BRANDS I'M INTO: MAYSAMA BEAUTY ANTIOXIDANT POWERED SKINCARE MADE WITH GREEN ROOIBOS TEA EXTRACT – BEST ANTIOXIDANT SERUM, BEST BRIGHTENING MASK FOR SELFCARE SUNDAY
As I write this, it’s Saturday, September 11th 2021 — the twentieth anniversary of 9/11.
I moved to New York in May 2002, six months after that seminal day. It’s crazy that it’s already been 20 years. I had been living in Los Angeles for 15 years at that point and had given up any thoughts of ever living in NYC, despite expecting that I would end up here eventually.
When I was growing up in Connecticut, I imagined my life unfolding in New York, California — or both.
As so many things in life, it just took a bit longer than I’d imagined. In the end, being in New York City was my ultimate destiny.
I was working near downtown LA on that otherwise normal Tuesday morning in September, 2001. As nearly every weekday morning, I was racing against nothing on the treadmill at the gym. Those workouts amped me up before work (and still do!), giving me the energy to get through my day. I needed it since I was teaching customer service reps at a call center. It was a gig I had taken to sustain my early work as a copywriter. And while it was sometimes fun, it was never easy.
That particular morning, I recall watching CNN on the tiny monitor in front of me, the screen moving up and down with the rhythms of my body. Wait. What? Did a small commuter plane really just crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center? That’s how it was being reported initially.
I remember thinking, Jeez how stupid can you be to fly into a skyscraper as gargantuan as that tower? It had apparently happened before.
Of course it wasn’t a small commuter jet at all. It was American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 92 souls on board.
And it was the inception of the greatest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and the beginning of a tragically historic moment in the nation’s history.
I jumped off the treadmill and headed home. When I arrived, I turned on the TV — only seconds before the second jumbo jet flew into the South Tower.
As I watched it unfold, I remember standing within inches of the television, frozen in disbelief. Nothing like this had ever happened in my lifetime, let alone in front of my eyes. I struggled to make sense of it. That sense took weeks to find.
Twenty years later, quite coincidentally, I found myself at brunch with my mother in a restaurant high above Ground Zero, the site of the attack. We were seated only two blocks from my original NYC apartment. Back in 2002, on my arrival in the City, I had literally moved down the street from the still smoldering World Trade Center site, eerily drawn to the neighborhood, eager to be a part of the healing process.
In retrospect, I don’t know how smart that was. Every night for the first six months, I woke up coughing. Who knows what effect all that dust I’d been breathing in has had on my longterm health. And every day, I lived the reality of 9/11, which was understandably surreal.
My apartment at Rector and Greenwich Streets had only south facing windows, which looked out on the roof a parking garage, one of the few affordable places to park in the area. In any other place, at any other time, a parking garage would have no meaning, no real impact on me.
But this parking garage wasn’t in any other place or time. The roof, the top floor of the structure, was packed with cars, as it had been on every weekday before 9/11. They were the cars of workers in the area and, most significantly, workers at the World Trade Center; workers, people, who had lost their lives when the towers collapsed.
Like so much on that day, the cars were frozen in time; they were entombed in ash. I can still see them there, eerily idled. Every day for a year, it was just one of many reminders of what happened on 9/11/2001.
It took me years to absorb it all, to not feel traumatized by it. To me, life is like a great, powerful, unstoppable river. Events and encounters pass by, recede into distant memories, as we race toward new experiences. Some are good, some bad, and they all affect the course that our life’s journey takes…
The skincare stuff starts here.
About a year or so ago, I was having a conversation with a biologist and our in-depth chat turned to the skin, skin aging, and the role that antioxidants play in the health of our skin. Antioxidants have always fascinated me. My question to her: Is there such a thing as too many antioxidants in a skincare routine? I really wanted to know!
Back in the early days when I was working at Kiehl’s in New York City, antioxidants were universally believed to be important to only younger skin; they weren’t necessarily essential for everyone. Big beauty was marketing antioxidant-infused products to skincare consumers in their 20s; more mature people needed more serious anti-aging skincare — whatever that meant. It was such nonsense. Today, it’s common knowledge that antioxidants play a crucial role in our overall body heath and, more specifically, in the health of our skin.
