Beauty Review: May Lindstrom’s The Jasmine Garden

May Lindstrom’s The Jasmine Garden might be one of my favorite beauty discoveries of the last year, simply because of the joy it brings each time I mist it on my face. But let’s back up here a second. Do you like the smell of jasmine? I do — it’s easily one of my favorite scents (and teas!) in the world. Do you like facial mists? I typically don’t. With the exception of Avène’s thermal spring water (a cult fave for a reason), most facial mists have always made my skin break out, or irritated it in some way. With naturals especially, the mix of oils sprayed on my skin never seemed to do anything. But I was willing to give May Lindstrom’s facial mist a try, not only because of the rave reviews, but because that’s how much I adore the scent of jasmine.

To say I’ve been pleasantly surprised is an understatement! This particular spray hasn’t made my skin break out at all; in fact, combined with virtually any other product I’ve combined it with, I credit it for keeping my skin soft and hydrated throughout the day. The spray is comprised of a mix of water, witch hazel, jasmine (of course!), and oil extracts from rose, ylang-ylang, and even cocoa. Uniquely, the spray also includes colloidal silver. While the oils form a protective layer to seal in moisture, colloidal silver has anti-bacterial properties, which can help prevent any blemishes from dirt or bacteria you might encounter during the day.

How do I use it? A few different ways: once I’m done applying makeup, I’ll use it to set everything and give that final dewy glow. I’ll use it at night, after moisturizing, to seal everything in. Sometimes I’ll apply a spritz during the day too, if my skin feels a little dry or I need a quick aromatherapy pick me up. That’s the other thing — the scent! I normally HATE anything that has vanilla notes, but it doesn’t bother me in this. The fragrance of this spray is like walking through some tropical forest. It’s very lush and exotic and sensual. The jasmine is definitely there, but it’s less perfume-y than you might expect — you really get the aroma of cocoa and vanilla too. Even better is that all the fragrance comes from the oils; there are no artificial ‘parfums’ in sight.

At $60, it’s an expensive facial mist, to be sure. But I would definitely repurchase it again, because besides giving my skin a little moisture and anti-blemish boost, this is one of those products that brings so much pleasure each time you use it. Each morning, I realized I was looking forward to finishing my makeup so I could spray this on! My day wasn’t feeling complete without that Jasmine Garden scent. That’s how you know you’ve found a product you really love. I’ve been enjoying it even more as we approach summer — something about it feels like such a vacation. I imagine it’d feel divine if left in the fridge for a few hours, then spritzed on the face, neck, and chest!

Now, you might recall from a previous mention of recent beauty products that when I ordered The Jasmine Garden, I had also ordered May’s Blue Cocoon, kind of a hallmark product for the brand and one that’s received a lot of hype.

When I received it, everything about the product seemed on point. Like all May Lindstrom products, the packaging was divine, and the color of the product (from the blue tansy!) was incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, Blue Cocoon made me break out! I’ve since begun to suspect that I have an aversion to shea butter, specifically when it’s on my face. It’s too bad because the product really was lovely, but my skin was just not having it. A few of you had asked me about it, so I figured I’d follow up with a verdict: sadly, Blue Cocoon wasn’t for me. Beyond the breakout though, I will also say I didn’t love the scent of that particular product as much. Here, the mix of cocoa butter, baobab oil, and scents of myrrh and Frankincense were, shall we say, a bit strong for me. And they reminded me of that awful incense I hated when I went to mass growing up. So yeah, for the price, a total bust. Luckily, I could return it through Beautylish, a major plus!

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in other news…

One other little beauty update: my buddy Jackie alerted me to the fact that a Credo Beauty just opened up in NYC! So if you’re a New Yorker and interested in truly natural beauty products, be sure to check them out — I shop at the SF location regularly, as they stock SO many great brands, all across the price spectrum. The addy is 9 Prince St., in Nolita (my old sub-let ‘hood!).

Second, oh hello, welcome to the new site! I hope you like it. A couple quick things to point out: you can search the site for anything you’d like by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the left near the top of the blog home page, or by clicking on ‘search’ in the scrolling navigation bar up above. And comments are still here too — simply click on the little thought bubbles above the social sharing icons near the bottom of each post, or click into the post itself. I’ve kept the design as simple and minimal as possible, forgoing a sidebar, so we could just get right to chatting. Be sure to hop over to the Studio side as well, to see what I’ve been up to!