Selfishly, I live for an under-the-radar brand. Because then, just like whichever patron saint invented automatically transcribed voicemails, I get to say, “Look! I have given you something that will incrementally benefit your life.” Mary Allan Skincare is the latest in beauty to do that for me.
I first came across Mary Allan Skincare at my favorite and also under-the-radar beauty shop in New York, Takamichi Beauty Room. It was there I learned that Mary Allan cut her teeth as a product formulator at Jurlique, and then went on to a post at Dermalgoica. We’re talking a span of twenty years, and over that time she found a sweet spot in product formulation: natural ingredients married with serious science. Soon, Mary Allan Skincare was born.
Elixir Noir Cleansing Gel is my favorite Mary Allan product, hands down. It goes where few cleansers have gone before: it delivers a clear-pore, perfect cleanse (it really gets in there), it rinses well, and it softens instead of dries my skin. Looking further into her product lineup, both Moisture Molecules serum and Lipids of Youth Hydrating Moisutirizer are packed with not three, but four hyaluronic acid weights. As our President once famously uttered, “this is a big f$ing deal!” This means that both the serum and moisturizer immediately and overtime deliver meaningful hydration to skin, and neither feel heavy or much like anything at all. But wait, there’s more! Moisture Molecules is also equipped with a serving of niacinamide, to keep skin clear as glass, and Lipids of Youth is packed with squalane, three kinds of ceramides, a probiotic, and a dose of seabuckthorn and flaxseed oil for an emollient salve that gives “fancy facial” glow.
Maybe one of her most curious creations is Pressed Flower Milk. Inside each bottle is a who’s who of plant extracts: orchid flower to draw in moisture, grape seed and algae to bolster skin’s ability to protect itself from oxidative stress, and plant stem cell extracts for good measure. The result is a watery milk that looks and feels like a treat for skin. The instant glow is undeniable, but the long game of infusing my skin with so many good-for-yous is what keeps me coming back to it every day.
Other heroes of the line include the Vitamin C Cold Pressed Oil, which employs the “gold standard of vitamin Cs,” Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate. And then there’s the light-as-air Luminisoity Drops, which can turn a diehard oil hater into a lover (whenever I use this I feel just as even-toned as I do when I wear a tinted moisturizer). But the most surprising delight is Mary Allan’s Infused Beauty Water. Let’s not get confused here, we’re talking about a beauty mist. But it’s not only a mist: it smells like a spa and deposits the finest of plant extracts-hyaluronic acid-peptide infused particles. You know when you’re on vacation somewhere warm and breezy and humid, and take a dip in the water? You step out dewy and healthy-looking. Happy. Can you believe Mary Allan bottled that in a spray?
—Ashley Weatherford
Photo via ITG