Kate Somerville Detox Daily Cleanser Giveaway Contest

Congratulations to Harshleen!

By popular request on Twitter, a skin-care giveaway...

Kate Somerville's Detox Daily Cleanser ($32) will give your skin a clean start by detoxifying and restoring clarity to your complexion. It's billed as clean perfection for those who want to fight acne, even the occasional blemish, and treat their skin to an anti-aging cleanser.

Detox Daily Cleanser removes impurities without irritating or over-drying stressed skin. It fights the bacteria that cause acne, while stabilizing oil production to counter future breakouts. The salicylic acid takes care of bacteria. The cleanser includes among its ingredients phytic acid to help fade post-acne scars and reduce inflammation. It's also packed with soothing ingredients, such as aloe, and tea tree leaf oil.

Kate Somerville's products have become a favorite of mine over the last year or so. I like everything about them. If you have any oiliness in your skin or struggle to keep it free of the gunk (technical term) that exacerbates breakouts, you will love Detox Daily Cleanser.

How can you enter to win? Here's the "fine print."

There are a few simple steps. First, all you really have to do is leave a comment on this feature. After you comment here, feel free to send me an e-mail at bestthingsinbeautycontests@gmail.com and identify your comment. You can never be too careful about sharing an e-mail address you care about on a blog, so feel free to follow this step (an alternative is to code your e-mail, e.g., myname at gmail dot com, in your comment).

You can earn extra entries. Follow this blog (through an e-mail subscription or though one of the many Google readers - see sidebar at right) or my Twitter account, @BTiBeauty. That will earn a second entry.

You can earn a third entry by tweeting this contest. Just make sure to include "@BTiBeauty" (without the quotes) in your tweet. I will tweet the contest this evening, and you can simply retweet it to earn that second entry. Only one tweet will be counted as an entry. I appreciate multiple tweets, but it's not necessary.

The deadline for entries will be Saturday, July 23, at midnight. The next day, I will use a random number generator (random.org) to select the winner. I will e-mail the winner on Sunday. The winner will have 48 hours to reply to my message and provide a shipping address. After 48 hours, the prize will be forfeited, and another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your e-mail - and look in your spam folder - when the contest ends.

This contest is open to anyone anywhere. Here are the terms. I will carefully pack and ship the prize (as I always do). I cannot insure the prize for overseas shipment - it's amazingly expensive to do so because of the way I have to send insured mail. If it's lost or stolen in transit, I won't be able to replace it with another. I'll do my best on this end; let's see if your mail services do right by you on the other end if we have an overseas winner. We had one in Norway this month. I'm hoping her prize gets to her unscathed.

Good luck!

Photo courtesy of Kate Somerville

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KateCeuticals Multi-Active Repair Lifting & Lineless Cream

Recently launched, Kate Somerville's KateCeuticals Multi-Active Repair Lifting & Lineless Cream ($195) is a Neiman Marcus exclusive. Multi-Active Repair is a potent anti-aging moisturizer, formulated with a proprietary blend of collagen-building peptides to effectively tighten and lift sagging skin.

• The moisture extracts in the formula immediately repair the skin's lipid barrier to enhance moisture content, providing instant dryness relief and a proven long-term increase in skin hydration levels.
• A combination of volumizers helps to plump up the skin from within for a lifted look while dramatically reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
• It's fueled by something called Chromocare to visibly even and rejuvenate the complexion, improving skin uniformity.
• A unique brightening complex adds a healthy, natural radiance for an immediately brighter and even-textured skin tone.

I wish I knew a lot more about it because I love it. I tested it before the last moisturizer I featured, and it's fabulous. What else would you expect from Kate Somerville?

I love everything about this treatment moisturizer: the dispenser (press on the lid, and up pops the cream you will use - protects the rest of the product from contamination); the texture; the lack of any strong fragrance (but what's there is pleasing); the moisturizing effects; and, I hope, the coming of younger-looking skin. I'm ever hopeful. For now, I can tell you that it feels exceptionally nice and is definitely protective.

I have very dry skin most of the year. In the middle of summer, it's only dry. This treatment moisturizer seems like it was made for me. Here are some of the ingredients (yes, I realize they may have "foreign" names). I'm listing them so that you can understand the combination of new skin-care technology and proven botanical ingredients in Multi-Active Repair.

