BC Skin Journal
BC Blog
Suffering from sensitive skin? This is the product for you
by Jo Boyden
on Aug 23 2024
If you’re tired of searching for that perfect skincare product that addresses not only your sensitive skin but skin ageing and dehydration too (without any harmful chemicals of course) we have the product just for you! Introducing professional Korean skincare brand Hubislab’s Chamomile Complex 70%, a skincare game-changer that promises to rejuvenate your sensitive skin, leaving it hydrated, luminous and oh so soothed!
Why Hubislab’s Complexe 70% Ampoule?
We have tried and tested this powerhouse product ourselves and are here to tell you just how good it really is! Firstly it’s deeply nourishing and soothing at the same time. It feels like silk when applied to the skin and it instantaneously calms irritation. It’s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory and we love that it purifies, protects and strengthens too, thanks to its outstanding cocktail of 70% Chamomile combined with other natural soothing ingredients.
The key ingredients
Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Water
Although known for its pore-tightening and soothing properties, chamomile has a multitude of benefits! A true multi-tasker, it can alleviate inflammation, combat dryness, soothe acne and even manage skin allergies. It’s definitely your go-to on those days when your skin needs a little extra TLC. It’s like a spa day for your skin, providing much needed rejuvenation to fatigued complexion.
Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate
Derived from natural mucopolysaccharides, sodium chondroitin sulfate is a superstar when it comes to conditioning and moisturising, so no more dull, dry skin! You can enjoy a luminous and hydrated complexion instead! It really is key to that lit-from-within glow! But lets not forget its other benefits! Aside from conditioning and moisturising the skin, it also soothes inflammation, repairs damage and reinforces the skins intercellular matrix! Genius.
Portulaca Oleracea Extract
Not only does this ingredient provide much needed moisture, it also works as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory agent. Soothing and nourishing it is a godsend for those with sensitive and allergy-prone skin.
Centella Asiatica Extract
You can say goodbye to scars with this superstar extract! It stimulates cell regeneration, enhances collagen production, improves skin elasticity and protects your skin against environmental stressors. It is honestly like a reset button for your complexion!
Chemical Additive Free Formula
The Chamomile Complex 70% Ampoule is free from chemical additives, emulsifiers, artificial colours and fragrances including harmful ingredients like mineral oil, PEG, lanolin and parabens. This minimalizes skin sensitivity making it perfect for all skin types, including sensitive, reactive and even skin after procedures!
How to use Hubislabs Chamomile Complex 70% Ampoule
Incorporating this magic potion into your skincare routine is a breeze. After cleansing and toning, simply apply it evening over your entire face. It will feel like a refreshing drink of water for your skin. For maximum benefits pair it with your favourite moisturiser.
Clean girl aesthetic: Top tips on how to achieve this coveted look
by Jo Boyden
on May 24 2024
When it comes to beauty, new trends are emerging All. The. Time. And like the seasons, many come and go in a flash! One trend however that’s been making waves for a few years now is the Clean Girl Aesthetic. A beauty trend that has taken social media literally by storm - we are talking over 2 billion views on Tiktok alone as followers search up how to achieve the Clean Girl Aesthetic look! But why are people going crazy for this k-beauty trend? And how exactly will it benefit your skin? Well we are here to reveal all. Keep reading as we give you the low down on everything there is to know about the Clean Girl Aesthetic, why you should give it a go and top tips on how you can achieve this coveted look!What is the Clean Girl AestheticClean Girl Aesthetic is a fresh and minimalist approach to skincare, makeup and lifestyle. It’s all about self-care and natural beauty and is often referred to as the updated "No-Makeup Makeup" look, a look that values simplicity over heavy layers of makeup! Clean girl aesthetic is about embracing your natural features and enhancing them subtly. Think plump, glowing skin, natural brows and glossy lips.The goal? To look and feel fresh-faced, confident, and radiant in your own skin. Now who doesn’t want to achieve that!Key features of the Clean Girl AestheticWhen it comes to achieving the Clean Girl Aesthetic look, skincare comes first! Afterall, the foundation to the Clean Girl Aesthetic look is healthy, glowing skin. This means establishing a consistent skincare routine that cleanses, hydrates, and protects your skin. Prioritize gentle products and a balanced diet for a natural radiance.The makeup in this aesthetic is all about enhancing your natural features, not masking them. Think sheer foundation, a touch of concealer, cream blush, and a glossy lip. Focus on dewy finishes and light textures for a fresh, youthful look. Oh and don’t forget your brows! Well-groomed brows can frame your face and add definition. Opt for a natural shape that complements your features, and keep them neat with a brow gel or pencil.A dewy finish is essential for