Image from Andalou Naturals

Lately I've been obsessing over changing up my makeup and skin care routine to products with active ingredients that have been clinically proven (retinol, (vitamin A), ester C or ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluable vitamin C), alpha lipoic acid, COq 10, DME, peptides, glycolic acid and AHDA, etc) in an all natural base, that aren't crazy expensive (under $40). I'm in my 30's and I figured it's time to start trying to look at anti aging products that can hopefully delay and deminish any wrinkles and fine lines that may start to appear soon.  I have learned that it's easier to prevent wrinkles from starting than it is to try to treat them once they appear. 


Why all natural?
I know what your thinking, "It's not like I'm eating it or anything right?"  Well actually the scary thing is what ever absorbs through your skin goes straight to your blood stream without your body being able to filter out toxins at all.  I've been using progesterone cream to help treat PCOS, and I can tell that I am getting hormones from the cream absorbing into my skin.  To me this means chemicals  hormone disputers in most lotions really can get into your blood stream and effect your whole body without you even realizing it.  Surprisingly you don't even need to spend a lot of money to find products that are all natural.  I found a lot at drugstore prices (under $15), so why not buy all natural products?  I know when I made the switch I was amazed at how much better the product felt and smelt (no chemically smell just essential oils). 

My Skin Care Philosophy 

• Spend money for active ingredients only in products that will have time to absorb into your skin and only on active ingredients that have good science behind it.  Products like creams, serums, and masks, not cleansers.  For cleansers what I think is important is  that it should not dry out your skin!  Steer clear of any with sodium laurel sulfate, which is a powerful industrial cleanser that strips your skin of it's natural oils and is thought to be potentially harmful for your health as well.  If you buy an all natural cleanser you don't need to worry about this, but if your not make sure it at least doesn't have this ingredient (that goes for your shampoo too).  Cream cleansers are great if your have dry skin otherwise try a gel form.
• There is no need to spend more than $50 on any skin care product.  There are too many great products out there for less, why pay more.
• Science and Nature can co-exisit.  There are a lot of natural products that have qualities that might or might not help you skin.  My thought is to look at them as a bonus, but to focus on making sure you have active ingredients with more science behind it.  My favorites are: retinol, (vitamin A), ester C or ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluable vitamin C), alpha lipoic acid, COq 10, DME, peptides, probiotics, glycolic acid and AHDA (natural exfoliants derived from fruit and sugar).
• Only buy all natural skin care products.   I don't believe in spending money to add something to help my skin, only to add something to my body that's bad.
• Exfoliating is essential for smooth youthful skin.  Exfoliating can help decrease acne, wrinkles, and dry flaky skin.  Who doesn't need that?  It also helps your makeup go on smoother and increase skin cell turn over which decreases with age. This helps to decrease skin discoloration, wrinkles, and help increase collagen production.  Glycolic acid and Alpha Hydroxy acids are great natural exfoliators that don't require scrubbing.  I do also use physical exfoliators ( using a substance like jojoba beads to scrub your skin) but I actually make my own instead of buying any.  I'll share my recipe soon.
• Protect your skin from the sun year round to prevent damage from UVA rays.  I haven't found a moisturizer that I like yet but luckily I use all natural mineral makeup with is a natural spf and barrier from the sun.  The reason is the active ingredient in natural sunscreens is zinc oxide which is also in all mineral makeup.  I love that!  I like to get mine from D&E Handmade Cosmetics on Etsy.   If your just looking for something cheap and easy to find at your local store I would suggest Maybeline's mineral makeup foundation. It doesn't have talc (linked to cancer) and parabens (chemical perservatives that mimic estrogen and screw up your hormones), but might have other chemicals in it, but is probably as natural as your going to find at your local Walgreens or Target.  I love that mineral makeup is natural and it protects you skin from the sun!  

I found out pretty quick that, while there are some products out there, it's hard to find ones that stand up to my demands of quality and had to do a ton of research.  I often find products that have a great natural base with active ingredients that might or might not do anything (despite their claims), or have great active ingredients I'm interested in but nasty chemicals I'm not interested in. I found the problem is I don't know what brands to trust and doing a vague search like "natural skin care" or "organic skin care" come up with too broad of a range of products.  Some are way too expensive, and some are not really natural or organic at all.  I found some great gems I plan to try soon.  I sorted through the promising products for the least expensive ones.  I mean I figure why pay more than you have too and at least then if the active ingredients aren't as effective as you hoped at least you didn't lose a ton of money and you can just try out a new product.   Here's may favorites that I found in my research for under $30.

1. Andalou Naturals Super Goji Peptide Perfecting Cream


I fell in love with this brand due to the fact it's all natural and combines serious science with a little price tag (products range from $12.95-24.95).  What I'm most impressed about is they use plant stem cells in most of their products, which are suppose to be protective and nurishing of your skin cells (it will not regenerate skin cells) and therefore anti-aging.  You can find  it on Amazon,  Whole food Stores, or search to see where you can find it localy here.

In this Super Goji Peptide Perfecting cream not only does it have fruit stem cells, but it also has peptides  which help build collagan, boosting cellular repair and renewal.  One of the main causes of wrinkles is the loss of collagan as we age.  It's basically the structure of our skin.  I bought this myself on sale at my local coop, but have not used it yet since I'm trying to finish my current lotion first.  I plan to actually transfer this lotion into a pump dispenser in order to avoid contamination from scooping some out daily with my fingers.  I have acne issues so prevention is key for me. 


2.  Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask


I bought this about a month ago in hopes of reducing my acne scars, preventing new acne from forming and to help my skin look younger by increasing skin cell turnover and collagen production.   I almost bought Juice Beauty's sensitive green apple peel, but since it's over twice the price of this product is gentler to start with and Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Masks also has plant stem cells, in addition to  the glycolic acid, I'm sold!  We do however have Juice Beauty's full strength  green apple peel in on Amazon. I would suggest it if you want more dramatic results because it has a stronger amount of  glycolic acid (12%).







I was wondering just how much glycolic acid is in this so I emailed Andalou Naturals to ask them about this and here is there response,