Reviewing the Snow Mushroom Water Serum by Volition

The newly opened serum with the innovator card

Volition beauty recently sent me three products for the purpose of review. While they did send the products to me, the reviews of them are my own opinions. As a quick note, the links included in this post are for the Volition website and while I highly recommend visiting their site to anyone interested in finding out more about their products or the company (and they are a really interesting company) Volitionbeauty.com only ships to US and Canada. If you are not in either the US or Canada, @cultbeauty ships Volition Beauty worldwide, and @meccamaxima / @meccacosmetica ship to Australia and New Zealand.

Snow Mushroom Water Serum|Free Shipping, Free Returns & Free Sampling

When testing skin care, I tend to rotate products in one at a time and let my skin get used to them before swapping out any other elements to my skin care. The first product I added in of the three I was sent was the Prismatic Luminizing Shield with SPF 50, mostly because I needed a sunscreen I would actually wear. It is billed as the sunscreen for people who hate sunscreen (which is me) and is a fantastic product that has gotten me into the habit of actually wearing sunscreen daily. The link above will take you to the fill post if you are interested.

The second product I rotated in was the Snow Mushroom Water Serum and then a week later I added the Celery Green Cream. So next week I will be posting the Celery Green Cream Review after using it for a full month.

For those that are unfamiliar with Volition Skincare. They produce clean, cruelty free, vegan skincare. In addition they produce crowdsourced items. So if you have an idea for a product, you fill out the form and send it to them. They then ask the community what they think of the idea. If it is approved, then they set a team of specialists to work turning the idea into a product.

I thought this idea was interesting when I came across it the first time. I have to say that having tried some of the products produced thorough this system, I am even more impressed by it. I love that each product comes with a innovator card, letting you know who came up with the skin care idea. The Snow Mushroom Water Serum was thought up by Keidy. And what is the serum supposed to do?

According to the site…

Snow Mushroom. It’s nature’s sponge. It holds nearly 500 times its weight in water. It’s the wonder ingredient in this hydrating face serum that delivers a surge of moisture as it naturally minimizes the appearance of pores.

Now I am the first to admit, I love a good serum. I will also say, I love mushrooms. I love all sorts of mushrooms and for a while I was even growing my own blue oyster mushrooms. (mostly because I could never find them at my local grocery). I was a little skeptical about them in my skin care though. However, I am all for minimizing the appearance of my pores.

However it isn’t just the snow mushroom that makes up this serum. It has some help.

Snow Mushroom: Delivers hydration and helps improve moisture retention.
Marine Water: Helps detoxify skin, reduce shine, and minimize the appearance of pores.
Watermelon and Apple Extracts: Excellent sources of Vitamins C and A; visibly brighten the look of skin.
Lentil Extract: Rich in Vitamin B5; Helps to soothe and smooth the skin while helping retain moisture resulting in the appearance of softer, clearer, firmer-looking skin.

Full Ingredients: Tremella Fuciformis (Mushroom) Extract, Propanediol, Glycerin, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sea Water, Citrullus Vulgaris (Watermelon) Fruit Extract, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Lens Esculenta (Lentil) Fruit Extract, Sodium PCA, Sodium Lactate, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Water, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, N-Prolyl Palmitoyl Tripeptide-56 Acetate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Diheptyl Succinate, Xanthan Gum, Capryloyl Glycerin/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Sodium Carbomer, Ethylhexylglycerin.
volitionbeauty.com

As you can see there are a lot of good ingredients listed. My skin loves vitamin C and it is often in my serums. I’ve never thought of lentils as a skin car ingredient but I do have a favorite recipe that uses both lentils and mushrooms so I find it oddly comforting to see them paired together here. (and yes I realize that makes little scientific sense, but it is still true)

Before I used this serum I took a look at the reviews. I like to kind of see if there are any problems I should look out for when trying a new product out. Plus I also like to find out whose reviews closely match mine so I can compare with other products. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. I lifted a skeptical eyebrow and continued on. Given how positive the reviews were however, I was very much hoping my experience was as positive because it sounded fantastic in a Liz Lemon -I want to go to there – kind of way.

And yes, the first thing I did was open the bottle to take a sniff.

