’s who of supermodels. The designated “7-12 Day Supply” is actually a misrepresentation in my opinion as the products can easily be used for longer. Now onto the products!
Dr. Alkaitis’ Facial Cleanser gets points in my book for being an actual cleanser and not just a balm/oil make-up remover masquerading/marketed as a cleanser which I consider a misleading to customers. This formula is actually a liquid castile soap yet with beneficial ingredients like a natural vitamin complex, think of it as a gentler fancier version of Dr. Bronners.
The cleanser does have slippage and is low foaming which are both good for massaging into skin without pulling. It’s great for those with naturally oily skins but those who are more on the dry side may need to use this only for more powerful cleansing or as cleanser after make-up remover. I find this particularly good for disinfecting skin if you happen to have breakouts, but for everyone else, be sure to follow with a more acidic toner to rebalance skin as the soap base isn’t great for skin’s acid-mantle. (Good thing they have a toner in the line, keep reading!)
At the time this was released there were not too many green cleansers around but now there are more sophisticated formulas that can give a good gel or cream texture without castille soap, such as Tracie Martyn’s cult favorite Amla Cleanser or a personal favorite YULI Halcyon Cleanser.
The Herbal Toner is a light brown watery fluid that is described as toner, astringent, skin balancer, and anti-inflammatory. I quite like this and found it to be a fantastic product to have especially for summer. The astringent and anti-inflammatory qualities mean this helps prevent breakouts during the summer when skin is buried beneath sunscreen and sweat. The only reason I’m reviewing this with the Soothing Gel is that I feel like these two are essentially the same product only the soothing gel is a thicker gel texture compared to the more fluid toner (see pic above). Their ingredients are very similar, they both have astringent, skin balancing, anti-inflammatory qualities. They even look and smell alike.
So here’s my take: do get one of these as they are wonderful for calming skin and making pores feel cleaner but do not purchase both the toner and soothing gel as they’re essentially the same. If you want something more moisturizing go with the soothing gel, if you want something lighter go for the herbal toner. On the other hand if you are very minimal and want to cut down on products and your skin tends to be oilier, purchase the soothing gel and call it a day with the moisturizer whereas the herbal toner is not enough to moisturize on its own. If your skin is more problematic – soothing gel is stronger than the toner and has more anti-bacterial properties which makes it better for acne, but if your skin is more sensitive the gentler toner is your go to, make sense?
Lovely, fantastic, all types of good words are deserved for this fantastic versatile oil that works equally well for body and face. I prefer this for my body because the ingredients can cause some hyperactivity if ingested (I do admit to feeling a ‘buzz’ when accidentally getting some near my lips). What I like about this oil is the high amount of infusions – seriously cool. This process is only done by Dr. Alkaitis, RMS Beauty, and YULI as far as I’m aware among the SBL roster. The smell is herbal like the rest of the line but in such a way that is very in line with aromatherapy. Seriously, if you purchase this just inhale it… it just strips your soul of everything weighing it down. Is it a pretty smell? No. Is it a wonderful smell? Yes. Which one is more important? The latter.
The oil is on the thicker side (thus the ‘nourishing’ aspect) but I doubt it will clog skin or cause any breakouts. Another bonus, as far as I’m aware this is one of the rare oils out there that does not contain citrus oils which I consider mostly used for fragrance and not results as the oils are photo-sensitizing. Well made, at $90 for 4 oz: economic for a face oil, decent for a body oil. A very worthwhile consideration for purchase.
Day Creme, Night Creme, Eye Creme
Here’s what you need to know about the Dr. Alkaitis cremes: they’re variations on consistency and slight ingredient differentiations but pretty much all shea butter whipped creams. Don’t like shea butter or the smell of unrefined shea butter? Then these are not for you. Otherwise, you’re bound to enjoy the uncomplicated moisturizers that aren’t formulated with any fragrance compound (pure shea butter scent). The differences between day creme and night creme besides slight secondary ingredient changes are that the day creme is lighter than the night creme, and the night creme contains citrus seed extract and Vitamin A. So really if you’re looking to only purchase one, go for the day creme. If you have dryer skin and wear sunscreen anyway, go for the night creme because the formulas are very similar. For myself personally, the day cream provides enough moisture and I’m one of those people who believes skin needs even less moisture at night so I don’t suffocate it with a heavier product.
