Skin Quenching

I have extremely dry skin.  When I go from Washington, DC back home, I can feel the drop in humidity in my face.  Couple that with the harsh winter dryness, and my skin feels like a desert.  When I was in DC, my skincare regime was working fine.  But when I came home, I felt like I was battling my face.  Normal moisturizers didn't work, and my skin was flaking.  I tried my regular moisturizer three times a day, four times a day, five times a day (which wasn't even practical).  I tried using heavier, petroleum-based creams, which worked a little better but felt heavy and gross on my face.


Enter Caudalié.  Caudalié is a French based skincare company that works only with natural ingredients.  Founded in 1993 after a couple discovered that the grape seeds from their vineyard contained tons of vitamins that skin needs.  Caudalié does not use any parabens, phenoxyethanol (a preservative that can cause damage to the nervous central system), ingredients of animal origin (hurray for you vegans!), mineral oils or colorings, or sodium laureth sulfate (a foaming ingredient that contains carcinogens).  Also important to me is that they don't test on animals.

My mother had a tube of the Pulpe Vitaminée 1st Wrinkle Cream which I tried and instantly fell in love with.  I don't have any wrinkles but this lotion acts as a preventative.  Wrinkles aren't a major concern of mine, but this lotion wakes my face up and makes it feel smooth.  Best of all?  I use it once a day and my skin is smooth and moisturized for the rest of the day.  I am absolutely AMAZED by this product and can't wait to try more of this brand's offerings.  The one downside?  It's expensive for a small bottle - $58.  However, in defense of this, it works and you need a tiny tiny amount to get through the entire day.  Relative to the $18 drugstore lotion I use currently (x5 a day!), this is practically a bargain.

I'd gladly spend this much on this lotion again (though I think I want to try some of the other lotions first).  It quenches my notoriously hard to please skin more than any other lotion I've ever tried.  It's not greasy or heavy.  And it's one-and-done.