the Clean Girl look. This can be achieved with a hydrating moisturizer, a facial mist, or a touch of highlighter on the cheekbones and brow bones.How to achieve the Clean Girl Aesthetic LookThe good news is that the Clean Girl look is attainable for everyone! Here are some tips to get you started:SkincareClean Girl Aesthetic is less about makeup (although minimal makeup does play an important role) and more about skincare, so you’ll need to invest in a good skincare routine! In fact, a hallmark of this trend is the coveted dewy glow, so clean, healthy, well-hydrated, plumped skin is key!Regular cleansing, moisturising and sunscreen application are non-negotiable. And don’t forget to exfoliate to reveal that fresh, radiant skin too! And remember to really achieve that much desired luminous finish, you’ll need to be armed with a good hydrating serum and a smoothing plumping moisturiser. For best results also use a finishing spray with hyaluronic acid.Try:Cleanser: HubisLab Moisture Max Cleansing FoamIf you want clean, soft and supple skin, you need to try this cleansing foam! It perfectly lathers on application gently cleansing skin. The results? Skin feels fantastic, no feeling of dryness or tightness which can be the case with many cleansers. How does your skin look? Refreshed, nourished and revitalised.Exfoliator: Hubislab Pure Balance Papaya Enzyme Peeling Wash perfectly cleanses and exfoliates skin without any irritation leaving it silky soft.Serum: Hubislab Moisture Max Hyaluron Complex 65% Ampoule. This deeply nourishing complex serum combines hyaluronic acid, collagen and rosa centifolia flower water to quite literally blast skin with intensive moisture restoring elasticity and balance while protecting skin cells from free radical damage.Moisturiser: Hubislab Moisture Max Hydro Moisturiser. Packed with hyaluronic acid, this moisture-rich, yet beautifully lightweight cream absorbs quickly into skin without any greasiness, providing skin with deep nourishment and a long-lasting luxurious feeling. It's perfect!Sunscreen: Hubislab Post Rays UV Protect Sun Block SPF 50. Non irritating, soothing and nourishing, this sunscreen not only provides complete UV and antioxidant protection, but it is also formulated with peptides and hydrolysed collagen to combat premature ageing and hyperpigmentation. The invisible matte formula applies smoothly and stays on all day! MakeupLess is more when it comes to makeup. Opt for sheer, buildable foundations or tinted moisturiser to even out skin tone.Try: ELES Mineral Sheer Tint. Loaded with minerals, vitamins and sun protection this beautiful, tinted moisturiser (and one of ELES Cosmetics best-sellers) imparts a sheer, natural radiance to skin (no joke). It’s skin caring and skin perfecting in one simple step!!Follow with a subtle application of blush to add a healthy flush to the cheeks. You are trying to create a sun kissed blushed look! Choose a cream blush in soft pink or peachy shades to achieve a subtle and natural flush on the cheeks.Try: ELES Baked Blush in Bouquet, a pigment packed powder blush! Powders are usually made from lots of pressed powders, but baked powders are actually creams that have been baked slowly in a specialist oven until they are dry. This is what gives baked makeup some of its unique attributes; it has an ultra-soft, velvety texture and provides a sheer wash of soft colour for a naturally flushed complexion.Eyes are often kept simple with neutral eyeshadows Look for eyeshadow palettes that feature a range of neutral shades like beige, taupe, and soft browns.Try: ELES The Naturals Collection Eyeshadow Trio in Warm Nakeds. It offers three versatile options for creating natural and effortless eye looks.Add a swipe of mascara to define the lashes. Opt for a lengthening or defining mascara to enhance your lashes without appearing too heavy.Try ELES Lush Mascara – a popular choice for achieving natural-looking lashes.Well-groomed brows can make a big difference in framing your face The eyebrows are groomed but maintain a soft and natural appearance. Use a brow pencil to lightly fill in and shape your brows while keeping them looking soft and natural.Try ELES Precision Brow Pencil. It creates “hairlike” strokes for a more natural, well-groomed brows and comes in three shades to suit everyone!Lips are usually adorned with nude or subtle pink shades to enhance the tips without overpowering the overall look. Choose lip products in shades that closely resemble your natural lip colour.Try: ELES Moisture Crème Lipstick in Parfait. Nourishing and long-lasting it adds the perfect pop of natural colour to the lipsAnd, of course, you can't forget a glossy lip to top everything off!Try: ELES Pucker Up Lip Gloss in Air Kiss. It provides lips with hydration, sheer colour and high-shine, to instantly create the appearance of fuller, softer, more youthful-looking lipsFinally you don't want to forget the dewy finish: A touch of highlighter or a hydrating mist can add a healthy glow to your skin.Just remember the overall goal of clean girl makeup is to create a radiant and naturally beautiful appearance that will enhance your features without appearing overly done or heavy.LifestyleBeyond makeup and skincare, the Clean Girl Aesthetic trend is also about embracing a positive self-care routine. It's about getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and nourishing your body with wholesome foods.
