November Grooming Guide: Fortify Your Skin

Ready, set, go: we're in the holiday season now - and you know what that means. A race to the finish line marked by the new year, with stops along the way for excessive drinking, binge eating, frantic shopping, and a roundelay of parties that leaves you spinning like a top.

What you need is some calm. What you want is an hour to relax and breathe deeply. Take it; find it. Make it yours. Make that hour your holiday gift to yourself. Regain your sanity and serenity with some of the season's more therapeutic products.

Then toast to beautiful skin with a glass of bubbly.

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Primavera: Lavender Vanilla Body Wash

If you're like us, your beauty regimen on the weekends is far more leisurely than the way you slam through the bathroom during the workweek. On Saturdays and Sundays, it's all about you - so why not start your toilette with a body wash that helps relax the mind?

The German skincare line, Primavera, captures that weekend sense of well-being in their collection of all-natural aromatherapy products. Formulated with organic lavender and vanilla essential oils, Primavera Lavender Vanilla Body Wash is a foaming body wash that is as creamy on the skin as it is calming to the mind. Evening primrose seed oil helps to ease dehydrated skin, while aloe vera oil and lavender water relieve skin irritation.

Founded twenty-five years ago in southern Germany, the development of Primavera was, in the words of the co-founder, "rooted in a desire to share our collective knowledge of healing plant therapy - and a deep love for nature and humanity."

In keeping with the company's holistic approach to beauty, Primavera uses the highest percentage of certified organic ingredients available, utilizing fair-trade partnerships with 18 growers from around the world who supply the company with their 125 organic ingredients. Favored by Europeans for the products' effective, natural formulas, Primavera is now available for the first time in the States.

Why not shower this weekend with a calming, creamy German?

PRICE: $20.00 / 5.1 fl oz / 150 ml
LINK Primavera Lavender Vanilla Body Wash

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Blissoma: Restore Deep Moisture Oil Serum

You know how it is when you open a perfect avocado, one that you've placed in your cupboard to ripen for a couple days, and the fruit is that gorgeous spring green, as beautiful to look at as it is to taste? You know you're doing your body right eating something so delicious.

That's the same kind of feeling that swept over us when we applied Blissoma Restore Deep Moisture Oil Serum under our eyes. Fortified with more than ten cold-pressed, unrefined seed oils, this regenerative serum nourishes that delicate eye area with a hydrating boost of natural vitamins and phytonutrients.

A veritable protein smoothie for your pores, Blissoma Restore features the oils of organic cranberry seed, grapeseed, rosehip, sea buckthorn berry, evening primrose, pomegranate, red raspberry, tamanu, and hemp, as well as neroli and helichrysum. How could you not love something so loaded with good stuff? Best of all, you only need a little dab - and the one-ounce container will probably last a couple months, even with daily usage.

Founded in 2005, Blissoma uses only natural essential oils and a majority of certified organic ingredients. Blissoma Restore Deep Moisture Oil Serum is 100% vegan and 100% natural, which is maybe why we thought of that perfect avocado. As Blissoma's mantra has it, "Health is beautiful" - and so are our eyes after using Blissoma Restore.

PRICE: $29.99 / 1 oz.
LINK: Blissoma Restore Deep Moisture Oil Serum

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Kinerase: Pro+Therapy C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment with Kinetin and Zeatin

Some products are like superheroes. That's how we feel about Kinerase Pro+Therapy C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment with Kinetin and Zeatin. Look at those K's and Z's; it's like a litany of superpowers.

A powerful yet gentle serum, Kinerase Pro+Therapy C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment with Kinetin and Zeatin is a little trade secret for those amongst us who utilize physician-administered injectables. Used as a complement to injections, this anti-aging treatment restores and evens skin tone while filling in fine lines and wrinkles.

Kinerase's eponymous signature ingredient, kinetin (0.1% N6 Furfuryladenine), is a plant-based antioxidant. Horticulturists realized that kinetin prevented plant leaves from drying out and withering. Think of those little sacs of powder that the florist gives you to keep your bouquet looking fresh. Then think of your face like a rose in full bloom. Okay, so it's a stretch - but the point is, kinetin has serious anti-aging properties.