However a product you should not skip out on is the Eye Creme which is easily one of my favorites in the entire line. Yes, again similar shea butter texture, but this stuff just works and that is what’s important. Dab a little under eyes (seriously, use sparingly – I’ve barely made a dent using this for 3 weeks) and it glides easily around the entire eye area. No irritation, no stinging, but immediate comfort and moisture. Use at night if you wear makeup during the day, but other than that, very difficult to go wrong with this product, highly recommended.
Dr. Alkaitis’ masks come in 5 flavors and they’re activated powders. They masks are essentially skin foods as they’re just biologically available botanical ingredients mixed in a dry powder form and activated with water. The Cellular Repair Mask is essentially a ‘berry mask’ and it is reported to repair, regenerate, and fortify skin. The ingredients really do conform to the idea of food based ingredients as the berry powders could easily be mistaken as a smoothie supplement.
This mask (like all of Dr. Alkaitis’ masks) needs to be kept moist the entire time since there are enzymes that need the water to be kept active. This makes it a less messier and high maintenance than most masks. Truth be told, using it by itself didn’t impress me too much. It was gentle, and I’m sure I did my skin some favors but I didn’t see or feel anything. Here’s how I recommend using the mask: as a base. I wanted to finish what I had of it so I mixed in some Suti Face Oil along with a rich peptide cream that was too heavy for my skin when applied alone, 20 minutes later and I’m looking at seriously glowing, gorgeous skin. I also like to mix the mask with other powders because the Dr. Alkaitis masks are basically skin foods so I’m just introducing nutrients to whatever else I mix it with, and when used in this way, the results are phenomenal.
I hope for those of you who haven’t given this line a try yet, my review helped zero in on some key products you’d like, if not well… have I mentioned that this travel kit only costs $55 for samples of all of the above? Try it out for yourself, you’ll probably find much to love from this well made line!
I think this is why you’re clearly my favorite beauty blogger out there. Not kissing your a** but seriously.. you cut through everything and constructively offered REALLY HELPFUL observations on the entire line! Keep writing!
Author
Thank you!
I love the sound of the Organic Soothing Gel, this might work for my oily, acne prone skin, I think I will get a sample soon to try it out.
As always thanks for the honest review, I love that you cover really everything there is to say about a product.
Author
Thank you! I try to be honest rather than needlessly complimentary, it does no one reading any favors.
Agreed with above, this post has been so helpful! I get intimidated by big lines and end up not knowing what to get.. have the Soothing Gel, Treatment Oil, and Eye Creme in my Spirit Beauty shopping bag now, thanks!
Author
I am similar… but I love learning about every product and why they’re made. Quite interesting from my days of going through training sessions at NM, the thought and research behind each product. I think SBL also offers great Dr. Alkaitis samples with orders as well!
I wish I read your article before I purchased some of their products because I did feel a little like “hey wait a minute.. these things are identical!” with the day and night cream and the toner with the gel. Would have saved me a couple bucks and given me a better impression of the line! But now definitely interested in trying the Eye Cream again, thanks for your refreshing writing!
Author
Thank you! Glad it’s helped you rediscover the line!
HI Melody, While her reveiw was excellent regarding all our products, I must chime in here to say that none of the products are identical, they may ‘appear’ to be, but you must account for the creation of each one, and maybe they have similiar ingredients the amounts can vary greatly, and most certainly each has it’s own combination of therapeutic essential oils used for different purposes, this in turn will give a different desired result. The biggest commonality between all our products is that they are anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory. Many thanks for your purcahse and I hope you enjoyed our line.
Thank you Trish! My feeling that there were products that are nearly identical came from my own personal experience, not from Beauty Idealist. Honestly, her review gave me more insight into your line and HELPED me figure out how to enjoy your products otherwise I would have not repurchased anything. I never assumed your products had the same exact ingredients, but to me they were too similar for me to consider them different.
