Fresh from New Zealand : Kiwi fruits, Manuka Honey and Snowberry Beauty Natural Skincare

I’d never really associated New Zealand with skincare. Its strange you know. With all that clean fresh air, clear sparkling water and interesting local plants, I’d expected them to have more natural and organic skincare in the market. Perhaps they do, and I just don’t pay attention. Well, my attention was recently drawn to a premium skincare brand from New Zealand which is as natural as it can be. Its Snowberry Beauty, and I’ve had the opportunity to give some of the products a go, thanks to Helen of Pure Tincture.

Snowberry Beauty hails from Auckland, New Zealand. I adore their clean packaging with brightly coloured images on the box. For some reason, I found it very Swedish (think Ikea) LOL! Don’t you get that vibe? And when I line up the boxes of different products, it almost seems as though the images line up to tell a story of a girl sitting in a garden, surrounded by flowers and chirping birds 🙂

I was introduced to the Bright Defence range of products which consists of a Face Serum, Day Cream and Night Cream. The Day Cream comes in 3 formulations to suit most skin types. I like that. Its thoughtful and a realization that not all skin is made equal 🙂 Bright Defence is, as the name implies, targeted to treating skin discolouration and evening out skintone.

Let me share my thoughts quickly on the products I used 🙂

The bottles are a little more plain, after the bright packaging. A bit of a let down LOL

But the drawings are still pretty nonetheless. The colours actually depict the range the products come under. Blue is for the Bright Defence line, green is the cleansing range, purple for the Cellular Renewal range and red for the Nourishing range. So its quite clever. You can tell which range it comes from just by glancing at the bottle.

Snowberry Beauty Instant Deep Cleanser – S$83

This product is supposed to be a face cleanser and makeup remover. The texture is that of a thick orange coloured gel-lotion and it comes in a pump bottle. I ran into problems because for some reason, I couldn’t pump out anything and when I opened up the pump cap, I realised there was no tube inside. No wonder nothing came out. I solved the problem by turning the bottle over and I could use the product thereafter, provided I kept it upside down – gravity you see. But I’m almost sorry to say this. I didn’t like it. It feels like you’re rubbing a thick oil gel on the skin and I can never seem to use enough. I couldn’t get it to remove my makeup properly, and after rinsing, my skin felt quite oily with a residue that I had to use a regular foaming wash to get rid of. I just couldn’t bring myself to like it. There was a scent I’m not familiar with, but again, I wasn’t enamoured by this one.

Ingredients: Melia azadirachta linn (Neem) seed oil, Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) flower extract, Plukenetia volubilis (Inca Inchi) seed oil, Olive Oil sqalane, Passiflora edulis (Passion flower) seed oil, Glyceryl Oleate Citrate, Polyglyceryl-6 Caprylate, Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides & Cymbium grandiforum, Candida Bombiola extract & Glucose & Methyl Rapeseed Ferment, Rubius chamaemorus (Cloudberry) seed oil, Echium plantagineum oil, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Gluten extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis leaf extract, Polydecene & Solanum Lycopersicum (Tomato) extract Lycopene extract,Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Macadamia Ternifolia seed oil, Coleus Forskohili (Coleus) oil

Snowberry Beauty Bright Defence Face Serum – S$93/50ml

This serum has a honey scent to it. The thing I noticed most about the range was that their products are all scented, but its a natural scent, which means it smells herby or flowery but not artificial. This one smelt like honey and the texture is quite thick. A little like clover honey. It took a while to get used to it, but I rather liked it after a spell.

This Face Serum, designed for all skin types, is supposed to safeguard against free radicals and also to reduce discolouration so your skin looks brighter and more even toned. There is black tea extract and vitamin C in there. I quite liked this. I can’t show you that it works – its almost too subtle to notice but I haven’t been using whitening/brightening products for a while, before I started on this one, and I did think it helped with skintone. I took this one with me when I was away on holiday and although I did get a little darker from walking about in the sun, my skin tone was not uneven or blotchy when I returned.

Snowberry Beauty Bright Defence Day Cream No. 2 – S$83/50ml

The day cream No. 2 is formulated for combination skin types. No. 1 is for oily skin and No. 3 for dry skin. I like how they made a formula for every skintype so you can be sure you get something that suits you. This day cream, like the serum safeguards against free radicals and helps promote brighter and more even skintone. Used together with the Face Serum, as I did, I think the whole package does the job. It feels gentle on my skin, not abrasive or harsh or anything, although this being a brightening skincare, with vitamin C in there, I do make sure I use a good sunscreen on top of it.

