PRODUCTS I LOVE AND BELIEVE IN : THE GLOW RECIPE AVOCADO MELT SLEEPING MASK
Avocado Eye remains a fave of mine since my first day at Kiehl’s in 2002.
When I first started working at Kiehl’s as the 150-year-old company’s first-ever copywriter at the time, we had just launched the now iconic Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado. Funny, looking back on it now — we never called it that. I had to look at the jar just now to be sure I got it right. All these years later, my beloved “Avocado Eye” is still a fave. Actually, I appreciate it now more than ever. Why? Because I know so much more about skin care and skincare ingredients than I did on that fateful day in May 2002. I now know that Avocado Eye is one of the best eye cream formulas on the market — and has been for nearly two decades. No fragrant plant oils, no denatured alcohol — just lots and lots of replenishing plant oils like Avocado Oil, Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter. I remember being so mesmerized, too, by its unique quick-break technology. As you lightly spread it around your eyes, you would feel the formula transform as the oil molecule broke and the water molecule inside burst open. It was so ahead of its time.
Rich in replenishing plant oils, Kiehl’s Avocado Eye is an icon today.
I heart avocado. 🥑🥑🥑
Funny, I don’t remember avocados much from my childhood. I grew up in CT in the 70s and 80s and avocados just weren’t a thing like they are now. Back then, they were rare, exotic and wayyyy too expensive to enjoy on the regular. It wasn’t until I moved to LA after college that I first discovered avocados. Of course, it was through my intro to Mexican food and chips and guac! At some point on warm LA weekends living in my $650/month Hollywood studio, I started making what I called avocado scramble for breakfast. My uber healthy avocado scramble was essentially firm tofu mashed up with a fork and mixed with sliced avocado and sautéed shallots. Warm corn tortillas and Cholula hot sauce were mandatory. It was my Saturday and Sunday morning breakfast ritual, along with half a papaya or a mango. For some reason, when I got to NYC I stopped making my avocado scramble. I guess it was an LA thing. Now, it’s all about the avocado toast…
I love avocado toast as much as anyone!
And that brings me to my latest skincare discovery that I’m going batshit crazy over. The new Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask is like a rich avocado paste for your face.
Ohhhh wait a sec, Glow Recipe…
AVOCADO MELT SLEEPING MASK
The tasty paste…for your face.™
For real though.
This sleeping mask is an incredible formula. I can’t remember the last time I was so excited to go to bed. When I was a kid, I would sometimes race to bed at like 7:30 on Christmas Eve so that I could make Christmas morning come faster. Now? Well, I’m not racing to get to bed, but I’ve been looking forward to my PM skincare ritual even more because Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask is the last step. I’ve always kind of slept like a baby, and now I wake up looking like one too! Haha
There are certain key ingredients that I don’t ever want to be without — because they’re so great for overall skin health. The list includes Vitamin C, Honey, and all forms of skin-replenishing non-fragrant plant oils like Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter and, yes, Avocado Oil! And this rich, creamy sleeping mask is loaded with Avocado Oil. In fact, the K-Beauty gurus at Glow Recipe packed their latest sleeping mask with four forms of avocado — Avocado Fruit, Avocado Fruit Extract, Avocado Oil and Avocado Butter. They also infused it with Manuka Honey — a particularly beneficial honey native to New Zealand that’s rich in amino acids, peptides, antioxidants — and that has time-tested antibacterial qualities. Honey has been relied upon for its health benefits back to the Roman Empire and even Ancient Greece. There’s an excellent piece on the scientific benefits of Manuka Honey, in particular, here.
Avocado Melt is super creamy and even goes on like a thick, milky looking cream that quickly blends into the skin surface to create the occlusive effect you want in a sleeping mask. I can’t talk about the importance of occlusion enough. Especially when it comes to a sleep mask formulation. I’ve touched on it multiple times and it’s just really become part of my core skincare philosophy — it’s Skincarma!
Again, what is occlusion?
In skin care, occlusion in a formula like a sleeping mask means it prevents water and moisture loss while you sleep by forming a film over your skin that functions like a veil, or a temporary skin layer. It's occlusive because it prevents water from evaporating through your pores into the dry, low-humidity air around you. In the winter, low humidity turns the air into a magnet that literally sucks the water out of your skin layers whilst you sleep. That's why our skin feels drier in winter and why we need richer creams and oils in cold weather. So, by preventing water loss, you're in effect keeping your skin more hydrated, moist and healthy throughout the night.
In addition to those 87 forms of avocado and the golden Manuka Honey, Glow Recipe added in a mild exfoliating benefit in the form of a PHA which, like its big, powerful sister AHA, is a chemical exfoliator that loosens dead surface skin cells to resurface and refresh the complexion. The PHA molecule itself is much larger than, say, a Glycolic Acid molecule meaning it doesn’t penetrate as deeply and is thus far gentler — something very dry skin will appreciate. It also means you’re not overdoing the exfoliating and can use Avocado Melt every night. Plus, there’s a tiny bit of Kaolin clay that Glow Recipe says they included to “help balance skin and make pores super happy.” Kaolin does indeed help to clarify pores and since I’m always concerned about clogging my pores, especially the Guinness Book of World Records sized pores on my nose, I really appreciate the added benefit.
Honestly, the world record for pore size goes to me!
Zero fragrance, zero mineral oil, zero denatured alcohol and 74% avocado content means the Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask is as gentle on your skin as that satin pillow case you splurged on during Black Friday.
Is it time for bed yet?
🖤 SKINCARMA
Orpheus and I are ready for bed!
📺 Watch my video review of the Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask on my YouTube channel. (And please subscribe!) 🙋♂️🙋♀️
The Ingredient List of the Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask:
Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Water, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Water, Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Water, Aniba Rosodora (Rosewood) Wood Extract, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetyl Alcohol, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Butter, Honey, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Oil, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Stearic Acid, Gluconolactone, Kaolin, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Spirulina Platensis Extract.
The Ingredient List of the Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado:
Water, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter / Shea Butter, Butylene Glycol, Tridecyl Stearate, Isodecyl Salicylate, Peg-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Persea Gratissima Oil / Avocado Oil, Isocetyl Stearoyl Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Dipentaerythrityl Hexacaprylate/Hexacaprate, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Magnesium Sulfate, Phenoxyethanol, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium Pca, Ozokerite, Methylparaben, Tocopheryl Acetate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Disodium Edta, Copper Pca, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Zea Mays Oil / Corn Oil, Beta-Carotene.