While the biologist didn’t have the definitive answer to my question about the amount of antioxidants skin needs to maintain optimal health, we agreed that you can’t get enough antioxidants in your daily skincare routine. The skin will use what it needs — and it needs antioxidants in abundance. What it doesn’t need, it will expel as waste like the rest of the body so efficiently does.
When people ask me about my skincare essentials, I always mention the importance of a really well-formulated antioxidant serum morning and night. Even two or three of them!
There are multiple antioxidants with proven efficacy — some in the form of vitamins, others botanical extracts. Among my go-to’s are, of course, Vitamin C and Niacinamide (Vitamin B3). I consider each essential to my daily skincare routines.
While I alternate every day between what I consider the best Vitamin C serums, some water-based, others oil-based, my go-to daily Niacinamide serum is nearly always the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster. But that’s not to say there aren’t numerous well-formulated Niacinamide serums out there.
For my collection of the best Niacinamide serums for face, check out the rundown here.
The Best Niacinamide Serums and Treatments
Most vitamins are powerful antioxidants that protect skin from free radical damage while defending it against aging. In fact, antioxidants are anti-aging. The marketers at Kiehl’s and elsewhere didn’t know what they didn’t know, so I can’t fault them.
The true power and essential nature of antioxidants just wasn’t commonly understood at the time.
What Are Antioxidants and What Do Antioxidants Do for Skin?
Antioxidants possess numerous benefits for the skin, including preventing skin damage and multiple signs of aging. There’s an excellent article from the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team titled, How Antioxidants Fight the Signs of Aging that you can catch here.
This is what I found most insightful:
Antioxidants for Skin Benefits
Antioxidants play a unique role when it comes to diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Years of environmental damage (including unprotected sun exposure—one more reason to apply that broad-spectrum sunscreen!) slowly chip away at skin’s natural ability to look and feel healthy. As this damage builds up, skin gradually loses its ability to recover and bounce back as it once did. It’s not an exaggeration to say that after years of damage, skin becomes overwhelmed, and its “look young systems” begin to slow down.
Antioxidants in skin care step in to help shield skin’s surface from further deterioration by calming stressed skin and defending against the visible effects of pollution —something all of us encounter on a daily basis.
What happens as a result of applying antioxidants to your face is truly impressive: Skin’s appearance begins to turn around! It regains a firmer feel and more even skin tone—and those wrinkles you’re probably not fond of will visibly soften.
The Best Acne Treatments
Around the same time as the conversation with the biologist, I stumbled upon this incredible antioxidant serum that I still can’t get enough of. It’s been a daily staple in my morning routine for well over a year now. From indie brand Maysama, the Green Rooibos Pressed Serum is a next-level antioxidant treatment, infused with potent rooibos extract.
In the year since my fateful discovery, Maysama has launched two additional products. Maysama’s Green Rooibos Brightening Mask is an excellent brightening mask and an ideal option for #selfcaresunday. It eradicates dullness and leaves my skin feeling supremely pampered.
And recently, Maysama introduced a very well-formulated treatment toner, the ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner. As with the other products in the Maysama range, it’s infused with Green Rooibos Tea Extract, in addition to a skin-refining blend of AHA/BHA/PHA acids — 5% Lactic Acid, 1% Salicylic Acid and 5% Gluconolactine, a naturally occurring polyhydroxy acid (PHA) that is then most gentle on the skin. (Psst…if you’re sensitive, PHA’s are the way to go!)
Let’s take a deep dive into Maysama Beauty and their superb range of antioxidant-powered skincare.
Maysama Beauty | Green Rooibos Pressed Serum
I first featured Maysama’s innovative, antioxidant-powered Green Rooibos Pressed Serum on the blog well over a year ago — in the summer of 2020, soon after the brand launched. I’ve been though maybe a half dozen bottles of the silky, red-hued serum.
If you understand the essential benefits that antioxidants can have for your skin, then you understand just how pro-skin health the Maysama Green Rooibos Pressed Serum can be. Infused with potent rooibos extract, it’s simply a next-level antioxidant treatment.
I first discovered rooibos tea on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, nearly a decade ago. Before that, I’d never heard of the quirky sounding botanical.
