 |
| from my personal Instagram |
Vered Organic Botanicals hails from New York City. Its namesake comes from creator, founder, and master esthetician Vered Back, who blends her magical aromatherapy into a base of therapeutic herb-infused oils. Her private clients begged her to bottle up her customized facial oil blends, and the rest is history…
Vered Organic Botanicals had me at therapeutic and balancing–the beautiful glass packaging and magnificent scents were welcome bonuses. In Vered’s interview with Fig+Sage, she deemed the Therapeutic Balancing Face Oil and the Herb-Infused Toner as “incredibly beneficial for problematic skin,” and my improved skin tone and diminishing trend of breakouts serves as evidence.
I have already waxed poetic about the Herb-Infused Toner for its cleansing-toning powers, so I will turn the spotlight on the Therapeutic Balancing Face Oil. TBFO is a lightweight oil blend of organic, ethically sourced, therapeutic-grade essential oils and herbs. The dreamy ingredients list includes antimicrobial lemongrass, antiseptic myrrh, healing calendula, and cooling chickweed in a base of jojoba oil and sweet almond oil, giving the oil a spicy kick and golden color.
It’s not just all spice and nice, though; this oil gives the boot to breakouts. Even when hormones are being hormones and oh hello crazy under-the-jaw breakout, this oil heals and soothes, helping my skin with the healing process. Two to three drops after toning and cleansing leaves my skin feeling moisturized with no irritation. I can’t say I am suddenly breakout-free and my skin tone is perfect, but this duo has greatly healed my skin and put me farther on the path to happy, clear skin.
With great power comes great responsibility, so a word of caution to those with sensitivities to any of the essential oils–know your allergies, patch test, and ease your way in. HIT emptied out at the 3-month mark with day and night use and sometimes a bit extra if I worked out during the day. TBFO, however, may hit even the fourth or even fifth month, thanks to initially every other day and morning use for the first weeks easing into everyday and night use–with great self-control.
Have you tried any Vered? What have your experiences been like?
(Sources: About Vered, lemongrass, myrrh, chickweed, calendula)
Myrrh? That's got me intrigued. I hate my pesky jaw line breakouts, they bum me out big time. Looks like I'll have to try this stuff!
Mayah x
I know what you mean, and those jaw-line breakouts hurt! Asti from http://skjonnhet.blogspot.com/ just mentioned that her neck is a bit reactive to TBFO; hopefully it will bode better for you. Let me know if you give it a try!
Wow, that's great to hear. I'll have to keep that in mind in the future 😉 Congratulations on your baby and your great skin!!
this combo saved my skin perfect during pregnancy. i'd started breaking out early on, then started these products and had clean skin (with the exception of a pimple here and there) for the rest of my pregnancy. if this stuff can tackle all the hormonal craziness of pregnancy, then it can do anything. (three months post pregnancy now, still using, skin still looks great).
Another great looking blogger, thanks for the link!
How would you compare the TBFO to Yuli's ME Skin Fuel? I’m looking for a day-time oil that I can wear under make-up (that can fight active and emerging pimples) and if needed at night time. I haven’t tried either yet but will be ordering samples of both. Did you reorder the TBFO? Thanks!
Hi Ra-Ra,
TBFO and ME Skin Fuel are both lovely and worked well for my skin. I would say TBFO probably has a lot more essential oils and herbs while ME Skin Fuel focuses on more antioxidant-rich and omega fatty-rich oils. Both are meant for balancing breakouts and reducing inflammation. Scent-wise, TBFO is more lemongrassy while ME Skin Fuel was more peppery for me (though I've heard people also say it's honey jasmine-y).
Breakout-wise, both helped in reducing regular pimples and healing diet-related pimples, though neither were a match for preventing hormonal breakouts, which was fine for me. Using these oils while maintaining a clean diet and doing yoga is what has given me the best results for breakouts.
I definitely recommend trying out samples (you can find samples at Spirit Beauty Lounge of both :D) especially since TBFO is so rich in essential oils and herbs–you'll want to make sure your skin isn't too sensitive to any of them.
They are both lovely day or night. From what I remember, if you're on the drier side, TBFO may not be moisturizing enough. ME Skin Fuel gives a really smooth and soft finish.
The Vered toner and oil were really nice together, especially since the toner helps with balancing breakouts as well, but it's not totally necessary. It will help, but it won't hurt to use the oil on its own. I prefer using a toner before face oils since I feel it helps face oils absorb better and also gives me more time to massage the oil into my skin.
I haven't reordered TBFO, the Herb-Infused Toner, or ME Skin Fuel because of the sheer number of amazing oils on the green beauty market. But, since I know they all work for me, if I'm ever in a pinch and need something that I know will work for me, I'd probably go for the toner and ME Skin Fuel.
Hope this helps!
Hey Ra-Ra, no problem, happy to help 🙂
I have used the Mun Aknari oil and also loved its soothing and calming properties. I also love its very simple ingredients list! For the couple of weeks I used it, I noticed a brightening and calming reaction from my skin. I tried a little sample of ML Youth Dew and agree with you–it's beautiful (and also smells beautiful), but not really for my skin.
Your skin situation is totally resounding with me. I have also mostly cut out dairy, gluten, and sugar from my diet (though I do cheat sometimes) and I mostly get pimples beneath my cheekbones. When I first started regularly juicing (and was also freaking out about my acne in general and going nuts on honey and tomato and clay masks two summers ago), my skin also went nuts. I also don't know exactly causes my acne, but I've noticed correlations between coconut oil and pimples, sugar and pimples, and definitely stress and pimples. When I switched from makeup based on coconut oil (rms beauty, Kjaer Weis) to mineral makeup (Alima Pure), a lot of my regular, little cheek breakouts (like little clusters of pimples) decreased. I try to differentiate between diet vs. hormonal acne based on the idea of face mapping, that different parts of the face correlate to different organs in the body, and also on trends I've noticed with my skin. When I have a lot of sugar or stress a lot, I get a lot of painful pimples on my cheeks (digestive-ish area). My hormonal pimples are usually on my chin (hormonal area).
I don't keep a food journal (though I should), but I definitely think that's a good step in trying to determine diet-related acne. When I got a facial back in February, my esthetician recommended doing an elimination diet and then slowly adding various food groups back in to see how the skin reacts. If you want, we can definitely continue over email 🙂 (me: nephriticus.blog [at] gmail.com). Hope this helps!
Thanks for the response, Jade! I look forward to continuing this conversation through email. 🙂
For me soy almost always triggers cystic acne on my chin.