Paula's Choice Breakfast

Paula’s Choice Breakfast

I hardly ever watch TV so it won’t come as a surprise that I had no idea who Paula Begoun until I received an invite to the breakfast she was hosting for media and fans. After playing on the Google machine I found out a little more about the lady and came to the conclusion that she is a pretty big deal in the International cosmetic industry.

She has a whopping 18 books including “don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me” which is one of her many best sellers. She is quite a big consumer advocate and is best known for her name “the cosmetics cop”. She has so much knowledge on cosmetic ingredients, choosing the right products for your skin as well as her own skincare range, that her expertise has granted her some serious name dropping rights.

She has appeared on infamous talk shows such as CNN, Oprah and the DR. OZ show (just to name a few). I just had to accept the invite even if it meant I had to bunk work for it. So what was the event like? It was exceptionally eye opening.

Her presentation mainly focused on cosmetic myths out there in the industry and how we are so easily convinced to buy products that aren’t very effective and essentially waste our money. Here are some of those myths:

1. You don’t need an eye cream. There is no research or study that shows you need to have different ingredients to treat your eye area. The skin around your eye need the exact same treatment as your forehead or cheeks. You may use your regular face cream (containing proper ingredients) and it will care for the skin around your eye area just like the rest of your skin. That’s it!

2. Don’t buy products in a jar! Fantastic ingredients such as Retinol, detest air. As soon as these ingredients are exposed to air they deteriorate and do not last. Just imagine you spend R300 on a small jar of moisturiser and as soon as you open it loses 80% of its effectiveness. According to Paula, that’s exactly what happens!

3. Natural does not mean better and synthetic does not mean bad. Paula used this example; green tea is good right? But if you just drank green tea your whole life, you would simply die because your body needs other sources of nutrients not found in “the good stuff”. Your skin is exactly the same. Natural ingredients are also somewhat difficult to keep stable in skincare products. This is where the labs usually get involved to extract only the necessary components your skin needs. They may add a few catalyst ingredients to maintain stability. The more stable the better. So the elements in your moisturiser may not be 100% natural but it has been formulated to provide the best for your skin.

4. Aging is not really aging. It’s sun damage! This definitely struck home for me as I have been more aware of fine lines and the beginning effects of aging since the beginning of the year. Paula explained that sun damage is the root of most aging issues. There is no study that shows otherwise. The best way to fight the horrid wrinkles and sagging skin is to apply a high SPF sunscreen every day. Paula could stress the fact enough that you need two core ingredients in a sunscreen. Zinc Oxide and Titanium Oxide.

5. Scrubs are actually horrible for your skin. Would you use one of your home sugar scrubs on a new born baby? No! (Well I hope you wouldn’t) This is how you should see your skin, a delicate surface that needs to be cared for every second of the day. Most scrubs are far too harsh on your skin. They rip and tear at your skin, breaking collagen and causing horrible irritation even though you may not feel the pain. Paula suggests using less destructive methods to exfoliate your skin like a washcloth with an ordinary body wash and maybe only doing deep exfoliation once every 2 months or so.

All of this information was fantastic to hear but even better news, all the above and more are in her latest book called don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me. I feel that this book will help many woman with skin concerns and even though I haven’t read the book yet, I know it will be like having her in your head, giving useful advise.

Paula has a fantastic skincare range called Paula's choice which is only available on the SA online store right now. Go check it out. I was given one of the fab products to test out so look out for my review soon!