“Rooibos”?! It’s such a South African thing, so characteristic of South African culture. Like marula oil, Reebok and the vuvuzela.
Sipping a hot cup of rooibos red tea in winter has been a secret pleasure of mine ever since!
Composed of an extraordinary 85% active ingredients, the Green Rooibos Pressed Serum incorporates 1.3% pharmaceutical grade green rooibos extract as an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient. Green rooibos is a remarkable substance. Not only does it contain potent antioxidant properties, it’s also an antibacterial and a source of natural AHA’s. In fact, according to the brand, “Maysama’s unique Green Rooibos Extract, with patented extraction, boosts 70x the antioxidant potential of standard rooibos.”
There’s even more to it than rooibos. Maysama’s Green Rooibos Pressed Serum contains a brightening complex of 3% Niacinamide, Licorice Root and Turmeric Root Extract — rated as one of the “best” ingredients used in skincare by the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team.
What Is Turmeric Root Extract and What are the Benefits of Turmeric Root Extract?
Turmeric Root Extract is among the most powerful in the class of antioxidant botanical extracts. When taken as a nutritional supplement, it has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits for the body. For the skin, Turmeric Root Extract delivers antioxidant defense as well as a reliable brightening effect.
According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team,
Turmeric is a spice made from the dried, ground root of the Curcuma longa plant. It contains curcumin, a lipophilic, polyphenolic antioxidant pigment that gives turmeric its golden-yellow color.
In addition to being a food seasoning, turmeric has numerous health benefits whether consumed orally vis foods and supplements or applied topically. Ongoing research has shown turmeric and the curcumin it contains play a safe and compelling role in promoting healthier, normalized skin.
On skin, in vivo research has shown that turmeric and its derivatives interrupt signaling in surface cells that trigger signs of irritation. Turmeric helps calm skin and may even play a role in reducing the look of acne-related redness by modulating pathways to restore a healthier, more even appearance.
Research has conclusively shown that turmeric is a potent antioxidant, largely due to its curcumin content (although turmeric also contains other antioxidants). Applying turmeric to skin can help offset signs of environmental damage and, to some extent, thwart the skin-damaging effects from UVB light.
As with many antioxidants, turmeric requires protection from air and light, as routine exposure causes it to break down and limits its availability to skin.
Beyond being an antioxidant, some research has shown the curcumin portion of turmeric boosts skin’s hyaluronic acid content, meaning turmeric can also be considered hydrating.
References for this information:
Nutrients, September 2019, ePublication
Journal of Cellular Physiology, February 2019, pages 1,165-1,178
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, September 2017, pages 2,889-2,895
British Journal of Pharmacology, June 2017, pages 1,325–1,348
Phytotherapy Research, August 2016, pages 1,243-1,264
One of the most intriguing (and admirable!) aspects of the Green Rooibos Pressed Serum formula is the fact that the first ingredient is not water; it’s Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice. Every time I see that, I get more than a little tickled. Water has zero benefit for the skin.
I know that may be surprising to you. The body needs water, doesn’t it? Yes, lots of it! But water cannot be and is not absorbed into the skin barrier. If it were, we wouldn’t need to drink so much of it; we could get our daily hydration in our morning shower.
It’s all about the chemistry. Those two hydrogen atoms fused with an oxygen atom are too large to penetrate the skin barrier. Since it essentially sits on the skin surface, water has but a temporary humectant benefit for the skin that lasts no more than a few minutes — before it evaporates into thin air.
Maysama’s Green Rooibos Pressed Serum is a rich, pulpy serum that feels great on application and melts instantly into the skin. It’s easily layered into an existing skincare routine to boost its pro-skin health benefits — and amp up the quantity of antioxidants in your skin each day.
I like to apply the Maysama Green Rooibos Pressed Serum during the water-based serum phase of my morning skincare routine — immediately following application of a toner and before oil-based serums or creams.
Try it! I’m confident that you’ll love it as much as I do!
SHOP THE BLOG: For a limited time, save 10% on all skin care from Maysama Beauty with code SKINCARMA10. (Discount automatically applied at checkout.) Purchase the Maysama Green Rooibos Pressed Serum for $56.66 (reg. 62.95) here.
