I seem to be constantly finding great natural brands thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter! This time it’s Marie Veronique Organics, a US based brand dedicated to using natural, organic and fairtrade ingredients, packaged with 100% recyclable materials wherever possible. For the past few weeks, I’ve been testing out some samples that I was sent from the MVO Everyday Skincare Essentials range* so I now have a good idea of how the products perform for me and my skin.
• MVO Cleanser (120ml $32.00/approx. £19.50) – This has a kind of jelly-like consistency which is different from a lot of the cleansers I’ve tried. To use, you just need to massage gently onto wet skin and rinse. This does say it removes makeup, but personally I found it didn’t remove my makeup too well compared with my usual cleansers so I prefered using this as a morning cleanser instead to refresh my skin. Although it performs well for the morning cleanse, I’m not sure if I would purchase this in future as the scent is a little too strong for me with the palmarosa, vetiver and geranium essential oils.
Ingredients: Camellia sinensis (green & white tea)*, aloe vera juice*, vegetable glycerin*, jojoba oil*, xanthan gum, polyglucose, radish root ferment, gluconolactone (and) sodium benzoate (microguard**), sucrose cocoate, palmarosa essential oil*, vetiver essential oil*, geranium essential oil. *organic, **paraben free anti-microbial agent, 94% organic ingredients
• MVO Mist (120ml $35.00/approx. £21.30) – I liked the mist a lot more than the cleanser (even though the scent is very similar, it doesn’t linger as much). I’ve been spraying it directly onto my face after cleansing, then gently patting into the skin. It definitely felt like it helped to refresh and hydrate my skin.
Ingredients: Camellia sinensis (green & white tea)*, neroli hydrosol, black elderberry extract*, licorice extract*, bearberry extract*, polyaminopropyl biguanide**, saccharomyces/xylitum black tea ferment (kombucha) extract*, dimethylaminethanol (DMAE), rose geranium essential oil, rose essential oil, helichrysum essential oil, lavender essential oil*, turmeric essential oil.
*organic, **paraben free anti-microbial agent, 75% organic ingredients
• MVO Face Oil (30ml $80.00/approx. £48.70) – This face oil worked wonderful magic on my skin! Again I wasn’t crazy on the scent though. I used this amber-coloured oil at night time, massaging a few drops into my skin after using the mist. Each time I used it I woke up in the morning with super soft and smooth skin. I’m pretty sure this even helped to clear up blemishes too!
Ingredients: Jojoba oil*, grapeseed oil*, apricot kernel oil*, meadowfoam seed oil, argan oil*, blackberry seed oil*, borage oil*, emu oil, evening primrose oil*, marula oil*, rosehip seed oil*, tocopherol (vitamin e), black raspberry seed oil, cranberry seed oil*, kiwi seed oil*, sea buckthorn oil*, tamanu oil*, lecithin*, rosemary oleoresin*, lycopene, krill oil, carrot seed essential oil, lavender essential oil*, rosa centifolia (rose) essential oil, rosa damascena (rose) essential oil, rose geranium essential oil, helichrysum essential oil, neroli essential oil, ylang ylang essential oil* *organic, 83% organic ingredients
• MVO Everyday Coverage SPF 30 (60ml $40.00/approx. £24.30) – This was by far my favourite product from the range! It’s a tinted sunscreen that comes in three different shades: extra light, light and medium. The swatches below are the light tint on the left, medium tint on the right.
When I first tipped out these two tints to check the colours they looked almost identical, but once they have time to oxidise there is a distinct difference between the light and medium tints. I’m sure you can tell I’m a bit on the pale side of the spectrum, so I wasn’t sure if the extra light tint would have been better for me, but the light tint actually matched my skin really well once blended out. The medium tint would be a good match for more olive or tanned skin tones, but unfortunately there isn’t a darker option available if you have a darker complexion.
The scent of the Everyday Coverage is much more pleasant to me than the other products. I didn’t expect much in terms of coverage, but was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t as sheer as I initially thought it would be. If my skin was in better condition I would happily wear this by itself, but I’ve been loving the finished look if I layer some mineral foundation over the top. In that respect it acts as a brilliant primer and with SPF30 protection too it’s definitely worth considering as a base for your makeup.
Ingredients: Camellia sinensis (green & white tea)*, jojoba oil*, apricot kernel oil*, meadowfoam seed oil, sunflower oil*, emu oil, vegetable glycerin*, red palm oil*, polyaminopropyl biguanide**, tocopherol (vitamin e), red raspberry seed oil*, lecithin*, potassium sorbate, allantoin, xanthan gum, mica, sea buckthorn oil*, yangu oil, rosemary oleoresin*, pearl powder, carrot seed essential oil, cistus essential oil, helichrysum essential oil, iron oxides. *organic, **paraben free anti-microbial agent, 67% organic ingredients
(Just a quick note that some of this range may not be suitable for vegans as some products contain animal-derived ingredients.)
Have you tried any products from the MVO Everyday Skincare Essentials range before?