Cause it’s me and you know that’s what I am gonna do.

I was expecting a kind of earthy mushroom funk. I will say there is a slight underlying earthy note, but it doesn’t come right out and say I am mushroom come smell the funk.

Which is fine. I may love the smell of sautéed mushrooms, but I wasn’t too certain of how I would feel about the scent in my skin care. While it does have that base earthiness, the serum just smells fresh and clean. Maybe it is just because they used the snow mushroom water.

Or because they weren’t sautéing them.

I know that the Snow Mushroom Water is one ingredient, as opposed to water pairing with serum, however this serum has a very thin ‘water-like’ consistency. It is extremely light weight. If you fear heavy pore clogging serums, then lean in this direction. It feels extremely light on the skin and I had no trouble with any clogged pores while using it.

A small amount covered my face neck and decollete with no problem. After applying it though, I did need to wait a minute before moving on with the rest of my skin care. It wasn’t terribly long.

I generally found if I applied it, and then brushed my teeth, then by the time I finished with my mouthwash rinse, my skin was ready for the moisturizer. If I didn’t wait then the two products mixed and both took longer to settle in. Since I had to brush my teeth anyway, it wasn’t a hardship to wait.

I used this serum twice a day for a full thirty days as part of my trial. I applied it in the morning and in the evening. After thirty days I am exactly halfway through the bottle. So It is a fair estimate that the bottle will last two months.

For me this is good to know because I will so be ordering a replacement bottle when this runs low and I need to know when to order it. I really enjoyed this serum. While it is light weight on the skin, it really does a heavyweight’s job. My skin felt hydrated and refreshed.

The pores on my cheeks and nose were reduced enough that I actually used a non-pore filling primer and my skin still looked smooth. I also noticed a reduction in the fine lines at the corners of my eyes. The skin was plump enough with retained moisture that they were less noticeable. I stopped using my eye cream while using this serum for my trial because I wanted to make sure it was this product doing the line filling and not a combo effort.

It was definitely the Snow Mushroom Water Serum.

My only criticism of this product, and it is a slight one, has to do with the packaging. It is in a lovely frosted glass bottle with a nice rose gold cap. When you turn the cap the top pops up and operates the dropper inside. All of this is fabulous. It worked really well and it was easy to tell when the bottle was opened or fully closed.

The only drawback I had was that the entire cap is smooth. While opening it is no problem, closing it involves either hands still slick with left over serum after I’ve massaged it into my skin or hands slick from washing them post application. (yes I dry my hands but they are still slightly slick) There were a couple of times I almost dropped the glass bottle. If the lid had just a little bit of texture to it, I would be less worried about dropping it with slick hands.

I know I could just wait until I reach the end of my skin care regimen and my hands are clean and dry, but I don’t like leaving products open too long after I use them. Plus, I recently had to bid an untimely farewell to one of my favorite concealers because I forgot to recap it. So it is sort of on my mind. But with this I really was worried about dropping the glass bottle.

While I’m sure it is shatter resistant, I wouldn’t want to risk losing even a single drop. I may have to set this aside to try out new skin care items, but I know this is one that I will consistently return to use when I am not testing things out or need a break between tests. At the moment I am considering easing out of using it so that should my next trial not go as smoothly, I will have product remaining to repair whatever damage it does. It is a fantastic formula and The Volition Snow Mushroom Water Serum will remain on my favorites list for a long time to come.

The Anti-sunscreen for people who hate sunscreen; Reviewing the Volition Prismatic Luminizing Shield with SPF 50

Volition Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF 50: This product was sent to me for reviewing purposes, the opinions however are all mine.

I have always had a love hate relationship with sunscreen. As a kid I remember being lathered up before being sent out for summer play. While I never minded my arms and legs being coated and I loved that my parents let me play outside longer if I was wearing it, I hated when the sunscreen was applied to my face. Invariably it would either get washed onto my lips where it would taste nasty or it would get washed into my eyes making them sting and burn for the rest of the day.