This super serum also contains zeatin, derived from plant DNA, for slowing the aging process, as well as powerful anti-oxideants such as green tea and vitamin E. Formulated with sweet almond and orange peel oils and camellia leaf extract, Kinerase Pro+Therapy C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment with Kinetin and Zeatin keeps you looking as beautiful as a fresh bouquet.
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PRICE: $119.00 / 1 fl. oz.
LINK: Kinerase Pro+Therapy C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment with Kinetin and Zeatin

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First Aid Beauty™ : FAB Face Cleanser

Some nights you go to bed with your skin looking fine - only to wake up and wonder where you've spent the night. Eruptions, bumps, minor scrapes - you look like you've endured six bouts in a boxing ring. The strangest things go bump in the night.

Sometimes it's the change of seasons. The change in temperature, the dryness of air, the change in our diet. If your skin is sensitive to every little atmospherical nuance, then you might consider First Aid Beauty� (acronym FAB - of course...) Face Cleanser.

A mild, daily cleanser formulated with aloe leaf extract and allantoin, First Aid Beauty� FAB Face Cleanser is ideal for irritated skin. When combined with water, the whipped texture converts into a rich cream that gently removes surface grime while calming redness. Antioxidants help to combat free radicals while glycerin moisturizes and protects the skin.

Made without parabens and safe for sensitive skin, First Aid Beauty� FAB Face Cleanser makes your skin feel as fabulous as its name.

PRICE: $18.00 / 5.0 oz
LINK: First Aid Beauty� FAB Face Cleanser

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Dr. Lewinn By Kinerase: Wrinkle Repair Daily Cream SPF 30

Recently, we received a notification of the new trend toward "cheap premium booze." It certainly caught our interest.

In this economy, we're all for two-for-one happy-hour deals in every aisle of the store - be it liquor or pharmacy. And it seems that some skincare lines are following alcohol's lead and introducing a more moderately-priced product line to complement their high-end offerings.

For more than ten years, the Kinerase product line has utilized kinetin, a super antioxidant plant complex, to rejuvenate skin cells without the irritation associated with exfoliation. Recently, Kinerase partnered with Dr. Lewinn, a world-renowned plastic surgeon, to create a cosmeceutical anti-aging line of products sold in select Walgreens, Walmart, and Duane Reade.

Hearing that, you might be arching an eyebrow - but you might also consider that celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, and Gisele Bundchen are Kinerase fans.

Dr. Lewinn By Kinerase Wrinkle Repair Daily Cream SPF 30 is a daily moisturizer formulated with kinetin that helps your face retain moisture at the deepest layers of your skin. Why is that important? Because healthy skin cells produce collagen and elastin, which increase your skin's elasticity. There's also kola nut, mate, and guarana extracts to counteract environmental damage.

Hide behind your biggest shades and sneak into your nearest Walmart - because who doesn't love a beauty bargain?

PRICE: $25.00 / 1.7 oz.
LINK: Dr. Lewinn By Kinerase Wrinkle Repair Daily Cream SPF 30

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Mustela: 2 in 1 Hair and Body Wash

If your baby calls you baby, then you'd better warrant the appellation. Baby skin is soft: soft and smooth with no worry lines and no crow's feet.

Since 1950, Mustela has been caring for the sensitive skin of babies and new mothers. The number one baby care brand in Europe, Mustela is also the number one skin care line for stretch marks (not that you have to worry about those, of course...).

Now, as we all know, a hot shower on a cold morning is one of the rewards of living. The only thing is, hot water dries out your skin. What you need for baby-soft skin during the inclement weather of winter is Mustela: 2 in 1 Hair and Body Wash. The soap-free formula gently cleanses with coconut derivatives, leaving your skin with that fresh and clean baby smell. You know, the one that makes you think about having a baby of your own. Best of all, Mustela 2 in 1 Hair and Body Wash doesn't sting the eyes.

Because nobody makes Baby cry.

PRICE: $10.00 / 6.7 fl. oz.
LINK: Mustela 2 in 1 Hair and Body Wash

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