Acne | Muslimah Beauty

Product of the Month | Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask

It’s not very often that I’ll give a product the title of being my product of the month just a week after using it but, the Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask* is well and truly deserving of the title.

Antipodes is a New Zealand based brand and I attended their UK launch to meet the founder of Antipodes, Elizabeth Barbalich and have a sneak peek at what they have to offer to us Brits. I sat down with Elizabeth to have a chat with her about Antipodes and whether she could recommend me any particular products for my skin concerns and she immediately offered me the face mask to try. She also gave me a routine to try out and it’s been wonderful so far. Elizabeth has a background in science therefore I can most definitely trust her judgement. She recommended me to use the mask by slathering it all over my face as though I’m icing a cake, leaving it on for 15 minutes then washing it off and apply no moisturiser, serum, nada. Just go to bed.

With regards to the condition of my skin, the last time I updated you, my skin was terrible. I’ve been having a cystic breakout across my chin for almost 2 months now and although it’s hormonal acne, the mask has helped my skin tremendously. I honestly have never come across a product that’s helped my skin so much. The first time I tried it, I had a few very painful cystic bumps and a few others that had some to a head. The next morning, those that had come to a head dried out and the ones that were taking ages to form, finally came to a head. No one product has been able to do that for my skin. None!

The mask claims to deeply cleanse the skin, soothe and hydrate with Manuka honey, draw moisture to the skin with ruby red pohutukawa bloom which is one of ‘natures finest antioxidants’. The mask also contains vanilla pod and mandarin, and they make the mask smell absolutely divine. Manuka honey has been quite a craze lately and every brand is jumping on the bandwagon to include manuka honey in their products but, this mask is full of the stuff:

Aqua (water), Leptospermum scoparium mel (manuka honey), Persea gratissima (avocado oil), Glycerine (vegetable), Cetearyl alcohol, Stearic acid (coconut derived), Glycerol stearate (coconut derived), Tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E), Vanilla planifolia (vanilla oil), Citrus reticulate (mandarin oil), Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Daucus carota sativa (carrot oil), Pohutuakawa (metrosideros excelsa) extract, Citrus grandis (grapefruit seed extract), Iodopropynyl butylcarbarnate.

The Manuka comes just second in the ingredients list. Second!! Most products have Manuka extract or it comes way further down in the list but if it comes second in the list to water, then it’s loaded with Manuka honey therefore making it a treat for blemishes and acne prone skin as it’s the most anti-bacterial honey around.

Now every time I try the mask I’m so eager to run to the mirror first thing in the morning to see what my skin looks like now!

The Acne Diaries | 2/3/2012

My skin’s been acting ridiculous for the past few days, I’ve still been breaking out across my forehead and chin and now I’ve got incredibly painful pimples on my chin which hurt whenever I touch them. I went to Dermalogica yesterday and got myself a 20 minute facial which is catered to my individual skin concerns and needs so I had a double cleanse, steam and massage, extraction, face mask and this laser beam machine that makes your skin tingly depending on how congested the area of the skin is. As well as being relaxed, my skin’s a lot better now but there are a few spots that are just begging to be squeezed (graphic details, I know) but I’m trying to resist the urge. I do have work tomorrow morning though, and I’ll be too embarrassed to go work with these spots out there for everyone to see so we’ll see what happens….

The lady who did my facial was really helpful and gave me a few tips on helping my skin and she told me to not exfoliate for a while now as I’m using the Olay Regenerist Night Renewal Elixir which contains glycolic acid as it’s a chemical exfoliant. She also gave me a little insight on my breakouts and told me that my forehead breakouts are related to digestion; she herself suffered from forehead breakouts and once she cut out wheat, they disappeared so she told me to keep a food diary and notice any patterns. I’ve never really thought about food allergies I could be suffering from. Many of us have food intolerances but we just don’t know as we think many of the problems we have such as gas, bloatedness, rashes etc are not food related when they are. So from today, I’ll be keeping a food diary and I’ll be cutting out some particular foods to see how my skin will react. I have no clue as to what it could be but I have a suspicion that it’s white food. Last year I totally cut out white grains and ate nothing but brown bread, pasta, quinoa, millet and all these other healthy things you find in Whole Foods and my skin glowed so I really need to find the motivation to get back to that!