As I grew up, sunscreen got better and while most of it doesn’t taste any better than it did when I was a child, most of it stays in place. Still I hate putting sunscreen on my face. I know that is the one place I really need to put it, but I have to admit, I usually don’t. I spray my whole body down with sunscreen, more vigilantly now that I had that painful early spring burn, but I still avoid my face.

Instead I layer products like I’m creating the great wall of SPF. “Oh this has SPF 10, I’ll put it on and then add this product that has SPF 30.” It’s a construction project. I know I need to get over it, but I’ve had a hard time finding a product I like.

However, Volition Skincare sent over three products for me to try and the first item I pulled out of the box was the Volition Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF50. I had to laugh because right on the top of the box it says “Sunscreen for the Sunscreen Haters.”

It’s like they knew.

Or I’m not the only one to hate sunscreen.

I prefer the term skin care psychics, but that is just me. I should point out they don’t claim to be psychic an any way shape or form. But Volition is a really interesting company even without the tarot card possibility.

If you go to their main page there is a section where you can submit an idea for a product. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can submit an idea for a product you would like to see available for purchase. The idea then gets submitted to a vote by their beauty community. If it gets enough votes then their team goes to work creating the product. All of their products are certified clean and cruelty free with no animal testing and no parabens or sulfates. Incidentally, the links posted are for volitionbeauty.com which only ships to the US and Canada. If you are outside the US or Canada then @cultbeauty ships Volition Beauty worldwide, and @meccamaxima / @meccacosmetica ship to Australia and New Zealand.

Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF 50|Free Shipping, Free Returns & Free Sampling

There is a whole section where you can shop the winners and I have to say, I really like going onto the site to see who came up with what. You can also take a skincare quiz to determine which of their products might be right for your particular concerns so you don’t spend a boat load of time staring at a product and trying to guess.

But back to the sunscreen for the sunscreen haters.

The box clearly looked like it was aimed at me. I opened it and the first thing I saw was a little card telling me that this innovative product was created by a woman named Aja. It had a picture of her and a little bit about her on the back. I thought that was really neat. It’s rare that you actually get a name to go with a product.

But Aja made this, or at least came up with the idea while a team of highly skilled professionals brought her idea to life. But what do they have to say about what they created?

The Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF50 (retail $35) is…

The anti-sunscreen for the sunscreen haters. It’s never greasy, smelly or thick. It’s daily protection you’ll actually want to wear. It is a weightless, breatheable formula with broad-spectrum sun protection, luminous, pearl-like finish and a light, neutral scent. It addresses skin protection, dry skin, and dull skin and is good for all skin types.

Shake well. Apply over entire face 30 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply at least every 2 hours or as needed. Can be worn alone or under makeup. Use a water-resistant sunscreen if sweating or swimming.

Not too shabby. And I like that it is SPF 50. In my attempt to layer to build a wall of SPF on my face without actually using sunblock, I try to get as close to 50 as I can get.

Before rubbing the sunscreen in, there is a white cast that disappears quickly

So knowing who made it and what it is supposed to do, I took the product out of the box. I know appearances aren’t everything and that I shouldn’t focus on the shallow packaging, but this is a good looking bottle of sunscreen.

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting that.

I think because sunscreen is such a utilitarian item that just gets tossed in a bag and kicked around at the beach or pool side that it always looks like a basic plastic squeeze bottle with maybe a pretty or fun decal on the front. This may be a tube you can squeeze, but everything about it says skin care. It looks like it belongs in the bathroom next to your serums and moisturizer and not something you’d chuck in a kid’s pool bag with the goggles.

Don’t get me wrong, those items have their place. I have quite a few of them stationed around the house. They are an essential part of my summer. But I needed something to put in the bathroom with my skin care. Because like skin care, I needed to make it part of my routine. I knew that was the only way I was going to get into the habit of putting it on. So I took the bottle from the box, moved it into the bathroom and began using it.

For the past two weeks, this anti-sunscreen has been part of my morning routine. I put it on after I finish my skin care, but before I put on makeup. There is no real scent to the product so anyone out there who is sensitive to scents should have no problem.

The consistency of the product is like a thin primer or a water cream moisturizer. It has some body to it, but it leans towards the liquidy side. To apply, I dispensed a pea sized amount into my palm and rubbed my hands together then applied it to my face. It sort of spread out as it hit my hand anyway so I just let it follow it’s natural inclinations. Easy peasy.

