I did something out of the ordinary the other day- I bought two well known name-brand skin care items to compare with my own skin care brand just for research and fun. From time to time, I will purchase other skin care brands to see the latest skin care trends, offerings, packaging, quality, feel etc. I have improved my brand by trying new items and making my own rendition of them with completely fresh and natural ingredients. I was perusing a store and came across two brands that I am pretty familiar with. I don't want to call them out directly so will I change their names . Let's call brand #1 Famous Model Skin Care, and brand #2 we will call "Famous Doctor Skin Care." So, here we go! Lets do this!
Okay first off.
Product #1 Let's talk about this first brand I wanted to compare "Famous Model Skin Care." The cream mentioned honey and argan oil. Who doesn't like that idea? When I opened the jar of rose-colored face cream, it had a subtle smell reminiscent of the Green Goo Slime we used to play with as kids- not terribly unpleasant but certainly not the natural flower scent I was expecting by looking at the pink color. It smelled more like rubber or odd-smelling plastic. However, the cream was a pretty light girlie pink in color (which unfortunately I later learned was made from Tin, Red #4 and Yellow #6)- yes, I kid you not- and this is marketed as natural and wonderful skin food and all that jazz.
As far as the marketing message, I have to hand it to the brands that I reviewed as far as having catchy marketing names. The idea of honey dripping in the evening did elicit a pretty picture in my mind. The only problem was all the other ingredients in the product were not exactly ingredients people would associate with healthy living, naturally made, or boutique small brand quality- and they don't sell for cheap either. I wanted to try one of these specific products because it's marketed as a natural brand with Argan Oil and Shea Butter. I like many others, assumed it would be decent ingredient-wise.
When I arrived home, I decided to try it and compare it to the natural skincare I make and use. My husband walked in right after I just finished looking at the jar and admiring the color of the cream. After placing some on my hand and onto my freshly washed face it didn't feel bad on my skin (at first), and in fact, it felt very silky and smooth. When I told him the brand name and why I was trying it, he looked up the ingredients, and we were both shocked to read Red #4, Yellow #6, Tin Oxide, and many other unnatural ingredients. But this was a test of whats popular brands offered and why people liked them so much. Here's is what they offer.
Out of the 70 ingredients on this one product by Famous Model Skin Care, 29 are not natural. In other words, you may be getting some shea and other natural ingredients, but you are also getting nearly half of your ingredients in the form of more than questionable chemicals that are made in a lab. Probably not what anyone signs up for when shopping "natural" and thinking shea butter and honey.
So, yes, the cream "felt smooth" due to the artificial ingredients meant to feel that way when you first apply, but later my skin felt thirsty and dry. The ingredients used in the skin cream, which are made to feel smooth, are not anything you would put in your mouth; therefore, I would not use this product again on my skin as a consumer. The marketing message is good but doesn't match the truth about the product. My face felt slightly dry in less than a few minutes later and so did my hands.
What you also get is the "feeling of natural" without being natural. I think the initial feeling is indeed smooth superficially but the penetrating power was not there or my hands and face wouldn't be thirsty so quickly. I have noticed this with many hand lotions and face creams. What is used is a silicon like plastic that feels really nice but is drying. Your perception when you first see the light tinted pink cream & feel the beautiful smooth glass jar in your hand with its soft subdued writing (and marketing message) is that you are getting a fine and superior natural skin cream product. What you are getting in reality is paying for a feeling or perception but getting a chemically laden skincare product that is far from naturally beneficial- unless #4 Red & #6 Yellow and Tin count as natural in your eyes along with nearly 29 other chemical ingredients made in a lab.
Lets move onto the next product.
Product #2. Famous Doctor Skin Care. I used one of his supposed gel sloughing cream cleansers that comes in a tall black sleek bottle. It's very popular and is sold in many upscale large big box stores. I won't even go into the ingredients of this product because it is far from natural, and I am only using it once to write from my own first-hand experience to warn others. Let's talk about the marketing message and what you are getting with his tall black bottle of gel cleanser.
The black and silver Famous Doctor Skin Care Brand of packaging comes in a dark, sleek, and handsome pliable plastic (not eco friendly at all) bottle. It seems to be color-wise marketed for men but I happen to know that many women use it. The instructions ask you to wash your face, and then squirt out a large amount of the liquid cream cleanser into your hands and then rub the cleanser onto your face using circular motions. You rub until you feel what appears to be your skin gently rubbing away. It's marketed as "an exfoliate," and you are led to believe that you are rubbing off the top layers of your skin.
As I rubbed, I could see these small little rubber skin-like globs forming (which I thought was my skin and sort of gave me a sense of satisfaction that the product was doing its job. But I later learned that the little rubber skin-like globs were rubberized plasticizers (derivatives for plastics) and not skin at all. These little rolls of skin-like rubbery goo start to form as you rub and seem very impressive until you realized this isn't rubbing skin layers off at all- yet is making the skin red. It is known as a "soft gel" that does absolutely nothing. The gel globs are too soft to exfoliate but are meant to make you think you are taking off your skin's top layer. Genius. It's very deceptive because it feels like real skin, and I am sure most people think they are revealing new skin after each use- I did. You are not- it's fake liquid rubber-plastic material. Very strange indeed. Very skin-like indeed.
The marketing angle is that it's a "soft gel exfoliator" and is better for your skin, but in truth, nothing happens. 99.9% of the people I am most certain think they are removing a layer of their skin while they are rolling rubbery chemicals on their face. This particular product irked me the most because it was the most deceptive. Calling it an "exfoliator" is beyond a stretch. They get away with it by calling it a "soft gel", and I don't think people make the association that its creating fake rolled skin.
