Say “Cheerio!” To The Molton Brown Anti-Ageing Skincare Collection

Though British brand Molton Brown has spent over 30 years enhancing its customers’ shower and bath experiences through its top-notch shower gels, body lotions, bubble baths, hand creams, body scrubs, shampoos and conditioners, it had yet to develop a range of facial care products specifically designed to  battle the skin-aging process. In April, however, the brand unveiled the Molton Brown Anti-Ageing Skincare Collection, a 13-piece range formulated with botanical extracts and minerals meant to target specific problems — from dark under-eye circles to uneven skin tone, puffiness, acne, fine lines and wrinkles, enlarged pores, and chronic dryness. When masterminding each formula, Molton Brown’s scientists explored the beauty regimens of women all over the world, taking note of the local plant and fruit extracts they utilized for their skin care routines. This global approach to skin care research, then, yielded a list of exotic ingredients ranging from malachite stones unearthed in Zambia to rose hip oil extracted from Chilean roses, pink grapefruit grown and harvested in Madrid, tamarind fruit grown in India, mango from Africa, and Peruvian maca root. Perhaps most impressive, Molton Brown doesn’t market its products with exaggerated claims about making you look ten or fifteen years younger within a 4-6 week span, nor does it weave similarly ludicrous tall tales for the sake of moving more units. Instead, it humbly invites customers to try their products and judge the results for themselves, making sure to follow a specific regime and to select products targeting their specific concerns.

In typical Molton Brown form, the packaging of the products in the Anti-Ageing Skincare Collection is sleek and elegant, but there’s a minimalist approach to this particular collection’s aesthetic, a modern simplicity created via white tubes, bottles, and boxes with teal blue lettering and touches of silver (particularly along the caps). As soon as you see the products, you can imagine finding them in a luxury hotel, propped atop a marble bathroom counter, two perfectly folded, fluffy white towels stacked nearby.

The collection kicks off with two facial cleansers — the Kalahari Melon Cleansing Fluid ($48 at MoltonBrown.com), formulated for normal to dry skin and featuring fatty acid-rich kalahari melon seed extract, moisturizing apple seed oil, and vitamin E-rich safflower oil; and the Malachite Cleansing Gelle ($48 at MoltonBrown.com), designed for people with normal to oily skin and formulated with antioxidant-rich malachite, purifying lime fruit extract, and pore-minimizing African whitewood bark. Both cleansers, then, are designed to help you get rid of any impurities while also restoring skin to its prime moisture level and protecting it via free radical-fighting antioxidants.

Next, the collection offers two alcohol-free toner options: the Tamarind Fruit Refining Toner ($42 at MoltonBrown.com), designed for those with dry skin and featuring moisture-locking and elasticity-boosting tamarind fruit extract, along with shooting aloe vera, and tripeptides that gently exfoliate the skin and promote cellular regeneration; and, for those with oily skin, the Pink Toronja Refining Toner ($42 at MoltonBrown.com), formulated with pink grapefruit extract, rich in alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) that exfoliate the skin and rife with the antioxidant beta carotene, along with purifying lime extract.

For hydration, the range offers three moisturizer options: first, the Rosa Fruit Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme ($98 at MoltonBrown.com), designed for oily skin and featuring conditioning rosa fruit, purifying and pore-minimizing African whitewood tree bark, skin firming oat extract, and tetra and oligo peptides to reduce the appearance of fine lines; Creole Grass Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme ($98 at MoltonBrown.com), designed for dry skin and featuring Creole grass, said to firm the skin an minimize the appearance of wrinkles, as well as tightening tripeptides and hydrating moringa seed extract; and Peruvian Maca Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme ($98 at MoltonBrown.com), designed for normal skin and featuring skin forming Peruvian maca extract, hydrating tamarind extract, and tetra and oligo peptides.

Since no skin care routine can be complete without a daily sunscreen, Molton Brown introduced the Karanja Tree Sunshield SPF 30 (at MoltonBrown.com), which contains extracts of the seeds from the karanja tree and the pongamia plant plant found in India.Other offerings target more specific areas of concern such as lips, for which Molton Brown designed the collagen-boosting, hydrating and smoothing Pep-Rich Lip Booster ($48 at MoltonBrown.com), and the skin around the eyes, which is de-puffed and brightened with the Vita B3 Eye Concentrate ($69 at MoltonBrown.com).

Three body products, meanwhile, complete the 13-piece skincare and bodycare line.

Now that you have an overview of the collection, let’s talk results! I had the privilege of trying two of the products in the collection: the Molton Brown Vita B3 Eye Concentrate ($69 at MoltonBrown.com) and the Molton Brown Creole Grass Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme ($98 at MoltonBrown.com).

The Molton Brown Vita B3 Eye Concentrate ($69 at MoltonBrown.com) is completely clear and has a gel-like consistency, like a thinner, less sticky version of Krazy Glue.  When you apply it to the skin under the eyes, you’ll feel a suction-like sensation, as if that skin were being pulled tight by a vacuum (minus the pain such an experience would involve, of course!). This feeling is accompanied by a cooling sensation akin to when you apply aloe vera to skin after a day sunbathing at the beach. This firming action is the result of a tetra-peptide complex which, of course, tightens the skin under the eyes, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and reducing puffiness. A combination of Vitamin B3 and ash bark obtained from Prague, meanwhile, is designed to diminish any darkness under the eyes, brightening this problematic area so you’ll look alert, bright-eyed, and revitalized. From my experience, the eye concentrate works well as a quick fix — particularly when tackling puffy and swollen eyes. I found it less successful in tackling dark under-eye circles than puffiness but, that being said, it did fare well in terms of tending to the latter problem. Still, though the formula does temporarily firm the skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines, it doesn’t trigger any further activity at the cellular level, so that it’s not stimulating collagen or elastin production in order to guarantee long-term anti-aging results. To get such results, I’d recommend applying the Vita B3 Eye Concentrate and then following this step with an anti-aging eye cream like the Estée Lauder Time Zone Anti Line/Wrinkle Eye Cream, the La Mer The Eye Concentrate, or the Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream.

Moving on to the Creole Grass Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme ($98 at MoltonBrown.com), I must profess my love for this deliciously velvety moisturizer. Since I have rather dry skin, this moisturizer proved to be just the ticket for me. The formula incorporates something called Brazilian Creole grass extract, which is said to make the complexion appear taut and smooth, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Now, admittedly, I have yet to find any research on Creole grass or on the medicinal properties of the Creole grass bud extract but, based on the cream’s active ingredient list, it seems to be another term for the  acmella oleracea, a flowering herb native to Brazil and known for having analgesic properties. Other ingredients include: moringa seed extract, which has an oleic acid concentration of 72%, making it ideal for skin rejuvenation and moisture retention; shea butter, a popular skin conditioner and moisturizer; raspberry seed oil, which contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, along with alpha and gamma tocopherols and carotenoids, making it an excellent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent; and honeysuckle extract, which is rich in vitamin C, helping to brighten the skin, protect from free radicals, and boost collagen synthesis.

The Creole Grass Anti-Ageing Hydra-Creme is remarkably rich, so I’d advise using it sparingly. Ideally, you’ll want to apply only 2-3 pea-sized drops to your entire face. To make your skin absorb the cream faster, try applying the cream to clean palms and rubbing it gently between your hands until it warms up ever so lightly, then patting it onto your face using your fingertips and drumming your visage in a massage-like motion. It might take a few minutes before the skin absorbs the lotion completely but, once it does, you’ll notice how soft it feels and how comfortable your skin remains throughout the day. Velvety soft skin is in your future, ladies!