All About Eyes: Skin Physics Instant FX & ASAP Advanced Eye Repair +

Today’s skincare series is focused on the eye.

I had the pleasure of trying two eye products over the past couple of months, enough time to sufficiently road test them and now it’s time to report back.

Skin Physics Instant FX – Instant Eye Makeover
Description
Instant FX Instant Eye Makeover is the newest revolution from cosmeceutical pioneer, Skin Physics, It is the world’s first product to contain an ultra-hydrating ingredient hyadisine formulated to mimic a unique sea mussel from Douarenez Bay France.


The anti-ageing cream, couple with multiple roller balls and micro-massage vibrating technology instantly targets wrinkles, fine lines and puffiness, while dark circles, saggy eyelids, skin firmness and collagen production are improved with long term use.

• Unique ingredients include hyadisine derived from mussels that give long lasting hydration to skin, aminiobutyric acid (GABA) which instantly reduces wrinkle appearance, purslane, gota kola and ginseng to relax expression lines.
• This eye gel product comes in a roller ball pen which means it is easy to carry around for use of the go if required. But instead of clicking the end to dispense the product from the three roller balls like other pen-style eye gel (you gently squeeze the body of the pen), clicking the end will activate the pen vibration and will give you a soothing massage whilst applying this around the eye area.
• As for product, it’s a gel that instantly cools the skin when applied and is light and non-sticky. Interesting it also gives a heated sensation as if the area after a minute as if it’s has been touched by chilli powder so it feels very weird. It’s a good thing the heated feeling fades in 5 minutes time.
• I also felt a tightening of skin soon after application, so the tightening effect seems to be working straight away to temporarily restrictthe formations of expressions.
• I noticed my puffy eyes diminishing minutes later and dry lines are plumped up by the hydration as well as a reduction in expression lines when my face was in a relaxed state (ie, not smiling).
• After using this for 4 weeks, my eye areas are fresher and smoother, the texture improved and I look like I’ve had adequate sleep most nights. I don’t have bags under my eyes anymore but my dark circles didn't seem to lighten at all.
• There is improvement on the fine lines after 6 weeks use but I felt it the instant results didn't translate to significant long term improvements. I’m not sure if prolonged longer term use will give better results so I’ll continue to use up the tube.

This is a great eye gel and in keeping with its name and claim, it works brilliantly for instant results. Whilst I'm happy with the immediate effects, I didn’t feel it did a better than other good eye creams or gels in the same price range. It’s safe to say I’m ambivalent about this product due to the weird heat tingling sensation despite loving the hydration, vibrating massage and short term results it gave.

If you have a special occasion and want instant improvement, then this could be the right product for you. For longer term results, I’d look to other eye creams such as the one below.

RRP A$67 -12ml at select Myer, Shaver Shop stores, pharmacies and online here.

ASAP advanced eye repair + 
Description
Formulated with potent coenzyme Q10 (Ubiquinone), white tea and arnica to hydrate, nourish and readuce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and dark circles while promoting skin rnewal to improve texture and tone.

• This pale yellow eye cream expressed from an airless pump is light and spreads very well, meaning a rice grain size amount will moisturise an entire eye and instant relieve and dry skin in the area. It feels slightly sticky upon application but that disappears once the product is absorb into the skin 2 minutes later.
• While immediate results are well moisturised eyes, it’s the longer term results that I’m most impressed with in this eye cream. My stubborn dark circles are lighter after 2 weeks use (and I get the same amount of inadequate sleep throughout that period). I attribute this to the arnica as that is a proven ingredient to assist with breaking down bruising faster (I guess dark circles are sort of like bruises)
• My skin really loves the CoQ10 and after a month’s use, my fine lines are more diminished, even on bare skin without using any products, it had definitely improved their appearances. The added benefits of vitamin A (retinyl palmitate) helps to ensure those lines are soften.
• As for skintone, skin is definitely smoother, brighter and more even after a month use.

This has been my go to eye cream for the past 2 months (alternating with Aum’s firming eye cream) and I’m loving the results I’m getting from these 2 product and definitely high on my list to refill.

RRP $59 - 15ml at ASAP stocklists across Australia and New Zealand. It is also available online at the Facial Company and Adorebeauty.
These featured product were provided for consideration.

Skin Physics Liposculpt: Body Sculpting Gel

Now that I'm well and truly getting into my 30s, I’m noticing quite a few changes to my body; scars are taking longer to heal, bruises take 2 weeks to fade instead of days, and my skin is not as taut or firm as it was in my early and mid 20s.

It seems my cells are just not renewing as quickly as they use to anymore and in a bid to get toner skin, I’ve taken up low impact weight bearing exercise to try and tone the muscles and tighten up the skin. 
But you guys know me, I’m always on the look out for products that can help me get the job done, quicker, easier, better.