Thank you Melody! I totally understand. I loved her review as well and truly think she did a fantastic job. It’s interesting for me to see what the perceptions are of the general public because most of time I am on the other side of things working the estheticians in the spas and giving trainings. There when dealing with skin issues such as aging, dryness, acne, etc. it starts to get super specific with each product and how they are used in combination with each other makes a huge difference in the final result. So for me as the brand director, the challenge is to see where the gap lies between the regular people who are looking just for ‘home care’ to how we solve these conditions in a spa setting with a trained spa professional. It’s very hard to communicate all these things in one little brochure 🙂 so reading these comments helps me to understand better what the perceptions are or how we can do things better or differently to try to bring those two worlds together a bit more. And of course, if i can help to illuminate or bring clarity around a certain point then I hope that that would also be beneficial.
I love educating – espcially about skin and ingredients. I am a former acne surviver, so I also draw upon my own experience as well. Anyway, Thank you again for your support of our line, taking the time to communicate and to be open to giving us another try! Have a great day! Trish
You’ve taught me so much, thank you.
Dr Alkaitis eye cream, yes it just works, I alternate with Mun oil.
Dr Alkaitis treatment Oil beautiful for your body.
Like you, Yuli Halcyon Cleanser is my favorite cleanser but I feel like I need to use four to five pumps.
I’m a green product junkie. I’ve tried so many and just can’t wait to try the next, hoping that this one might be the one.
I have so much to say and ask but I will hold back and just mention a couple of my holy grails’.
For me finding a cleanser that doesn’t break me out was the hardest product to find closely followed by a face oil.
Marie Veronoque Treatment Cleanser
This is a wonderful product for clearing skin. A perfect morning or second cleanse if you have makeup to remove. With that bring said I think it removes makeup well but I wouldn’t use it around my eyes.
La Bella Figura Barbary Fig Seed Oil
I’ve tried about 15 top end green oils ( Yuli Mun Marie Veronoque MV Kahina ETC) and find my skin is at its clearest with this one. It’s very high in linoleic acid, I think this is why my skin likes it. With some of the other oils I feel like my skin might just purge for a life time…
I love your recommendations and how you explain why and what ingredients do. Your my fav Blogger. xx
Author
Thank you! You can always send me an e-mail using the contact form! It sounds like your skin likes a simple formula since the Barbary Fig Seed Oil is a solo oil (compared to Mun which is Barbary Fig Seed + Argan + Rose). Have you tried Safflower Oil? It is almost 80% linoleic acid. Another one easy to find on the market is Grape Seed Oil which is around 70% linoleic acid and it is really good for problem skin.
Hi! Not sure if you saw but this is on the Dr. Alkaitis Facebook page!
“While I feel the need to claify a couple of points I think overall she was throughly detailed and informative. I actaully really felt like her review would be very helpful to those trying to decide which products to purchase.
Just to comment on a few points: Our Cleanser is actually made like wine (!!!) the soap base and our herbal extracts have been curing for a minimum of 6 months. VERY slow and expensive process….
For those with with dryer skin, I reccomend to add 1-2 pumps of Nourishing Treatment Oil into the cleanser and wash your face with this incredible mixture. (this also makes a great shaving gel for guys). It’s gentle yet powerful and will naturally exfoliate your skin when used on a regular basis becasue of the RAW enzymatic properties of the product. This is what really sets us apart from others and in my book qualifies as ‘very sophisticated’
While our cremes are a Shea Butter base, there are herbs and oils in the day and night creme for appropritate therapeutic purposes. Each the day and night do have their own scent with the eye creme being the least scented.
Organic Day Crème
A moisturizing crème formulated with organic Shea Butter, St. John’s Wort flowers, and Echinacea root in an Organic Aloe Vera base. It repairs, heals, and protects against environmental damage, as well as increases skin luminosity by stimulating oxygen supply to the skin’s surface.
Organic Night Crème
Restores skin’s natural radiance while moisturizing, diminishing the appearance of pores and fine lines. Made with our proprietary Organic Herbal Skin Repair Complex, including Rose blossoms, Wild Carrots, and Roman Chamomile flowers.
