Last week I attended the “Get healthy inside & out with Dermalogica” event at the Gladstone Hotel, and brought along my dear friend Ali (from Ali Does It Herself) who was visiting from Ottawa. As this was a skincare and healthy eating/drinking event, I thought it would suit both our interests.

As with the theme of the evening, the spread set out before us when we got there was a healthy pile of fruits and vegetables that we immediately dove into. Hey, it was dinner time!

As we sat down to chomp on our food, Charmaine Cooper, Education Manager for Dermalogica Canada, stepped up to the front of the room and gave us a run down on why were here today – to talk about Dermalogica‘s brand new Overnight Retinol Repair cream. We ran through the basics of skincare and I learned a few things I didn’t know before:

• 80% of how we age is from photoexposure (that is TERRIFYING by the way – make sure you wear sunscreen!)
• Your age is roughly equivalent (in days) to how long it takes to notice a difference in your skin after starting a new skincare regimen. For example, I’m 32 years old – if I were to start a new skincare routine tonight, I should expect to see results in 32 days’ time.

The key ingredient in the Overnight Retinol Repair cream is the 0.5% microencapsulated retinol, which I believe is that highest content currently available in a retinol cream. Retinol has “demonstrated to reverse both the signs of intrinsic aging, as well as extrinsic or environmental photo-aging.” It also accelerates cell renewal, stimulates collagen production, improves epidermal thickness and increases elastin biosynthesis. (Umm yes please, I want all of those things on my face and body.)

The point of this being an overnight cream is to work on your skin while you’re sleeping and when your body is at rest. The science behind this is that your body won’t be fighting against the product (or anything for that matter) while you’re sleeping and the retinol can sink in do its job better while your skin works to regenerate and renew itself.

The Overnight Retinol Repair comes with a buffer cream to allow your skin to adapt to the solution. At first you start out with more buffer cream and less retinol, and as your skin adjusts, you start decreasing  buffer cream and adding in more retinol.

After we finished up the skincare with Dermalogica, we were introduced to Greenhouse Juice Co., a Toronto-based organic cold-pressed juice company that first opened its doors at 5 Macpherson Avenue in January 2014.

I’m not a juicer, or even much of a juice drinker since it’s generally a waste of calories to drink manufactured juice since it has wayyy too much added sugar. However, Greenhouse Juice Co. explained that there aren’t any additives, this was literally taking that fruit or vegetable and turning it into liquid.

After a brief intro to the company, we sampled several of their different offerings. I was intrigued – while there was a sweetness in some drinks, it was all dependent on what fruit had been added in. Overall, most of the juices were just flat out refreshing. There was no added sugar and it just tasted… healthy! Depending on the combination of fruits and/or vegetables, there were some absolutely incredible ones (that I can’t remember the names of now – argh!). I was also introduced to liquid cayenne – something I didn’t even know existed! We mixed a few of our own drinks, although we made the mistake of adding wayyy too much cayenne pepper to one that made both Ali and I feel like our mouths were on fire. In the end, I created a fairly acidic and sour combination of carrots, lemon, pineapple and apple – I loved it though. Anything that makes my mouth pucker is a good thing!

All in all, it was a interesting and informative evening, and the tie in between the skincare and the juicing was a clever way to incorporate healthy living with a good skincare routine. I’m eager to try out the Overnight Retinol Repair and see how it works for me. I’ve yet to see any real difference with any previous skincare treatments from any brand, but maybe this will be the first! Dermalogica‘s Overnight Retinol Repair retails for $110 CAD and is sold at authorized Dermalogica spa, salons and skin centers across Canada, and at Dermalogica.ca.