SkinOwl Neck+ Super Smoothing & Contouring Neck Concentrate - Does It Work?

Its not very often you come across a product which really surprises you and surpasses all your expectations and this one seems to have done just that! I have to admit something here, I have always concentrated my skincare purchases mainly focusing on my face never really giving enough attention to my neck. Usually I'll just slather on the same serums and moisturisers on my neck which I use on my face, I figured if they are good enough for my face they ought to be good enough for my neck too..right? I was so wrong. Even though I used all these serums and moisturisers on my neck I never really saw any visible difference apart from the hydration factor.

After my trip to India in the Feb this year my skin around my neck was looking even more dull and I saw more pigmentation. Now I don't really have too many visible wrinkles but definitely I started seeing more rough skin and fine lines appear. While searching for a product for my neck concerns I remembered Nicki Evans from @nici_evans on Instagram had mentioned about SkinOwl Neck+ gel and how much she really enjoyed it. To be honest just by looking at the ingredient list I really wasn't impressed as they were quite simple ingredients which were present in many other products which I had used earlier and I wasn't even sure if this would really help with any of my concerns but the reviews were pretty good and the size was quite decent so I decided to take the plunge and am so happy that I did!

Before I share my thoughts let's take a look at the description and ingredient list.

SkinOwl Neck+ - A symphony of healing herbs, restorative plant and flower compounds, and Ocean Mineral Complex in a super concentrated, bio-available delivery system. Our first ever super-smoothing & contouring neck concentrate made with superstar age-defying ingredients to create a smooth, youthful, and contoured neck and décolleté. Skin looks smooth, supple, and quenched, with dark spots & crease marks visibly reduced. Tight, toned, and radiant skin will be the evidence of this product's efficacy.

Ingredients - Aqua (Deionized Water), Hamamelis Virginiana Water (Witch Hazel), Dimethyl Sulfone (MSM), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Organic Aloe), Sea Water Extract (Ocean Mineral Concentrate), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Organic Jojoba Oil), Achillea Millefolium Extract (Yarrow), Chondrus Crispus Extract (Irish Moss), Curcuma Longa Rhizome Extract (Organic Turmeric), Spirulina Maxima Extract, Hydroxyethyl Ethylcellulose, Carrageenan, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin

My Thoughts -

So I bought this in the first week of April this year and ever since I have been using it pretty much everyday in the night time. SkinOwl Neck+ is designed to be used on Face, Neck and Décolleté but honestly I not used it on my face yet although I am tempted to give it a try! May be I will and also update this review accordingly. Neck+ comes in a glass bottle with a pump which I love! I find one pump to be more than enough for entire neck and décolleté area. The texture is similar to aloe vera gel and spreads easily onto the skin. Its light yet hydrating enough. It does not leave any kind of residue behind infact it does have a slight cooling sensation onto the skin. Now for the million dollar question..does it work? Yes it does! First couple of weeks I didn't really notice a big difference but one day during our weekly skype chats with my in laws my mil pointed out suddenly that I seem to have lost weight and she specifically pointed out to my neck saying that it looked a lot less chubby..lol! I was really surprised! Who doesn't like to hear those golden words right? Even though at 2-3 weeks the difference wasn't huge but still there was a difference! My skin on the neck and chest looked more toned and definitely the pigmentation around the lower creases of the neck looked lighter! I was ecstatic! 

With continued usage of Neck+ once daily in the night time the texture of my skin has improved a lot. It looks a lot firmer, toned up in texture and pigmentation has reduced a lot. Fine lines have visibly reduced and the skin just looks and feels more contoured! In fact I used to have double chin, I still do to some extent but the skin right below my chin has also firmed up a lot, of course I also have been exercising and have lost over 15+ pounds in last 6 months but sometimes weight loss can make your skin loose its elasticity but since I was using Neck+ regularly I didn't feel any of those negative side effects. Another really important aspect is that the results seem to last for a long time, for eg many a times once you stop using a product your skin might return to its previous state but with Neck+ I have found the results to be almost permanent. I have been using Neck+ since April now and I have used only half of my bottle so one bottle with one pump usage daily will still last you a very long time. I find the price pretty reasonable for the quality and quantity of the product I am getting. SkinOwl Neck+ retails for 68$ for 118ml or 4oz and that is a lot of product. You can get your hands on Neck+ from Pharmaca, CultBeauty, etc (Affiliate Links). I picked up mine from Pharmaca during one of their 20% off sale....such a steal! I do believe Pharmaca is having a 25% off sale with code "HELLOFALL" at the time I am publishing this post so if you are interested this would be the best time to try this beauty out! Also both Pharmaca and CultBeauty ship internationally!

Even though the ingredients seem not so extensive but the synergy in which they work together really makes a huge difference and SkinOwl Neck+ proves that! If you are in your twenties I don't really think you need this but if you are in your thirties with concerns similar to mine I would highly recommend to check this out! Its definitely worth a shot. I hope the review was helpful, if you have any questions please leave them down below and Ill make sure to get back to you asap.

Until next time take care and stay beautiful

Parita.

*I bought this product myself and all views expressed in this review are my own.

You Skincare Essential Hydration Serum Review & Why You NEED IT In Your Life!

Before I go gaga over this amazing You Skincare Essential Hydration Serum...let me first give you a little background story. In the first week of Aug this year my skin went completely bonkers! I got a severe reaction to a custom serum which was made specifically for my skin, I believe it was due to a very high concentration of essential oils. Initially I was really surprised as my skin is not really sensitive and does handle essential oils pretty well but I think since the concentration in the sample was a bit too much, it was very harsh on my skin. My skin barrier got pretty much destroyed, there were tiny little bumps all over my face especially on forehead, cheeks, chin, jawline and on smile lines! I never get such tiny bumps ever! They were not your regular pimples/acne but just small tiny under the skin bumps. My forehead especially is a bit sensitive and gets easily irritated than rest of my face. Of course I immediately stopped using that serum and one would think that after few days or even weeks the skin would get back to normal..right? Wrong! Once the skin barrier is compromised it takes a hell lot of time for the inflammation to go down and for the skin to repair itself. Nothing was working for my skin! Even the most tried and tested products were not showing any results and I truly was getting frustrated and anxious! 