Organic Eye Crème
A rich, yet gentle moisturizing, rejuvenating, and brightening eye cream. It protects the delicate area around the eyes from environmental damage, and refreshes tired eyes while reducing puffiness, dark circles, and fine lines. Formulated with our Herbal Eye Renewal Complex, including Wild Rose buds, Linden blossoms, Mate and Green Tea.
The Masks – the best way to use our masks is to add 1 spoon of organic honey, 1 spoon of organic goat milk yogurt and 2 pumps of Organic Nourishing Treatment Oil. This really gives the most amazing hydrating mask treatment! Our Nourishing Treatment Oil will never clog the pores and may be used on the face and body. You can also mix it into the cremes if you need more hydration.
Please do let me know if you have any questions about the line.
We are always happy to help.
Enjoy.”
Author
OH YAY! How exciting! I love that they took the time to respond with their own comments! I agree that there are many factors I gleamed through with the creams to save time and I even said that the ingredients are not the same between the creams but generally they are whipped shea butters which is acknowledged. Maybe there are subtle differences in scent (there must be because they use different ingredients) but honestly… they’re very similar, if you like one you’ll like the others, if you don’t like one you won’t like the others. Anyway, it’s good that they went into detail on ingredients, I just didn’t do it for this because well the post is already long enough and I just made a call for levity and clarity.
I don’t personally like using honey with masks because I remember at training sessions with a few different brands, they said honey can block the absorption of nutrients into skin. But similar idea to what I recommended: mix the mask with something else active it’ll be great.
I’m not sure if the “nourishing treatment oil will never clog pores and may be used on the face and body” was a rebuttal to something I said, since I said pretty much the same thing that it can be used on face/body and that I doubt it would clog pores.
Regarding the cleanser, I appreciate their rebuttal and they’re entitled to one. I still stand by what I said. I understand castile soap is an involved process that may be expensive, but most green soap making processes are quite involved including the bar soaps from Osmia, Strange Invisible body washes. I respect the care they use in curing it, from what I understand curing process is something these high quality soaps all go through. And I’m glad it has natural enzymatic qualities but this is true of many cleansers as well. My main gripe is that I think castile soap is a bit rough for the face and that there are more ‘sophisticated’ formulas for face that are soap-free. This is just my personal opinion from what I’ve seen and experienced. As we all know everyone has their own beauty philosophy so do what works for you. I’m not saying this cleanser is not good, but hopefully this clarifies what I meant when I said there are more sophisticated formulas that I believe are better for the face.
As always, love your insights. I’ve enjoyed that facial cleanser, soothing gel (great for healing/disinfecting after I pop a pimple…….), and oil (smells heavenly).
Author
Thanks for commenting Jade! Always very excited to get a comment from you!! Love the Nourishing Treatment Oil as well and planning to stock up with my Spirit points (which I’m almost ashamed to look at). Facial cleanser I think is good especially for skin with existing breakouts but if used without the toner or soothing gel long term, I just think it’s not a good pH and the soap is just not right for face, that’s my issue with it. Castile in my opinion really should be for body. Soothing Gel is awesome but please tell me you’re not popping pimples? They take so much longer to heal and the skin is more easily damaged if they aren’t resolved on their own!
I think one (of the many) reasons why your blog is a fav among so many is because of your honesty. It is so appreciated. I recently tried out a small sample package of Dr. Alkaitis and fell in love with the Soothing Gel – I immediately bought the full size on Spirit Beauty Lounge. I use it almost like a serum.. before applying facial oils and/or moisturizers. It is just wonderful for redness, acne, hyperpigmentation and redness. I also love the Nourish Oil and plan to purchase that one of these days. Another huge stand out for me was the eye cream. I am so sensitive to eye creams and this one worked wonderfully.. I couldn’t believe how fast it absorbed.
Great review, as always!!! xx
Hi, I know this is a little bit outdated but I was wondering if you know any way I could get hold of the eye cream? I’m from Philippines and I’ve been looking for green products as I do have sensitive skin. Will appreciate your help. Thanks.