Bonjour beautés,
Hope you’re all keeping well during this global pandemic and most importantly, staying home looking after yourselves. I am focusing on all the positives rather than dwelling on the negatives so one of the positive aspects of being in self-confinement is most certainly having time to blog!
I have really missed my blog so much since I have been working every single day up until the closure of our restaurant business two weeks ago. So without further ado, I bring you the finalists for the CertClean beauty awards 2020 best serums category.
Black Chicken Remedies Nocturnalist Night Serum*
Beauty Tofu Beauty Tofu R3 Serum*
Le Pure Midnight Rejuvenation
Biossance Squalane + Phyto-Retinol Serum
Immersion Botanica Rosehip Facial Serum for Dry/Damaged Skin
Caldera + Lab The Good
Okanagan Lavender & Herb Farm ‘Sensitive Skin’ Face Serum
Caralista Skincare Face Gold Botanical Serum
Ao Skincare (Distil Skincare LLC) Peak Strength AM Serum-Shot*
asap skin products super B complex
*serums I tried and judged 🙂
I was lucky enough to be a judge for the CertClean beauty awards 2020 beauty serums category. I wrote a post about that recently – I’m a Judge for the CertClean Beauty Awards, outlining the ones I loved the most and all of the ones I received. I was delighted to see that my top 3 fave picks were indeed 3 of the 10 finalists to be chosen to go through to the next round. They absolutely deserved a place in the 2020 best serums category.
My 3 top fave serums were the Black Chicken Remedies Nocturnalist night serum (divine-smelling self-care pamper product), the Beauty Tofu R3 serum (skin-clearing magic potion) and the Ao Skincare Peak Strength AM Serum Shot (finest cold-pressed natural ingredients and so many skin-loving nutrients)
I was surprised not to see another top fave of mine which was the Leaf People Hyaluronic Stem Cell Hydrating Serum. I brought the serum on holidays with me when I went to Ireland for a week and used it every day and night. I am certain my skin improved and I even noticed a deep wrinkle seemed less noticeable after! I think it is a worthy contender so a big cheer to them anyways and maybe they will run again next year, who knows? I just thought they were worthy of a mention anyway 🙂
I have to say the Beauty Tofu is a great one to use under makeup. I have combination/oily skin and it seems to balance it out nicely. You have to shake the serum to combine it as there is charcoal in it and the list of ingredients includes colloidal silver which is a first for me. I had often wanted to try it but never managed to find it in beauty products up until now. They also use Manuka honey which is an all-time fave ingredient of mine too. See my article on it here – Manuka Honey, an Incredible Natural Antibiotic for Immunity.
The Black Chicken Remedies Nocturnalist Night Serum is full of amazing ingredients as listed here – Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Oil), Opuntia Ficus-Indica (Prickly Pear Oil), Euterpe Oleracea (Acai Virgin Oil), Argania Spinosa* (Argan oil), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis* (Almond oil), Boswellia Carterii* (Frankincense essential oil), Citrus Limon* (Lemon essential oil), Citrus Aurantium Amara* (Neroli essential oil), Pelargonium Graveolens* (Geranium Bourbon essential oil), Commiphora Myrrha* (Myrrh essential oil), Cupressus Sempervirens* (Cypress essential oil) and Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E oil).*Certified organic ingredients
This gorgeous smelling and relaxing essence is pure luxury. I adore applying it as part of my night-time ritual and genuinely look forward to a little skincare pamper session before bed every night. I make sure the few minutes of me-time are tranquil to make sure my self-care ritual is nice and relaxing as I take the day off. I remove my makeup with a lovely cleanser and apply this by using a few drops on my fingertips, warm by rubbing my palms together and then breathe in the amazing oil scent (indescribable as it is sooo good) and pat or massage gently over the rest of my face. Easy-peasy and no fuss whatsoever. My 2 step nightly routine makes life easier in comparison to my previous PM routine. Especially when tired after entertaining 2 small kids all day!
I tend to use the Beauty Tofu in the morning as it works well under makeup and the Nocturnalist at night since its a night serum (it would be a bit oily for daytime use anyway probably). I am using the Leaf People serum on my fine lines as it seems to be working (yay!) and I use the Ao serum at night once every few days in lieu of the Nocturnalist serum before moisturising.
Ao Skincare (Distil Skincare LLC) Peak Strength AM Serum-Shot is a great anti-ageing skin boosting serum made with cold-pressed New Zealand botanicals such as New Zealand Red Algae (Astaxanthin) – the strongest known natural antioxidant that helps prevent visible oxidative damage to skin. New Zealand Harakeke Seed Oil for anti-irritation and anti-inflammatory properties while repairing and soothing skin. New Zealand Kiwi Seed Oil, which has regenerating properties that help the skin to absorb and store water. New Zealand Totara Heartwood (Totarol) preserves the integrity of the formula and the effectiveness of the active ingredients. So those are just a few of the amazing ingredients that make up this super serum.
So needless to say, I am continuing with my fave serums as I am besotted with them and thanks to CertClean in association with PurPicks for giving me this fantastic opportunity. You should check them out and see the rest of the Clean Beauty finalists in all the other categories to see the best of the best natural beauty buys for 2020. Tough decisions ahead with so many amazing brands and truly excellent products on the way. Verrrry exciting!!!!
Stay tuned for the Winners. May the best serum win!
Lots of love and stay safe,
Ciara x