Obviously, I am in the skincare business, so I admit the marketing in both of these products is truly brilliant if it wasn't so misleading. They are both between $50 and $80. Both are successful in marketing an "idea" while rubbing chemicals all over your face. The latter product made me a little more annoyed because I knew what they were doing. It is so subtle that if a person isn't as savvy in skin ingredients, they would think this stuff was doing what it claims- exfoliating your dead skin off right before you eyes. What's more ironic is the respect and big-name marketing that goes into these products and the fact that these products make it into glossy magazines and well known doctors offices. It's incredible to me but it makes sense.
Profits are important to large companies or any company for that matter or you don't stay in business. The chemical additives enable the big box stores or doctors offices a considerable amount of profit. I don't have anything against people making money for their hard work, but I feel they play off people's ignorance personally because they don't work and don't solve people's problems. I don't feel that is being transparent or honest. The natural ingredients, if any, are stretched by much cheaper chemical ingredients. I find it hard to believe that anyone signs up for that knowingly. Most marketing works by the first impression. Packaging and marketing messages. For instance if it's in a Dr's office or expensive anchor store, then it must be superior right? Sadly, not true a majority of the time. It's really important to read the ingredients and understand them as well. This is exactly why I started my own brand. I remember visiting anchor stores and big box stores to see what all the high prices and hype was about and to my surprise it was high prices and hype mixed with toxic ingredients and glossy fancy marketing.
If you happily use our natural artisan freshly handcrafted small batch brand ME AND A TREE ARTISAN SKINCARE, be proud and thankful! You are getting a quality product made with fresh and natural ingredients that are are not harming your body or the environment. I purposely select fresh natural ingredients because I not only enjoy having a natural skin care brand that helps people but I also use all the products myself!
Closing Thoughts
I smiled knowingly at both of the heavily marketed products and washed them off my face with my own all-natural artisan made Spearmint Wheatgrass Soap. I then truly exfoliated my skin with my own naturally made Jumping Java and Sugar GLA Face Exfoliate. It works great, it's natural, and my face looks radiant after I use it and we get a lot of compliments about it from our loyal customer fan base! That makes me smile too! I like products that work and help others get clear beautiful healthy skin. After exfoliating I applied my natural Carrot & Tamanu Face Serum Elixir to my freshly exfoliated and glowing skin. Can I just say how much I love this product? I truly do! Especially after exfoliating with the Jumping Java Face & Body Scrub because the Carrot & Tamanu Elixir Serum penetrates so well on freshly sloughed skin.
Now to end with the icing on the cake I happily applied my creamy delicious Bright Eyes & Face Day Cream. It smells like nature with hints of lavender and flowers and it feels so moisturizing and skin fortifying and I know what's in it- wild plants and real plant pure powerful botanicals and essential oils. It felt wonderful knowing I am using naturally formulated skin care products that I can trust to keep my skin healthy for years to come.
It was indeed with a renewed sense of confidence and satisfaction that I applied my own natural skincare line to my face yesterday. Our artisan small-batch naturally made skincare line is healthy for your skin and body, and priced moderately yet works better than $200 dollar face creams and, that to me is very satisfying! I can look at myself in the mirror every morning and be proud of what I offer to the world and myself and that makes me feel energized!
I wanted to share this story with you not because I like kicking other brands; I don't. I share it with you because it was a genuine experience I had that I thought you may also appreciate and find useful. Maybe you are using a brand like the ones above? It's not easy to find natural brands that use real plant-based ingredients that deliver results. It's also not easy for brands like us to get as much "press" so I hope you will consider sharing our products on social media and by writing a review of our products that you use and love because that is how we are able to stay in business and offer our clean truly natural products.
We literally can't do it without your help. The best thank you is a referral and a review. To write a review just locate any of our products on our website (you can also type the name into the search bar on our site). Once you have the product in sight, simply scroll down to bottom after the description where the green stars are where it says CUSTOMER REVIEWS and click the orange writing next to the green stars that says WRITE A REVIEW. It's THAT EASY! Click HERE for the face care kit review link.
CHOOSING NATURAL SKINCARE OPTIONS
Our natural skincare line of lotions, soaps, bug repellent sprays etc are truly worth sharing with others because you can genuinely rely on our brand and products, knowing that the ingredients are freshly natural and from the earth and won't cause a rash or result in toxic buildup in your body. We make them fresh weekly, and they don't hang out on a shelf in a warehouse for years like big box brands and, they don't come from China. All our products are made weekly and made in the USA by us.
My little experiment reminded me that there will always be a difference between skincare ingredients that are genuinely natural and those that give the impression of natural without being so (falsely marketed as natural). I hope you can appreciate the difference. I do hope you value this article and find that it helps you navigate your skincare choices. You might be tempted to try a new hot brand and not realize the toxic chemicals that sneak into them or the deceptive marketing that accompanies them. I enjoy researching the latest in skincare so you too, can keep up to date with the newest skincare trends. One thing you can be sure of and that is that you are not missing out on anything in these new trending gels and fake natural named products that have toxic colorants and chemicals. The only thing you are missing is spending a lot of money on well-marketed products that are toxic and likely cause more harm than good.
Whenever shopping natural read or understand the label ingredients properly and stick with small-batch artisan brands like ME AND A TREE, for your natural skincare needs. I also hope you find this article useful to you, your family, and your friends. Please feel free to share it! If you would like to learn more about ME AND A TREE SKINCARE, feel free to check out our latest blog articles here.
