As seasons change, so too does our skin needs making Spring the perfect time to update our skincare top shelf! Gone are the thick moisturizers and anything that can be described as “heavy,” and in are fresh, enlivening products that awaken skin. The above are some products that I’d like to share with you as part of my Spring Beauty Edit:
Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser: As a first step, this cleanser smells lovely and gets rid of make-up/sunscreen build up. It washes off as a milky fluid making removal easy. Good for a quick removal or extended massage. Use in place of a balm which might prove too heavy for Spring/Summer.
Pro-tip: Apply on dry skin and cleanse before washing. The times I used this in the shower resulted in cleanser washing immediately into my eyes as I believe this cleanser is designed to break down with continued water exposure.
Kypris Moonlight Catalyst: A gentle resurfacing treatment that sloughs away dead skin cells and exfoliates dead skin cells that perhaps have been trapped under all the oils and moisturizers from winter. A night-time only serum, apply before face oil for best results.
Pro-tip: The older version which is more of a brownish-orange hue seemed to work better for me and the new version which is clear seems much more mild. Both versions seem to work best when slightly heated in hands first. Dry/delicate skin should use this 1-2 times a week as too much exfoliation can be counter productive and reveal thin/crepy skin. I’ll provide a more in-depth review comparing the two soon.
YÜLI M.E. Skin Fuel: Spring is a season of change, meaning skin may be in flux. This face oil from YÜLI is incredibly high quality being made on site from really incredible ingredients that are beneficial for problematic or compromised skin – black cumin, broccoli seed, sea buckthorn, red raspberry, prickly pear and the formula is focused on balancing and optimizing skin. Deemed a multivitamin for skin and topped with a refined fragrant jasmine note, few will find anything to complain about with this versatile oil.
Pro-tip: Apply to skin that is dewy. Oily and acne prone skins can actually put this anti-inflammatory oil on breakouts to speed up healing. Red/irritated/sensitive skins will like this gentle formula as it contains actual anti-irritant extracts. Use the press/pull technique for maximum absorption.
Kari Gran Lip Whip: Available in a variety of colors, the naked Lip Whip is a beautifully packaged, green lip balm that gives a viable option for us girls looking for an alternative from the Rodin and Omorovicza balms. The buttery texture is melt on your lips soft while providing a solid base to apply lip stains (or just opt for one of their lip tints). Wonderful to heal chapped lips from chronic winter dryness for supple Spring kissers.
Pro-tip: layer under or dab and mix with heavily pigmented lip products (i.e. W3ll People, RMS, etc) to create a natural, moisturizing tint.
Sunday Riley Good Genes: Good Genes perhaps has Sunday Riley’s biggest cult following, any IT girl from Emily Weiss of Into The Gloss to Alexandra Pakzad will swear by this stuff. Good Genes Treatment is a multitasking lactic acid lotion that is perfect for Spring Cleaning skin. The lactic acid is pretty strong at first (with a very acidic 2.4 pH) and helps to brighten dull, tired winter skin. The first time I used it, my skin felt the tingle and once the sensation subsided, it appeared that all the trapped sebum from winter were released onto my skin as I looked absolutely shiny (TMI?)
Pro-tip: As lactic acid is an AHA, do not layer with oils or actives that can be easily broken down such as Vitamin C and Retinol. Use as either a 20 minute mask (2-3 full pumps) or alone in the evening with an inactive moisturizer.
Kate Somerville Cytocell Eye Cream: My eyes are SENSITIVE. Origins/REN eye products make it red, oils always end up in my eyes and many of the luxury (non-natural) products can really irritate my eyes so when I find one that works, I stick with it, especially through Spring when pollen and allergens are at an all time high. This eye cream from Kate Somerville has been on my wish list for years before I could afford to spend $75 on an eye cream. The ingredients include Vitamin C, a milk peptide complex and Peptide P-199 that renews skin. It relieves, soothes and gives me confidence that somehow my eyes look awake even if I am not.
Pro-tip: Stock in the fridge for added cooling benefits which helps with dark circles and firming. This cream glides onto skin so it can also be used as an eye make-up primer.