The Best Vitamin C Serums and Face Creams
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Maysama Beauty | ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner
I first featured Maysama ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner on my Instagram page #skincarmasaturday — a sneak peek at my skincare discoveries of the week. This extra-ordinary treatment toner is a real standout and is among the best exfoliating toners that I’ve tried.
My most recent deep dive into the best treatment toners was last summer in an article titled, Acid Toners – Some of the Best BHA / AHA Toners for Face From Paula's Choice, Farmacy And More. The extensive piece featured two of my all-time favorite acid toners: the Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Pore Cleaning Toner with Moringa + Papaya and Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant — one of the best toners with Salicylic Acid for oily skin.
ACID TONERS – SOME OF THE BEST BHA / AHA TONERS FOR FACE FROM PAULA'S CHOICE, FARMACY AND MORE
What Is Polyhydroxy Acid and How do PHA’s Work?
Polyhydroxy Acids, or PHA’s, are the latest acid rage in skincare. Many of us (yours truly included!) are guilty of overdoing it with harsh acids like Glycolic Acid. Instead of educating that overuse of acids can sensitize the skin, marketers seized on the fear of many consumers that their skin is sensitive. Most people don’t have sensitive skin; rather, their skin is sensitized.
So, here comes the class of gentler acids called Polyhydroxy Acids, or PHA’s. With long, scientific, and even futuristic names like Gluconolactone, Lactobionic Acid and Galactose, PHA’s have a milder exfoliating benefit and can even help to rehydrate the skin.
I found an insightful piece on the Healthline website titled, Brainy Beauty: What Can PHAs Really Do for Your Skin? Here’s what I found most salient:
Countless beauty brands spend billions every year to make products that “smooth away” wrinkles — with sometimes impressive but always limited results. Polyhydroxy acids (PHAs) are one of the latest trendy beauty ingredients touted to banish fine lines.
Older studies do suggest that PHAs can help hydrate skin and boost skin cell regeneration, which helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Compared to similar exfoliating ingredients, they’re less irritating, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Here’s what you need to know about PHAs, including how they work, how to use them, and where to find them.
The facts:
Aging has multiple effects on your skin: The epidermis (i.e., the skin’s outermost layer) thickens. The skin holds in less moisture and contains less collagen. Sun exposure further damages cellular DNA. Together, these factors increase the appearance of wrinkles.
PHAs are a chemical exfoliant.
“Exfoliation helps to slough away dead, dull-looking cells, reveal healthy cells, reduce hyperpigmentation, and improve skin texture,” says Dr. Dendy Engelman, a dermatologist practicing at Shafer Clinic in New York City.
PHAs also hydrate skin. They support the skin’s barrier function, which locks in moisture and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
The ingredient boasts other benefits too.
“PHAs potentially facilitate the penetration of other active ingredients applied to treated skin,” says Dr. Tsippora Shainhouse, FAAD, a board certified dermatologist in private practice at SkinSafe Dermatology and Skin Care in Beverly Hills, California.
And PHAs have antioxidant properties that “help undo and prevent UV and pollution-induced free radical damage to collagen and skin cells,” she says.
The result? PHAs have an anti-aging effect, says Shainhouse.
Maysama’s ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner is made with a 77% acid complex comprising 5% Lactic Acid (AHA), 1% Salicylic Acid (BHA) and a 5% concentration of PHA Gluconolactone — one of the most gentle exfoliating acids on par with Mandelic Acid, the mildest of the alpha hydroxy acids.
Perhaps the most noteworthy characteristic of the ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner is its wonderfully aromatic scent. It smells like freshly brewed tea, likely the result of the high content of tea extracts in the formula, including Kombucha (Black Tea Ferment) and the brand’s signature Aspalathin-enriched Green Rooibos Tea Extract.
It’s like a cuppa pure heaven. In fact, it feels like heaven on the skin. To test any sensitizing effect, I’ve used it twice daily over several days and never noticed anything but a bright, healthy complexion.
You’ve got to experience the Maysama ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner for yourself…
SHOP THE BLOG: For a limited time, save 10% on all skin care from Maysama Beauty with code SKINCARMA10. (Discount automatically applied at checkout.) Purchase the Maysama ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner for $59.36 (reg. 65.95) here.
