Essential Essences: High-class hydration at its very best

Winter’s brisk winds and chilly weather undoubtedly take their toll on sensitive skin, leading to uncomfortably dryness and chafing. Looking to tackle this on, many of the world’s leading cosmetic brands have created essential essences that inject much-needed moisture right back to where it’s most needed.

Essential Essences spread

A prime example is French luxury label Dior’s new L’Oléo Essence Lumière, which embraces traditional Chinese medicinal wisdom by harnessing three potent all-natural ingredients – rose essence, white rose oil and natural PHAs (naturally-occurring polyester beads). Collectively, they not only boost hydric and lipid flows in the skin, they also help remove any impurities or dry skin cells.

Essential Essences Dior Prestige-White L’Oléo Essence Lumière
Dior Prestige Light-in-White L’Oléo Essence Lumière

Equally inspired by ancient Asian wisdom is CHA LING’s Moisturising Treatment Essence, which is said to be imbued with hero ingredient B-DT Complex – a powerful antioxidant developed from pu’er tea leaves, which apparently forms an anti-pollution barrier, helping provide round-the-clock moisturisation for your sensitive outer layers. Substituting pu’er for green tea essence, meanwhile, is South Korean Amorepacific’s Vintage Single Extract Essence. Intensively charged with powerful catechin antioxidants, it’s said to protect the skin against free radicals and ably restore your youthful glow in just four weeks.

Essential Essences CHA LING’s Moisturising Treatment Essence
CHA LING’s Moisturising Treatment Essence

Next, Spanish beauty company Natura Bissé’s Diamond Cocoon Hydrating Essence focuses wholly on pollution protection. This sees the prebiotic skincare product making use of antioxidant and vegetal complexes to create a skin barrier that wards off heavy metals and solar radiation, thus ensuring a truly natural radiance is maintained.

Essential Essences Amorepacific’s Vintage Single Extract Essence
Amorepacific’s Vintage Single Extract Essence

Finally, French luxury fashion label YSL’s Hydra Bounce Essence-in-Lotion claims to boost the skin’s ability to adjust and respond to seasonal changes in order to remain optimally healthy skin. Incorporating orange blossom extract and vitamins E and B3, it forms a shield against external aggressors, allowing you weather the winter chill with your very best face forward.

Essential Essences YSL’s Hydra Bounce Essence-in-Lotion
YSL’s Hydra Bounce Essence-in-Lotion

Tea Time: Five tea-based beauty products to try this season

Thanks to modern-day research, the humble tea has evolved so much from being our morning must-have drink to an essential part of our beauty regime. This season, we bring to you five tea-based beauty products that join the retinue of beauty items that are said to hydrate, smoothen and supposedly completely transform our skin.

Fresh Black Tea Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence

Tea-based beauty products

Fresh’s new facial essence liquid uses the goodness of kombucha or fermented sweet black tea to keep your skin hydrated for long hours. As light and soothing as water, it’s just the kind of moisture that keeps you glowing 24×7.

Fresh Black Tea Firming Eye Serum

Tea-based beauty products

Another tea-based beauty product from the stables of Fresh is the black tea-infused eye serum that works on the sensitive area around the eye to improve your skin’s elasticity. The result? A youthful under-eye glow.

Cha Ling Hand Cream SPF15

Tea-based beauty products 
Cha Ling believes that loose tea leaves contain loads of antioxidant properties. Its latest hand cream with SPF15 not only boasts these very-same antioxidant properties, but is also no-greasy unlike other hand creams. Give your hands the goodness of tea…

Aēsop Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque

This astringent, clay-based masque from Aēsop harnesses the goodness of chamomile tea, which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. This means it’s a one-stop solution for blemishes, acnes and troubled skin.

Clarins Double Serum

Tea-based beauty products

Clarins’ Double Serum not only contains extracts of rare white tea, it is also loaded with 20+ herbal products including the all-healing turmeric. Thanks to its natural ingredients, the serum does it all… hydration, nutrition, oxygenation, regeneration and protection.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay