Strengths: Excellent pressed powders, powder blush, eyeshadow, and lip gloss; some good cleansers and makeup removers; the sunscreens for the body (except for the one that encourages tanning).
Weaknesses: Blatantly dishonest claims; several products contain irritating ingredients, including volatile fragrance chemicals; no products for managing acne or skin discolorations; jar packaging; most of the mens products are terrible; bar soaps; average moisturizers, including some with disappointing SPF ratings; lackluster masks; the foundation primer contains potent irritants; standard eye pencils; the tinted moisturizer with sunscreen; some of the plant extracts are from endangered species of plants.
Korres is a Greek cosmetics line, and if memory serves, I believe this is the first line from that country Ive ever reviewed, and given how long Ive been reviewing products, thats saying something! The line was started by a husband and wife team, George Korres (a pharmacist) and his wife Lena. They wanted to build a product line based on the principles of homeopathy, a form of alternative medicine involving the administration of various herbal tinctures. As the story goes, the products concocted in the couples Athens pharmacy became a hit with the locals and within a few years the Korres skin-care and makeup product line was created-its concept being to take a natural approach. Now, where have we heard that before, h-m-m-m-m, let me think, oh yeah, EVERYWHERE!
Homeopathy is a specific style of alternative medicine that is far more a mystery than science because very little research exists proving its efficacy. Plus, none of the studies have been duplicated, and one study alone proves nothing. Anecdotally, there are followers who strongly believe in this method of healing. The theory behind these treatments assumes that you can treat disease with minute amounts of watered down substances that are meant to cause effects similar to the diseases symptoms. You then build up an immunity to these effects, and then to the disease, much the way you would with an inoculation. Even if this were the case, however, skin care in general is unrelated to a disease state.
In terms of natural, Korres formulas are indeed packed with plant extracts, a veritable cornucopia of plants that make it sound more like youre wandering in an arboretum than looking at a skin-care product. As attractive and natural as the ingredient list appears, there is no research whether or not these combinations have any impact on improving the appearance of your skin. Alternative medicine is certainly an option, but without more evidence you are spending a lot of money hoping you will get results. Cleaning skin, exfoliating, reducing skin discolorations, protecting skin from the sun, reducing acne, and giving skin the substances it has lost as a result of sun damage is not alternative, it is mainstream knowledge, and the ingredients that do these things can be natural or synthetic.
If anything, what you end up getting from many Korres products are ordinary formulations with a mix of questionable exotic and ordinary plant extracts. While Korres boasts of not using synthetic ingredients in their products, they actually use quite a few, making lots of their products about as natural as polyester. They also include plant extracts that are problematic for skin. What is it with these companies, claiming that their products are all natural and claiming that they exclude all the evil synthetic ingredients other companies use, but then they turn right around and include those synthetic ingredients that they claimed were bad for your skin?!
There also are other problems with Korres products that are just foolish and speak to the lack of science on any level in the formularies (e.g., jar packaging that wont keep the plant extracts stable and below-par sunscreens-I mean really limited sun protection, which is just dangerous). All of the salespeople I encountered at Sephora (the primary sales location for Korres products in the United States) echoed the same sales pitch, that Korres is as natural as picking an apple from a tree; but I wouldnt sit down and eat these as a snack, thats for sure.
Overall the Korres skin-care options leave much to be desired, especially if youre trying to avoid irritating ingredients or are struggling with acne, rosacea, or skin discolorations. Some of the sun protection products are sketchy due to their below-standard SPF ratings (so much for homeopathy and alternative medicine being good for skin; this is bad medicine from any perspective). However, Korres did hit several home runs with their makeup, and the price point isnt unreasonable.
