Kora to the Rescue

To say that my face is acne prone is basically the understatement of the century. I could look at myself wrong in the mirror and a breakout will magically appear in mere seconds. Seriously. I wish I was exaggerating.

To top it off, I'm a compulsive picker... I'll scratch and pick and prod and do all sorts of incredibly stupid things that result in angry red marks all over my face.

I've struggled with this for YEARS and I have tried everything to fix it. From prescriptions to basic Neutrogena acne products and higher end brands from Sephora to the dreaded ProActiv... None of it did anything except piss off my skin even more.

The amount of time, effort, and money I've put into this in hopes of having clear skin is truly mind-blowing. It also brings a tear to my eye to think of how many eyeshadows, lip glosses, pairs of shoes, or purses I could've been purchasing instead.

But I think maybe...just maybe... I've found something that resembles a solution.



Kora Organics is the all natural skincare line by Victoria's Secret model, Miranda Kerr. I'm not typically a fan of celebrity lines of... well, anything. I hate celebrity perfumes. Most of their clothing lines are absurd. And I especially hate when people just slap their names on something and call it their own.

That doesn't appear to be the case here. Miranda herself seems to be pretty active in the Kora community - posting her own blogs and sharing personal stories and photos. She also seems to follow the organic lifestyle herself, which is nice to see - not the organic part, just the part where she practices what she preaches, you know?

And let's face it, she's cute as a damn button. That certainly helps.

So anyway, back to the products. I decided that it might be a good idea to stop making my skin angry with all kinds of acids and harsh chemicals. I figured organic products might be a good way to go. I was also so frustrated and desperate for a solution that I was willing to try anything. Including a line available only in Australia (the shipping is a BITCH) that was not even remotely cheap and could possibly be a complete failure.

Even so... Couldn't be any worse than the disaster that was ProActiv, right? Of course, right.

So, I read some reviews online and finally hightailed it off to the Kora website where I found that they recommend certain product bundles for various skin types (find yours here). I chose the Oily/Combination products, which include the Foaming Cleanser, Energising (love the non-American spelling!) Citrus Mist, and Purifying Day & Night Cream.

I. Love. Them. All.

The Foaming Cleanser is super gentle, does not contain any soap, but does have aloe vera, green tea, and sandalwood - it takes off all my makeup and doesn't leave my skin feeling stripped of all moisture.

The Energising Citrus Mist is a super refreshing toner. It's ingredients include organic blossom, bergamot, aloe vera, sandalwood, lavender, and noni extract. I don't know about how "energising" it actually is, but I find that it feels great.

The Purifying Day & Night Cream smells lovely and is light as a feather. With grapefruit, mandarin, and green tea extracts it definitely helps control oil without giving you that leather-face look. It also includes vitamins A, C, and E as well as extracts of organic licorice and noni. The only thing I would change would be to add an SPF to this baby, but since it's both a day and night cream, I understand why they didn't.

So basically... This stuff is amazing. My skin is happy, you guys. Actually happy. It's not bright red or broken out or anything. I'm almost scared to jinx it, but I legitimately couldn't be happier.

I've reordered these products three times so far, and have added a few other products to the bunch.

The first is the Luxurious Rosehip Oil which is basically...an all purpose bottle of AWESOMENESS. It's describes as a treatment oil, but I use it every few days as an extra little dose of moisture, or on especially dry spots, or anything else that feels like it could benefit from a little extra love. It contains noni extract, organic rosehip, jasmine, rose and pomegranate oils. Awesomeness, I tell you.

I've also tried the Exfoliating Cream and I really like that it's super gentle, just like all the other products. It a blend of organic oat flour and bamboo. It's not gritty enough to be harsh on your skin, but it's good enough to feel like it's actually working. I definitely feel like my skin is softer and smoother after using this product.

All in all, I've never been happier with a skin care line. Ever. I don't know that my skin is glowing quite yet, but it's pretty clear aside from the rare break out that only appears during a certain time of the month  (I suppose I can't blame evil hormonal zits on skin care, can I?). It's less oily than it used to be and it just feels great. I can't complain at all. Not about any of it. So I'm just going to keep right on buying and hoping and praying that it becomes available in the US so I can stop paying absurd amounts for shipping.

[photo credits: koraorganics.com]