Inlight Skin-Easy balm + Face Oil

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Winter can be especially brutal on the skin, and I often find myself shelving lightweight oils and brisk tonics in favor of dense balms and emollient-heavy oils that require a few minutes to sink in. Enter these two hero products from UK-based Inlight: a nurturing vanilla scented facial oil, and a medicinal catch-all balm to heal a spectrum of skin complaints.

Formulated by a doctor using only organic ingredients, Inlight doesn't have one star ingredient that the line is built around, rather a cocktail of proven botanicals.

The Facial Oil is a rich, slippery golden oil that faintly smells like vanilla (thanks to a hint of vanilla oil) and feels as comforting as a soft duvet. Anti-inflammatory blue mallow, skin strengthening jojoba, and vitamin A rich rosehip oils provide an all round effective facial oil for daily use. It layers well underneath sunscreen, just give it a couple minutes to settle.

The Skin-Easy Balm is particularly useful to keep in the medicine cabinet. The metal tube holds an herbal scented balm (thanks, no doubt, to the anti-bacterial neem oil within it) that's exceptionally heavy with minimal slip. A blend of beeswax, coconut, castor and olive oils envelope whatever problem area it's applied to, and the concoction of antibacterial, cleansing ingredients inlcuding neem, propolis, frankinscence, tea tree and lavender oils do its work. This balm is lauded for healing acne (though, if like me, coconut oil causes you to break out, it's best to reserve this for skin maladies away from the face – with the notable exception of raw, red noses from seemingly endless days of nose-blowing during cold season). I've also found it fantastic for bug bites, rashes and garden-variety skin afflictions for myself and my little ones. 

Both of these products, as well as the rest of the Inlight line can be found in the US via hugyourskin.com.

Kypris Beauty Elixers & Serums

Kypris, created by the intriguing Chase Polan, is a high performing skincare line that seriously elevates the skincare routine into a near-esoteric ritual. ("Offer your Self honest compliments as you anoint your skin," for example, is included in the directions on my bottle of Healing Bouquet.)  

Her trio of facial oils, aptly named Beauty Elixers, are full of softening, glow producing ingredients like sea buckthorn, black raspberry seed, rosehip and prickly pear extracts. They all contain a shelf-stable concentrate of vitamin C to support elasticity and firmness, plus free radical-quenching CoQ10. There's Prismatic Array for sensitive skin, 1000 Roses for hormonally troubled, polluted or mature skin, and then there's the Healing Bouquet for fussy, congested complexions. 

The serums are in a category of their own. If you want a product that actually works, you'll be happy with any (or all) of these. The Antioxidant Dew, hailed as their "hero product," is a molecularly lightweight moisturizer that depuffs, soothes and protects. Sheri Stroh (the best clean make up artist ever) relies on it often when prepping her model's faces.

The Moonlight Cataylst is a game-changer for any Retin-A devotee. Utilizing fermented pumpkin enzymes to dissolve dead skin cells, fade acne scars, and refine texture, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't benefit from it. 

The Clearing Serum supports the innate healing abilities of your skin, and I cannot go for more than a week without it. It keeps my combination skin in check, and acne at bay. Plus immune boosting zinc to decrease inflammation, tea tree oil, balancing clay, amongst a laundry list of active, natural ingredients.

A few drops of your chosen Beauty Elixer and one of the above serums creates a micro emulsion; a turbocharged, bespoke treatment that will address wherever you fall on the spectrum of skincare needs.