So when a product was introduce to me last year that promised to sculpt and lift skin on the body, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to give it a try. At the same time, being a beauty blogger, I ‘ve become hardened to alot of the claims of skin tightening and sculpting products that don't do more than moisturise the skin. So did my latest product trial deliver on its claims?

Skin PhyscisLiposculpt Body Sculpting Gel

Description:
Skin Physics Body Sculpting Gel is a potent cosmeceutical that has been specially formulated with natural exfoliating agents, potent fat burning liposomes, ivy extracts to boost circulation, bupleurum falcatun root extract to enhance fat burning process, retinol to contribute to collagen building and cellular repair.

Other than the ingredients mentioned in its description, the gel also contains active ingredients salicylic acid to better exfoliate for a smoother skin and caffeine for its anti-inflammatory properties and vessel constriction to reduced water retention in skin.

The product itself is a lightweight vicious gel that is tinted an orange shade with a faint herbaceous scent . It feels slightly sticky when rubbed into skin but the stickiness disappears when dry.

It is very cooling when massaged into the body and a pleasure to use during the warm summer months. When using, you're meant to massage the body are in upward motions and I think this helps to kick start the blood circulation improvements and help the active ingredients penetrate into the skin more evenly.

Immediate results after using this gel is the feeling of skin tightness and you get the impression it's working straighten away to firm up the skin but that sensation is temporary and disappears within 30 minutes.

After 1 week, I noticed that the skin on my thighs where I've been slathering the product feels much smoother and  not just softer.The little skin bumps I have around the inner thighs have also diminished.

After 2 weeks, skin was firmer. After 4 weeks, I continued to experience firmer skin, most noticeable on the inner thigh area than on my upper arms. I know this is from the effects of the product rather than exercise because during the Christmas period, I’ve stopped doing my weights and I still continue to see improvement in firmness of skin as opposed improvements to muscle tone.

In the 4-week timeframe, I didn't notice any improvements (and didn't expect) any stretchmarks appearances and I'm not sure if it would also improve cellulite appearance either. However, given it does firm skin, I expect it to give some visual improvements from cellulite after a few months' use. Stretchmarks improvements may be pushing it if they are very old ones like the owns I have.

Overall, I’m mighty impressed by this sculpting gel from Skin Physics because I was sure it wasn't going to work. I'm pleasantly surprised and am delighted by the results it's providing. Now I’m very curious about whether using the sculpting gel with the Skin Physics Liposculpt ultra sonic hand held device (which this gel was made to complement) would give more significant results. If only my beauty budget wasn't so drained and I wasn’t already committed to picking up the POSE device, I'd be pick up the device to try it with the gel all in the name of 'research'!

But I will definitely be refilling this tube when it runs out because it’s an effective product that is reasonably priced for a 200ml tube and would last a couple of months' worth of daily use on legs and arms (less if your using on more body parts like stomach, butt etc).

Have you tried any body sculpting products? Are there any that you like?

200ml  RRP A$69 at selected Myer, Shaver Shop, Harrisons and Terry White Chemist stores or
online.
This product was provided for consideration.

Review: Skin Physics LED photon rejuvenation system

This review is brought to you by Beauty Heaven

The photon therapy theory (background info)
As we age, our cell turnover activity decreases, causing skin to look dull, blemishes and scars taking longer to heal and our faces loses is elasticity with less collagen produced over time.

NASA was the first to pioneer the use of laser and red light to heal skin in space. Red light LED (wave lengths used by NASA were 633nm red light) has been used for its an anti-aging properties due to its ability to stimulate the skin cells and provide them with energy so they increase their cellular level of activity, leading to the production of collagen, elastin and certain enzymes to support the skin. There seems to be an array of medical research out there on the internet supporting these claims.


Skin Physics LED Photon Device
Skin Physics has adopted the red light anti-aging theory and using 660nm wavelength LEDs and have brought out an at home unit that anyone can use in the comfort of their own home.

I was very excited to receive this as I have been wanting to try out photon therapy to see if it would help with my acne scarring, reduce those tell tale fine lines underneath my eyes and improve my skin texture and pigmentation.

It's been 4 weeks since I started using the LED device before writing this review.

The Skin Physics unit came in a in a well presented shiny red box showcasing the products through a clear window - it felt like a wrapped Christmas present.

This product makes makes some serious claims about anti-aging and improving your skin texture (click on any of the photos to enlarge and read them yourself.)

The kit came with a hand held photon unit, 3 trial size skincare products (separate review on these soon), a charging cradle and a multi-voltage charger with different plug adaptors so you can take along for use anywhere in the world. It also include a red pouch to store the unit and a pair of goggles to wear when using the photon device.

