The content in this blog post is based on authentic and genuine personal experience and it is written with full honesty. The items mentioned in this blog post are sponsored and this review is not monetarily compensated. As usual, all of my reviews, verdicts and opinions are truthful and will not be influenced by the sponsors/collaborators.
This blog post will start with a product and brand introduction with a first-look review, then it will end with the final verdict.
Mary and May
After my first time hearing about this brand, I went to follow their Instagram account and found out that this brand’s aesthetics and main goals are really speaking to me. I have a huge preference for brands with clean ingredients and sustainable packaging. You can read more about the brand below and feel free to let me know how you think about them.
Mary & May is an honest, clean beauty skincare brand that contains only safe and clean ingredients. They offer sincerity by transparently disclosing accurate effective ingredient information contained abundantly inside each product to ensure effectiveness and outstanding results. Mary & May is dedicated to becoming a partner and a guide in your skincare journey by discovering every woman’s most beautiful self.
*Information are from Mary and May official website.
Mary & May aims for clean beauty that captures good ingredients in full disclosure.
- All ingredients are EWG green grade, animal testing is prohibited, and raw materials that cause skin troubles and irritations such as 16 harmful ingredients are thoroughly excluded. Ingredients with clear skin improvement effects are contained in sufficient amounts to increase immediate effectiveness and create a synergistic effect by combining the best raw materials and technologies.
- They transparently disclose how much of the ingredients are included to encourage healthier and smarter consumption by providing information on ingredients that can be easily understood just by looking at the name of each product.
- Mary & May practices eco-friendly values in an attempt to protect the Earth by using only recyclable paper packaging and eco-friendly soybean oil ink.
- Mary & May started with the belief that different solutions are needed for different skin types and conditions. Rather than pursuing a standardized ideal skin with general, standardized ingredients, we focus on individual skin potential. Mary & May studies each individual’s different skin concerns and proposes a skincare solution tailored to you.
- Mary & May skincare products are divided by functions, so you can easily choose and use solutions and combine them to suit your skin’s concerns, such as whitening, moisture, sedation, anti-aging, and antioxidant. Eight types of serums to choose from according to each unique skin concern can be easily selected by anyone without professional skin consultation and you can choose the serum that suits your condition each day, and layering more than two products to suit your skin condition also made possible.
CLEAN BEAUTY
They aim for a clean beauty regime that excludes harmful ingredients and contains only essential natural ingredients for quick effects.
INNOVATIVE
A functional skincare brand that contains sufficient amounts of ingredients that are sure to be effective through intensive research. Mary and May use only top-quality ingredients to create highly effective skincare solutions.
EFFECTIVENESS
Contains enough active ingredients honestly to increase the efficacy.
INTEGRITY
Transparent disclosure of active ingredient content, providing ingredient information that anyone can easily understand, and reasonable price, so that everyone can access professional products.
CLEAN ENVIRONMENT
The packages use recyclable paper and soybean oil ink to achieve better environmental values.
“by Luna Beauty” had once again blessed another review opportunity upon me with this appealing brand and two of it’s products in the brightening aspects: White Collagen Cleansing Foam and the Niacinamide and Chaenomeles Sinensis Serum.
White Collagen Cleansing Foam
It is a silky foam cleanser that helps skin to increase elasticity and brightening whilst cleansing. It also has Hyaluronic Acid that hydrates the skin.
Key Points: 46.6% Low-molecular Collagen and 1% Niacinamide, non-sensitive to the skin, helps to brighten and increase skin elasticity.
Hydrolyzed Collagen Extract (46.6%), Myristic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Lauric Acid, Purified Water, Beeswax, Dipropylene Glycol, Lauryl Hydroxysultaine, Niacinamide (1%), Glyceryl Stearate SE, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hyaluronate, Fragrance
Niacinamide + Chaenomeles Sinensis Serum
This combination has Niacinamide (melanin-blocker, clear skin, reduce skin problems, sebum control) and Chaenomeles Sinesis Fruit, which is rich in Vitamin C and flavonoid tannin. It helps skin texture to feel smooth and brightens the skin tone.
It absorbs really quickly into the skin without any residue that makes the skin sticky.
Key Points: 93% Chaenomeles Sinesis Fruit Extract, 2% Niacinamide, Helps Build Melanine Wall Defense, Sebum Control, Helps Toning the Skin/
Chaenomeles Sinensis Fruit Extract, Glycereth-26, Niacinamide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Arginine, Carbomer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Caprylyl Glycol
Use during the evening.