YÜLI Halcyon: This cleanser is an all time favorite and is in the Spring Beauty Edit because 1) with a flower water base, it smells like spring in a bottle 2) Spring is the best season for bare skin and this cleanser is perfect for that quick, one-step cleanse to keep skin beautiful. Every wash leaves my skin naked but never stripped just super comfortable and plush.
Pro-tip: The most luxurious cleanse I’ve had was by wetting skin with rose-water or face mist first before applying 3 full pumps of Halcyon and massaging skin. I do this every Sunday and my skin is baby soft, glowing, and pampered afterward. This gel cleanser is also superb when mixed with powder-to-cream masks.
In Fiore Encens Vetivert Body Oil: Unfortunately not yet in stock from In Fiore, this seasonal body oil is one I am well and truly obsessed over. The body oil comes out in a green hue due to the grapeseed oil base and sinks into skin beautifully that it can be applied to dry or wet skin. In Fiore’s scents are phenomenal and their body oils almost double as perfume oils, each transporting the wearer. This one is perhaps my favorite: Vetiver, Neroli, Jasmine, Mandarin all shine. It’s a floral heaven with some edge due to the grassey Vetiver note.
Pro-tip: Apply as a hair oil and do a weekly scalp massage with this oil. Not only do I find it beneficial for my hair and scalp, but it helps keep the scent ruminating all around.
What products have you put on the back burner and what are your staples for Spring? Leave your thoughts in the comments section!
I agree with you about Moonlight Catalyst, the older formula suited my skin much better too. 🙁
Author
I kind of think Chase from Kypris developed a resurfacing treatment and then maybe changed her mind and wanted more of an anti-aging treatment because her customers thought “retinol alternative” meant anti-aging (although she hates to use the term which makes this even more convoluted), so what we have is a serum that is a weak resurfacing treatment with mediocre anti-aging… I wish she would bring back the old formula.
Really lovely post. I have not tried moonlight catalyst, but greenderm also wrote that the growth factors in it cannot work because of the enzymes, which break it down. I tried the antioxidant dew from kypris and my skin got very dry and flaky, but at the same time congested. I also tried the brand’s eo free oil, but found it quite heavy and did not like the base of sunflower and coconut, especially at that price.
Author
Thank you Laura! I remember Green Derm saying that, and he’s usually very right so it must be why this new formula just isn’t really doing anything for me. Is there any issue with sunflower oil? I have not heard much about it as a base oil but I know that none of her oils work for me. I develop small red painful acne around my face that turns into angry cystic acne if I keep using it. Despite all this, I am curious how her new cleanser will work for me though!
Oh I love your posts, they’re always so detailed and informative! Do you know when the In Fiore body oil will be back? How does Halcyon help with the powder to cream masks? Can I use it with Pure too?
Author
Thank you for reading along Helen! I don’t know when or if In Fiore will bring their body oils back, I can’t find any information on their website and all body oils seem to have been transitioned to body balms.
Halcyon is a gel texture and if you’ve used powder or clay masks, you might have noticed that they can tend to dry after the water content is absorbed or evaporated. For me, Halcyon keeps the moisture intact and gives the mask a more gel like texture. Halcyon itself is also really good as an ingredient component for masking with its flower waters, peptides, enzymes. I use it with Pure, Dr Alkaitis, etc and it is amazing. I know Genuine Glow does that too.
This beauty edit is so good! I have been looking at the Halcyon cleanser and now that the weather is warmer, I think I’m finally ready to join the Yuli club! I tried a sample of Skin Fuel from Spirit Beauty and absolutely loved it. How does this stack up against RMS Beauty Oil and Lina Hanson Global Face Serum? Between Sunday Riley and Kypris which exfoliant do you like more if I can only purchase one?
Author
Thank you Lynn, I’m glad you enjoyed my beauty edit! Yes I definitely think Halcyon is like a must have for warmer weather. Yuli doesn’t do a lot of press (yet all the beauty editors have been loving them), so I notice when a blogger does use them, they tend to just rave about the entire line – me included!
