GOT MILK? Milk's new skin care for her and an Interview with Lindy Klim

Milk for her products from left to right: Beauty Wipes $9.95, Body Oil $12.95, Ultra Light Moisturiser $19.95, Face Cleanser $16.95, Rejuvenating Masque $19.95 and Body Scrub $14.95 for more information visit www.milkandco.com.au

Got Milk? Milk is a natural line of skin care created by the stunning Lindy and Michael Klim who is most well known for his work in the pool. If you have been reading Beauté Gazette for a while you would know that I am huge fan of Milk's Dry Touch Sunscreen (read here!) which is a summer beach bag staple for me. Since Milk's launch it has expanded from just Men's skin care and sunscreen to natural products for babies and children and now Milk for Her! I was so excited to have the opportunity to interview Lindy about Milk, she was incredibly graceful and talked me through the new line:

Beauté Gazette: I first fell in love with Milk's Dry Touch Sun Screen, it has an incredibly different texture, smell and absorbency to traditional sunscreens, what was your original idea when creating it?

Lindy: It was a new formulation from the company that develops our products that they were working with and it had never been used before. They asked me to come in and see if I liked it. Myself having a darker complexion regular sunscreens always gave a white cast to my skin because of the zinc. So with the dry touch formulation I fell in love with it straight away, it sinks into the skin so quickly without any work and is hardly noticeable. And then we added the Tea Tree which is  fantastic ingredient for Summer to keep away bugs.'

BG: I love Milk's packaging, it's so refreshing to see a brand on the larger market scale which isn't gaudy and highly branded, something which will look great in bathrooms for men and women....

Lindy: That's something that when we were designing the men's range we wanted, the original design was shaped to look like a whiskey bottle. I like beautiful things and at the time of developing it I didn't see why men couldn't use products that looked good in the bathroom as well as work on their skin, we wanted to keep the products natural and the design simple. 

BG: The whole range of Milk for her products are made up of 95% naturally derived ingredients, how important is that for you?

Lindy: It's really important for me, there are so many chemicals out there in the world, if you are using a natural product its going be in no way harmful to your skin for the majority of people. For me its not about how many products you use because the market is saturated. Its about bringing it back to basics, I use the Milk for Her Face Cleanser and Ultra Light Moisturiser during the day and mostly at night I use rose hip oil.

BG: Were you a skin care and beauty junkie before you designed the range, because it would be and beauty junkies idea of heaven to design their own range.....

Lindy: Yes, I was a big beauty junkie.... I still am. I love Mecca and buy so many products which just sit in my cupboard because I just love looking at them. And my daughter loves it too, we play makeup together all the time. Over time trying so many products with different ingredients and with seeing not much of a result or change in my skin- there were no miracles happening. That's when I thought I am going to try this myself and bring it back to basics when creating the line. Working with chemists to design the line I realised what was going to work in the products and what wasn't. It was so important for me that the products were available for the everyday time poor woman who doesn't have time to shop for skin care in department stores. It is available for her to pick up at her local Woolworths or Terry White chemist when she is doing her weekly shop and the price needed to be accessible for her too, she didn't need to feel guilty she was spending too much money on her skin.

BG: Coming into Summer what are your beauty tips and must have items?

Lindy: I live in Bali full-time but am constantly travelling back to Melbourne for the business so transitioning between hot and cold climates is a nightmare for my skin and there has been a water change in Bali at the moment which my skin has hated. But I would say the best thing to do for your skin would be to stay hydrated all the time. Especially with summer coming up, using the Milk Body Scrub with the Coconut and Rose hip oils which will exfoliate and hydrate your skin at the same time and then topping up with the body oil out of the shower. The Ultra Light Moisturiser is an amazing for your face, it sinks right in and you can feel it hydrating right away.

With the very beautiful and tall Lindy Klim at the Milk for Her press showings.

p.s I would just like to Thank Lindy for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to do this interview, it was amazing to meet you!

xxx Nella

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Skin Care Secrets with Dermalogica's Emma Hobson

My current skin care must have Dermalogica's Ultra Smoothing Eye Serum $69.00

www.dermalogica.com.au

The world of Skin Care is a little baffling for most of us with companies spending millions of dollars in marketing claiming to have invented a face lift in a bottle. As a confused and frustrated customer like many of you out there, it was refreshing meeting Emma Hobson Dermalogica's Education Manager for Australasia. Her take on skin care was very simple and impressive there was no big scentific words or promises of instant change it was about routine and working with your changing skin. Emma kindly answered some of my skin care questions de-coding a lot of skin care buzz words and sharing some of her valuable skin care tips.

