Strawberry, blueberry, cranberry.. but Snowberry. Have you heard of it? A beautiful word that invoke images of small berries as white as snow.

Snowberry. It is the name that attracted me first. Snowberry, such a beautiful whimsical name for a skincare range. The packaging is next to rouse more curiosity. The prices are considered premium but reasonable considering the effort and quality of ingredients put in to create the perfect natural skin care. The philosophy, perfect concoction of ingredients and science gives hope for those looking for a quick effective natural solution to uneven skin tone and ageing skin. It will be touted it as "THE" skincare brand that revolutionize people's perception and belief that natural skincare can work better than any conventional ones. A good hope in a bottle!

BACKGROUND

Snowberry is a premium, natural anti-ageing skin care from New Zealand. Created by cosmetician Soraya Hendesi, and formulated by Dr Andy Lavrent, Snowberry skin care is designed to be highly functional and as natural as possible. Over 90% of its ingredients are natural or naturally derived, the balance are peptides that must be synthesised to ensure their stability in the product and efficacy in the dermis. You may ask if it is organic. It is not organic as it is designed not to be organic but as natural as possible using highly sophisticated functional ingredients that produce results. Snowberry recognizes that to combat aging and keep skin radiant at any age demands a wide range and combination of ingredients capable of countering many types of aging factors such as free radicals, metalloprotineases1, inflammation and Glycation (a process where the ggressive sugar molecules interfere with healthy skin proteins in the detrimental biochemical reaction) Consequently, Snowberry products are characterised by complexes of synergistic and multi-functional ingredients.

THE NAME

Snowberry was chosen as the name because it instantly suggests the purity, freshness, youth and natural origins that sit at the very core of her concept. Snowberry, Soraya says, is ‘authentic skincare’ that women can trust to be both safe and effective, because that is what she wanted for herself, her family and her friends

PACKAGING

'Listen to the World’

Beautiful products deserve beautiful packaging. After a prolonged search, this idea led Soraya fortuitously to London artist, Rob Ryan. With his highly original style involving intense, story-telling paper cut art, Soraya knew instantly that in Rob’s work, she had found the whimsical, idealistic art form that would beautifully complement Snowberry.

Even the packaging is meticulously thought and designed.

QUALITY AND ECO-GREEN

Snowberry has a deep and genuine commitment to extremely high product quality. For this reason Snowberry adheres to its practice of formulating without compromise in terms of cost, while confirming the environmental sustainability of ingredients and Snowberry production. And with the exception of ingredients such as honey and cultured coral, Snowberry contains no animal products and is not tested on animals. Instead, the finest herbal oils and extracts from New Zealand and around the world (some of which are cultivated in the Snowberry Gardens), are combined with the very best peptides, anti-oxidants and brightening agents available from skin science.

SNOWBERRY GARDEN

Snowberry garden is a 22 hectare plantation of native vegetation in Northland. This is where the bio-active ingredients of Snowberry products are researched and cultivated.

This is where Puka, a tree once near extinction, was carefully set in a fertile landscape in New Zealand's subtropical North, Puka is being carefully cultivated to produce the superior emollients and anti-oxidants that are found in the tree's wonderful resin.

It is also the garden where the oil extract of the native New Zealand flax, Harakeke – rich in phytosterols and omega acids, Harakeke provides Snowberry products with powerful, natural moisturising and hydrating properties, is grown.

RANGE

Snowberry’s anti-ageing and brightening products comprises two complementary lines, with one designed to help rebuild the cellular matrix, and the other designed to protect and brighten. The pro-collagen line includes the (1) Intensive Renewal Face Serum, (2) Smoothing Eye Serum, (3) Cellular Regeneration Night Cream and the (4) Nourishing Day Creams (Lite and Rich)

The 'protect and brighten' line is called BRIGHT DEFENCE™ and comprises three Day Creams (Oily, Normal,Dry), a Night Cream and a Face Serum.

These two lines are supported by a superb, natural Everyday SPF15 sun protection cream, Soothing Facial Massage Oil, Instant Deep Cleanser, Gentle Remineralising Toner and Nourishing Exfoliator.

All Snowberry products are certified through the internationally recognised CarboNZero™ programme, to be carbon neutral to point-of-sale anywhere in the world.

There are a total of 15 products in Snowberry range.

PRICES

Their prices range from NZ39 for a massage oil to NZ190 for the intensive renewal serum. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

ABOUT THE BRIGHT DEFENCE LINE

I got this from the literature of the BRIGHT DEFENCE oroduct information booklet. As I write this, I can imagine in my mind all over again, how this cream is working on my skin right now.

BRIGHT DEFENCE™ is a unique anti-ageing, brightening and hydrating line from

Snowberry, comprising three day creams, a night cream and a face serum. Snowberry’s BRIGHT DEFENCE™ focuses on damage prevention. It combines an anti-oxidant cascade with essential vitamins, anti-MMP and anti-inflammatory bio actives that help to reduce damage to the cellular matrix. More specifically, BRIGHT DEFENCE™ is formulated to help prevent the degradation of the key structural proteins collagen and elastin that together form the cellular matrix that gives skin its natural thickness and resilience. In this way, Snowberry offers two critical and complementary anti-ageing solutions. BRIGHT DEFENCE™ helps to protect the cellular matrix while its pro-collagen serums and creams helps in its rejuvenation.

