In my excitement last week over all my fun in New York City, I forgot to talk about my many trips to the Soho Sephora, Times Square Sephora, and Rockefeller Center Sephora! I spent a fair amount of time browsing and ended up picking up a Naturopathica skincare kit at the Times Square store near my hotel. Sephora is literally like a candy store for makeup junkies! You can try on colors to your heart's content without being bothered by some pushy salesperson. I just wish we had one here in Portland!

Naturopathica Daily Maintenance Starter Kit ($68)
I have tried a few Naturopathica products and have been really pleased with them, so when I realized that the skincare I brought for my trip was not cutting it for me, I picked up this handy little kit. It comes with small one ounce sizes of Aloe Cleansing Gel, Lavender Hydrolat, Neroli Toning Serum (1/2 ounce), Beech Tree and Ginseng Daily Moisture Treatment, and a full size Moss Extract Blemish Remover. The cleansing gel is a lightweight clear gel with very low lather that does a pretty good job of removing makeup (I don't wear a ton, but I am not convinced that it could cut through heavy eye makeup or layers of mascara). It's not too drying, would be best for normal, oily, or combination skin, and has a clean, ylang ylang aroma (from essential oil). The lavender hydrolat spray toner feels so cool and fresh, and smells so delicious, that I spritzed my way through the whole one ounce bottle in a matter of days! As soon as I got home, I picked up the rose version and have tried to be more sparing with it :)

I wasn't as wow-ed by the neroli oil blend, simply because I think the oil blends from Astara perform better. Naturopathica's is a blend of neroli, juniper and petitgrain essential oils in a carrier base of hazelnut and apricot kernel oils. It has an earthy, woodsy smell which would be a nice aromatherapy addition to a moisturizer, but I didn't notice any change in the oily areas of my skin (the neroli blend is for "normal/overactive skin"). I also wasn't too thrilled with the Beech Tree and Ginseng Daily Moisture Treatment, mainly because of the scent. I found it to be rather manly - it must be the beech tree extract. The lotion itself is nice, lightweight, not greasy - a nice choice for normal, combination or oily skin, as long as you don't mind the woodsy smell. Also rather potent smelling is the moss blemish treatment, but this is a cream that you leave on for 5 minutes or so and rinse off, so the scent dissipates. It has kaolin and bentonite clay, sulfur, moss extracts, comfrey, sage, rosemary, chamomile, and azulene. I've found it works well for gently drying out medium to large pimples, and it has the nice side effect of instantly reducing redness because the cream is green, and green counteracts red. I found two ways to use it - a large blob on a pimple at night or when you aren't in public :), or a very thin layer during the day (just enough to cover the red and have a gentle drying action). I did this a few times during the day when I could get away with no makeup but wanted the spot to be less red.

All in all I think Naturopathica is a brand to watch, especially if you like more natural products. You can find Naturopathica products at ibeauty.com, indulge.com, looks.com (for international orders), naturopathica.com, and Sephora.com.

Now, onto the report I was planning for this week - the Grekin Skin Rejuvenation System. This line comes from a site called acneworld.com, devoted to helping people of all ages and skin types with their acne concerns. You can read frequently asked questions, check out online support groups to learn more about the condition and how to control it, and, of course, buy products. Dr. Steven Grekin is the dermatologist behind the advice and the products that he created himself.

The product line consists of 3 cleansers (one of which I review here), a lotion, a moisturizing gel, a blemish treatment, and a treatment serum. A major gripe I have with the site is that it claims to offer "custom acne solutions", but how customized can it be with so few products? There are only so many combinations, and really no options for someone with dry skin (which does happen with acne, believe it or not). I went through the "customization" process and was recommended the following products, which I used exclusively for about a month.

Gentle Daily Skin Cleanser ($15 for 3.75 ounces)
This is a self-foaming cleanser, meaning it's a liquid in the bottle but when you dispense it into your hand, it foams. The foam feels very soft on the skin but only does a mediocre job of removing makeup. It's so light and airy, it doesn't feel like it's doing anything. I suppose if you have very sensitive skin and need gentle cleansing and that's it, this would be a nice choice. For me, I prefer something with a bit more texture or substance that I can massage into my skin.

Blemish Control Solution ($15 for 2 ounces)
This is an alcohol-based liquid with salicylic acid and witch hazel that is designed to both spot-treat blemishes and prevent new ones from popping up. The packaging is a plastic bottle with a sponge-like applicator top so you can "draw" the liquid on the skin. For my sensitive skin, this "solution" was no solution at all. All I got was irritated, red, inflamed skin and blemishes that not only would not go away, but invited some friends over for a pimple party! Grrr. Clearly this treatment is meant for stronger skin than mine, which wouldn't bother me had I not been specifically "prescribed" this product in my "customized" regimen.

Oxygenating Serum ($40 for 1 ounce)
I thought this was the most promising product of the ones I tried, but my skin was too irritated from the blemish solution to continue using this. This lightweight serum contains live yeast cell derivative and lipoic acid, which according to acneworld.com "causes collagen-producing cells to take on more oxygen, causing fresher, younger, firmer looking skin." I don't have to worry (yet) about fine lines and wrinkles, but I am interested in how it might help my acne scars. My skin was so irritated by the rest of the system, though, that I had to stop using it.

Hydrating Cream ($20 for 2 ounces)
If you have normal or combination skin, this might be a nice lotion for you. For my normal to dry skin, it was too lightweight, even if you layer it. This also contains the live yeast cell derivative along with vitamin E, chamomile extract, and some basic moisturizers. I saw no difference in my skin using this lotion.

Refirming Gel ($15 for 2 ounces)
I have no idea why I was recommended both this and the hydrating cream, since this is an even lighter moisturizer than the cream. It is also very basic - water, aloe, glycerin, and some hydrocortisone. It's very lightweight, a little sticky, and it did nothing beneficial for my skin.

All in all I was not as happy with these products for my skin as I hoped I would be. I emailed Dr. Grekin with my concerns about the increased breakouts and dryness, but he advised me to use less moisturizer and more blemish solution, which only made my skin worse. The advice made no sense to me. As soon as I stopped using the products altogether and switched to something more emollient (and less irritating), my skin became less red and my breakouts subsided within 24 hours.