Now solutions Vitamin C and Sea Buckthorn Moisturiser

This is another offering from my favourite natural brand Now. It is quite a basic moisturiser, with very nice formula. I am not hugely in love, since I love very concentrated treatments and prefer serums as my non SPF choice of moisturisers. I use it as an evening neck/decolletage cream. It has light lotion texture, that is not sticky or greasy. The scent, in my opinion, is a bit cheap, somewhat fanta/orange juice like, but not offensive or disgusting.

 

Packaging/Pricing: 

59ml (2fl.oz) Retails for ~8-13$ US. You can find it in some whole food stores. I bought it on IHERB.com (here) for 9.93$. It comes in opaque tube, that is reliable, appropriate packaging. As I mentioned in my other Now brand review, packaging may seem not appealing to some, since it lacks the luxurious feel. But I am perfectly content with it, since I don't have to pay more just for a pretty bottle. I am all about ingredients.

 

Ingredients:

Water, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, caprylic/capric triglyceride, cetyl alcohol, glycerin, glyceryl stearate SE, glucose & lactoperoxidase & glucose oxidase, stearic acid, cetearyl alcohol, cetearyl glucoside, olea europaea (olive) oil (extra virgin), magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (Vit C), hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn) seed oil, niacinamide (Vit B3), tocopherol (Vit E), orange-grapefruit aroma, polyglyceryl-10 laurate, potassium sorbate, citric acid.

Excellent (only beneficial ingredients, proven research)

Good (mostly beneficial, not extensive research or just not quite outstanding properties)

OK (mostly thickeners, emulsifiers, mild preservatives, pH adjusters, all that is necessary, but not a skincare per se)

Bad (irritants and anything bad that shouldn't be in skincare, usually fragrance)

 

Ingredients Discussion: 

This moisturiser features minimal, but well balanced formula, that can address all skin needs. Ideally, in any skincare product you should have three categories of beneficial ingredients
: skin-identical/skin repairing ingredients, antioxidants/anti-irritants and cell- communicating ingredients. This formula has glycerin, sea buckthorn oil and olive oil as skin conditioning agents. Antioxidants are represented by vitamins C and E. And vitamin B3 or niacinamide is an excellent cell-communicating ingredient. Manufacturer lists lactoperoxidase and glucose oxidase as natural preservatives, but former also has antibacterial properties for skin and the later has wound healing properties. One drawback here is inclusion of fragrance, but since it is at the end of ingredient list it is not likely to cause much harm. Company markets this product as skin brightening, since it has Vit C and B3, both of which help lighten discoloration. I doubt they are in high enough concentration to consider this lotion a hyper pigmentation treatment. This formula would just overall improve your skin health.

 

Verdict:

I like this product. 4.5 out of 5. May be it is not the most fascinating/break through research thing on the market, but definitely beautiful formulation, worth trying out. Especially when you compare something like this with products from big company, with big claims, that have incredibly bad formulations (yes, I am looking at you, Lancome!). I would recommend this lotion to people with normal to dry to combination skin as basic moisturiser without SPF (say as a part of an evening routine). It would be better to pair it with targeted treatment for your specific concern (for treating acne or hyper pigmentation or wrinkles). I would purchase it again for my neck/chest area. 

P.S.: If you have any questions regarding the product or ingredients, please feel free to ask!