The fly in the ointment I had with this one, is the smell. It didn’t smell of honey. I can’t describe the scent but I didn’t like it. It didn’t smell good, sadly so I’d have to take a deep breath when I applied it on, hold it in for a few seconds then take a few shallow breaths. It smells a bit musty. It dissipates (thank goodness, or I don’t think I’d have persevered) but I do have to mention it. Since its natural with no perfumes, perhaps its the mix of ingredients that makes it smell this way. It smells natural LOL!

Ingredients: Aqua (Demineralised), Dicaprylyl carbonate, Hydrogentated Lecithin, C12 – 16 Alcohols, Palmitic acid, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel oil, Saccharomyces / Xylinum Black Tea Ferment, Glycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium palmitoylproline & Nymphaea alba flower extract, Glycerine (Coconut), Passiflora Incarnata oil, Glyceryl Caprylate, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Isoamyl Laurate, Sodium Lactate, Sclerotium gum, Octadecenedioic acid, Phormium tenax (Harakeke) seed oil, Rosa Canina fruit oil, Phosphatidylserine, Parfum; p-Anisic acid, Vitis Vinifera (Grape Seed) extract, Hydroxyresveratrol, Parfum, Tocopherol (mixed), b-sitosterol, Squalene, Dimethylmethoxy Chromanol, Dimethylmethoxy Chromanyl Palmitate, Tremella fuciformis sporocarp extract

Snowberry Beauty Bright Defence Left – Right : Face Serum, Day Cream No. 2 and Night Cream

Snowberry Beauty Bright Defence Night Cream – S$92/50ml

The night cream in the Bright Defence range does at night, what the day cream does in the day. The texture of the night cream, as with most night creams, is a little heavier but it isn’t very thick. You can see from the swatches above, that the Face Serum is, as I mentioned, like honey, the Day Cream a little more dense, and the Night Cream having the thickest texture (although its not thick per se).

Thankfully, the Night Cream does not have the same scent in the Day Cream that I did not like. It however, did not smell like honey either. It had a different smell to it which, I will say here, does not match that of the Face Serum. So when you layer it, as you should, it can smell a little weird. Texture wise, I found it decent enough. It offered sufficient moisture for an air-conditioned room and used together with all the rest of the range, it seems to does what its supposed to do.

Ingredients: Aqua (Demineralised),  Potassium Palmitoyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Glyceryl Stearate Cetearyl Alcohol,  Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) seed oil,   Vitis vinifera (Grape Seed) paste, Orchid Compound (OS Caprylic/Capric triglyceride & Cymbidium Grandiflorum flower extract),  Cocos nucifera (Coconut) fruit juice,  Glycerine (Coconut), Sodium Lactate, Phormium tenax (Harakeke) seed oil, Dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline, Glyceryl Caprylate, Rosa Canina fruit oil,  Water (Aqua), Glycerin, Avena Sativa (Oat)  Kernel extract, Palmitoyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Phospholipids, Glycolipids, Glycine soja oil,  Glycine soja sterols, Phosphatidylserine,  Parfum; p-Anisic acid, ,Sclerotium gum, Actinidia chinensis extract, Snowberry Fragrance – Coco Snow Parfum, Vitis vinifera (Grape Seed) extract, Tocopherol (mixed), b-sitosterol, Squalene,  Dimethylmethoxy Chromanyl Palmitate

Snowberry Beauty – Overall View

This is my first time trying anything from Snowberry Beauty. I like the minimalistic packaging and fans of natural skincare will like that Snowberry pledges to make their products as natural as possible. There are no parabens, mineral oils, sulfates, or most perceived harmful ingredients and its not tested on animals.

Those who are sensitive to silicones, may also like this because their products contain no silicones either. The range feels and looks very clean and streamlined. The Bright Defence range I tried did seem to do what it was meant to. My skintone looked even before my holiday and after my holiday, although I did get darker from the sun, my skin wasn’t blotchy.

My gripe would be with the scent. I personally feel that if it were possible to control it, that Snowberry Beauty could try to streamline the scent of their products in a range so they don’t clash. I realise its hard to tweak natural products as the scents are all natural, but I’m sure it can be done so they complement each other. A product may be excellent in terms of performance and packaging, but scent is also important to ensure an overall pleasant experience.

I did note one thing – you are to use it up within 3 months. If you use this exclusively, I don’t see a problem. If you don’t then you’d run into problems because 3 months is very short in terms of product lifespan. Still, gotta admit that its pricey. Happily though, Pure Tincture also sells a trial pack at S$49 if you’d like to give some of the products a go. Nothing from this Bright Defence range though, but a decent enough introduction to this brand. You can also see what Vivawoman has to say about the products she tried.

Have you heard of Snowberry Beauty before this? Or perhaps you have tried something from this range that you’d like to share?

Paris B

Snowberry Beauty products are available online from Pure Tincture – based in Singapore. Prices of products are as set out above.