Beauty Swellness: Spectro Intense Rehydration Moisturizer

“Save my skin!”

Has this been your cry for help this season? This has been a rough winter, and it continues here in Toronto (Today’s temp? Feels like -5. Which is mighty chilly for what is now officially spring).

Mid-winter, I received samples of Spectro’s Intense Rehydration Moisturizer. Now I have dry skin, but it’s nothing compared to my sister’s. So itchy and dry it cracks and is red and scaly — I feel for her as it looks very painful. I gave her the Spectro Moisturizer to try out.

Within days of giving her the moisturizer, my sister emailed me about it — OK, she was sort of freaking out about it, in a good way. She said she can feel an immediate difference when applying it, that it immediately creates a a barrier on the skin against the cold. After using it for about a month, she ran into an acquaintance who exclaimed immediately that her skin was so much better.

When she quickly finished the tube of it (this horrible cold winter means she’s been using tons of it), she panicked as she could not find the same product in stores. It’s been rebranded, you see (formerly known as E-Care) — that said, my sis bought the E-Care when she couldn’t find the Intense Rehydration Moisturizer and found it was  not remotely the same.

(I have no explanation for this — checked with Spectro and have been told it’s only been rebranded, not reformulated.)

The product (100g, $14.99) is non-greasy, and non-medicated and irritant- colour- and fragrance- free. It’s got the seal of Acceptance from the Eczema Society of Canada, and, well, based on my sister’s experience, the swellness seal, too.

1 Comment March 21, 2014

Winter-skin woes resolved

I’m in Montreal all week for Montreal Fashion Week. And let me tell you, I’m grateful that I got my winter skincare sorted  out in time (can always count on it being waaaay more frigid there).

Because even though I’ve interviewed numerous skin experts and should know better, I’d been using the same light lotion from the summer until well into December, and my skin was tight, dry and flaky.

But I’ve since got myself sorted. My 2011 winter skin saviours:

Kiehl’s Rosa Arctica Rehydrating Reactivation Cream with Rare Regeneration  Flower ($63) is an anti-aging cream that uses the plant Haberlea Rhodenpensis to improve skin cell function so that cells retain hydration more effectively and revive skin. I started using it after a microdermabrasion/cold laser therapy treatment at Fresh.Beautiful: The Skin Studio and my skin’s been extra supple ever since.

Curel is my go-to body lotion, but I just gave Lise Watier Hydra S.O.S.: Anti-Dryness Body Creme ($29) a try. It’s just been reformulated and has a very subtle peach fragrance (not cloying at all, phew!), and its combination of shea butter and sesame oil deeply moisturizes yet quickly absorbs.

And I just got my hands on Nip + Fab Dry Leg Fix ($12.95) and I’ll put it to the test during my winter training (I think it’ll work well for this trick to keeping warm during winter running)–it’s got a trademarked ingredient called Aquaxyl, which helps retain moisture for 24 hours and boosts shine. The brand (from the peeps behind Rodial Glamoxy  Snake Serum) launches in March at Shoppers Drug Mart.

1 Comment February 7, 2011