Month: January 2018

Esho Drench Review

~ Michele Raiyne ~ 1 Comment

Esho Drench is a lip treatment created in collaboration with Deciem and Dr. Tijion Esho, cosmetic doctor. This product claims to offer lasting water hydration, unlike traditional lip balms that use “mainly waxes and oils to mask dehydration.”

Esho drench 1.png

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Lactococcus Ferment Lysate, Panthenol, Glycerin, Polyurethane-34, Stevioside, Sodium Hyaluronate, Arginine, Glycine, Alanine, Serine, Valine, Isoleucine, Proline, Threonine, Histidine, Aspartic Acid, Phenylalanine, PCA, Sodium PCA, Sodium Lactate, Fructose, Glucose, Maltose, Trehalose, Xylitol, Xylitylglucoside, Anhydroxylitol, Polyglutamic Acid, Urea, Allantoin, Niacinamide, Rosa Canina Seed Oil, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Plukenetia Volubilis Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis Leaf Extract, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract, Hydrolyzed Caesalpinia Spinosa Gum, Caesalpinia Spinosa Gum, Copernicia Cerifera Wax, Propanediol, Pentylene Glycol, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetearyl Isononanoate, Cetyl Palmitate, Ceteareth-20, Ceteareth-12, Cetearyl Alcohol, Decyl Glucoside, Glyceryl Stearate, Carbomer, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Ethoxydiglycol, Citric Acid, Triethanolamine, Aminomethyl Propanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium metabisulfite, Sodium sulfite, Sodium Chloride, Benzoic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Aroma (Flavour).

esho drench

Drench contains a number of oils, amino acids and sugars (I’m not sure I particularly want glucose and fructose by my teeth all day). Stevioside is a sweetener found in the stevia plant. Urea increases moisture on the skin’s surface, but can also be irritating. Acrylates/C10-30 binds to water and oil and is used as a stabilizer and increases viscosity. Trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate improves the efficacy of preservatives and antioxidants. This uses phenoxyethanol as the preservative.

I’ve been using Drench for a bit over 3 months, 2 to 3 times a day. I’ve also been using Sculpt from Esho, a product that claims to encourage lip volume.

Drench is not an oily product, but a thick liquid treatment. It has a strong fruity, guava flavor (many people don’t like the flavor); I think it would be better in mint. It goes on smoothly and absorbs into the skin quite quickly, but leaves a bit of dry stickiness behind. I didn’t find this hydrating at all. While it didn’t make my lips worse than normal, they didn’t feel moisturized and I may as well not have had any product on. I ended up putting on another lip treatment, Quench, over the Drench for the last few days, and my lips felt hydrated and protected – Quench likely did the work though.

While the company seems to imply a lip treatment of waxes and oils only masks dehydration, oils can be very moisturizing and healing and waxes (like beeswax) can be conditioning and provide a protective barrier.

Esho Drench will not be a repurchase for me, and I’ll be sticking with my Quench from Your Best Face Skincare.

Akita Roll On Deodorant Review

~ Michele Raiyne ~ Leave a comment

Akita is a skincare company founded in Turkey specializing in rose water and rose oil skincare. They have four different product lines; rose, lavender, cacao and unscented and use natural plant-based ingredients. I bought a number of Akita’s rosewater products, one of them being the roll on deodorant. Only available in the rose scent, this deodorant is the first all natural deodorant I tried after making the move from conventional deodorant/antiperspirant.
Ingredients : Water, Rosa Damascena Flower Water, Potassium Alum, Olive Leaf Extract, Xanthan Gum, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Oil.

According to the Akita website, this is an all natural, alcohol-free, preservative-free and aluminum-free roll on. Standing out in the ingredients is potassium alum, another name for potassium aluminum sulfate. This is a natural mineral salt with molecules too large to be absorbed by the body. So all natural, yes, but I’m not sure I’d call this aluminum-free (though of note, when a deodorant is described as aluminum-free, they are usually talking about the synthetic forms of aluminum used in antiperspirant).

This is a liquid roll on deodorant that smells like a rose garden. The scent isn’t too over-powering once under the arms. It dries fast and has no residue. I found the scent lasted for about 3 or 4 hours when working at the office, and didn’t last over a workout or walking outside in hot weather and didn’t help the odor of stress sweat. When reapplying I found it kind of covered up the sweat smell under a layer of rose, but didn’t take the body odor away.

I wouldn’t repurchase the Akita Roll On Deodorant, and have since found a great all natural deodorant, Routine Cream.

*image courtesy http://www.akitacanada.ca