Wednesday 8 December 2010

Coast to Coast skincare

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a new skincare store, Coast to Coast at Vivocity. The store is next to Crabtree & Evelyn and L'Occitane. I hadn't heard of Coast to Coast before but the neat layout of the store looked very inviting so I went in to explore it.

Coast to Coast is an Australian brand that focuses very much on natural and organic ingredients, native botanicals, herbal extracts and essential oils in their skincare. Their products do not contain artificial colours, fragrances and are not tested on animals. The store, which is the first in Singapore, opened recently in October. It has a very attractive promotion going on whereby you can get 50% off the second regular priced item purchased (with the discount applicable to the lower priced of the two items). The offer does not apply to pre-packed gifts and starter kits. Or if you are an OCBC credit card holder, you can enjoy a 20% discount off regular priced items. These offers have been extended until the end of December.

I ended up purchasing the Rainforest 3-Step Starter Kit, which was specially priced at S$100 (versus the usual retail price of S$144 if you purchase the three products individually), and a serum that is not pictured here. The Rainforest range is for oily and combination skintypes. The kit includes the Rainforest Clarifying Facial Cleanser 100ml, Rainforest Clarifying Facial Tonic 150ml and Rainforest Purifying Lotion 50ml.

I've been using all three products in the starter kit for over a week and so far, they have been working pretty well. (I haven't tried the serum yet.) The Clarifying Facial Cleanser is a bit watery and lathers up only mildly. It does smell quite strongly of the essential oils which I don't mind. It rinses off easily and leaves my skin clean and supple without stripping it.

The Clarifying Facial Tonic has a strong tea tree scent. It leaves my skin feeling very refreshed and hydrated.

After using the Facial Tonic, I apply the Purifying Lotion, which is a moisturiser. It contains Australian White Clay to help absorb excess oil. The lotion absorbs quite easily and hydrates my skin effectively without mattifying it. The oil control is not extraordinary as my skin still gets oily after about an hour or two, but that is normal for me. My skin gets flaky and starts to peel if I use a moisturiser that is not hydrating enough, but at the same time if a moisturiser is too emollient, it can send my skin into oil production overdrive. The Purifying Lotion seems to strike a nice balance. It staves off the skin flakes and hydrates my skin without making it excessively oily, which was a bit of a surprise for me considering the essential oils in the lotion. Paula Begoun likes to warn that essential oils can be skin irritants, but so far, I haven't experienced any breakouts with the Rainforest line.

You can check out the Coast to Coast website here. If you've tried any Coast to Coast skincare, do let me know your experience!

4 comments:

Kas said...

ok, let's go check this out on Sunday! I like the sound of the Rainforest line! :D

Haru said...

Not sure how good it is at combating acne but it's pretty good at hydrating and keeping away the flakes.

Christina said...

hello! how does this fare overall? I'm quite keen on getting the set too.

Haru said...

hi Christina,
I liked all three products although they didn't do that much to combat acne, but used together, they kept my skin quite well hydrated and calm.