Multitasking Graydon Face Glow Tinted Primer/Moisturizer/Illuminator

So many products are multitaskers these days, and I think that’s a wonderful thing. Gimme all the makeup with skincare benefits or skincare with makeup benefits!

Recently, I got to try new Face Glow Tinted Primer/Moisturizer/Illuminator from indie, natural, clean beauty face and body skincare brand, Graydon Skincare.

About Graydon

Let me give you a little background on Graydon, starting with the entrepreneur who started the business.  First, Graydon is a woman. I don’t know why, but for the longest time I thought Graydon was a man. Wrong, Allison. Oops.

After a childhood in Paris where she not surprisingly developed a passion for food, Graydon returned to the U.S. where she worked in the culinary arts industry in Southern California. As time went on, she also became interested in wellness, and she brought together her key passions: cooking, health and skincare. She was a raw, vegan chef, a certified yoga instructor and the maker of small-batch, plant-based, natural skincare products that were based on skincare ingredients derived from superfoods. As Graydon Skincare has grown, she has maintained her passions and her skincare mission. I’m thrilled to get to try her “plant-powered product”.

What Is Face Glow?

Graydon Face Glow is a primer, a tinted moisturizer and an illuminator. I use it in different ways depending on my needs on each occasion. It’s so versatile!

It comes out of the pump bottle a pinkish taupe shade,

but it doesn’t have a color on my skin once it’s blended. It covers my few remaining freckles, and it tones down my dark spots, though it doesn’t cover them completely. As a tinted moisturizer, it provides sheer to light coverage. So on the days when I’m not doing anything special, I use Face Glow as a tinted moisturizer and add a few dabs of concealer to cover my dark spots.  It also gives my skin the dewy finish that I prefer as well as a lovely glow. If you are a makeup and skincare minimalist, Face Glow would be a perfect multitasking product for you.

Here’s what Face Glow looks like on the back of my hand that has lots of dark spots from sun damage as you can see in the photo above. I haven’t blended it in completely so you can see the tint.

On days when I’m going out, I use Face Glow as a primer. It glides on and feels so smooth. I apply my foundation of choice on top, and Face Glow helps even out the appearance of my skin. I wondered if the illuminating properties would shine through my foundation, but since I use a medium to full coverage foundation, I don’t see much illumination peaking through.

However, if I want some illumination on the tops of my cheeks or elsewhere, I can use the sheer Face Glow instead of searching for one of my highlighters to add a subtle glow to specific areas of my skin. Easy peasy.

Face Glow Ingredients

With her knowledge of health and wellness as well as natural ingredients, Graydon has incorporated some new-to-me natural ingredients into the Face Glow formula. Here’s what she has to say about an ingredient in Face Glow called Smithsonite, a mineral ore of zinc that was named after James Smithson who discovered it in the early 19th century and who also gave the bequest that started the Smithsonian Institute:

“Face Glow is also infused with Smithsonite, a semi-precious gemstone that belongs to the calcite group of crystals, known for their ability to protect the dermis against UVB. This beautiful stone is known for its soothing qualities that help create a state of openness, relaxation, and awareness – the perfect mental primer for your day.”

From what I read when I looked it up, Smithsonite also gives out a glow that may account for some of the illuminating properties of the primer/moisturizer? The rose gold mica in the formula also is responsible for the lit-from-within glow.

It also contains antioxidant-rich natural oils.

Here are the key ingredients and what they do from the website’s description of the product:

• GLOW with mineral-rich sustainably sourced mica
  BRIGHTEN your complexion with ellagic acid rich raspberry seed oil
  MINIMIZE the appearance of dark circles and spots with nutrient rich spirulina
  SOOTHE your skin with aloe vera juice and zinc-rich pumpkin seed oil
  RENEW your skin with reparative sea buckthorn seed oil
  PROTECT your face against the elements with non-nano zinc
  ANTIOXIDANT rich buriti oil helps shield skin from environmental stressors
  SEMI-PRECIOUS smithsonite offers genoprotective properties against UVB

Face Glow contains zinc and titanium dioxide to protect against environmental stressors and sun damage, but to date the product has not gone through the formal testing process to certify its SPF rating. They plan to have it certified soon.

Ingredients: Spirulina Maxima Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, *Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, *Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, *Glyceryl Stearate, *Coco-Caprylate, *Sodium Olivoyl Glutamate, *Cetearyl Alcohol, *Cetyl Alcohol, *Stearyl Alcohol, Zinc Oxide, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, *Lauryl Glucoside, *Polyglyceryl-2 Dipolyhydroxystearate, Glycerin, Mica (and) Iron Oxides, **Phenethyl Alcohol, **Pentylene Glycol, **Propanediol, Smithsonite Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Prunus Avium (Sweet Cherry) Seed Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil, Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin) Seed Oil, Mauritia Flexuosa Fruit Oil, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Seed Oil, Hippophae Rhamnoides Seed Oil, Xanthan Gum, Triethyl Citrate, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Extract, Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Extract, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Leaf/Seed Extract, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Fruit Extract, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Flower/Leaf Extract, Musa Sapientum (Banana) Fruit Extract, Cucumis Melo Cantalupensis Fruit Extract, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract, Limonene, Linalool, Citral

*Vegetable wax, **100% Natural based preservative

Face Glow Benefits and Other Information

For me, the key benefits of Face Glow are radiance, highlighting, hydration, priming, more even skin tone, and a slight blurring of lines and wrinkles.

It has a pH of 5.5-6.5 that is within the optimal range for skincare products.

In addition, it is cruelty-free, gluten-free and vegan as well as free of ingredients that you might want to avoid like sulfates, parabens, petroleum products, or synthetic fragrances. I do not detect a fragrance when I use and wear Face Glow, though they describe it as having a light scent from natural, aromatic fruit extracts. Importantly, I don’t see dimethicone listed in the ingredient list, so for those of you who cannot use primers with dimethicone, I recommend that you give Graydon Face Glow a try.

Graydon Face Glow’s recyclable plastic pump bottle contains 1.35 fl. oz./40 ml and is priced at $43. It’s sold on the Graydon Skincare website that is also a terrific skincare resource with glossaries and lots of information. They also sell sample size sachets to try before you buy a full size, (though I can’t seem to find where you can buy them on the website).

Graydon’s clean beauty face, body and hair products are also sold at a variety of retailers throughout the US and Canada; you can use the store locator on the Graydon website to find one near you.

Today's Author

Allison Cohen

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