Vintner's Daughter Active Treatment Essence

I really love the Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum (Review HERE). They just launched a new Active Treatment Essence and I have spent quite a bit of time testing it for review (I went on and off of this for a while too to see how it performed). I bought this the week it launched. It's easily the most expensive essence I've bought considering it's $225 for a 50ml bottle. It's also one of the hottest and most anticipated green beauty launches this year, which is why I spent so much time playing with it. Details per Vintner's Daughter:

Active Treatment Essence is the ultimate multi-corrective hydration step. This formula delivers optimal nutrition, micro-exfoliation, brightening, firming, and multi-level hydration to noticeably improve the overall appearance of skin. At the heart of Active Treatment Essence is our Phyto Radiance Infusion, made from 13 of the world’s most nutrient-rich botanicals, coupled with a unique fermentation component to amplify absorption. Elevating the formula even further are advancements in natural science including vitamin C, micro and mini hyaluronic acid, probiotics, plant stem cells, marine microalgae, and micro-exfoliating acids and enzymes. Together, these elements deliver powerful hydration, optimal nutrition, and daily repair and protection for your skin.

The 30+ powerful botanicals in Active Treatment Essence were strategically chosen to work in synergy with each other for multi-correctional results. From nutrient-dense superfoods, balancing adaptogens, and plants prized as ancient healers, Active Treatment Essence delivers efficacy through ingredient sourcing of the highest quality. The formula for Active Treatment Essence is a complex one that offers multifaceted performance to deeply hydrate, repair, renew, and prepare skin for Active Botanical Serum.

The unprecedented performance of Active Treatment Essence stems from our Phyto Radiance Infusion process. Beginning with 13 of the world’s most nutrient-rich, whole botanicals, our five-week long process allows us to slowly extract the full spectrum of nutrition from these incredible plants, which include superfoods like moringa, acerola, astragalus, and ancient healers like nettle, helichrysum and marshmallow. We elevate this infusion even further by adding a fermented component to amplify the nutritional impact and feed the skin at a deeper level.

It is not enough to have a formula with maximum nutrition; you must also ensure that it penetrates the skin. To accomplish this, we considered Active Treatment Essence’s delivery system from three angles. First, we begin with an aqueous solution that is able to penetrate up to five layers of the dermis with our optimal nutrition and next-generation, natural actives. Second, we have ingredients like micro and mini hyaluronic acids that create a matrix on the skin, which maintains the hydration and integrity of the Essence. Third, we have advanced ingredients like apple pectin complex that draw hydration to your skin. These three components allow Active Treatment Essence to fully permeate your skin and create lasting, real results.

Active Treatment Essence is specifically formulated to be a safe and effective treatment for a number of skin issues including dehydration, fine lines, uneven tone, discoloration, and loss of elasticity.

Benefits:

• Brightening Helichrysum, marshmallow, acerola, niacinamide, and dandelion combined with stabilized vitamin C brighten by fading discoloration and uneven skin tone.
• Smoothing Gentle, natural plant acids and enzymes slough off dead skin cells daily to reveal a fresh, smooth complexion while increasing cellular turnover.
• Regenerating Our powerful nutrition amplifies the skin’s own renewal process while stabilized vitamin C, plant stem cells, and enzymes jumpstart collagen production.
• Hydrating Micro and mini hyaluronic, aloe vera, coconut water, apple pectin, and plant stem cells work together to create multi-level hydration that lasts, resulting in skin that is more supple and resilient.
• Strengthening Pre and probiotics, alfalfa, marine algae, marjoram, beta glucan, and a full-suite of B vitamins help to fortify the skin barrier and protect against environmental aggressors.
• Nourishing With 20+ superfoods — 13 of which begin as whole plants — our formula delivers unparalleled skin-nourishing nutrition.

Directions After cleansing, dispense one-third of a dropper of Active Treatment Essence in the palm of your hand. Briefly join palms to saturate both hands, then quickly apply to skin by patting and pressing the Essence into the face for 5-10 seconds. To amplify results and seal in hydration, follow with 5-6 drops of Active Botanical Serum while the skin is still damp.

Ingredients

Acerola, Alfalfa, Aloe, Apple, Apple Cider Vinegar, Astragalus, Healthy Bacteria, Microalgae, Coconut, Helichrysum, Dandelion, Four O’clock Flower, Maidenhair Tree, Gluconolactone, Olive, Gotu Kola, Green Tea, Hyaluronic Acid, Kakadu Plum, Lactic Acid, Phytic Acid, Soy, Licorice, Maltodextrin, Marjoram Leaf, Marshmallow, Mexican Poppy, Moringa, Mullein, Microalgae, Nettle, Oat, Papaya, Pineapple, Tuberose, Vitamin B3

 

The essence comes in a dropper style dispenser with a miron violet glass bottle. The violet glass protects the product from light and degradation though it looks black unless you hold it up into the light. A dropper style dispenser is not my favorite type of packaging mainly due to the fact that I'm clumsy and I knock stuff over  lot. I've had visions of knocking this over and spilling the liquid gold priced product. So far I'm lucky and that hasn't happened yet (knock on wood). The product has a watery texture and a straw color. The liquid has a medicinal vinegar scent. Vinegar is not my favorite scent in a product, bad childhood memories for me. However it's great at balancing the pH of the skin, fights acne and exfoliates the skin. This essece has hydrators like aloe, coconut water, glycerin, soy, apple & hyaluronic acid plus soothers like oat, gotu kola, marshmallow, maltodextrin & mullein.

