When it comes to my skin and hair, I highly prefer to use natural products and try to stay away from harsh and dangerous chemicals. Natural skincare is pretty hard to come by in the Netherlands, but every now and then I get the chance to try out products from abroad. I love to test these out for you and let you know whether they’re worth your money!
A little over a year ago I got sent a couple of products from Michael Todd true organics. I said back then that I would update you after I’d used the products for a while, so what better time to do that than after I’ve used them up? I used up a serum and an eye cream, both of which lasted me almost a year. I’m very economic with my use of beauty product so they tend to last me a very long time and often organic skincare goes bad before I use it up, but luckily these didn’t expire and wouldn’t have expired until a few months after I used them up.
Let’s see what I thought about these products!
Michael Todd Concentrated C Antioxidant Moisturizing Serum
This serum promises to use the power of vitamin C to protect against sun damage and reverse signs of aging. They claim it hydrates, restores and fortifies skin, and helps brighten spots.
My skin doesn’t really show signs of aging yet, so I can’t really tell you whether it helps with wrinkles and such. What I can tell you, is that the serum soothes like crazy. It feels very fresh and even though it’s light, it almost feels like it’s healing the skin. It hydrates lightly, which is enough for me. Oftentimes this would be the only thing I’d apply to my face at night! It may be too light for very dry skin, though.
The serum penetrates into the skin very quickly so you can apply the next layer of skincare or your makeup without much delay.
The serum has a gel-like consistency and comes out of this pump. It has quite a strong, citrusy smell that smells very natural, like essential oils.
I used about half a pump per time. You can get most of the product out by using the pump, and after nothing comes out anymore you can unscrew the pump to scrape the last bits out of the packaging.
Of course the no. 1 asset of this serum is that it’s all natural. 70% of the ingredients are organic and all of them are vegan. A huge plus in my book!
The ingredients:
Aloe Barbadensis (Organic Aloe Vera) Juice, Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa Mosqueta (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Emulsifying Wax, Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vitamin C Ester), Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Organic Cranberry) Extract, Rubus Idaeus (Organic Red Raspberry) Extract, Vanccinum Angustifoilium (Organic Wild Blueberry) Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Phenoxyethanol, Essential Oils, Sodium Benzoate, Glucolactone, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Salix Nigra (Black Willowbark) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Oleoresin, Azadirachta Indica (Neem) Oil, Euterpe Oleracea (Acai Fruit) Pulp Powder, Vaccinium Myrtillus (Organic Bilberry) Extract, Saccharum Officinarum (Organic Sugar Cane) Extract, Acer Saccharinum (Organic Sugar Maple) Extract, Citrus Auranium Dulcis (Organic Orange) Fruit Extract, Citrus Medica Limonum (Organic Lemon) Extract, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Organic Cranberry) Extract, Citric Acid
Would I repurchase?
This serum costs $31, which is way above my budget for skincare. Given that I have good skin that isn’t demanding at all, I won’t be repurchasing this product. If you have the money to spend though, I definitely recommend it as it’s a great quality organic serum.
Michael Todd Intensive Organic Cream Eye Treatment
About two weeks before I finished the Concentrated C serum, I ran out of the Intensive Organic Eye Treatment. I have to be honest, although it felt really nice and smelled amazing, I didn’t notice much of a difference in the skin around my eyes. This treatment claims to reduce dark circles and puffiness, but that didn’t really happen for me. Someone said it only worked for them when they used it twice every day and I didn’t do that, so that may have been the reason. Like the serum however, this eye cream was light and soothing. It was nice and creamy but didn’t feel greasy at all and it absorbed into the skin quickly.
I love the packaging. It’s pretty large and bulky considering the amount of product inside, but I don’t travel with it so I don’t mind. I just love the pump with the applicator at the end! It’s easy to get the right amount of product out and you can choose to apply it directly onto the skin, or apply it with your fingers and massage it in. And it just looks very fun :)
This eye cream is 90% organic and all vegan as well.
I looked on their website to find the ingredients but couldn’t find this exact product. They’ve repackaged it and I’m not sure whether they’ve also changed the formula or not, but currently these are the ingredients of the Intensive Cream Eye Treatment:
Organic Aloe Barbadensis Leaf (Organic Aloe Vera) Juice, Olea Europaea (Organic Olive) Fruit Oil, Organic Extracts of Lavandula x Intermedia (Organic Lavender) Flower (and) Aspalathus Linearis (Organic Rooibos) Leaf (and) Calendula Officinalis (Organic Calendula) Flower (and) Organic Aphanizomenon Flos Aquae (Organic Blue Green Algae) (and) Punica Granatum (Organic Pomegranate) Seed, Simmondsia Chinensis (Organic Jojoba) Seed Oil, Emulsifying Wax NF, Water (and) Glycerin (and) Steareth-20 (and) N-hydroxysuccinimide (and) Chrysin (and) Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide- 7 (Eyeliss®) (3% concentration), Glycerin (and) Butylene Glycol (and) Water (and) Carbomer (and) Polysorbate-20 (and) Palmitoyl Oligopeptide (and) Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3 (3% Matrixyl 3000®), Water (and) Glycerin (and) Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone (and) Steareth-20 (and) Dipeptide-2 (and) Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 (Haloxyl®) (3% concentration), Stearic Acid, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Sodium Hyaluronate (Hyaluronic Acid), Tocopherol (Vitamin E) Oil, Xanthan Gum
Would I repurchase?
The price of the old eye cream was $38, the new one costs $48. Again, way over my budget. The cream contains great, high-quality ingredients but given that my skin doesn’t need them, it’s not worth it for me.
Have you considered making your own vit. C serum? It seems that all estheticians and dermatologists recommend using vit. C but commercial serums are not only expensive but questionable for their stability as vit. C oxidizes very quickly, so many are making their own and they are just as effective. It probably wouldn’t be as fancy as the Michael Todd one with all the extracts and powders and oils, but you could probably add something into it here and there, haha, like the aloe or essential oils. All you have to do is buy the vit. C powder (I got some on eBay) and mix it with water to make a basic serum.
Ooh, I may try to crush a vitamin C pill, see what it does :)