The Best Brightening Serums
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Maysama Beauty | Green Rooibos Brightening Mask
I first featured Maysama Beauty’s new Green Rooibos Brightening Mask on my IG page three weeks ago. I then followed up on my YouTube channel in a video titled, I’m Getting #Selfcaresunday Lit! 🔥 Powering Up My Brightening With Maysama Beauty! (You can still catch that video here.)
Seriously, as one of the best brightening face masks, it makes for a real #selfcaresunday pampering treat. Hey, why not start out the week with a complexion that pops?!
What makes an ideal brightening facial mask?
That’s easy! One that’s powered by effective skin brighteners — like Niacinamide, Tranexamic Acid and Alpha Arbutin. And guess what! Maysama Beauty’s new Green Rooibos Brightening Mask is formulated with all three of them.
Their inaugural skincare product, the Green Rooibos Pressed Serum is powered by the antioxidant powerhouse Green Rooibos Tea Extract. Maysama’s silky antioxidant treatment has long been one of my go-to daily face serums — and is one of the best antioxidant serums for protecting skin against aging environmental damage.
So I was naturally all amped up to experience the new Green Rooibos Brightening Mask!
WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW
I’M GETTING #SELFCARESUNDAY LIT! 🔥 POWERING UP MY BRIGHTENING WITH MAYSAMA BEAUTY!
ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE
In addition to the brand’s signature Green Rooibos Extract, the Green Rooibos Brightening Mask is infused with a legitimate brightening complex that comprises 4% Niacinamide, 3% Tranexamic Acid and 2% Alpha Arbutin. For serious brightening, it doesn’t get better than that!
The Green Rooibos Brightening Mask has a thick, refreshing gel-like texture that glides easily onto the skin and is a pleasure to use on #selfcaresunday, #maskingmonday — or any time you wanna get that complexion lit!
Be sure to catch it in action on my YouTube channel here!
SHOP THE BLOG: For a limited time, save 10% on all skin care from Maysama Beauty with code SKINCARMA10. (Discount automatically applied at checkout.) Purchase the Maysama Green Rooibos Brightening Mask for $51.75 (reg. 57.50) here.
That’s it, guys! I hope you’ll consider incorporating more antioxidants into your daily skincare routines. Your skin really can’t get enough of them! And be sure to check out Maysama Beauty’s superb range of antioxidant powered treatments.
See you next week!
💟 Carmine @skincarma
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CLICK HERE | DISCOUNT AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED AT CHECKOUT
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The Ingredient List of the Maysama Green Rooibos Pressed Serum:
so|h, Aqua solv, Niacinamide (3%) 
cci|sb|aacne|h, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Aspalathus Linearis (Green Rooibos) Leaf Extract (1.3%), Citric Acid buff, Lysolecithin emu, Sclerotium Gum vc, Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil emo, Sodium Benzoate pres, Pullulan, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Seed Oil emo, Potassium Sorbate pres, Tocopherol aox 0-3 0-3, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil aox|emo, Sodium Phytate chel, Ubiquinone aox, Glycine Soja Oil emo|perf 0 3, Silica vc, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin , Hippophae Rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) Fruit Extract, Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract aox|so|sb|perf, Chlorella Vulgaris Powder, Tetrahydropiperine, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Liquorice) Root Extract so|sb, Calendula Officinalis (Marigold) Flower Extract so|aox|perf, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38 cciThe Ingredient List of the Maysama Green Rooibos Brightening Mask:
Aqua, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Squalane, Tranexamic Acid, Aspalathus Linearis Leaf Extract, Alpha – Arbutin, Saccharomyces/Xylinum/Black Tea Ferment, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Allantoin, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Polyglutamate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate.
The Ingredient List of the Maysama ABP11+ Green Rooibos Gentle Resurfacing Toner:
Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Gluconolactone, Lactic Acid, Glycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Ascorbic Acid, Salicylic Acid, Aspalathus Linearis Leaf Extract, Saccharomyces/ Xylinum /Black Tea Ferment, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Undaria Pinnatifidia Leaf/Stem Extract, Sodium Polyacrylate, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Sodium Phytate, Citric Acid, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Benzyl Alcohol, Potassium Sorbate.