For more information about Korres Natural, visit
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Rating
Product
Brand
Category
Price
Size
Excellent / Pricey
Abyssinia Oil Volumising/Strengthening Mascara
Korres Natural
Regular Mascara
$20.00
Excellent / Pricey
Blush
Korres Natural
Powder Blush
$22.00
Excellent / Pricey
Cherry Full Color Gloss
Korres Natural
Lip Glosses/Lip Tints/Lip Stains
$16.00
Excellent / Pricey
Eyeshadow
Korres Natural
Powder Eyeshadow
$16.00
Very Good / Pricey
Ginseng Mens Cleanser
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$16.00
5.07 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
Guava Lipstick
Korres Natural
Cream Lipstick
$22.00
Very Good
Lip Butters
Korres Natural
Lip Balm Without Sunscreen
$9.00
.21 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
Milk Proteins 3 in 1 Cleansing Toning and Eye Make-Up Removing Emulsion
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$21.00
6.76 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
Milk Proteins Cleansing & Demake Up Wipes
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$12.00
25 wipes
Very Good / Pricey
Monoi Oil Bronzing Powder
Korres Natural
Bronzer
$28.00
Excellent / Pricey
Multivitamin Compact Powder
Korres Natural
Pressed Powder
$28.00
Very Good / Pricey
Pomegranate Cleansing & Make Up Removing Wipes
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$12.00
25 wipes
Very Good / Pricey
Provitamin B5 & Rice Bran Mascara
Korres Natural
Regular Mascara
$18.00
Excellent / Pricey
Rice and Olive Oil Compact Powder
Korres Natural
Pressed Powder
$28.00
Very Good / Pricey
Sugar Crystal Cream Multivitamin Skin Shield
Korres Natural
Moisturizer without Sunscreen
$39.50
1.7 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
Sweet Orange Sunscreen Emulsion Face & Body SPF 15
Korres Natural
SPF 15-29 Sunscreen
$23.00
5.07 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
Thyme and Sage Facial Gel Cleanser
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$21.00
5.07 ounces
Very Good
Watermelon Sunscreen Face Cream SPF 20
Korres Natural
SPF 15-29 Sunscreen
$25.00
1.69 ounces
Very Good
Watermelon Sunscreen Face Cream SPF 30
Korres Natural
SPF 30+ Sunscreen
$28.00
1.69 ounces
Very Good / Pricey
White Tea Facial Fluid Gel Cleanser
Korres Natural
Cleansers/Soaps
$21.00
6.7 ounces
Excellent / Pricey
Wild Rose Compact Powder
Korres Natural
Pressed Powder
$28.00
Very Good / Pricey
Wild Rose Foundation SPF 20
Korres Natural
Liquid Foundation w/ Sunscreen
$28.00
Very Good / Pricey
Wild Rose Imperfection-Targeting Oil
Korres Natural
Specialty Skin Care Products
$25.00
.06 ounces
Copyright 2002-2010 Paula's Choice. All rights reserved.
Lush At-A-Glance
Strengths: None OK, they do offer complete ingredient lists in their newspaper-like catalog.
Weaknesses: Almost every product contains at least one potent skin irritant; no sunscreens to be found, nor are they recommended by the company; no products to address common skin conditions such as acne, hyperpigmentation, or eczema; jar packaging; this isn't skin care, it's fragrance dressed up with food ingredient posing as skin care!
With its beginning in England in the late 1970s (the company that later became Lush sold their first products to none other than The Body Shop!) this line captured consumers attention with the promise of hand-made cosmetics, and since then has had its share of ups and downs. After closing down for a few years (when they were known as Cosmetics to Go), they reemerged in England as Lush, and now have a global presence and booming mail-order business. Not bad for a shop whose layout and displays look more like a grocery stores than a slick cosmetics boutique.
Natural is a major theme here, and I mean major. Essential oils and perfumes are infused into everything; walking into one of these stores will knock you over if you have allergies or a sensitive nose. The unique angle youll find here is that Lush sells skin-care products the way grocery or health food stores let you shop for bulk food items. You can scoop the stuff up yourself from bins and tubs, or buy prepackaged items, some of which are refrigerated to supposedly ensure freshness (though cold is no more helpful for skin-care formulas than heat is).
Even more eye-catching are the shapes, sizes, and decorations for the numerous Lush bar cleansers. These are nothing short of artwork and are either beautiful or fetchingly cute. As clever as all that is (and some of the product names are adorably witty), none of it is at all helpful for skin. Lushs lineup for facial care is one of the most disappointing, lacking, and problematic. Most of their products are prime examples of natural not being inherently better for skin. Lots of natural ingredients (including many antioxidants, such as green tea or pomegranate) are good for skin. Why Lush overlooked almost all of the beneficial options in favor of harmful ones is a question worth asking, but dont expect a straight answer. The staff at Lush stores eagerly supports the companys claims that lemon and lime can decongest oily skin, or that tiger lily can tighten skin tissues, among other far-fetched, unproven assertions. It seems that at Lush all you need for healthy, radiant skin are fragrant oils wrapped up in beguiling stories of how the product came to be or what else its good for (it is suggested that one of their moisturizers can also be used as fragrance). The lure of the natural is strong for many consumers, but the siren song Lush sings isnt a tune your skin wants to hear.
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