Week # 3  Challenge

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti Wrinkle Cream Night formula. Short recap about Neutrogena Healthy Skin anti wrinkle night cream: this is not healthy at all!!! For a healthy organic recipe, please follow my recipe for an anti wrinkle night cream Don't prepare to much in the same time, you will preserve your cream without bad preservative ingredients, which is exactly what we want to avoid.

For 50 ml You will need:

-The same measuring tools as in my week 2 challenge recipe for eye cream:

- syringe, 0.15 ml spoon and measuring tools or the perfect measurment spoons on Amazon.com

-1 digi weigh scale on amazon.com

- 34 grams of rose flower water (hydrosol)

-5 grams of organic avocado vegetal oil

-5 grams of organic hazelnut vegetal oil

-3.5 grams of cetyl alcohol (natural emulsifier from coco oil) -1 gram of beeswax

-0.5 grams of vegetal glycerin

-0.25 grams of xanthane gum

-30 drops of grapefruit seed extract

- 5 drops of vanilla essential oil (oléoresine)

-20 drops of atlas cedar essential oil

-20 drops of sweet orange essential oil Mix the floral water with the xanthan gum in a bowl A Mix the 2 vegetal oils with the beeswax and the cetyl alcohol in a bowl B Mix the essential oils and natural preservatives in a bowl C Heat the bowl A and bowl B in a "bain marie"

As soon as you see the beeswax melting, pour the bowl A in the bowl B while mixing...to emulsifie, exactly as if you where preparing a mayonnaise. When you have a white liquid, take the bowl out of the "bain marie", put the bowl's bottom in a cold water container, go on with stirring...once you notice the liquid is turning to be a little bit more solid, pour the countenance of the bowl C into the bowl B and keep going with stiring for 2 more minutes. Your night cream is ready to pour into your cosmetic container.

Allow your cream to cool down before closing the lid. Use every evening on a dry a cleansed skin. If you want to use the same recipe for a day cream, never use orange essential oil on day cream, you are not supposed to expose your skin to daylight, orange essential oil is photo sensibilazing your skin. For a day cream, prefer magnolia essential oil or rose essential oil.

And now the full review of Neutrogena ingredients:

- water is of course a natural ingredient

-C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, this is a synthetized substance ( chemical) used mainly as a sunscreen and to help spreading the cream on your skin...I am not sure I see the point by using sunscreen into night cream formula...

-Glycerin,can be synthetic or from Vegetal Glycerin is a natural ingredient which is a moisturaizing agent for skin and hair. It is easily incorporated into your cosmetic recipes, cream or lotions. The one I am using for my organic cosmetic is made with canola oil. Ideal for all skin type.

-Cetyl Alcohol is derived from natural oils. In cosmetic industry it is mainly from palm oil. Some real natural brands would use coco oil to transform into this emulsifier

-Cetearyl Alcohol, is another emulsifier helping to hold active substances longer on your skin.

-Ethylhexyl Hydroxystearate, is a solvent often used in sunscreen formula. It is plastic -Dimethicone, is in the family of silicone.

Not toxic to your skin, it is however very important to underline the fact that this whole synthetized substance is coating perfectly your skin…or hair, and therefore, is obturating your pores. In clear words, used on a daily basis, this is not helping your skin to stay young. You also need to get an extremely good makeup remover…indeed this substance is like glue…staying on your skin for longer than you can imagine…And think about this: You will find silicone in your shampoo, body lotion, Face skin care products….step by step…you are covering your whole body skin with silicon…and your skin is your organ with the largest surface!!!

But this is only the “visible part of the iceberg”….this chemicals are not biodegradable and extremely stable…it means once it is synthetized, it will stay on the planet…forever…as a consumer, I am considering that aspect as a very important point.

-Camellia Oleifera Extract is green tea extract, excellent anti oxidant -Retinol, what the chemical industry is saying about retinol: unlike their predecessors, the new generation of retinol products can be used during the day, as their effects kick in gradually and aren't as harsh on skin. You still get cell turnover (potentially cancer...), but it's in a more controlled way. In addition, new retinols also come mixed with antioxidants, sunscreen and even moisturizers — making them much less irritating than they used to be. (Make sure you continue to be very cautious and diligent about applying SPF, even if you purchase a retinol cream with UV protection, as your skin will be more sensitive as it becomes acclimated to the new product.) ...wow, and now I understand why they use sunscreen in night cream... Which leads us to the very important question: Who should not be using any form of retinol? For starters, retinol is not considered safe for pregnant women or women who are breast-feeding. According to a study done by the Mayo Clinic, Vitamin A excess, which retinol is a derivative of, "has been associated with birth defects…[and] is excreted in human breast milk." Similarly, patients with hyper-sensitive skin like "rosacea or eczema…shouldn't use retinol," explains New York dermatologist, Debra Jaliman in an article for The Huffington Post. -Panthenol, is a pro vitamin b5 -Disodium EDTA,

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, known as EDTA, is a chemical salt used to separate heavy metals from dyes and other substances. One form, known as calcium disodium EDTA, appears in foods and cosmetic products to prevent air from spoiling them by introducing unwanted oxygen into the products’ molecular structures. Calcium disodium EDTA is also used in alternative medicine, both as a chelating agent to remove heavy metals from the body and to remove plaque from arteries, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Since calcium disodium EDTA is toxic to humans in high amounts, always consult a physician before trying any EDTA-related therapy.

Pollution

In a paper published in the May/June 2006 issue of Environmental Engineering Science, Zhiwen Yuan and Jeanne M. VanBriesen identified calcium disodium EDTA and other EDTA salts as persistent organic pollutants.

-Tocopherol,Health concerns: Cancer, organ-system toxicity, allergies and immunotoxicity

Regulations: Banned from cosmetics in the European Union; restricted use in Canadian cosmetics.

-Cetearyl Glucoside is an emulsifier and surfactant derived from natural or synthetic ingredients

-Tocopheryl Acetate, idem as tocopherol -POLYSORBATE-20 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, Tween 20) It retards the absorption of some accompanying chemicals in the skin, which is good. It is however mildly toxic and may cause skin irritation in some case. It can induce present skin tumours.

-Triethanolamine,

(TEA) TEA may interfere with your hormone levels.

-Methylparaben, Propylparaben, PARABEN (Butyl-, Isobutyl-, Ethyl-, Methyl- and Propyl parahydroxybenzoate) They are preservatives that may irritate your skin and can cause allergic reactions.

-Butylene Glycol, has neuropharmacological properties, but is not considered carcinogenic. This substance is making your skin more permeable and so would "help" some toxic substances to get through your skin barrier...

-Diazolidinyl Urea, is a preservative which is under restriction use since it is not supposed to be used for more than 0,5%. This substance is releasing formaldehyde. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies formaldehyde as a human carcinogen. In 2011, the National Toxicology Program, an interagency program of the Department of Health and Human Services, named formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen, leukemia for example).

-BHT: BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT(butylated hydroxytoluene) are closely related synthetic antioxidants used as preservatives in lipsticks and moisturizers, among other cosmetics.Long-term exposure to high doses of BHT is toxic in mice and rats, causing liver, thyroid and kidney problems and affecting lung function and blood coagulation.BHT  can act as a tumour promoter in certain situations. Limited evidence suggests that high doses of BHT may mimic estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, and prevent expression of male sex hormones, resulting in adverse reproductive effects. -Carbomer. Synthetic ingredient from petro chemical industry, can induce irritation to eyes.