On first contact there is a little bit of a white cast. (see the above picture) The first time I applied it I started to get concerned that I was going to spend the day looking like a mime, however I rubbed it in a little bit and the white disappeared almost instantly.

While I don’t want to walk around with the white sunscreen face all day, I do like that at first touch it is a little white. This lets me see where I’ve put it to ensure full coverage before I rub it in.

True to their claims, it feels weightless on the skin and is not greasy. It is however quite luminizing. Just like the really pretty bottle, I wasn’t really expecting that. And yes I know it says it in the title, it is just brighter than I expected.

I tend to go for matte primers and foundations. For me the matte balanced it out well. With the matte foundation on top of it, I had no problems, it was actually quite nice paired with it and gave the matte product a little depth. I could not use a luminizing primer or foundation with it as it was too luminizing for me.

Makeup over the sunscreen, I used the Purlisse BB Cream over it with no primer for this photo

I should also say that the day I tried a luminizing foundation, no one had issues with the extra luminosity but me. I even got a compliment on my glow, so I think that is really just my personal preference. If you like luminosity then you are good, if you aren’t a fan, use a matte product over it.

No matter what product I used, the sunscreen sat well underneath the makeup. I had no problems with reactions between the sunscreen and my foundation. They played well together and I didn’t break out in a welter of clogged pores. There were, in fact, no extra break outs. (The stress related ones I had spent the night with some Peace Out dots, but no new ones appeared.)

In the description it is recommended that if you are going to sweat or go in the water you should look into a waterproof product. While I didn’t go swimming while trying this (because that isn’t what it is meant for and at this time the pools near me are still closed) it is June in Tennessee and you can’t step outside without sweating. If the heat lets you go then the humidity will insure the sweat rises to your brow, among other places. As my neighbor likes to say, this is the season where you get the air you can wear, the unavoidable fashion accessory.

So there was sweat.

You know what there wasn’t?

Stinging eyes.

Well, the sweat stung a little because it’s salty, but it didn’t burn like acid. There were a couple of days where it was hot enough to melt your skin off of your bones and I was standing outside with a mask on. I know some of it dripped into my eyes. There is no doubt about that. The product not dripping would be an impossibility. I think I sweated out water I drank three years ago on those days, so there was no defense for anything topical.

But there were no burning, pain filled eyes, so I am taking that as a win.

And no I am not going to squirt it directly into my eyes to double check.

Although I have to confess, I did put a little on my lips to taste since the mask kept my lips safe and secure, along with my lungs and the rest of me. It didn’t really taste of anything. I’m not going to go putting it on an ice cream sundae or anything, but the accidentally tasting wasn’t horrific.

Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF 50|Free Shipping, Free Returns & Free Sampling

To be honest, this sunscreen passed all of my tests with flying colors. No gag worthy taste, no burning eyeballs and it was easy to remember to apply because it sat with my skin care and became part of my daily routine. Applying it became a habit, one I hope to maintain.

The Volition Prismatic Luminizing Shield didn’t make me break out. It didn’t make me feel greasy. It felt weightless on my skin and it provided me with SPF 50 level protection for my face without having to do a construction game with other products.

Don’t get me wrong, I still favor a lot of products with built in SPF, especially in the summer time, but I really like not having to rely on them. I really like having the good sunscreen underneath so that anything layered on top is just extra, not vital.

And oh yeah, no sun burn even though I spent loads of time outside in the hot, hot sun.

Seriously, this made sunscreen part of my skin care regimen instead of something I hated and tended to forget. I honestly didn’t think that was going to happen. I suppose the only question that remains is whether or not I’m allowed to send Aja a thank you note.

Because this was a very good idea.

Remember the links in this post are for volitionbeauty.com which only ships to the US and Canada. Mostly because I am located in the US. Even if you aren’t in the US it is well worth poking around on their site. If you are outside the US or Canada then @cultbeauty ships Volition Beauty worldwide, and @meccamaxima / @meccacosmetica ship to Australia and New Zealand. I love that this sunscreen is available worldwide.