There are so many ‘buzz’ skin care words being used to entice consumers at the moment. EG: Peptides, AHA’s, BHA’s  Glocolyic Acid. What are your suggestions that women should look out for when shopping for skin care? 
I am a great believer in you get what you pay for, so look for quality companies that don’t promise the earth with their advertising. If it sounds too good to be true, it normally is!  Peptides are fantastic ingredients so it is good to have these in your products, but don’t get caught up on the hype of just one ingredient - you need well rounded products that address your complete skin care needs. For example, a person concerned with ageing who has a sensitive skin needs products that address inflammation and skin sensitisation (this is a given) but they also need to have ingredients that can address hydration, skin texture and prevent premature aging using peptides and anti-oxidants.

Peptides: what are they?
Peptides are signalling molecules, they are made synthetically in a lab and are small protein fragments. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and therefore peptides, the amino acids are constructed into chains to create a protein/peptide. The structure and order of the amino acid chain created to make the peptide will then determine the response the peptide has on a human cell. Change the order or number of amino acids on the chain and you will change the response in the cell. But it is important to note that not all peptides are created equal, some are much  more effective than others because the peptides are made synthetically, so the ‘quality ‘of the ‘science’ that creates them is immensely important.

And what are they going to do for my skin?
They are often termed ‘the work horse’ of a product as they have such a definite and dramatic impact on the skin and can evoke various reactions. They can, for example, stimulate collagen synthesises, act as sugar traps to prevent GAGS (glaciation of the proteins in the skin) that leads to premature ageing and they can control melanin formation in the treatment of hyper-pigmentation.

Acne breakouts for women in their mid to late 20’s and 30’s, should treatment be differently to a teen acne treatment?
Clinical studies indicate that between 40- 55% of the adult population in the 20-40 age group are diagnosed with a low grade, persistent acne and oily skin. The primary aggravating factor leading is stress and hormonal fluctuations. Adult acne tends to have more inflammation and less congestion (blackheads and under the skin congestion) and a more sensitised skin. It is essential to find products specifically designed for 'adult acne/skin congestion' and avoid  the ones for resilient teenage acne. The reason being, teenage products tend to be addressing a very oily, thickened skin (which adults don’t normally suffer from) whereas products designed for adult acne focus on healing the persistent lesion, treating the inflammation and also addressing the other issues an adult skin can suffers from. I’d advise you seek out products that are medicated and will gently clear the skin and contain a powerful mix of anti-inflammatories.

When using an Acne focused products, how is it best to keep using Age defence products at the same time?
If you are using products designed for adult acne they are extremely easy to integrate with your age defence products. It is very easy to keep using targeted serums, eye care products, spritz toners whist combining these with antibacterial cleansers, targeted spot treatments, and treatment moisturisers. Ideally you should consult your professional skin therapist to seek their advice as to how best to integrate your products to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Exfoliants: Can exfoliant be damaging to the skin if it is granulated? 
Exfoliants can be irritating and sensitise the skin if used incorrectly. For example, using the wrong type of exfoliant for your skin condition or incorrect product use by yourself (including the frequency at which you use the product). It is advisable to only exfoliate 2 to 3 times per week and not on consecutive days. Granular exfoliants can be used on an oily skin with under the skin congestion, but not on inflamed lesions (spots), as this could cause increased irritation and inflammation as well as the possibility of spreading the bacteria from one lesion and creating another!

Can exfoliants be used to treat acne breakouts?
Yes they are an integral part of the successful treatment of acne. As previously mentioned, non-abrasive exfoliants should be used such as hydroxy acids or digestive enzymes. One of the best exfoliants to use on breakouts is Salicylic acid - a beta hydroxy acid.

For newbie’s to Dermalogica, what are your star products and what would you recommend for someone trying out the brand for the first time?

For all skin types the PreCleanse, a true cleansing genius. Total Eye Care SPF15 a super hero eye care product . Multi-Active Toner and Skin Hydrating Booster which both are tremendous for rehydrating a lack lustre skin.

For a normal to combination skin you can’t go past Special Cleansing Gel,  Daily Resurfacer and Skin Smoothing Cream.
For an oily skin it has to be Dermal Clay Cleanser, Gentle Cream Exfoliant and Active Moist.
For adult acne from our MediBac system; Clearing Skin Wash, Overnight Clearing Gel, Oil free Matte SPF30

For Age defence from our AGE Smart system; Skin Resurfacing Cleanser, MultiVitamin Power Serum, Dynamic Skin Recovery SPF30
For sensitised skin from our UltraCalming system; UltraCalming Cleanser, UltraCalming Serum Concentrate and  Super Sensitive Shield SPF30.

 For more information please visit www.dermalogica.com.au or visit your closest Dermalogica counter to speak with an expert.

I would like to thank Emma for taking the time to answer these questions.

xxx Nella

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