Review
The testing of these products was completed within 2 weeks’ time. Everything seemed to be pleasant since the moment of receiving the parcel. Quite frankly, the brand’s aesthetics really never failed to appeal to me.
Let’s talk about the packaging first because that’s the first thing that caught my attention. From the parcel down to the products themselves, they gave me a genuine “sustainable packaging” type of feel. They used paper wrappers instead of bubble wraps. The boxes of the products were made of recyclable paper and the prints were printed with soybean oil ink. A couple of things to note, some of the labels are done with sticker labels but I do want to point out that they have minimized the wastes in packaging more than other brands had done. The cleanser uses plastic tubes but it’s understandable given that the cleanser is very soft and maximum hygiene can be achieved using the regular cleanser tubes instead. The serum uses a matte glass bottle which felt like a really good quality upon touching it and there is also a weight to it.
Apart from the packaging, I very much like the way the content of the products feels on my skin too. I have been using the products for almost 2 weeks now. The overall feeling that both of the products gave me is fresh and breezy. So far, there aren’t any triggers of my eczema and I haven’t had any skin problems that surfaced. I do have a couple of pimples but they could be caused by the hormonal changes in my body. Apart from that, there isn’t any significant problems that happened to my skin.
The cleanser has a faint pleasant smell possibly due to a minor amount of fragrance found in this product. Additionally, there are many acids in this cleanser that are mainly used in soap making (myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and lauric acid) and while they are not a big deal, some users with really dry skin may want to avoid it.
The cleanser is a soft creamy foam cleanser and it dissolves with the water easily and creates a really rich foam. You only need minimal effort to create the foam and spread it across the face. That being said, you only need a very small amount to get it to foam up really well. This means that the product should be able to last longer than 4-6 months depending on the size you squeezed out. The cleanser is a little runnier than usual. If you are traveling with it, do remember to keep it in a ziplock bag. After washing, the skin does feel a tad bit dry but it’s easily solved by using a toner and/or serum. The good thing is that the skin doesn’t feel tightened like harsh cleansers would do.
My skin also felt refreshed after washing. It cleanses the skin really well and this was evidently felt after switching from a superbly gentle gel cleanser to this one. My skin reduced oily clogs and bumps, it became generally smoother and brighter. I no longer feel the need to rewash my face during the middle of the day because it helped cleaning well without cleaning too much. (When cleansing with a harsh and drying cleanser, even though it removes all the oils on your skin, your skin will desperately secrete sebum to replace the necessary sebum that it has lost in order to maintain skin moisture levels.)
I genuinely believe that the items mentioned above are just minor issues that can be solved easily. So, it’s not a big deal.
The serum is a rather interesting product. It has a semi-gel-like texture but it is a little runny too. There are some smaller particles that looked like aloe vera but it’s not. Personally, I used one whole pump for my face and neck. This is different from my other serum whereby they are oil-based or water-based and only a few drops will be enough. Judging from my experience, I think this bottle will finish relatively quicker than my other serums.
There is a faint pleasant smell in this serum as well but I think it is mainly from the fruit extract. Typically, with Niacinamide, you can use the product during AM and PM but apparently, it should only be used during PM. I used it during AM and it was fine, honestly. It was a really simple serum and doesn’t need complicated steps like retinols do.
I love the way it feels on my skin though. It felt so refreshing and moisturizing. There is no sticky residue after it dries down. It spreads so easily on my skin and the absorption speed is fairly quick too. I believe that this item is really great for people who have easily irritated skin that needs to be cooled or soothed. It also helped me to control my facial sebum as I have been undergoing hormonal changes and a lot of stress. It worked well with my EUK134 antioxidant serum as well.
It retails for about RM56 on Luna Beauty (Shopee) and I think it’s worth the ‘go’. Besides, you can use vouchers, collect cashback, and free shipping vouchers too.
Verdict
Overall, I quite like the effects it has on my skin. I truly feel the real and fresh ingredients of these products and they did make my skin brighter as opposed to the gentle skincare set that I have been using (I have been using something else after finishing the products from my last review, which is from COSRX.).
It’s a new brand to be found in Malaysia and I genuinely recommend everyone to give it a try! Let me know how you find them to be.
