Romy Raves

In my opinion, French skincare products always strike me as beautifully made, high quality, luxurious, and results oriented–like someone really cares and puts their heart and soul into making these products. Skincare made in France often has a very distinct addictive fresh citrusy smell and always feels so indulgent going on my skin.

Case in point: SAMPAR Urban Active is an inspired line of skincare products made in France that effectively target the signs of aging as well as environmental pollutants. I am just starting to discover the wonderful products in this line and so far it has lived up to my expectations of products made in France.

My current addiction discovery from this line is the Sampar Nocturnal Line-up Mask. OMG! This is one fabulous, amazing, results oriented anti-aging product. Basically, you apply this lovely instantly nourishing and hydrating mask at night before you go to bed, and viola you wake up with visibly refreshed, supple, energized, firmer looking skin! I just love what a noticeable difference it makes in my skin and I totally dig the very French fresh green scent (the smell of luxury skincare IMO.) BTW this is a great product to use on those nights you stay up way too late but want to look awake and refreshed in the morning.

So what are the magical ingredients behind the Nocturnal Line-Up Mask you ask? It has a proprietary anti-aging cocktail called Age Antidote Complex, which is a powerful anti-wrinkle complex that contains:

• Adenosine-a cutting edge active ingredient that stimulates the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid during the night
• Biopeptides-diminish wrinkle depth and length by stimulating the cellular renewal process
• Soy Isoflavones-stimulate cellular regeneration and the production of collagen, diminishing wrinkles and improves firmness
• Horse Chestnut Extract-fortifies and tones the facial contours as well as diminishes redness

This product is definitely worth checking out and while it doesn’t come cheap (about $95), I think the results are well worth it and little product goes a long way towards preserving your youthful glow.

What is your late night secret weapon product? You know, the one that makes you look like a million bucks in the morning? Do Tell, I promise not to give away your secret

Happy New New Year Beautiful Ones! It’s time for an amazing giveaway, don’t ya think? During the Fall, I raved about a wonderful line of  Skin Care for 40 Somethings  that has anti-aging peptide technology that can help you treat your aging related skin concerns. Well, today is your lucky day because I am giving away 2 full sets of all four of the Striking Skin Care Products to TWO lucky Romy Raves Readers–each set is valued at $170!  You don’t want to miss this fab giveaway. 

It’s simple to enter this giveaway contest, all that you need to do is follow the easy steps below for your chance to win this amazing set of products:

• If you are on Twitter, you MUST Tweet or Retweet @romyraves and mention the Striking Skin Care Giveaway and you MUST link back to the original blog post: http://romyraves.com/2009/11/17/skin-care-for-40-somethings/

        OR

• Sign up for a FREE email subscription to RomyRaves.com simply by clicking: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=RomyRaves&loc=en_US 

   

   

  AND

• Everyone who enters this contest MUST ALSO leave a comment HERE ON THIS POST telling us:
  • If you Tweeted or Retweeted about this post OR became a RR Subscriber (or just tell us that you are already a RR subscriber)
  • What are your favorite anti-aging products and why do you love them? This beauty junkie is always looking for something new

The Fine Print:

• Please make sure to include your name & e-mail address
• Anonymous posts will not be counted since we won’t be able to identify you
• Only ONE entry per person; You are only eligible to win, if you have not won any Romy Raves giveaways within the last 3 months
• Comments, Twitter Tweets and RTs, and email subscriptions will be tallied and a winner will be chosen by using Random.org
• You must have a U.S. shipping address in order to enter
• You have until Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at midnight (PST) to enter
• The winner(s) will be contacted via e-mail for current shipping information

Good Luck,

Romy, The One Who Raves

If you follow beauty trends at all, you probably know that there has been an emerging trend in skincare towards using ingredients with caffeine to wake up the skin and make it glow. This sleep deprived mother and career woman needs all the help she can get in this department, and the right perk-up products make a WORLD of difference.

Fresh (one of my all time favorite brands) has been using instant results ingredients like caffiene for a while–in products like Lotus Eye Gel (one of my Hall of Fame Favorite products) because it hydrates and wake up the eyes rapidly. And now, Fresh is using Black Tea (as a skincare ingredient, not for drinking) in several of their products because it is a wonderful anti-aging, hydrating and instant results ingredient. I have become addicted to a couple of products in Fresh’s Black Tea line:

Black Tea Age-Delay Eye  ($65)

This delightful eye cream utilizes the powerful antioxidant and enzyme inhibiting properties of black tea to firm and smooth the eye area. This eye cream hydrates, maintains elasticity and firmness, diminishes under-eye circles, reduces puffiness, and instantly illuminates the eye area.

The active ingredients include: Black Tea extract which defends against free radicals and maintains the skin’s elasticity and firmness; Lychee seed extract which stimulates collagen growth; Blackberry leaf extract which preserves collagen and elastin; Peptides and antioxidants to diminish under-eye circles and reduce puffiness; Hyaluronic spheres to hydrate, smooth, and firm the skin; Illuminating microspheres to instantly brighten the eyes; and rose flower oil and cucumber flower extract are soothing and smell fresh and clean.

What I love about this eye product is that it is the perfect amount of moisture for my eyes, absorbs instantly, quickly refreshes and perks up my eyes and has a yummy fresh cucumber scent. I definitely notice diminished puffiness and a smoothing of my fine lines after I use this cream.

Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask ($85)

This is an intense hydrating treatment mask that immediately reveals softer, more supple, and younger-looking skin. This innovative product firms the complexion and improves the skin’s elasticity; it leaves skin feeling velvety, soft and smooth and looking resilient and radiant; it smooths the texture of the skin and decreases skin roughness; and it hydrates, nourishes, soothes and improves skin tone.

The active ingredients include: Black tea to refine the skin’s texture, enhance radiance and smoothness; Lychee seed extract; Firming polysaccharides which give an immediate lifting effect and work to reduce fine lines and wrinkles over time; and Hyaluronic spheres to immediately hydrate and plump up the skin.

I absolutely LOVE this product! It is uber cool to use and touch because it has a very silky lighter than air texture that glides on beautifully, is slightly cooling calming hydrating and plumping all at the same time. My skin adores this mask, especially when it is dry and irritated (like now). My face drinks in the moisture and it instantly looks plumper, refreshed and brighter (I use it before special occassions for the that ‘wow’ effect). And I think the best part about this product is that the user experience is SO good, you feel it working to heal and transform your skin. You can find all these wonderful Fresh products HERE.