This unit takes around 3 hours to fully charge up and each charge will last just over an hour of use. The great thing about this photon device is that you can use it as a portable or plugged in so you're never caught out of battery during a session.

Once turned on, the LED lights are activated by sensor so the light turns off when it is not placed flat against the skin. The brightness of the light is initially distracting but is not harmful to the eyes. I find the best time to do the treatment is while watching TV as my eyes are focusing on something else in the distance and not being too distracted by the red LED lights. I ditched the goggles as I found it uncomfortable to use and did not find the light too blinding as long as I was not looking directly into it.

See how bright it is when on?

The instruction manual was pretty hopeless at explaining how to use the device. The DVD fared better at explaining how to operate the unit with a demo but still left a lot to be desired in terms of giving clear easy instructions. After some research on home LED therapy devices and reading alot of information online, I decided the adopt the method similar to that advised with use for another red light LED device, the Baby Quasar (BQ). 

Start off by sectioning the face into 6 zones – the left and right forehead, left and right cheeks and left and right bottom sides of face.

Prepping
I start off stimulating the cells of my skin by using the constant mode (where the light is on continuously) to shine my whole face. As the constant mode is only a 3 minute section, I do 2 cycles to prep my skin for 1 minute in each zone (total of 6 minutes). There is a 30 second timer which is handy as I move the unit around in one zone for the duration of 2 beeps. 

Treating
I then switch the device to a pulse mode (where the lights flashes) and complete a full cycle (each cycle on pulse mode is 4 minutes) for each facial zone, ignoring the 30 second beeps and just concentrating on that single area for the whole cycle. All up it takes 30 minutes to complete a single session for me.

For an extra treatment on problem areas (eg. on new scar, blemish or bruise) – I would do an extra cycle on the area in constant mode.


Does it stack up to its claims?
Here's my verdict after one skin renewal cycle (4 weeks).

• Minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
  No real noticable difference in the 4 week time frame. The fine lines under my eyes do appear slightly softer.
• Reduce the appearance of crow’s feet and expression lines
  I don't have crow's feet, no real noticeable difference to expression lines.
• Diminish the appearance of sun-damage pigmentation.
  No changes to pigmentation around the eye area.
• Restore skin moisture and plumpness
  Whilst it did also help to control my oil production, the photon unit seems to dry up my skin considerably, causing skin sensitivity and lots of dry flaky patches on my cheeks and sides of the nose. I am cutting back on usage as I may have potentially over stimulated my skin with the aggressive use of the LED light.
• Provide a healthier skintone
  100% agree there. My skintone is more even the next morning and dark circle are lighten. I can finally fake the 9 hours sleep effects when I use this device.
• Minimise the appearance of pore size
  No change here yet- my pores are as large as ever.
• Smooth the appearance of skin texture
  It has firmed up my skin considerably but due to the dry patches, I wouldn't say it has smoothed it. Also I can't say that my skin firmness entirely due to this product as I was also using rose hip oil as a night treatment serum.
• Reduce the appearance of skin degradation
  Again the flaky skin makes it hard for me to say that my skin has not degraded.
• Reduce the appearance of overall redness and flushing
  My skin is usually calmer and less red. Only the sensitive areas caused by the dry patches are slightly red.

Other Comments 

• Great for healing small blemishes and new scars - white-heads were healed in a day and the red marks disappeared from that area within the next. Not as effective on older scars.
• Sped up recovery of wounds and bruises - the bruise on my leg faded within 3-4 days rather than the week it can normally take to heal.
• Can be incorporated with skincare products during the LED session. I've used it with rose hip oil and vitamin C serum and they also work well. 
• As the unit is sensor activated - it can be tricky for the light to be on when trying to focus it on areas that are not flat (eg contours ceekbones, arms, legs)- I wish the sensor wasn't so sensitive. 
• The light can be glitchy - sometimes it can be hard to turn on after several cycles of use, and I have to switch to a different mode before I can get the light to turn on again

Skintone is more even, scars lighter. Comparison taken on cleansed and moisturised skin

Overall Thoughts
I love it alone for the skin firming abilities when used with rose hip oil and the even skin tone it gives me. These two improvements alone for me is worth the high price of the unit. If I can get it to work without drying my skin, I'd love this product even more.
I'll continue to use this unit twice a week and do another review after more than 3 months use to see if the other skin benefit claims do eventuate.

I'd love to be able to compare this device with the Baby Quasar as that has red LEDs as well as infra-red LEDs which penetrates deeper into skin tissue to improve blood circulation and boost the body's ability to repair itself.

So are you curious about photon therapy?  What you think about LED rejuvenation therapy?

Rating: 8/10 after 4 weeks use (higher if it didn't cause dryness).
RRP A$299 at selected Myer stores, Shaver shops and Skin Physics online