PRODUCT REVIEW: STRANGE BIRD BEAUTY INNER LIGHT MOISTURIZER – ONE OF THE BEST ANTIOXIDANT MOISTURIZERS
STRANGE BIRD BEAUTY | INNER LIGHT MOISTURIZER
This review was originally part of my blog article titled, Summer Moisturizers Part Ii – Some of the Best Lightweight Face Creams for Oily Skin and All Skin Types in Hot Weather. You can catch the full piece here.
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Meet Strange Bird Beauty!
I first discovered the clean, quirky indie brand when it launched last fall. The brand was founded by Tina Rudolf, a painter, Reiki master, devoted meditator — and mom of two.
The fact that Tina found time to create a skincare brand, too, is so inspiring to me. That’s really hard to do!
Strange Bird was founded on the principals of life balance and self-care. You know that speaks to me. I look forward to my selfcare Sunday skin reboot sessions all week long.
Tina believes, “It’s not only about what you do but how you do it. True self-care is the practice of creating a life from which you don’t want to escape. It’s as much about being comfortable in your own skin as it is about being comfortable in your own life.”
Each of the products in Strange Bird’s 3-product facial skincare collection are “naturally sourced, high vibrational, and 100% real.” That somehow makes me long for chill Sunday mornings in my Hollywood apartment back in LA. Ahhhh….
The Strange Bird range is comprised of a silky serum, milky moisturizer and, well, this fantastic clay cleanser that’s brought me both balance and joy on several #selfcaresundays in Brooklyn over the last few months.
Rich in white kaolin clay and a slew of non-fragrant plant oils, the Strange Bird Inner Clarity Cleanser is one of the best clay masks for summer skin — oily skin, dry skin, and all skins that crave a rebalancing deep detox. Seriously good stuff!
The Inner Light Moisturizer is a super lightweight, milky fluid that smells like a slice of herbal heaven. As all of the Strange Bird formulas, it’s clean and natural — with no added fragrance, synthetic preservatives or other mortifying toxins that could potentially irritate the skin.
There’s just something so uniquely calming and sensorial about the Inner Light Moisturizer that makes me want to get to the very essence of its being. Yup, I’m back in LA.
To start, it’s infused with the brand’s signature antioxidant “G Team” — a veritable antioxidant powerhouse complex of ginger, ginseng, and goji berry to hydrate, reduce inflammation, promote cell regeneration and, of course, to mitigate environmental damage to the skin.
Among the first things I admire about the formula is the fact that the first ingredient isn’t water; rather, it’s skin soothing, humectant Aloe Leaf Juice.
As I said in last week’s blog on my first five summer moisturizer picks, “in the case of water, which very often makes up 60-70% of a skincare formula, there is little significant benefit to the skin. In fact, when it comes to topical application of a skincare product, water is useless.”
So I have to give it up to the Strange Bird chemist for that stroke of genius. It may seem like no big deal to most, but to me, it’s just plain smart AF.
Looking past the aloe, there are by my count two dozen botanical extracts and oils, many of them organic. In addition to the brand’s G Team trio, there’s Mango Seed Butter and both White Tea Leaf Extract and Japanese Green Tea Leaf Extract — still more antioxidant potency. That Strange Bird chemist was on fire.
Notably, also in the top ten is Lucidum Stem Extract — or reishi mushroom. According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team,
Ganoderma lucidum is a species of mushroom that's long been a staple of traditional Chinese medicine. Also known as Reishi mushroom, when applied to skin, research has shown a compound it contains (ganodermanondiol) can interrupt the enzyme tyrosinase, which in turn can visibly reduce certain types of discoloration.
Research has also shown this extract can improve skin’s supportive elements while also reducing signs of irritation. It’s a natural source of vitamin D2, skin-beneficial trace minerals such as copper and selenium, and the amino acids leucine and lysine.
As with most other types of mushrooms, Ganoderma lucidum is also a very good antioxidant. The extract form of this mushroom eliminates the water component (the whole mushroom that you’d buy in the grocery store contains over 90% water), so only a small amount is needed to get its benefits.
Am I perhaps getting to the essence of the formula, what makes it so unique after all? I wanna think so!
There are, of course, more classic skincare actives, including power-humectant Sodium Hyaluronate — the salt form, highly skin-compatible form of Hyaluronic Acid.
Because of its complex of nourishing botanical oils, the Inner Light Moisturizer is ideal for all skin types with the exception of very oily skins.
True to the “high vibrational” nature of the formulas, Inner Light is infused with rose quartz and olive essence, both of which the brand says “will help you feel the love and support around you.”
And about the strange sounding name? Tina says, “Strange bird is my nickname…Strange Bird doesn’t only represent the mission of celebrating your authenticity, but it’s personal because we’re a family of strange birds. So, it’s a love letter to my family as well.”
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Strange Bird Beauty Inner Light Moisturizer for $78 here.
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The Ingredient List of the Strange Bird Beauty Inner Light Moisturizer:
Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice*, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Lycium Barbarum (Organic Goji Berry)**, Zingiber Officinale (Organic Ginger)*, Lucidum Stem Extract (Reishi Mushroom)*, Panax (Ginseng) Root Extract*, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Oleosomes, Hemp Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape Seed) Oil*, Camellia Oleifera (Camellia Oil)**, Camellia Sinensis (White Tea) Leaf Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Japanese Green Tea) Leaf Extract*, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry Seed Oil), Leuconostoc Ferment Filtrate (Radish Root)**, Sodium Hyaluronate (Botanical Hyaluronic Acid from Senna Seed)**, Tocopherol (Organic Vitamin E), Jasminum Grandiflorum Water (Jasmine Hydrosol), Rosa Damascena (Rose) Powder*Flower + Gem Essence: Rose Quartz Gem Essence, Brassica (Mustard) Flower Essence, Olea Europaea (Olive) Flower Essence*USDA Certified Organic **EcoCert