Using a select group of naturally derived brightening agents, these formulations both lighten and reduce uneven skin tone. BRIGHT DEFENCE™ does not bleach the skin but rather, is designed to gently reduce melanin production. For this reason BRIGHT DEFENCE™ is as ideal forbrightening the tone in fair Caucasian skin, as it is for brightening and lightening the complexion of Asian skin.

BRIGHT DEFENCE™ contains:

• NO Petrochemicals

• NO Silicones

• NO Parabens

• NO Hydroquinone or Kojic Acid

• NO Artificial Colouring

And Snowberry does not test on animals.

BRIGHT DEFENCE DAY CREAMS

The BRIGHT DEFENCE™ Day Creams are numbered 1, 2 and 3, and are designed for Oily, Combination and Dry skin respectively. The Day Creams have three key functions:  1. To moisturise and hydrate 2. To brighten and lighten 3. To help prevent free radical and other forms of skin damage

The BRIGHT DEFENCE™ Night Cream, which is for use on all skin types, is designed particularly to soothe and calm the skin. For this purpose the Night Cream contains ingredients such as Dragocalm™, Seppicalm™ and Stimu-tex™ all of which help to counter inflammation, allergenicity and skin irritation. All the creams contain a range of superior herbal emollients, including Rosehip, Grapeseed, Passion Flower and Macadamia, as well as the very special and rich New Zealand Harakeke seed oil, cultivated in the Snowberry Gardens. Each of the Day Creams contains brightening agents including ODA White™, Chromabright™ and Kombuchka, to help inhibit tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for melanin production. A cascade of antioxidants includes Vitamins A, C and E, Grapeseed, Kiwiseed, Grapefruit and Melon extracts, and the super anti-oxidant Lipochroman-6™. to help maintain moisture retention within the dermis, all the creams contain the essential glycosaminoglycan, hyaluronic acid.

BRIGHT DEFENCE FACE SERUM (STAR PRODUCT)

Bright Defence Face Serum is a rapid delivery, intense anti-glycation and anti-free radical formulation that helps to safeguard against cellular damage and reduce the causes of discolouration to produce smoother, fairer and more even-toned skin at any age

While the day cream provides hydration, brightening and anti-radical benefits and the night cream calms inflammation, the face serum has 3 functions: 1. Anti-glycation, 2. Skin brightening 3. 3. Anti-free radical

The Face Serum is uniquely formulated to actively counter the aggressive sugar molecules that interfere with healthy skin proteins in the detrimental biochemical reaction called Glycation. For this purpose the exciting bio active ‘Kombuchka,’ derived from the fermentation of black tea and which has been shown in clinical trials to inhibit the glycation reaction by up to 79%, is at the core of the Serum.

All the BRIGHT DEFENCE™ creams and the serum are designed to reduce and counter skin discolouration, and to actively lighten skin without bleaching or peeling. They do so by reducing the activity of the tyrosinase enzyme responsible for melanin production. Like the creams, the BRIGHT DEFENCE™ Face Serum combines ODA White™, Chromabright™, Vinanza™, Kombuchka™ and Seppicalm™ for this purpose. Clinical trials for ODA White with Asian skin, showed a decrease in melanin synthesis of 22% after 8 weeks and Seppicalm has been shown to inhibit tyrosinase activity by up to 54%.

PERSONAL REVIEW

I have tried their Brightening Defence Line namely the Day Cream No. 2 and Face Serum for almost 2 weeks now. According to their source, I should not expect immediate results because BRIGHT DEFENCE™ does not bleach the skin, the melanin already produced within the dermis must migrate through the epidermis and be shed before the skin lightening effect of BRIGHT DEFENCE™ will become visible. This may take upwards of three weeks, depending on individuals.

SCENT

The scent of BRIGHT DEFENCE Day Cream No. 2 and Face Serum is acceptable. It is not exceptionally great or uplifting. I find the scent nice but flat. This is because they do not use essential oils as fragrance. Snowberry has chosen to include a very light synthetic fragrance in order to neutralise the scent of a combination of natural, functional ingredients. Their fragrance is tested to be hypoallergic and it is used in a range of 0.20% to 0.3% compared to conventional usage of 1.2 to 3% fragrance.

Snowberry did not use essential oils or natural fragrances as they cited that it is natural fragrance that is most often linked to allergens.

From my point of view, I still prefer scent coming from essential oils as I like the effect on my mood. It will be great if the products smells as nice as its name.

TEXTURE

Texture wise, both products scored well. The Face Serum gets absorbed quickly and leaves the skin feeling protected. Even after layering on the Day Cream No 2, my skin does not feel sticky.

EFFECT

On the 2nd day, I "swear" that my skin feels visibly brighter and more radiant. It is so good that I even told my sister about it.  After 2 weeks of usage, I did not experience any break out or bumps on my face. As my skin has been conditioned to organic skin care, I often feel tingling sensation if I apply synthetic products. I do not feel it from using Snowberry though. Perhaps it contains more than 90% natural ingredients and is clinically proven very safe to use. I am hoping that the BRIGHT DEFENCE Line will help to even out my skin tone as I have some mild pigmentation patches under my left eye due to photosynthesis. I gather I will need another 2 weeks time to see real results on the uneven skin tone. Up to now, I am fairly confident that it will help.

P/S: My sister with acne prone, sensitive and easily clogged skin type tried it too. She said "It is good. No breakouts". This is enough for anyone with the worst skin to have hope. Sorry sis!