About Me

Sunday, January 25, 2015

New Year, New Citrus





Citrus is one of the strongest scents out there, and usually people have a love it or hate it opinion. I'm choosy about how I like my citrus smells -- I love fresh-cut lemons and citrus-scented cleaning products, but despise citrus candles and perfumes (unless it's mixed heavily with a floral or vanilla scent). I recently discovered another form in which I love my citrus -- skin care. I've been using my Peaches Skin Care classic cleanser for about a year now, which contains grapefruit and orange peel oils, and I really think the citrus scent helps to wake me up in the morning. It's a great all-skin-types cleanser that removes makeup and also works well with a Clarisonic. I've almost used up the bottle and I may even repurchase (gasp!).

However, this post isn't about Peaches again. It's actually about a brand I haven't mentioned before because I've never used it -- Origins. I got two Origins moisturizers in a sample pack from Sephora -- GinZing Energy Boosting Moisturizer and High Potency Night-A-Mins. I did not have particularly high hopes since Origins gives the impression of being a "natural" brand but I suspected that their products actually had a lot of synthetic ingredients, mainly from often seeing Origins being sold in department stores. But, according to their website, Origins products are free from "parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin, DEA, and animal products," which are all good things in my book. When I did a little research on the brand I also learned that they are owned by Estee Lauder, which owns a host of other beauty companies including Bobbi Brown, Clinique and La Mer, to name a few. 

When I tried both of the sample packs (got about three uses out of each) and didn't have an allergic reaction, plus they both smelled amazing with a strong citrus scent and sunk beautifully into my skin, I knew I was going to end up purchasing the full-size versions. A few weeks later, with my Sephora gift card in hand, I bought a limited-edition Origins kit that had full-size versions of both moisturizers, plus the GinZing eye cream and the Drink Up Intensive Overnight Moisture Mask. I was really excited for the mask, since Origins is known for their masks and I was hoping it would help clear up my occasional dry patches this time of year. Much to my disappointment, I had an immediate allergic reaction when I tested it on both my hand and neck (just to be sure) and had to wash it off both times. The eye cream is nice, but it was just about the last thing I needed as I currently have 4 eye creams in my rotation and I can never seem to use up a tube. I bought the kit specifically for the moisturizers though, and I've been using them on and off for a few weeks now and have no complaints -- no breakouts or irritation, just smooth, soft, faintly citrus-smelling skin. I use GinZing in the morning on days when I know I'm not going to be in the sun (which, admittedly, isn't too often here in Santa Barbara), and Night-A-Mins every night as the last step in my skincare routine. 

I will likely be turning to Origins when it's time to buy a new daytime moisturizer with SPF, as the one I'm currently using (Benefit Triple Performing Facial Emulsion) is fine, but I can't shake the strong, powdery, perfumed fragrance or the taste of it if it gets in my mouth. Based on the reaction I had to the mask, I'm definitely going to be testing Origins products before purchasing, but I'm looking forward to finding other skincare staples from this brand.