Review: Pangea Organics Facial Cream with Ginger, Lavender, Thyme

If you've ever ventured into the realm of natural beauty products, you may have found yourself as surprised at the range of choices as I did. While I certainly appreciate a homemade coconut oil/sugar scrub or the occasional avocado mask, it never really occurred to me that natural beauty products could venture into "everyday" territory. In a quest to remove parabens and other potentially harmful chemicals from my body, I've done my best to purchase items that make it easier to do this -- the first being Pangea Organics Facial Cream with Nigerian ginger, sweet lavender and thyme for normal to combination skin. The ingredients aren't perfect, but they're much better than what I've used in the past.

A note about my skin type to help you better understand the following pros and cons: combination, with a slightly oily t-zone; minimal breakouts, but when I do break out it's often on my forehead or nose.

Pros

• Smells wonderful -- perfect as a night cream because of the soothing lavender scent
• Helped decrease my breakouts (note: this may not work the same for everyone)
• Not too thick and very easily absorbed
• Matte finish
• Skin felt instantly softer and smoother -- not so with other lotions I've used

Cons:

• Sometimes too quickly absorbed by my skin. Almost makes me wonder if I should use the dry skin formula for winter, and the normal/combination formula during other seasons
• No sunscreen. If you use this as a night cream like I do, this isn't a big deal
• The cost. At $36, it's more than I would typically spend on a face lotion. However, I DO like it enough to repurchase

Speaking of the cost, I used my Birchbox points to purchase this bottle so it was essentially free. If you're not sure what Birchbox is, I did a quick post on it last year.

Are all of my makeup/skincare products free of chemicals? No. In fact, an upcoming review of Benefit High Beam will illustrate this pretty well. It's about balance, and finding alternatives that work for you.

Do you use natural beauty products? If so, which ones and do they work well? If not, are you open to trying them?