The best cruelty-free vegan beauty buys on BC according to the experts
by Jo Boyden
on Dec 22 2023
We are all aware of what we eat but do we all consider what we really put on our skin every day? If you are concerned about animal welfare you might well have gone vegan and the chances are you’ll be looking for cruelty-free, vegan skincare options too, the problem is actually finding products that provide the healthy balance between affordability, good quality, cruelty-free and vegan!Well you need look no further! BC has you covered! With a multitude of excellent vegan alternatives from Pevonia, Phytomer and Medicalia, as well as an entire new collection from organic and vegan skincare brand Naturys, you can now indulge in outstanding quality, guilt-free beauty buys forevermore! Keep scrolling as we count down our go-tos. Pevonia Enzymo Spherides Peeling CreamNatural, luxury skincare brand Pevonia is renowned worldwide for its commitment to the environment using the purest most natural ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging too, but this brand also has a vast array of the best vegan products and one of our favourites is the Enzymo Spherides Peeling Cream. This mini facial in a jar will seriously do wonders for your skin! Combining natural fruit pineapple and papaya enzymes, it gently melts away impurities, blackheads, dead cells and toxins revealing silky soft, smooth and glowing skin instead! Simply apply it all over face like you would a face mask, wet your fingers with warm water and work the peeling cream gently, leave it for 2 minutes to let it work its magic, then remove! Voila gorgeous glowy, smooth, soft as a baby's bottom skin!Naturys Moisturising Hydra Serum 24HExperts rave about Naturys’s vegan formulations as well as their commitment to being cruelty-free, but what’s more is how goood the products actually are! If you want glowing skin but don’t want to break the bank then you need to get your hands on this beauty. It’s a rich moisturising gel serum formulated with a multitude of amazing ingredients from hyaluronic acid and panthenol to vine sap, celery stem cells and peptides and it leaves skin softer, smoother and visibly radiant after every application. Yes!Phytomer Hydracontinue Radiance Energising CreamLeaders in marine based beauty, Phytomer has adopted strict standards when it comes to their products' quality, efficacy and sustainability. One of their products we are loving is the Hydracontinue Radiance Energising Cream because who doesn’t love a good radiance boosting product and better still vegan too? What more could you ask for! This beautifully nourishing but lightweight cream is both energising and radiance inducing.Phytomer Night Recharge Youth Enhancing CreamEveryone needs a good night cream and this is one of the best! It’s at nighttime, while we sleep, that our skin goes into repair mode and this beautiful cream literally envelopes the skin in deeply nourishing hydration ensuring skin restores its youthful glowy vitality by morning. We all love it!Naturys Anti-Age No Age Rich CreamWorried about wrinkles? Want to invest in a quality, vegan cream? This should be your new go-to. It's rich, creamy, perfectly nourishing and is formulated with peptides and hyarluonic acid for intense hydration! What's more you'll start noticing after only a few applications that skin is plumped and toned.It’s a new favourite with a reasonable price tag.Pevonia Bright Skin Green Apple MaskAnother natural, cruelty-free and vegan friendly must have, this glow-giving mask not only tightens and brightens skin, but it’s formulated with green apple and green tea to help boost energy too! Expect to wake up with plumped, firmed, glowing skin.Naturys Anti-Age Retinol BoosterWe could all do with retinol in our lives as our skin gets older!After all, when it comes to reducing the visible signs of ageing, retinol is the “super-ingredient” every beauty professional hails as the holy grail of the skincare world! Why? Because it offers a multitude of benefits; From reducing the appearance of fine lines and preventing wrinkles, to correcting hyperpigmentation, reducing large pores and clearing acne. Retinol also has the ability to speed cell turnover making cells function like that of a child!Want to know our favourite vegan-friendly retinol serum right now? The new Naturys Anti-Age Retinol Booster! This retinol serum is also formulated with bakuchiol, and both ingredients work together to effectively enrich skin with a microdose of daily regenerating strength! The formulation also visibly reduces the signs of time, improves texture and tones skin.Concerned about giving retinol a go? Don’t be, you just need to know how to use your retinol products correctly! For more information on retinol click here.Pevonia C Complexe with OxyzomesAsk anyone with beautifully radiant skin what their secret is and they’ll likely tell you they’re using Vitamin C! Recommended by every beauty expert, Vitamin C is THE go-to ingredient to dramatically brighten skin and this Pevonia beauty is one of our go-tos! It is a-mazing for that perfect pick-me-up. Vitamin C and hydration hero hyaluronic acid, work together to quite literally drench skin with repairing antioxidants, deeply nourishing skin while correcting photo-damage. Not only does it have the most beautiful citrus aroma, when applied, skin looks instantly brighter and dewier too!Phytomer Cyfolia Organic Eye Contour Radiance Smoothing Eye CreamWhen