I first discovered Shani Darden on Cult Beauty earlier this year. Shani Darden is an expert licensed esthetician with a Hollywood client list. She did create her own skincare line years back but I had just never heard of it until recently. I grabbed two items to start with. The Daily Toning Essence is a slippery hydrating toner. Details per Shani Darden:
Refines the look of pores for smoother skin texture. Hydrates skin while supporting its elasticity and resistance to wrinkles. A brightening, mattifying toner that regulates sebum production. For normal to oily skin types. Start first with nightly use to allow your skin to acclimate and build up to morning & night use. This toner refines the look of pores for smoother skin texture. It hydrates skin to support its elasticity and resistance to wrinkles.
Shani's Take: “This toner does it all, from brightening skin tone to reducing the appearance of pores, it's a serious multi-tasker”
Key Ingredients
- Sake Water: Fermented rice bran is a powerful antioxidant with skin softening properties that also assists in a gentle whitening effect.
- Sebocytine: Provides sebum regulation while reducing the appearance of pore size.
Ingredients
Aqua (Water, Eau), Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Glycerin, Rosa Cannina Fruit Extract, Butylene Glycol, Niacinamide, Phenoxyethanol, Isoceteth-20, Xanthan Gum, Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Natural Fragrance, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Japanese, Ethylhexylglycerin, Citric Acid.
I love the plastic pump packaging of this bottle. It's lightweight yet really chic and stylish. I adore essences so it's one of my favorite things to test from a brand. The texture is light, slippery and almost bouncy. It has a very faint pleasant scent. This essence has sake water (fermented rice bran), glycerin, rose hip fruit extract (high in vitamin C), multitasker niacinamide (improve appearance of large pores, even skin tone, barrier repair, helps reduce fine lines & wrinkles), vitamin C & E, green tea (powerful antioxidant) and Sebocytine (sebum regulation, reducing appearance of pore size).
I love fermented products. They offer antioxidant benefits, probiotics and can help brighten the skin as well. I loved this in the summer. It's got antioxidants plus niacinamide and new to me Sebocytine. I've honestly never used anything with this ingredient before. I loved the texture and it was nice overall. This will be great for oily and combo skin types or in the summer if you want to balance some oil. It's not as hydrating as some of my other essences that have hyaluronic acid or other similar hydrating ingredients. So whether or not you love this one will just depend what you're looking for in an essence.
Texture Reform Gentle Resurfacing Serum is a creamy gentle night serum. Details per Shani Darden:
This award-winning all-in-one serum is designed to address all skin concerns from texture and tone, to blemishes and redness.
Benefits
- Helps boost cellular turn over, revealing brighter skin
- Helps soften the look of fine lines
- Provides antioxidant protection
- Helps reduce the look of sun damage and dark spots
- Aids in decongesting the skin
- Gentle for sensitive skin types
Shanis Take: “I created Texture Reform Gentle Resurfacing Serum for my sensitive clients who wanted to get all the skin renewing benefits of Retinol Reform in an even gentler form. They get the same results without irritating their delicate skin.”
Directions In the evening after cleanser and toner, smooth 1-2 pumps to dry skin and allow to absorb. Can be followed with a lightweight moisturizer. Start with 1-2 times a week, add a day each week, build up to using as often as your skin can handle.
Key Ingredients
- Mild Retinoid: Gently helps boost cellular turnover improving skin texture, works gradually making it safe for sensitive skin to use.
- Lactic Acid: Helps exfoliate skin, improve skin’s texture, and reduce scarring. It also helps kill bacteria making it great for decongesting blemish-prone skin.
- Niacinamide (Vitamin B3): Helps to keep pores looking smooth, boost collagen, and improve skin tone.
- Coffea Arabica Fruit Extract: Provides antioxidant benefits to help prevent development of sun aging and helps reduce inflammation.
- Aloe Vera: Soothes and calms skin.
Ingredients
Aqua (Water, Eau), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Lactic Acid, Rentinyl Palmitate, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Isohexadecane, Polysorbate 60, Potassium Hydroxide, Propylene Glycol, Glycereth 26, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Phenethyl Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexyl Glycerin, Sodium PCA, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Fruit Extract, Betaglucan, Hydrolyzed Soybean Palmitate, Acetyl Glucosamine, Niacinamide.
This serum has a light creamy texture and a pale yellow color. The packaging is grey and more heavyweight as it's glass. It got a pump dispenser. Again very fun chic packaging. This is a lactic acid serum for gentle hydration. It's also got aloe, beta glucan and sodium pca to hydrate and soothe plus antioxidant rich & anti-aging coffee fruit extract, mukltitasker niacinamide & retinyl palmitate (vitamin A). Lactic acid is a natural moisturizing factor and a larger molecule Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) so it's more gentle on the skin meaning less irritation side effects. AHAs exfoliate the skin promoting a healthy glow.
It's got the other hydrating and soothing ingredients plus I adore coffee fruit extract (and oil). Retinyl palmitate is the weakest form of vitamin A. I find it totally gentle so I combine this serum with other retinols no problem. I can use this with a retinol oil or serum as well. I'm not saying everyone can do this but it works for me. This was designed to be for more sensitive skins who couldn't handle the stronger Retinol Reform serum. I would start slow as always with any acid and retinol product then move up as tolerance is built up. I find this gentle enough to use everyday. Honestly while this is nice and gentle for $95 I probably wouldn't buy it again. I might try Retinol Reform one day though as that will be more up my alley.
I was also excited to try texture reform, but I find it difficult to use because of the fragrance: it smells sour and stinky. After applying, bad scent disappears (or I get used to it). Do I have a bad bottle, or is this normal??