• Glyceryl betaine/polyacrylic acid esters, moisturizing ingredient that provides instant dryness relief and efficiently promotes collagen synthesis
• Diisopropyl dimer dilinoleate, a synthetic ester that functions as a skin-conditioning agent and emollient
• Ethylhexyl olivate, a natural olive-based emollient
• Olive fruit
• Palmitoyl tripeptide-5, a tripeptide that stimulates the skin to activate collagen biosynthesis, stimulating and strengthening the dermis to reduce fine lines and wrinkles
• Soybean seed extract
• Blackberry leaf extract
• Sodium hyaluronate
• Grapefruit, orange, lime, bergamot, and ginger oils.

There's more, but I think you'll appreciate this partial list. Multi-Active Repair is packed with good stuff for your skin.

I'm sold, and I've only had it a short time. I wanted to tell you about it as Neiman Marcus InCircle starts. You should look for KateCeuticals Multi-Active Repair Lifting & Lineless Cream, along with other Kate Somerville products. This is a good time to buy. There is a Kate Somerville cleanser gift with a purchase of $150.

Photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus

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Kate Somerville CytoCell Dark Circle Corrective Eye Cream

I have been using Kate Somerville's new CytoCell Dark Circle Corrective Eye Cream ($75) for over a month, and I love it! It's so much more than a dark circle corrector, I wonder how it got its name. It's clinically proven to treat all signs of aging in the delicate eye area, including fine lines and wrinkles, puffiness, dullness, uneven skin tone - you name it - and dark circles.

I was lucky to be given a "pre-production sample" at the Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie blogger party. It has lasted since late February and shows no signs of running out yet. It must have been close to a full-sized product. I feel privileged because it's so nice.

The eye cream, something like a creamy serum, is intended to reactivate dormant stem cells around the eyes, which “helps with dark circles, fine lines, wrinkles and puffiness,” said Somerville. Just in case you haven't noticed, stem cells are a focus of luxury skin care lately. Key ingredients in CytoCell Eye (nickname for it) include Peptide P-199, said to enhance skin tissue and cellular regeneration, and Eyeseryl (also a peptide) to treat under-eye puffiness and dark circles. Eyeseryl has anti-edema properties.

Somerville's four-week clinical trial demonstrated these fabulous results.

• Reduces under eye dark circles by up to 60%
• Reduces puffiness around the eye area by up to 75%
• Diminishes fine lines and wrinkles around the eye area by up to 60%
• Helps to improve radiance, skin tone, and smoothness

I don't really have dark circles under my eyes, so I won't be the best person to evaluate its effectiveness on them. I can tell you that it reduced the crepiness over my eyes. My crepiness (it comes with age) is not awful, but it's there, and it bothers me. CytoCell Eye also reduces the appearance of the fine lines around my eyes. I have used it day and night and at night alone, and I settled on night only. I like using an effective, but not overly heavy eye cream at night. I don't want to encourage the pooling of fluid while I sleep. CytoCell Eye seems to help banish that wake-up fluid. I did find this cream to ball up a little under my eye primer in the morning, which may be totally due to my primer, not the cream. So, I use it at night.

I love the texture of CytoCell Eye. It is so creamy and nice. I feel hydrated the moment I apply it, and the feeling lasts all night - probably because it absorbs so perfectly. One ample pump (yes, I love the pump container too!) covers both eyes, under and over, with a little for the sides toward my hairline. CytoCell Eye is free of fragrance and parabens, another reason to try it. While some of you may think CytoCell Eye is expensive, I think it's extremely reasonable for state-of-the-art skin care. Compare the prices of Somerville's products to the other latest and greatest eye creams at the department store, and you'll understand why I find the prices extremely reasonable.

Kate Somerville is dedicated to using scientifically proven ingredients in her skin care, and it shows in her products. This isn't the only one of her new introductions; I will be featuring others this week and next. I am a believer.

You can purchase Kate Somerville products at Neiman Marcus, Kate Somerville's Web site, and other department store counters.

DC-area friends: Margarita Vega, Product Specialist for Kate Somerville at Neiman Marcus at Tysons Galleria, will be doing DERMAL QUENCH facials on May 24. Call (703) 761-1600, extension 3304, to book an appointment. I have never experienced a treatment like it; it took years off my face in just a few minutes. If you didn't see my feature, you can read it now at this link. Don't miss an opportunity to have a DERMAL QUENCH treatment. I would buy the machine if I could!

Photo courtesy of Kate Somerville

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