we are talking skincare and vegan, we need to make sure we include a great eye cream! Especially since our eyes are the first area on our face to show signs of ageing. And let's face it, looking after our eyes is just as important as the rest of our skin! The experts at BC highly recommend Phytomer's new Cyfolia Organic Eye Contour Radiance Smoothing Eye Cream. It provides eyes with a dual smoothing and revitalizing effect in a silky, cocooning cream texture suitable for the delicate eye area (of course!) and after just a short amount of time you will love the results this eye cream provides! Wrinkles are visibly reduced and signs of fatigue (which I most certainly suffer from!) fade away. What’s better, is that its suitable for those with very sensitive eyes too.Naturys Deep Purifying SerumIf you’ve got oily to combination skin, you simply must give this purifying serum a try. Highly recommend its formulated with niacinamide, bakuchiol with vitamin c and is enriched with olive oil microcapsules that melt when in contact with the skin. It also helps correct overproduction of sebum, enlarged pores, acne and skin prone to redness. It's seriously good stuff.Medicalia Gentle CreamGot sensitive skin and trying to find a great vegan moisturiser alternative? Then give this beauty a try. With so many nurturing natural ingredients including ceramides, phospholipids, green tea, and chamomile, this cream gently yet effectively infuses the skin with antioxidant, nourishing, soothing, and hydrating benefits. It’s ideal for all skin types, especially sensitive, dry and rosacea prone skin since it radically reduces skin discomfort by desensitizing, shielding, and lowering trans-epidermal water loss!
Earth Day – 6 ways you can help conserve our planet and how Beauty Collective does too
by Jo Boyden
on Apr 22 2022
April 22, 2022 marks World Earth Day, a global annual movement launched in 1970 to both raise awareness and support for environmental protection including pollution and deforestation. An event celebrated by billions all around the world including businesses who take part in initiatives to protect and better our planet.Here at Beauty Collective, we are all about sustainability and protecting and nurturing our environment. We personally hand pick our brands and choose only the best, natural professional products that are both kind to our skin and our environment too. One of our leading brands – Pevonia Botanica are doing everything they can to help. From reducing their carbon footprint, to sustainable natural ingredient sourcing, energy efficient computer work stations to paperless ordering, recyclable packaging, global recycling, power conservation and more!Phytomer, another of our committed and eco-conscious skincare brands also do their part for the environment. The French marine brand sources and grows 80% of it’s active ingredients in Brittany, France, often on their own farm. These sustainable active ingredients are extracted so no solvents or chemicals are used and only renewable energy sources are used for manufacturing. Phytomer use ‘Filtering Gardens’ to clean the waste water which is then reused to water surrounding vegetation. Oh and they use recyclable and plant based materials for their packaging and their products are not tested on animals, but instead of their own skincare experts, dermatologists and biologists!But it’s not just businesses that are doing their bit. You too can help and have a positive impact on the planet. So, if you’d like to get involved but not sure exactly what to do, read on as we count down some easy ideas below… Go car free! Since our cars are one of the biggest sources of pollution, imagine the positive impact on the environment everyone going car free for a day would have? By not burning 1 gallon of petrol will keep 20 pounds of greenhouse gas out of the air! Instead ask to work from home for the day, consider public transport or even get up that little bit earlier and enjoy a long, leisurely stroll to the office! Skip the bath and take a shorter shower If we all cut down on our average shower time, even by just one minute, or had one less bath a week, we’d save hundreds of billions of gallons of water plus the energy used to prepare it for usage! Crazy right? Get your green fingers at the ready! What better way to make your mark than to plant a tree! Human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. The amount of carbon dioxide generated has increased exponentially. Carbon dioxide is harmful, it contributes to climate change, the biggest environmental issue we face. By planting trees, we can help fight it. Trees absorb CO2 removing it from the air and storing it while releasing oxygen which we in turn need! Amazing right? Change your light bulbs if you haven’t already I for one have been meaning to change my light bulbs to LED bulbs for a while now. Earth day is as good a day as any to finally swap to the energy-saving light emitting LED’s! Reduce your rubbish! By doing so we’ll conserve space in our landfills and reduce the need to build more which take up valuable space and are a source of air and water pollution. By reducing our rubbish, we are also conserving our resources. Conserve electricity If you improve the energy efficiency of your home you’ll reduce the demand for fossil fuels and, in turn, lower the levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.Feeling inspired? Go and get involved. There is no better time than today.