M.E. Skin Fuel does not use citrus or photo-sensitive oils so in that regard it can be used during the day while Lina is more of an evening product. Both RMS and Lina are thicker than Skin Fuel which I expected as Skin Fuel is good even for oily/acne prone skin types.
Between Sunday Riley and Kypris I think it depends on your skin. If you skin is sensitive and delicate perhaps Kypris, if it is tougher, Sunday Riley. Also the Kypris serum can be a little sticky while Sunday Riley is a lotion texture so if you have a preference there, this might decide it for you.
@Lynn, I’m a new Yuli convert – it worked miracles on my problem skin! I overlooked the Elixirs in the beginning thinking they were “just” toners – when in fact I noticed the most difference after using the Metamorphic and Panacea Elixirs. Just thought I’d throw that out there. (And all credit goes to the Beauty Idealist.) They have a free shipping code as well if you read the fine print in their FAQs.
I love mixing the Yuli oil with my Pratima sunscreen. Agree with you that the Kypris was kind of underwhelming, I haven’t really liked anything I tried from that line including their oils and Antioxidant Serum despite all of the hype.
Author
Hi Radja, I also love to mix some oil with sunscreen, it just breaks the chalkiness of physical zinc oxide based sunscreens. I used a couple products from Kypris as well and liked Moonlight Catalyst V.1, V2 has been meh. Unfortunately their oils absolutely made my skin go haywire, breakouts and oiliness all over within 1-2 days.
Love your succinct, honest reviews as always! I am probably one of the last bloggers to try YULI! The price tag is what’s holding me back but everyone raves about their oils. The ME Skin Fuel sounds like something I can benefit from when the hormonal spots come out to play (every month). I wish they offer deluxe trial sizes so I don’t have to shell out the full price for something I won’t be using daily!
Author
Thank you Ru! You really should give YULI a try! I know that they have deluxe samples of a lot of their products, here’s the page for Skin Fuel which seems to be available in the trial size: http://www.yuliskincare.com/product/m-e-skin-fuel/
For me, I find their pricing much more “reasonable” than say, May Lindstrom Odacite, or Vintner’s Daughter. The other good thing is that they use their own ingredients and make everything fresh which is a step above others who order from suppliers. So given all that, I am happy to spend my money on them.
I am a newbie to green beauty and have enjoyed this blog tremendously, so well considered and thoughtful in a number of aspects. Anyway, this spring I have been focused on hydrating my combo skin. Through TBI, I gave Yuli a try: halcyon (so unassuming but effective – I ventured away to try something else and that’s when I realized how much my skin loves halcyon), cocoon, liquid courage and pure (miraculously cleared up my long congested forehead pores in one try). All fantastic, but I still felt something missing, and liquid courage just did not absorb as easily as I expected it to. Then I gave TBI another read through and picked up on the Tatcha reviews and grabbed the hydrating serum and it has made a world of difference, with a side benefit of greatly improving the performance of the Yuli products (liquid courage, spiked with some cocoon, is now a wow product. My skin just glows with hardly any pores discernible after use). I also got some samples of the Tatcha indigo cream but alas, I think cream moisturizers in general need to be put away permanently for me (despite such a great beginning) as I noticed the congestion in the forehead creeping back. I also got back into using glycolic treatments (the Peter Thomas Roth pads – turned down the Sunday Riley stuff that the Sephora girl was hailing as her HG based on my reads here and elsewhere) as my form of exfoliation after testing several scrubs and whatnot and seeing no results (the Tatcha rice cleanser was ok…not awesome enough for me to incorporate permanently). I’ve been playing with the Tatcha spray mist and the overnight serum (please review soon!) and once liquid courage runs out, I’m going to pick up the skin fuel. Thanks for all the suggestions here and more importantly, the thought process behind it!
Do you perhaps know the ph balance of yuli halcyon?
Have written to them and no response.
Thank you.
Author
I know it is ph balanced and a blogger on instagram tested its ph herself and said it was at the perfect level but I do not know the specific number myself. Through my exp with them, e-mails are answered pretty quickly, maybe check your spam folder?