Recently I had the opportunity to try a new serum by Subversive Apothecary. This is a company founded by a lady named Britt, who is an obsessive mixer of potions. This serum is her Holy Grail daily anti-aging serum.
The Website Claims:
*Nourish your skin with a potent cocktail of 10 major antioxidants, plus essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Pomegranate, olive, and grapeseed extracts soothe and renew, while actives such as coenzyme Q10, beta carotene, alpha lipoic acid, lycopene, and astaxanthin protect. Ceramides–those critical skin-building molecules that so many skincare formulators ignore–provide transformative relief for dry skin. (Seriously: ceramides alone can make your skin unrecognizably healthier.)
*Free your skin from unwanted fragrance, silicones, parabens, fillers, and petrochemicals.
*Replace your day cream, night cream, eye cream and primer.
The Ingredients are:
Grapeseed Oil; Olive Extract (Squalane); Ceramides; Antioxidant Booster (Pomegranate (Punica Granatum) Seed Oil, Rosehip (Rosa Affinis Rubiginosa) Seed Oil, Alpha-D-Tocopherol (vitamin E), Lycopene, Tocotrienols, Astaxanthin, Lutein, Beta Carotene and Alpha Lipoic Acid); Coenzyme Q10 (Ubiquinone); Soy Lecithin
This is Vegan.
Price:
$48 for 1 fl. oz, $82 for 2 fl. oz
Does it live up to its claims?
Well, I can say that my skin really likes it. It doesn’t irritate my skin or break it out. There’s no awful smell. In fact, it reminds me a bit of putting olive oil on my skin. It doesn’t irritate my sensitive eyes. I actually really like the ingredients and how it absorbs fairly quickly into my skin and leaves it feeling smooth. I’ve used it in the following ways: as a night cream on my face & eyes and as a serum before my daytime moisturizer with SPF. I’ve not tried it as a primer.
Would I purchase?
Probably, provided it was on sale. It’s out of my budget range to purchase it otherwise, as $48 for 1 oz is expensive to me. I like the company’s concept in that they pledge to never manufacure more than 5 products.
Product sent for consideration. All opinions are my own.
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Hello Cotton
eh? Never manufacture more than five products? What does that have to do with anything, lol?
As in, why does that make them better than other companies? I don’t get it :/
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The pledge (linked in this review) clarifies that. It means that they won’t, for example, create a cream for every single body part because it may cause more problems and waste time.
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Oh, OK. Thanks!
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Yes, I like the fact that they’ll basically be keeping their skincare line easy to understand what to use.
I was really surprised after reading all the ingredients that it was vegan. I almost skipped the review entirely because of it–but it is! Wow!
While $48 seems a little steep, I’d probably be willing to pay it if I definitely saw a difference in my skin. If I could tell it was working, noticed smoother, finer, less stressed-looking skin, and particularly if the product lasted me a while, I’d have no problem shelling out.
It is nice that they cap themselves at 5 products. I feel like a lot of companies get in over their heads making tons and tons of products that are not formulated as well as they could be in order to produce them faster and are confusing to the customer (“what’s the difference between A and B?” “Which should I be using, A, B, or C?” “Why are the ingredients in B and D so similar and why do they claim to do different things?” etc)…
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I often get confused when I see 3 different eye creams or moisturizers by the same company, yet they don’t seem significantly different.
I wonder how it will perform if used as a primer?
Hmmmm… $48 is kind of expensive but if it can really serve all those claims then it’s worth it. =)
I really prefer my Fyrinnae or Too Faced primers, so it’s rare for me to put something else to the test!
I’m not a fan of the concept of a single solution for all skin types.
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I like simplicity, which is part of why it is so appealing to me.
It sounds good but I’m not entirely convinced.I think I will wait until I see several good reviews. That is a lot of money to shell out, but I have seen so many other similar products priced at least that much and more often much higher. If it actually works, then it would be worth the money.
Would you be willing to give it a go as a primer and give us an update? I’m a little curious but not dying to know, so if you’d rather not, oh well!
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I’ll try it as a primer and give you all an update.
I did talk to a few friends of mine who make skincare and they were impressed with the ingredients.
I tried this as a primer and it doesn’t really work in that way for me. I have a slightly oily t-zone and it didn’t work like a primer on me and keep that oil at bay.
This product is right up my alley. I like what they have to say on their website and I wish there were more companies defying the lies that the industry has been perpetuating for generations. I agree the price seems steep upfront, but honestly looking at the ingredient list it really isn’t a surprise. Making a product with these ingredients can’t be cheap. Most of us are accustomed to paying really low prices for store-bought bath and body products but they’re cheap because the products are full of cheap synthetic and even toxic filler ingredients that counteract any drop of beneficial stuff that might have been added. Sorry for the soapboxing(no pun intended) lol…It’s just something I’m passionate about. Anyway, I can’t wait ’til I can get my hands on some of this stuff:-) In the mean time, I’m hoping to find at least one other review on it before I make the plunge.
The ingredients are really good quality from what I’ve researched.
I’m glad this serum didn’t aggravate your skin, Phyrra. With that said, I personally find some of Britt’s claims off-putting.
After reading your Yes to Blueberries eye cream review, I gathered that good eye creams are worth investing in, but the “company pledge” link claims that eye creams and lip moisturizers cause more problems than they solve. If “lip moisturizers” are the same as lip balms & moisturizing lippies, I don’t see how the products I use on my lips of all places would exacerbate my current skin problems, much less what products I should be using to protect my lips from peeling and sun damage instead.
I’m not going to go into detail about what claims irk me with respect to my own skin issues, but I think it’s odd that the FAQ page refers to skin type classifications such as normal, dry, sensitive etc. as “pseudoscientific” when dermatologists acknowledge that certain disorders can cause skin to be of a certain type & dermatologists advise their patients to choose moisturizers based on skin type. Are they not scientists?
Given that dermatologists use these conventions, the claim that skin care classifications are bogus appears to be contradicted in the FAQ sentence “Use skin care products that reflect the most current dermatologic studies and include only the gentlest actives.”
I’m not attracted to the serum because I’m not willing to purchase anti-aging products for the moment so I can’t justify the purchase. I also find it curious that the serum is marketed as an anti-aging product and not a skin-balancing product based on the store’s philosophy.
I’m not against using alternative medicine to improve my skin & I can think of some instances where a producer (in some cases a small business owner) makes a highly effective skincare product with natural ingredients based on solid research but I’m not comfortable with the assertion that “one size fits all” when it comes to skincare. Especially when I don’t know what qualifies the owner to be this pushy about it.
While I don’t think that one size fits all (I know it doesn’t especially where my skin is concerned), I do like the idea of a company trying to make fewer product as opposed to the 6 different ones that leave me wondering which I should choose.
From what I’ve been able to research, the ingredients used are good ones. The ceramides are supposed to be expensive and help with anti-aging.