This essence has antioxidants like acerola (high in vitamin c), alfalfa, ginkgo biloba, green tea, kakadu plum (high in vitamin c), marjoram leaf & moringa. Plus there's multi-taskers such as astragalus (adaptogen, antioxidant, regenerative, antimicrobial), bacillus ferment (probiotic, brighten), microalgae (hydrating, repairative, vitamins & minerals), immortelle (brightening, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant), gluconolactone (PHA/gentle exfoliation, antioxidant), nettle (astringent, anti-inflammatory), tuberuse (hydrating, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial) & niacinimide (brighten, minimize pores, anti-aging powerhouse, soothing). Dandelion & licorice brighten the skin while Four O'Clock flower & Mexican poppy regenerate. Lactic & phytic acids with pineapple & papaya enzymes gently exfoliate with the apple cider vinegar. Basically this essence checks all the boxes ingredient wise.

I used about 1/3 the dropper in the morning for weeks (at least four) as my acid toner and essence combined. It's a mild acid toner for sure, it's not extremely powerful (that's not a bad thing to prevent over-exfoliation). I like the combination of exfoliants as it's not just one type. You've got AHAs, PHAs and enzymes. Using a gentle exfoliant in the morning can keep the skins cellular renewal process moving without causing any skin barrier issues from harsh exfoliants. This has a light hydrating feel to it and it absorbs quickly. It has a plethora of beneficial ingredients from gentle exfoliants to antioxidants to probiotics to soothing and repairative ingredients. Everything about the product texture and inci list wise is great. I'm not the hugest fan of the dropper packaging, it's really expensive and I hate a strong vinegar smell, those are the main cons for me (which isn't much).

I am not a minimalist in my skincare routine if you haven't noticed. It's recommended to use this with the oil as a two step routine. I did try this for a three day weekend just for the hell of it. Morning and night for three days I used only these two products minus cleanser and sunscreen. In general I can't use oils as moisturizers or final step 'seals' because my skin tends to burn them off very quickly and I'm left dry a few hours later. I don't know what it is about my skin but I also burn off fragrance like nobody's business. So I was very nervous about trying this two step method. In general it actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I felt balanced and hydrated in the day with a sunscreen. Sunscreen has creamy emollients to help seal and hydrate so it functioned as a moisturizer for me so I felt no big difference in the daytime doing this. At night I could not go without a moisturizer as the oil was not enough so I had to add a moisturizer in. At the end of three days my skin felt balanced but it felt like it was missing that bouncy feel I get from my hydrating serums, peptides and retinol.

The two products don't contain peptides or retinol which are must haves for me so ultimately a two step routine with these two products was not feasible for me. It can't replace what I get from peptides and retinol. This may have regenerative ingredients but they're not the same. I'm forty and have more maturing and aging skin (as much as I hate those words). My skin was pretty good while using the two step routine and definitely better than I expected, but it wasn't really perfect for me this way. This product was better as an addition to my routine instead of substituting it for everything. I noticed I got some rough pore areas around my nose a few weeks into using this as my only morning acid toner. It seemed like it wasn't clearing this problem out like my usual acid toner was for me. I was also using a weak acid serum at night while testing this. I did feel my skin was brighter and overall more balanced and happy while using this.

The Active Treatment Essence is a nice radiance and skin health boosting addition to a routine as a multi-focal essence and mild acid exfoliator. I can't use it as a two step routine as it just didn't work for me though I'm sure it will for others. I heard it took four years to create & refine. It has a nice inci list but it's very expensive and not everyone can afford it. This is a true luxury and splurge purchase if you have the budget. At this point I’m not sure that I would repurchase. I liked it and it's got a lot of really nice things about it but it’s so cost prohibitive. I tested this for a really long time. I went on and off of this for months (I think I got it in March) & my bottle is almost empty actually. At one point I used this for five or six weeks solid then took two weeks off, started using it again then stopped. Every time I went off of it (that’s when I usually notice ‘hey my skin looks worse since I stopped xyz’) I didn’t feel that my skin was that changed without it. Even though this didn’t work for me as ‘life changing’ others have felt it was really good for them and it’s a superbly crafted product. I think it does work well with the oil as they compliment each other. It’s just really expensive (though so is a lot of luxury skincare nowadays), I hate dropper bottles (I’m a klutz remember) plus the vinegar scent is really strong and it’s one of my least favorite scents (I did get used to it but bad memories of being forced drinking hot vinegar water when I was sick as a child came through). The oil is still my favorite from the brand and I would totally repurchase that.