Fast forward to last week of Aug, it was over three weeks my skin was still inflamed and irritated. I suddenly remembered Amy who is the genius formulator and mastermind behind You Skincare, she had sent me her new products to try out and it included Essential Hydration Serum. I decided to give it a try and it worked like magic! Before I jump ahead lets first take a look at the ingredient list of this serum.

You Skincare Essential Hydration Serum

Description:- Hydration is essential for optimal skin health. Our Essential Hydration Serum is an intense, hydrating treatment that soothes dehydrated skin. It combines hyaluronic acid, provitamin B5, peptides, and many extracts such as mushroom, prickly pear, Amla, and cucumber to help replenish your skin with the lost nutrients it needs to become and stay healthy. Hyaluronic acid and sodium lactate are the top two moisturizing ingredients which are included in our advanced formula. They will bind moisture to the skin to give you long-lasting hydration all day. Essential Hydration Serum can be used alone or combined with other serums or moisturizers. YOU Skincare’s Essential Hydration Serum doesn’t contain any fragrances or essential oils.

Best Suited For:- All skin types, especially acneic, dehydrated, and barrier-compromised skin. Also helps skin suffering from the overuse of acids and tretinoin. --- (Looks like it was custom made for my skin condition!!!)

Ingredients:- Aqua/Water, Aloe Barbadensis Juice, Lactobacillus/Ganoderma Lucidum (Reishi Mushroom) Extract /Lentinus Edodes (Shitake Mushroom) Extract Ferment Filtrate, DimethylSulfone (DMSO), Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Panthenol, Opuntia Tuna (Prickly Pear) Flower/Stem Extract, Phyllanthus Emblica (Alma) Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Levulinate, Glycerin, Sodium Lactate, Allantoin, Sodium Anisate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Butylene Glycol.

My Thoughts:-

This serum truly saved my skin! Like any serum it takes few weeks to show results, nothing really works overnight unless you are going for a surgical procedure! The serum as you can tell comes in a standard glass bottle with a pump and a cap. The texture of the serum probably surprised me the most as its extremely liquidy! Usually other hydrating serum that I have used in the past had a bit thick gel type texture but the Essential Hydration Serum is exactly opposite! But in all honesty this is the BEST hydrating/soothing/calming serum I have ever used! Period! No Doubt! 

This serum is so much more than just a hydrating serum! It not only hydrates but soothes and calms down inflammation like nothing other. My skin even though was compromised it wasn't dry probably because I live in FL where most of the year the temperature are in the 90s! I use this right after my treatment/acid toner stage and before my moisturizer. Since my skin was so much inflamed I chose not to incorporate any other actives apart from my Epionce Lytic Plus Tx lotion which I would use once daily. Within a week my skin started to heal, the bumps were going down and the texture was becoming normal. My old acne scars which had resurfaced due to the extreme inflammation and dehydration started to soften again. Unfortunately we were hit by a major hurricane Irma last week back and we had to evacuate our home! We temporarily moved to Atlanta and I only took this serum, Skinceuticals Triple Lipid Restore moisturizer and Epionce Lytic Plus Gel cleanser along with a couple of other mists. Yup that's it!

The weather in Atlanta was extremely dry and once we reached there my skin started to dry out and peel especially on the forehead and around the smile lines. Again this serum helped so much with dryness, redness and peeling, I would literally apple this serum 2- 3 times in a day and by the time we returned home after a week my skin was back to its original state to about 90%. I still have couple of tiny bumps on my forehead but thats it! My cheeks, chin, jawline etc areas are completely clear of those pesky little bumps! I did use a heavy moisturizer like the Triple lipid restore during the night time when in Atlanta to elevate the repairing of my skin's natural barrier.

This serum is so much more than your basic hydrating serum! The name really doesn't do justice to this fantastic formulation. If you have any kind of inflammation going on say due to over exfoliation, bad reaction to a product, rosacea, acne, redness, broken skin barrier, dry skin, dehydrated skin..anything at all this serum is a must try! Majority of the "hydrating serums" on the market mainly contain some form of hyaluronic acid but if you look at the ingredient list for this serum, its far superior to any other hydrating serums on the market! Not only does it contain hyaluronic acid but it also contains peptides, mushroom extract which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and also contains Vit D and antioxidants. The serum also has Panthenol which soothes irritated skin along with Cucumber extract, Amla extract , Prickly Pear extracts, glycerin and a bunch of other beneficial ingredients. 

I have used this serum so much you can see how beat up the label has become! This has become my HG serum for when my skin is acting up and just need that beneficial blanket of ingredients to keep it healthy and supple! I have always been a huge fan of Amy's formulations but truly with this serum she has knocked it out of the park! I haven't tried the hydrating serums from Skinceuticals, IsClinical etc but by just looking at the formulation and ingredient list the You Skincare Essential Hydration Serum is the best bet especially for the price! It retails for 56$ for 30ml and you can find it online at YouSkincare.us. I suggest to sign up for her newsletter as you can get 10% off on your first order and she also does sales now and then for the subscribers so you don't want to miss that!

I hope this review was helpful, if you have any questions please leave them down below in the description box and Ill be more than happy to answer them for you.

Until next time take care and stay beautiful!

Parita.